BOEM moves ahead on oil and gas leasing
Written by Nick Blenkey
Image: BOEM
On Tuesday, the Bureau of Offshore Energy (BOEM) announced plans for the first-ever offshore wind lease sale off the U.S. West Coast. Today, with considerably less fanfare and tub thumping, BOEM announced the next steps it is taking for oil and gas leasing on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) in order to comply with provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022.
These steps include a proposed sale for the Gulf of Mexico region and completion of an environmental review for Cook Inlet, offshore Alaska.
GULF OF MEXICO SALE
The Inflation Reduction Act directed BOEM to hold Lease Sale 259 by March 31, 2023, and the agency will not hold the sale until the last few days before that deadline.
According to BOEM’s proposed notice of sale for Gulf of Mexico OCS Oil & Gas Lease Sale 259, the sale will be held at 9:00 a.m., Central time on Wednesday, March 29, 2023, and BOEM must receive all sealed bids prior to the bid submission deadline of 10:00 a.m., Central time, on Tuesday, March 28, 2023, the day before the lease sale
ALASKA LEASE SALE
A Final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) analyzing the potential impacts of Cook Inlet OCS Oil & Gas Lease Sale 258 has been published on BOEM’s website. A Notice of Availability of the Final EIS will be published in the Federal Register in the coming days. In the Inflation Reduction Act, Congress directed BOEM to hold the Alaska lease sale by the end of this year.
After analyzing a range of alternatives, the Final EIS identifies the preferred alternative, which would offer for lease 193 unleased OCS blocks (approximately 387,771 hectares or 958,202 acres). It defers the 17 OCS blocks wholly or partially overlapping beluga whale and northern sea otter critical habitats; and applies additional mitigation measures to reduce potential impacts to the beluga whales and their critical habitat and feeding areas, sea otters and their critical habitat, and the gillnet fishery.
NOIA: “SIMPLY GOOD POLICY”
National Ocean Industries Association (NOIA) President Erik Milito issued the following statement:
“Americans continue to be beleaguered by high energy prices and the American economic outlook is uncertain, at best. Continued American offshore oil and gas production means good-paying jobs, affordable energy supplies, and important funding for local infrastructure needs, coastal restoration and resiliency, and parks and recreation programs.
“Almost all of American offshore oil and gas production occurs in the Gulf of Mexico. The region is an economic engine that operates under world class safety standards and produces among the lowest carbon barrels of oil in the world. Maintaining lease sales is fundamental when it comes to keeping energy flowing. We should never have to depend upon foreign nations for energy when we have the premier, lower carbon energy region which is the Gulf of Mexico.
“In other words, supporting continued American offshore oil and gas production is simply good policy.”
