The Regulation of Seismic Exploration in the United States

 The Minerals Management Service (MMS) hereby petitions, as a precautionary measure, for rulemaking under section 10 I (a)(5) of the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) to authorize any potential take of marine mammals incidental to seismic surveys “specified activity”) in the Gulf of Mexico (“specified geographic region”) .

 This taking will involve only small numbers of marine mammals, have no more than a negligible impact on the species or stock, and have no unmitigable adverse impact on the availability of the species or stock for subsistence uses.

 On December 20, 2002, MMS petitioned NMFS, as a precautionary measure, for rulemaking under section 101(a)(5)(A) of the MMPA to authorize any potential take of sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus) incidental to conducting seismic surveys during oil and gas exploration activities in the GOM (MMS, 2002a).

 MMS has preliminarily determined that the taking will involve only small numbers of sperm whales; have no more than a negligible impact on the species and stocks of affected marine mammals; and not have an unmitigable adverse impact on the availability of marine mammals for subsistence uses. It should be noted that MMS expects to update its petition for regulations to include the incidental take of other species of marine mammals, such as dolphins, beaked whales, and Bryde’s whales (Balaenoptera edeni), based upon information currently being assessed under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).

 An IPD is an Interactive Public Docket.. The purpose of an IPD is to break the government’s monopoly over what is contained in a regulatory docket.

 More specifically  public input into the  determination of the contents of a docket for a regulatory proceeding and access to to such content is very limited.  Presently the regulators are the sole determinant of what papers used in the pre-Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) stage goes into the docket; the regulators are also the sole determinant of what papers go into the docket subsequent to the close of the public comment period. The public can only affect the content of the docket in a limited time period of,  for example , the 60 to 90 day time period alloted for public comment  out of a time  period of several or more years needed to complete a rulemaking.