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The
NewsRoom
Release: #3452
Date: February 8, 2006
Minerals Management Service
Issues Draft Proposed 5-Year Plan for
Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program
Washington, DC – The Interior Department’s Minerals
Management Service (MMS) today released for comment a proposal in
draft form that discusses MMS’s 2007-2012 Outer Continental Shelf
(OCS) leasing plan, which is currently in development. The comments
will be reviewed by the MMS for refinement of the proposed program,
which will then be released again for additional public input. This is
the second of four steps taken with public involvement, to develop the
OCS leasing plan.
“This is the step in the process where we put out our initial ideas
for study and public comment,” said MMS Director Johnnie Burton. “With
sharply higher energy prices buffeting both families and businesses,
we want to be sure that we fully consider the environmentally
sensitive development of the vast domestic oil and gas resources off
our coasts.”
As part of the draft leasing plan, MMS will study the potential for
oil and gas development off the coast of Virginia and a previously
undeveloped area in the North Aleutian Basin off the coast of Alaska.
MMS is also considering realigning the boundaries of its Central Gulf
of Mexico Planning Area to correspond with new Federal OCS offshore
administrative areas announced in early January. Under the
contemplated revision, a portion of the “Sale 181” area offshore
Louisiana, as well as a deepwater area to the south, would be included
in the central planning area and could be considered for future oil
and gas development.
Current presidential withdrawals or congressional moratoria have
placed more than 85 percent of the Outer Continental Shelf around the
lower 48 states off limits to energy development, including all areas
off Virginia. The Administration has indicated support for the
moratorium, but will give great weight to the comments from adjacent
coastal states.
“The idea of leasing federal waters off the coast of Virginia comes in
response to discussion in the state’s legislature about the potential
of energy development off its coast,” Burton said. “However no
offshore development will occur off of Virginia unless the state’s
congressional delegation works to lift the moratorium.”
“MMS must have a leasing plan in place if Virginia seeks to end the
moratorium and encourage offshore oil and gas development,” Burton
said.
The North Aleutian Basin is also included in the proposed draft
because the State of Alaska requested that the area undergo further
analysis.
The Sale 181 area, which has significant potential oil and gas
resources, is not under moratorium. Nevertheless, the MMS has no
intention of offering for leasing areas within 100 miles of the
Florida coast that used to be part of the Eastern Gulf Planning Area.
The proposed leasing would not interfere with military readiness or
training or pose an environmental risk to Florida. No leasing would be
proposed in the newly configured Eastern Gulf Planning Area.
Overall, the draft program proposes a total of 21 OCS lease sales in
seven of the 26 OCS planning areas, some of which are also included in
the current 5-year program for 2002-2007.
Concurrently, and as directed by Congress, an inventory of oil and gas
resources on the OCS has been conducted. MMS estimates of undiscovered
resources are 85.9 billion barrels of oil and 419.9 trillion cubic
feet of natural gas that are technically recoverable from all federal
offshore areas. The estimate for both oil and gas increased about 15
percent compared to the 2001 report.
“Technically recoverable” estimates represent the quantities of oil or
gas that could be produced using existing or reasonably foreseeable
technology. Current technologies include drilling in water in excess
of 10,000 feet and subsea depths in excess of 31,000 feet.
The inventory has been provided to Congress as part of the response
required by the Energy Policy Act of 2005.
“The offshore energy industry has compiled an outstanding safety
record that allows development of these resources without significant
risk to the environment,” Burton said, citing last year’s hurricanes
as evidence of the industry’s ability to withstand even major
hurricanes with no significant pollution from producing facilities.
“Two major hurricanes passed through the Gulf of Mexico last year
without causing a single significant spill from outer continental
shelf wells,” she said. “Overall, roughly 150 times more oil seeps
into U.S waters from natural cracks in the seabed than is spilled from
oil and gas activities on the outer continental shelf.”
The 2007-2012 OCS oil and gas leasing program will be the seventh
prepared since Congress passed the OCS Lands Act in 1978, which
requires the Secretary of the Interior to prepare and maintain
five-year programs for offshore oil and natural gas leasing. The
current program runs through June 30, 2007.
The request for comments on the draft proposed program and notice of
intent to prepare an associated environmental impact statement was
submitted for publication in the Federal Register today.
The following is the schedule for the 2007-2012 five-year program:
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August 24, 2005 --
Solicit comments and information
(Federal Register Notice)
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February 2006 --
Issue draft proposed program, solicit comments
(60-day comment period)
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Summer 2006 -- Issue
proposed program and draft EIS, solicit comments
(90-day comment period)
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Winter 2007 -- Issue
proposed final program and final EIS
(60-day waiting period)
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Spring 2007 --
Approve five-year program for July 2007-June 2012
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Comments regarding the draft proposed program are
due 60 days after the notice appears in the Federal Register and may
be submitted by mail to the address below or through MMS’s Internet
commenting system, OCS Connect.
You may download the draft proposed program document, review five-year
program maps and fact sheets and
submit your
comments electronically via OCS Connect.
You may request a copy of the draft proposed program document by
calling the 5-year program office at 703-787-1215.
You may also request a copy of the document from and mail comments and
information to:
Renee Orr, 5-Year Program Manager,
Minerals Management Service (MS-4010)
Room 3120, 381 Elden Street
Herndon, Virginia 20170.
NOTE: MMS officials will be available to answer any inquiries from
credentialed media about this release at 3:00 PM, Eastern, via
teleconference. Please call Rebecca Phipps at (202) 208-7746 for more
information about the teleconference.
MMS, an agency of the U.S. Department of the Interior, manages
offshore oil and gas exploration as well as renewable and alternative
energy sources such as wind, wave, and solar on 1.76 billion acres of
the Outer Continental Shelf while protecting the human, marine, and
coastal environments. The OCS provides 30 percent of oil and 21
percent of natural gas produced domestically, and sand used for
coastal restoration. MMS collects, accounts for, and disburses mineral
revenues from Federal and American Indian lands, and contributes to
the Land and Water Conservation Fund and other special use funds, with
Fiscal Year 2005 disbursements of approximately $9.9 billion and more
than $153 billion since 1982.
Relevant Web Sites
and Documents:
Media Contact:
Gary Strasburg
(202) 208-3985
MMS: Securing Ocean Energy & Economic Value for
America
U.S. Department of the Interior
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