Lease sales 225 and 226. Those are the ones to watch. Those are the sales in the Easter portion of the Gulf of Mexico off of Florida’s coast.
On June 28, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced the Proposed Final 2012-2017 Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program. It’s the country’s five-year plan detailing the size, timing and location of oil and gas lease sales.
There are two blocks up for grabs in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico. While most of the eastern portion of the gulf is protected until 2022 under a federal moratorium due to military exercises in the area, blocks 225 and 226—similar to the previously leased 224—lie in a sliver of the eastern gulf not under such protection.
The overall five-year plan details lease sales in all three portions of the Gulf of Mexico (western, central and eastern), as well as the Chukchi Sea, Beaufort Sea and Cook Inlet planning areas offshore of Alaska.
The first lease sale under this plan occurs later this year. The eastern gulf portions will be leased in 2014 and 2016. Both blocks lie more than 125 miles off the northwestern Florida coast.
In the portion of the plan pertaining to the Eastern Gulf the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management laid out some ‘Areas of Special Concern,’ stating “Impacts resulting from routine activities are expected to be negligible to moderate because of existing protections and use restrictions. Large accidental oil spills, including a CDE-level spill, reaching such areas could negatively affect fauna and habitats, individuals fishing for food, commercial or recreational fisheries, recreation and tourism, and other uses of these areas.â€
The proposed 2012-2017 leasing plan has been submitted to President Barack Obama and congress as mandated by law. After a 60 day period, Secretary Salazar may approve the plan.
