US Agency to Hold Public Meetings to Evaluate Oil Lease Sales in GOM

The US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) is preparing an environmental impact statement for ten tentative Gulf of Mexico oil and gas lease sales to take place 2017-2022, and will hold public meetings in five US States on the scope of the deals.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The BOEM will hold conferences for the general public and local governments in Louisiana, Texas, Florida, Alabama and Mississippi, the Agency said in a statement on Wednesday.

The Gulf of Mexico is still recovering after the British Petroleum Deepwater Horizon oil spill of 2010, when 4.9 million barrels of oil discharged into the water. The spill affected the natural habitat as well as the major fishing and tourism industries across the states bordering the Gulf.

“The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management proposes to conduct ten oil and gas lease sales in the federal waters of the Gulf of Mexico,” the statement said. “As part of the [sales] scoping process, BOEM’s public scoping meetings will be held.”

BOEM noted that the sales will not take place unless they are included in the 2017-2022 Final Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program after the environmental impact evaluation.

On April 20, 2015, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said it will include ten new projects in the amount of $134 million in the Gulf of Mexico restoration plan, in addition to the $698 million already invested on improving environment.

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© RIA Novosti