In Alaska, removing the Hope Basin from consideration under this alternative would remove the possibility of tankering oil through the Bering Sea and Unimak Pass. Therefore, any potential impacts associated with tanker spills in this area as described in Alternative-1 would be avoided. Sale related activities in the Gulf of Alaska would not take place under this alternative; however, the effects of transporting oil from the Beaufort Sea by pipeline to the Port of Valdez and then by tanker to west coast ports would continue. Not holding a sale in the Gulf of Alaska would result in a slightly lower probability of oil spills contacting marine mammals and birds. Potential threats to subsistence in Yakutat, Cordova, parts of Prince William Sound, and the east coast of the Kenai Peninsula would be lower than if Alternative 1 was adopted. The adoption of the no-sale option would eliminate consideration of a sale in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico Planning Area. As a result, impacts associated with leasing in the deepwater area offshore southeast Alabama and Florida would not occur. The impact-causing activities that would be eliminated are those that occur in the immediate vicinity of drilling rigs, production platforms, and pipelines. As a result, the impacts to some resources near these activities will not take place. Any oil spills from activities in the Eastern Gulf would not occur, but the sale area will still be subject to the effects of oil spilled in the Central Gulf depending on winds and currents. As many as 10 platforms would have had to be eventually removed after production was completed. Explosive platform removals could have caused adverse effects on fish, cetaceans, and marine turtles. Seismic surveys involving the use of an acoustic pulse which may affect cetacean communications and behavior would also not be necessary. The adoption of Alternative 4b in the Eastern Gulf would eliminate the potential for nearshore oil and gas activity. Activity in deeper waters would be at the same level as expected in the proposed action, and deep water impacts would be the same. In the exlusion area, bottom disturbance from platform placement resulting in localized impacts to water quality should not occur. The visual impact of rigs and platforms would be eliminated. Impacts to turtle nesting areas along the coast should be reduced, as should the potential impacts to historic sites and shipwrecks. Recreational fishing around nearshore platforms would be eliminated. Employment opportunities and demographic change would be reduced slightly. The adoption of either Barter Island exclusion option in the Beaufort Sea would not alter the overall impacts in the planning area because the scenario assumes the anticipated production and level of activity remain the same as for the proposal. However, no oil and gas activity from this program could occur in the area excluded in either option. Therefore, any direct impacts from sales in this program to resources in those areas would be eliminated. There is still some risk to these resources from oil spills that could occur in the area remaining in the sale. This alternative (table II-5) includes annual area-wide sales in the Central and Western Gulf of Mexico and one or two sales in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico. If alternative 5a is adopted, one sale would be held in the Eastern Gulf, it would total around 1,056 blocks, including 913 blocks in deep water, plus a narrow band of blocks extending along the western-most portion of the planning area, north of the deepwater area (figure 212). If alternative 5b is adopted, two sales would be held, the first sale would consist of approximately 913 blocks offering only a deepwater area (figure 2-13), the second would be the same as the 1,056 block sale just described (figure 2-12). In Alaska, two sales, one of 335 blocks, the second of 2,317 blocks, would be scheduled in the Beaufort Sea, and one sale would be scheduled in Cook Inlet (around 376 blocks), Chukchi Sea/Hope Basin (approximately 6,647 blocks) and the Gulf of Alaska (around 1,174 blocks). In addition the alternative considers a sale that would offer up to 223 blocks covering approximately 1.2 million acres in the |