MMS Issues Call for Interest and Information and
Notice of Intent to Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement for
Two Proposed Federal Oil and Gas Lease Sales in the
Eastern Gulf of Mexico and Announces Scoping Meetings

The Department of the Interior’s Minerals Management Service (MMS) has published the Call for Interest and Information (Call) and Notice of Intent (NOI) to Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for two proposed Eastern Gulf of Mexico (EGOM) oil and gas Lease Sales. The specific sales are Lease Sale 189, which is tentatively scheduled in December 2003, and Lease Sale 197, which is tentatively scheduled in March 2005. The Call/NOI was published in the February 7, 2002, issue of the Federal Register (67 FR 5849).

The area covered by this Call/NOI is a small portion of the EGOM Planning Area, 100 miles or more due south of the coast of Alabama and the Florida Panhandle. It includes 256 blocks covering 1.47 million acres. This is the same area offered for leasing in EGOM Lease Sale 181, which was held December 5, 2001, but only the remaining unleased area would be offered in the proposed sales. At this time,

138 blocks covering 795,000 acres are unleased. None of the EGOM outside the Sale 181 area is available for leasing in this 5-Year Program.

The Call/NOI is an information-gathering step to ensure that all interests and concerns regarding the proposed sale are communicated to MMS in the earliest stage of its ongoing multi-year sale planning process. The information gathered in the Call assists in the determination of areas to be offered for lease. The NOI initiates an information-gathering process used in developing the EIS that will be prepared for the areas identified for leasing by the Call process.

Comments on the Call should be submitted to MMS by March 11, 2002. Comments on the NOI should be submitted by March 25, 2002. Responses may be sent by telefax to (504) 736-2631 or mailed to the following address:

Minerals Management Service
Gulf of Mexico OCS Region
Office of Leasing and Environment
Attention: Regional Supervisor (MS 5400)
1201 Elmwood Park Boulevard
New Orleans, Louisiana 70123-2394

In addition, MMS will hold scoping meetings to accept comments. The meetings will be held as follows:

Specific information on the Call may be obtained from Ms. Jane Johnson at (504) 736-2811. Specific information on environmental issues relative to the NOI may be obtained from Ms. Michelle Morin at (504) 736-2797. Copies of the Call/NOI may also be obtained from the MMS Gulf of Mexico Region Public Information Office at (800) 200-GULF or (504) 736-2519.

MMS is the federal agency in the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages the nation’s oil, natural gas and other mineral resources on the outer continental shelf in federal offshore waters. The agency also collects, accounts for and disburses mineral revenues from federal and Indian leases. These revenues totaled nearly $10 billion last year and more than $120 billion since the agency was created in 1982. Annually, nearly $1 billion from those revenues go into the Land and Water Conservation Fund for the acquisition and development of state and federal park and recreation lands.

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