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that is required for clean up in the event of a spill within a certain period of time, the handling of mud, drill cuttings and so forth.

We have also found that in some cases where there is a severe environmental impact we will debate certain tracts from the offering. Through the process, we have considered a number of tracts and deleted those before we go to a sale.

In addition to that, the Geological Survey which supervises the operations on the lease, once they begin exploration or development, have continued to update and modify their operating regulations providing for environmental protection.

We have the listing of the most recent sales and tracts that were deleted from those sales because of environmental reasons or special stipulations that were put in.

Mr. DOWNING. I think that would be well to have in the record, and would you supply that for the record?

Mr. EDWARDS. Yes, we will supply it. [Document referred to follows:

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Note: Special lease stipulations include special requirements for platform placement and pipeline placement; special archeological and biological surveys; special cleanup equipment availability; and special operating requirements.

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR,
BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT,
November 14, 1974.

BLM ANNOUNCES NEW TENTATIVE OCS LEASE SALE SCHEDULE THROUGH 1978

The Department of the Interior's Bureau of Land Management has released a new four-year planning document for proposed oil and gas lease sales on the Nation's Outer Continental Shelf. The announcement was made by Secretary Rogers C. B. Morton at a meeting November 13 with coastal States Governors, Governorselect and their representatives at the White House, where plans for expanded OCS leasing were discussed.

The new planning schedule, prepared by the Bureau of Land Management which has responsibility for planning and conducting lease sales, projects sales through December 1978. Sales are projected in several frontier areas, including sales in the Gulf of Alaska and the Atlantic Seaboard in 1975.

These frontier areas have been proposed for oil and gas sale leasing to meet the Nation's current and future petroleum and natural gas energy needs. The undiscovered but recoverable resources of the OCS are estimated to be as much as 58 billion to 116 billion barrels of oil and from 355 trillion to 710 trillion cubie feet of natural gas.

The Secretary, in announcing the schedule explained that such a plan for developing the OCS is necessary to meet the Nation's energy needs through the 1980's. During this period, alternative energy sources will have only a limited impact, and while conservation measures may substantially reduce demand for petroleum, additional petroleum supplies will be needed.

The OCS resources represent the most practical immediate solution for providing more domestic oil and gas at a time when imports are uncertain and their cost is accelerating, Department officials said.

The new proposed leasing schedule is essential as a planning document so that industry and government can allocate resources. It also establishes sufficient time to conduct environmental baseline survey studies of the frontier OCS areas, and to prepare for appropriate environmental protection measures.

A draft environmental statement on the expanded and accelerated OCS leasing program for 1975 was made public on October 21. Public hearings on the accelerated leasing program are scheduled to be held in December.

The new four-year planning document is for interim planning purposes only. The Secretary of the Interior will not decide to hold any proposed sale of a specific area until after environmental impact statements are published and additional public hearings held for each area involved.

The new planning schedule proposes nine sales in Alaskan offshore waters and five in waters off the Atlantic Seaboard over the four-year period. There is also one sale proposed for the area off northern California, Oregon, and Washington. Six of the proposed sales involve waters deeper than the 200-meter mark. The deep water sales are proposed for the eastern Gulf of Mexico, southern California, and the mid and southern Atlantic areas.

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