Environmental Assessment Preparation for Proposed Lease Sale 177 in the Western Gulf of Mexico (2000)

Resumen

The MMS is beginning preparation of an EA for proposed Lease Sale 177 (scheduled for August 2000) in the Western Gulf of Mexico Planning Area. In January 1997, MMS issued a Call for Information and Nominations/Notice of Intent (Call/NOI) to Prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) for the four proposed Western Gulf of Mexico sales in the current 5-year leasing program. In 1998, MMS prepared a single EIS for all four sales. The multisale Final EIS, filed in May 1998, included an analysis of a single, ``typical'' sale, and a cumulative analysis that included the effects of holding all four sales, as well as the cumulative effects of the long-term development of the planning area. The MMS stated in the EIS that an EA would be prepared for each lease sale after the first sale covered in the EIS (Sale 171). The preparation of this EA is the first step in the prelease decision process for Sale 177. The proposal and alternatives for Sale 177 were identified by the Director of MMS in January 1997, following the Call/NOI and were analyzed in the Western Gulf multisale EIS, which is available from the Gulf of Mexico OCS Region's Public Information Office at 1-800-200-GULF. The propose