The Interior Department seeks comments on the size, timing, and location of leasing proposed in the 2017-2022 Draft Proposed OCS Oil & Gas Leasing Program (DPP), in addition to scoping comments on its Notice of Intent to Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement analyzing potential impacts of possible activities that could result from the proposed lease sales.

The 2017-2022 DPP proposes 14 offshore lease sales in the Atlantic (1 spanning an area extending from Georgia to Virginia), Gulf of Mexico (10 region-wide lease sales, excluding the majority of the Eastern Gulf of Mexico that is subject to a congressional moratorium), Beaufort Sea (1), Chukchi Sea (1), and Cook Inlet (1). The proposed Atlantic lease sale would exclude waters within 50 miles of the coastline.

BOEM currently plans to issue the Proposed Program and Draft PEIS in 2016, followed by a public comment period.

In conjunction with the DPP’s release, President Obama issued a Presidential Memorandum indefinitely withdrawing 9.8 million acres offshore Alaska from leasing consideration.

For more information, visit www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2015-01-29/pdf/2015-01757.pdf