American Oil and Gas Reporter - January 2017 - 125

In some situations, the bureau allows,
traditional BLM administrative boundaries
may be the most appropriate, but in other
circumstances, "the planning area boundary may be smaller or larger than administrative boundaries."
Existing RMP boundaries will remain
in effect under the new rule, BLM promises. However, it says, "When the need
to amend or revise a plan arises, the new
regulations will apply, and depending on
the issues driving the revision or amend-

ment, the planning area may be larger or
smaller than the customary field office
planning area."
RMPs under development at the time
the new rule was adopted will continue
under the regulations in place at the time
the notice of intent for the RMP was
published in the Federal Register. However,
"The local office would be encouraged
to incorporate the elements of the new
rule to the extent possible and practical,"
BLM says.
r

Arctic And Atlantic OCS Areas
Put Off Limits To O&G Leasing
WASHINGTON-White House announcements in December that it was
placing nearly 145 million acres of the
U.S. Outer Continental Shelf permanently
off limits to oil and gas leasing were
greeted by expressions of disappointment
and industry vows to work with the incoming administration and Congress to
overturn the bans.
On Dec. 20, President Obama and
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
announced jointly they were withdrawing
areas in the Arctic, North and MidAtlantic from future mineral development.
That followed a Dec. 9 executive order
by President Obama to place the Norton
and St. Mathew-Hall planning areas in
the Northern Bering Sea off limits.
Senior Vice President of Government
Relations and Political Affairs Dan Naatz
said the Independent Petroleum Association
of America was "extremely disappointed"
at the actions, while National Ocean Industries Association President Randall
Luthi called them "short sighted."
A Dec. 9 White House executive order
specifies "the area designated by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management as
the North Basin Planning Area, and the
OCS lease blocks within the BOEM's St.
Matthew-Hall Planning area lying within
25 nautical miles of St. Lawrence Island."
Then on Dec. 20, the president issued
memoranda to the secretary of interior
to withdraw indefinitely all the Chukchi
Sea Planning Area not already withdrawn,
the Beaufort Sea Planning Area not
already leased, and "26 major canyons
and canyon complexes offshore the Atlantic Coast lying within areas designated
by BOEM as the North Atlantic and
Mid-Atlantic planning areas."
A statement by Interior Secretary Sally
Jewell applauding the president's actions

says the Arctic withdrawals encompass
115 million acres, but exclude existing
leases in the Beaufort Sea as well as "a
nearshore area of the Beaufort Sea totaling
about 2.8 million acres."
Jewell says the Atlantic withdrawal
protects canyons extending from Heezen
Canyon offshore New England to Norfolk
Canyon offshore Chesapeake Bay. She
adds that the withdrawal builds on the
president's September 2016 order establishing the Northeast Canyons and
Seamounts Marine National Monument,
which protects 4,913 square miles (3.1
million acres) of marine ecosystems located 130 miles southeast of Cape Cod.
"The (Dec. 20) withdrawal protects
major Atlantic canyons that are not in
the national monument," Jewell explains.
A joint statement from President Obama and Prime Minister Trudeau adds
that Canada likewise is designating "all
Arctic Canadian waters as indefinitely
off limits to future offshore Arctic oil
and gas licensing, to be reviewed every
five years through a climate- and marine
science-based life-cycle assessment."
Wrong Direction
IPAA's Naatz responded to the president's announcement by stating, "Instead
of building on our nation's position as a
global energy leader, today's unilateral
mandate could put America back on a
path of energy dependence. We disagree
with this last-minute political rhetoric and
contest this decision by the outgoing administration as disingenuous. With exactly
one month left in office, President Obama
chose to succumb to environmental extremists' demands to keep our nation's affordable and abundant energy supplies
away from those who need them the most."
NOIA's Luthi adds, "While other countries are ramping up offshore oil and
natural gas exploration in the Arctic and

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American Oil and Gas Reporter - January 2017

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