MMS Begins EIS Process for Beaufort and Chukchi Lease Sales
On August 23, 2007, the Minerals Management Service announced that it intended to prepare a multiple-sale Environmental Impact Statement for lease sales in the Beaufort Sea and the Chukchi Sea. The lease sales are for two areas in the Chukchi, and two in the Beaufort. The four sales will occur over the period 2009-2012.

The MMS explained that the "final multiple-sale EIS will serve as the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and Coastal Zone Management Act (CZMA) Consistency Determination" analysis for the first two scheduled sales: one in the Beaufort in 2009, and the other in the Chukchi in 2010.

The MMS' Federal Register notice provides a schedule for the multiple-sale EIS process. A draft EIS is scheduled to be available in July 2008. The MMS' notice also requests public comment on the following:

"Comments are sought from all interested parties about particular geological (including natural hazard areas), environmental, biological, archaeological, and socioeconomic conditions or conflicts, or other information that might bear upon the potential leasing and development of particular areas."