Current Developments
- CEQ Launches NEPA Pilot Program
- CEQ Issues New Guidance on Mitigation and Monitoring
- CEQ Issues New Guidance on Categorical Exclusions
- CEQ Issues Report on NEPA for Outer-Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Exploration and Development
- NEPA's 40th Anniversary
- American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 & NEPA
- New Agency NEPA Procedures
- EIS Filings
Review of MMS NEPA Procedures for OCS Oil and Gas Exploration and Development
The Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) conducted a review of National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) policies, practices, and procedures for the Department of the Interior's Minerals Management Service (MMS) decisions for Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) oil and gas exploration and development.
This review of MMS NEPA policies, practices and procedures was conducted as a result of the oil spill from the Deepwater Horizon well and drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico. The review ascertained how MMS applied NEPA in its management of OCS oil and gas exploration and development and makes recommendations for future Department of the Interior and Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (the successor agency to MMS) for NEPA reviews involving OCS oil and gas exploration and development. The scope of the review encompasses NEPA for all decisions from leasing decisions to drilling and production.
The review was issued in a report by the Chair of CEQ on August 16, 2010 and can be viewed here.
In line with CEQ's effort to engage the public in the NEPA process and the President's Open Government Initiative, a notice of this review has been posted in the Federal Register and CEQ is soliciting public comment on the review process undertaken by CEQ as well as on current MMS NEPA policies, practices, and procedures regarding OCS oil and gas exploration and development. Public participation in this review effort will benefit this specific review process, future DOI NEPA implementation, CEQ's overall effectiveness in overseeing NEPA, and the environmental and social consequences of government activity.
The deadline for public comment was June 17, 2010.
To see the public input, please go to: http://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/eop/ceq/initiatives/nepa/mms-review.
Read the Federal Register Notice.