The Regulation of Seismic Exploration in the United States

The U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has published a Notice of Availability–and announced Public Meetings and a Comment Period for–BOEM’s Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for Proposed GOM Oil and Gas WPA Lease Sales 246 and 248. Written Comments should be submitted to BOEM no later than October 22, 2014,

BOEM will hold public meetings in Texas and Louisiana to solicit comments on the WPA 246/248 Draft Supplemental EIS. These meetings are scheduled as follows:

• Houston, Texas: Tuesday, September 23, 2014, Houston Airport Marriott at George Bush Intercontinental, 18700 John F. Kennedy Boulevard, Houston, Texas 77032, beginning at 1:00 p.m. CDT; and,

Guardian Australia analysis of International Whaling Commission data shows motor yachts, naval vessels and ferries come close behind.

Whales are more likely to to be hit by whale-watching boats than any other identified vessel type, data from the International Whaling Commission shows.

Whale collisions around the world have been collated by the commission in a database which runs from 1885 to 2010.

While the type of vessel is unknown in most incidents, where the boat type was identified the highest number of collisions came from whale-watching vessels. Motor yachts, naval vessels and ferries came close behind.

The U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service has issued an Incidental Harassment Authorization to the United States Geological Survey, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, and National Science Foundation to take marine mammals, by Level B harassment, incidental to conducting a marine geophysical (seismic) survey in the Atlantic Ocean off the Eastern Seaboard, August to September 2014 and April to August 2015.

NMFS’ Federal Register notice of this IHA includes NMFS’ responses to many lengthy comments on the proposed IHA. These comments were filed by Clean Ocean Action; by Natural Resources Defense Council, Humane Society of the United States, Oceana, and Center for Biological Diversity (combined comments); and by the Marine Mammal Commission. The comments are posted online at: http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/permits/incidental.htm.

The U. S. National Marine Fisheries Service has issued an Incidental Harassment Authorization to SAExploration, Inc. to take, by harassment, small numbers of marine mammals incidental to a marine 3-dimensional (3D) ocean bottom node seismic survey program in the Beaufort Sea, Alaska, during the 2014 Arctic open-water season.

The U.S. Marine Mammal commission was the only commenter on NMFS’ proposed IHA for SAExploration. One MMC comment was: “that NMFS verify that SAE will conduct passive acoustic monitoring before, during, and after seismic activities.”

NMFS’ response to this comment was:

The International Association of Geophysical Contractors has posted a rebuttal to false claims about oil and gas seismic being made by environmental NGOs. These NGO claims make factually incorrect comparisons between seismic and jet airplane sounds. This IAGC article is entitled  “Seismic Surveys and the Jet Engine Myth vs Fact.” It is available here.

The U.S. Navy has prepared a Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement, which is now available for public review and comment.  This EIS re-evaluates potential impacts from ongoing military training activities conducted in the Gulf of Alaska Temporary Maritime Activities Area.  The document can be found online at the project website .

The Navy invites the public to submit comments on the analysis presented in the EIS.  The 60-day comment period begins this Friday, August 22 and ends October 20.

William Y. Brown, Chief Environmental Officer, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, has written a very important article for BOEM’s online Science Notes.  This article is entitled The Science Behind the Decision:  Answers to Frequently asked Questions about the Atlantic Geological and Geophysical Activities Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS).  Dr. Brown’s article corrects misinformation being spread by some environmental NGOs who oppose the Atlantic PEIS.  In his own words, Dr. Brown

 “wanted to take some time to clear up a few misperceptions about the bureau’s decision and what it means.

The U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service has issued four 1-year Letters of Authorization to the U.S. Navy to take marine mammals by harassment incidental to their military readiness activities associated with the routine training, testing, and military operations of Surveillance Towed Array Sensor System Low Frequency Active sonar within the northwest Pacific Ocean and the north-central Pacific Ocean. These Authorizations are effective from August 15, 2014, through August 14, 2015.

NMFS’ Federal Register notice states that the Service

On August 15, 2014, the Center for Regulatory Effectiveness filed its second set of comments on the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s Request for Information and Comments on the Preparation of the 2017–2022 Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program.  CRE’s second set of comments rebutted comments filed by a group of NGOs, which wanted the entire Arctic excluded from leasing. These NGO comments are entitled Arctic-Specific Comments on the Preparation of the 2017–2022 Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Oil and Gas Leasing Program, and were filed by National Audubon Society, Oceana, Ocean Conservancy, The Pew Charitable Trusts, and World Wildlife Fund.

The U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service will host a meeting to elicit scientific information related to the designation of Steller sea lion critical habitat under the Endangered Species Act.  NMFS is considering revisions to the critical habitat designation to take into account new information that has become available since NMFS designated critical habitat in 1993. This meeting will provide an opportunity for NMFS to receive presentations from the public concerning new and relevant scientific information.

NMFS requests that parties interested in presenting information pertaining to the identification of areas as critical habitat for the Western Distinct Population Segment of Steller sea lion submit a statement of interest, including an abstract of the information to be presented.