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    Terry Scholten

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    OEMM Web Team

A 5-Year Program consists of a schedule of oil and gas lease sales indicating the size, timing and location of proposed leasing activity the Secretary determines will best meet national energy needs for the five year period following its approval. An area must be included in the current 5-Year Program in order to be offered for leasing. Section 18 (132.38 KB PDF) of the OCS Lands Act (286.05 KB PDF) prescribes the major steps (17.68 KB PDF) involved in developing a 5-Year Program including extensive public comment steps. A 5-Year Program balances energy needs and environmental considerations.

The Current OCS Oil & Gas Leasing Program: 2007- 2012 (3663 KB PDF) was effective July 1, 2007. On July 2, 2007, the Center for Biological Diversity filed suit for violations under the OCSLA and NEPA, followed by the Native Village of Point Hope, Alaska, in August 2007. These cases were consolidated.

On April 17, 2009, the Court remanded the 2007-2012 OCS oil and gas leasing program, requiring the Interior Department to "conduct a more complete comparative analysis of the environmental sensitivity of different areas". The Court found the Department failed to properly analyze the environmental sensitivity and marine productivity of different areas of the OCS hindered Interior’s ability to comply with the balancing requirement specified in the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, which directs the Secretary of Interior to consider "the relative environmental sensitivity and marine productivity of the different areas of the outer Continental Shelf." On July 28, 2009, the Court stayed its mandate for the Department to conduct the expanded analysis and for the Secretary to rebalance the program using the new analysis along with the other analyses and information. The Court also limited its order to three areas of the Alaska OCS—Beaufort, Chukchi, and Bering Seas. The Bering Sea includes the North Aleutian Basin Planning Area.

The Department conducted a more complete environmental sensitivity analysis, including analysis beyond the shoreline that compares the environmental sensitivity of all 26 OCS planning areas, and identifies those areas whose environment and marine productivity are most and least sensitive to OCS activity.

On March 31, 2010, Secretary Salazar announced his Preliminary Revised Program for 2007-2012. In accordance the Department’s submission to the Court, the PRP was submitted to the Court, the President and Congress, and was open for a 30-day public comment period to May 3, 2010. During the comment period, the Department received over 118,000 comments for the Secretary’s consideration.

The PRP includes the 11 annual areawide sales in the Central and Western Gulf of Mexico, 8 of which have now been held; a sale in the Mid-Atlantic 50 miles offshore Virginia; 2 special interest sales in Cook Inlet, Alaska, the first sale was not held for lack of industry interest; and 1 sale in the Chukchi Sea, Alaska, which was held in 2008.. Eastern Gulf Sale 224 is included on the list of sales as a historical record of lease sale activity during the time period. It was mandated by the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act of 2006 and not subject to OCS Lands Act section 18 analysis.

On May 27, 2010, the Secretary cancelled Mid-Atlantic Sale 220 offshore Virginia to allow additional consultations with the Department of Defense on military training requirements in the area, He also cancelled Western Gulf Sale 215, scheduled for August 2010, in light of the need for time to determine whether the baseline environmental information utilized in the multi-sale EIS conducted for this lease sale may have changed dramatically, as a result of the April 2010 explosion and sinking of the Deepwater Horizon, The Secretary is taking another look at the 2007-2012 program, and will submit a revised program to the Court in the near future.

	Federal Register Notice on the PRP
	Press Release

	Federal eRulemaking Portal: In the entry titled “Enter Keyword or ID," enter docket ID MMS-2009-OMM-0016 then click search. Under the tab "View by Docket Folder," you can submit public comments and view supporting and related materials available for this Notice. The Bureau will post all comments from this site.
	Email: PRPcomments@boemre.gov
	Mail or hand-carry comments on the PRP to: Department of the Interior Attention: Leasing Division (LD) 381 Elden Street, MS-4010 Herndon, Virginia 20170-4817 Please reference “Remand of the 2007-2012 OCS Oil and Gas Leasing Program” in your comments and include your name and address.
	Q&A’s on 2007-2012 Program
	Additional 2007-2012 Background Documents
	Past 5-year Programs