The Minerals Management Service (MMS) will hold scoping meetings in two Gulf Coast cities in March. You are invited to attend either or both of them. The meetings are intended to help us collect information and public input on the range of actions, alternatives, and impacts to be considered in the draft environmental impact statement (EIS) for two proposed oil and gas lease sales (Sales 189 and 197) in a portion of the Eastern Planning Area south of Alabama. The sales are scheduled for 2003 and 2005 in the draft proposed Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program: 2002-2007. A Federal Register Notice of Intent to Prepare an EIS on these sales was published on February 7, 2002.

The scoping meetings are scheduled as follows:

• Tuesday, March 12, 2002, Adams Mark Hotel, 64 South Water Street, Mobile, Alabama, 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
• Thursday, March 14, 2002, Minerals Management Service, 1201 Elmwood Park Boulevard, New Orleans, Louisiana, 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.

If you are unable to attend the meetings and would like to submit comments in writing, please send them to the address below. Comments should specifically address factors related to the scope of the draft EIS. We are particularly interested in knowing your views on significant issues, alternatives, and mitigation measures that should be considered in the draft EIS. Written comments must be received no later than March 25, 2002.

For further information on the scoping meetings or the EIS process, please contact Mr. Dennis Chew, Minerals Management Service, Gulf of Mexico OCS Region (MS 5410), 1201 Elmwood Park Boulevard, New Orleans, Louisiana 70123-2394, telephone (504) 736-2793.

The 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 MMS also collects, accounts for and disburses mineral revenues from Federal and Indian leases. These revenues totaled nearly $10 billion in 2001 and more than $119 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.