MMS Launches "Grid Environmental Assessment" Program to Implement Environmental Reviews Efficiently

FOR RELEASE:	October 25, 2001	Barney Congdon
		(504) 736-2595
		Caryl Fagot
		(504) 736-2590
		Debra Winbush
		(504) 736-2597

MMS Launches "Grid Environmental Assessment" Program to Implement Environmental Reviews Efficiently

This year in response to the need to implement effectively and efficiently the requirements of the law, MMS adopted the policy of performing environmental assessment on specific areas of the Gulf. For a particular grid area, the first development project that proposes a surface facility (e.g., fixed platform, tension-leg platform, or spar) will be the most likely candidate for preparation of a Grid EA. These EA's will be both site-specific and programmatic in nature because they will assess the site-specific impacts of the proposed project, as well as discuss the impacts of other Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) and non-OCS activities throughout the particular grid area. The Grid EA prepared for each of the 17 areas will be comprehensive in terms of the impact-producing factors and environmental and socioeconomic resources described and analyzed. Operators may check the status of Grid EA preparation at http://www.gomr.mms.gov/homepg/regulate/environ/ea_grid/ea_grid.asp.

There is always a possibility that a development project submitted after the completion of a Grid EA in an area may warrant the preparation of another EA, but any subsequent EA will "tier" off the Grid EA by summarizing and incorporating by reference information from the Grid EA. Any subsequent EA will focus only on issues and impacts of the specific project that are substantially different from those analyzed in the Grid EA. Thus, the Grid EA does not remove the need for subsequent site-specific National Environmental Policy Act compliance and documentation for other facilities, but it does minimize further analysis because subsequent documents can build on the original Grid EA.

MMS is the federal agency in the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages the nation's oil, natural gas and other mineral resources on the outer continental shelf in federal offshore waters. The agency also collects, accounts for and disburses mineral revenues http://www.mrm.mms.gov/Stats/disb.htm from federal and Indian leases. These revenues totaled nearly $8 billion last year and more than $110 billion since the agency was created in 1982. Annually, nearly $1 billion from those revenues go into the Land and Water Conservation Fund for the acquisition and development of state and federal park and recreation lands.

-MMS-

MMS's Website Address: http://www.mms.gov