Mexican Gulf Energy Lease Sales – BOEM Issues Environment Analysis

BOEM's  'Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS)' will aid decision-making on Gulf of Mexico oil & gas lease sales

The Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has completed the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS), with environmental analysis that will support decision-making concerning oil and gas lease sales scheduled in the Gulf of Mexico over the next five years.

The FEIS provides baseline analysis in support of the 10 lease sales scheduled in the Central and Western Gulf of Mexico planning areas over the next five years and evaluates baseline conditions and potential environmental effects of oil and natural gas leasing, exploration, development and production in these two areas.

BOEM will continue to evaluate new scientific and environmental information over the course of the coming years and to integrate that information in planning for individual lease sales.

“This EIS is a crucial step in supporting our ability to make well-informed, science-based decisions regarding offshore oil and gas activity in the Gulf of Mexico,” said BOEM director Tommy Beaudreau. “The Gulf of Mexico is extremely important to the energy future of the United States, and offshore oil and gas activity there must be done safely and with safeguards for the environment.”
 
The environmental impact statement is available here.