Note: This final environmental statement has been prepared pursuant to section 102 (2) (C) of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969. The regulations to which reference is made throughout this environmental statement are 30 CFR Part 250 and 43 CFR 3300, and Geological Survey OCS Orders Nos. 1 through 12 - Gulf of Mexico. The OCS Orders for the Gulf of Mexico have been appended to this statement (see Attachment A). Although too bulky to append here, the CFR's cited may be obtained from the United States Department of the Interior. The sale under consideration includes 245 tracts offshore Texas. 1/ If all tracts are leased, this sale would add 1,335,684 acres, an increase of about 28% of the current total of 4,790,000 acres (As of September 1973) under Federal lease in the Gulf of Mexico. Five tracts or 20,160 acres are drainage and development tracts, the remaining 240 tracts are wildcat. The proposed lease sale would be made under Section 8 of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (67 Stat. 462; 43 U.S.C. Sec. 1337) and regulations issued under that statute. The potential reserves to be developed on this sale are 50 million barrels of oil and 6 11 trillion cubic feet of gas. This would require 700 - 900 wells from 160-275 platforms and require 150 300 miles of pipeline. It is estimated that the proposed leases may produce 6,000 12,000 barrels of oil per day and 0.90 - 1.50 billion cubic feet of gas per day, after development and production stabilizes. In 1972, about 12% of the U. S. production of oil and condensate, and about 13% of the gas was from the OCS. 1/ The tracts are summarized by water depth, distance from shore, B. Relationship of This Proposed Action to Existing and Prospective This proposed action must be viewed as one part of a continuing activity that has been underway since the 1940's and that will continue future. indefinitely, with or without this proposed lease sale, on into the Although primary emphasis concerning the description of the proposal and its potential environmental effects has been placed on this particular sale in isolation from all previous activities of the same nature, it should also be put into a perspective of an on-going offshore oil and gas development process. As of January 11, 1974 there have been 24 OCS oil and gas lease sales on submerged lands in Federal areas of the Gulf of Mexico and 4 offshore the Pacific Coast.1/ Total Acreage Leased From the Inception of OCS Table 2. Acreage Currently Under Lease as Of January 11, 1974 There also have been five OCS sulphur and salt sales in the 1/ |