The Regulation of Seismic Exploration in the United States

The U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management seeks public comment on its Draft Environmental Impact Statement for Gulf of Mexico OCS oil and gas lease sales tentatively scheduled from 2017–2022 (2017–2022 Gulf of Mexico Multisale Draft EIS or Draft Environmental Impact Statement).

BOEM proposes to conduct 10 region-wide Gulf of Mexico oil and gas lease sales during this five-year period that are tentatively scheduled in the Proposed 2017–2022 OCS Oil and Gas Leasing Program (Five-Year Program). The lease sales proposed in the Gulf of Mexico in the Five-Year Program are region-wide lease sales comprised of the Western and Central Planning Areas, and a small portion of the Eastern Planning Area that is not subject to Congressional moratorium.

The International Association of Geophysical Contractors published the following press release:

“The fourth International Conference on ‘The Effects of Noise on Aquatic Life’ will take place in Dublin, Ireland, July 10-16, 2016. This meeting follows the very successful meetings held in Nyborg, Denmark (2007), Cork, Ireland (2010) and Budapest, Hungary (2013). These meetings brought together scientists, regulators, environmentalists, and people from industry to learn about and discuss issues related to the effects that man-made noise has on aquatic organisms. The outcome from the Nyborg meeting was a special issue of the international journal Bioacoustics (2008, volume 17:1-350), and the Cork meeting in 2010 resulted in a book entitled ‘ Another book, as a result of the Budapest meeting in 2013, will be published by Springer in late 2015. http://www.springer.com/us/book/9781493929801

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management Standing Committee on Offshore Science and Assessment, of the U.S. national Academies of Science, held it second meeting on April 14-15, in Washington, D.C. At this meeting, BOEM representatives apprised the NAS Committee Panel of various developments in seismic regulation. BOEM may later seek guidance on some of these seismic issues, but no specific committee assignments were made at the meeting.

The Committee’s website, which includes agendas and links to presentations (when posted), is available here.

http://1.usa.gov/1qCVYiv

As of April 18, 2016, the U.S. Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, of the Office of Management and Budget, is reviewing the U.S. Department of Interior’s Arctic Rules, which DOI describes as, “proposed rules to promote safe, responsible, and effective drilling activities on the Arctic Continental Shelf, while also ensuring the protection of Alaska’s coastal communities and the marine environment.”

The OMB/OIRA review of these rules is being conducted pursuant to ExecutiveOorder 12866.

Click here for the OMB/OIRA website for this review.

The Ocean Studies Board and the Board on Earth Sciences and Resources, of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, have established a Committee on Offshore Science and Assessment. According to the NAS website, this Committee will

“provide ongoing assistance to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) in its efforts to manage development of the nation’s offshore energy resources in an environmentally and economically responsible way. The committee will meet regularly to:

The U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has rescheduled some of its public meetings for the Draft Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement for the Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program: 2017–2022.

The rescheduled meetings were previously to be held in Washington, DC (April 4, 2016); Houston, TX (April 12, 2016); and New Orleans, LA (April 14, 2016) to elicit comments on the OCS Oil and Gas Leasing Program 2017–2022 Draft Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement, which has been prepared by BOEM to support the Proposed OCS Oil and Gas Leasing Program for 2017–2022 (2017–2022 Program).

The U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service, of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, seeks public comment on its proposed issuance of an Incidental Harassment Authorization to take marine mammals, by harassment, to DONG Energy Massachusetts (U.S.) LLC. This proposed IHA would be effective for high-resolution geophysical and geotechnical survey investigations associated with marine site characterization activities off the coast of Massachusetts in the area of the Commercial Lease of Submerged Lands for Renewable Energy Development on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS–A 0500). Pursuant to the Marine Mammal Protection Act, NMFS has requested comments on its proposal to issue an IHA to DONG Energy to incidentally take, by Level B harassment only, small numbers of marine mammals during the specified activities. Comments and information must be received by NMFS no later than May 5, 2016.

A special section “Seismic survey and western gray whales” in Endangered Species Research has been completed. Guest edited by Randall Reeves and Greg Donovan, this series of papers describes the monitoring and mitigation approach taken in protecting an endangered summer feeding population of gray whales off Sakhalin Island (Russia) during a seismic survey in 2010, and the results of various analyses performed on the acoustic, distribution and behavioural data collected.

A summary page with an introduction by the guest editors and links to the individual papers can be found at the following URL:
http://www.int-res.com/journals/esr/esr-specials/seismic-survey-and-western-gray-whales/

Pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act, BOEM has announced the availability of the OCS Oil and Gas Leasing Program 2017– 2022 Draft Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement. This Draft PEIS was prepared by BOEM to support the Proposed OCS Oil and Gas Leasing Program for 2017–2022.

Comments may be submitted by May 2, 2016.

The following public meetings will be held on the Draft PEIS:

Washington, DC
April 4, 2016; Marriott Metro
Center, 775 12th St. NW., Washington,
DC 3–7 p.m.; valet parking at no charge
to meeting attendees up to 8 hours.

The International Association of Geophysical Contractors has issued the following statement on the Government’s decision not to include the U.S. Atlantic in the Government’s 5-year oil and gas leasing plan:

“Today’s announcement from the Administration that it would not include the US Atlantic in the 5-Year- Oil and Gas Leasing Program is unfortunate, not only for the oil and gas industry but more importantly for the American people.
The United States is virtually the only nation that is not exploring the resource potential of the Atlantic. The decision is short-sighted and does not take into account the energy needs of a growing economy and ensuring the energy security of this nation for future generations. In addition, it calls into question the Administration’s commitment to support a true ‘all-of-the-above’ approach to energy security.