Should these potentially hazardous materials be encountered, they should be released overboard with as little handling as possible. Also, the location of these materials should be noted and reported to the Regional Supervisor, Field Operations (RS/FO). Conflict with Deepwater Municipal Sludge Site For blocks within the Deepwater Municipal Sludge Site, the lessee must contact the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (Chief, Water Permits and Compliance Branch, U.S. EPA, Region II, Jacob K. Javits Federal Building, 26 Federal Plaza, New York, NY 10278), so that potential conflict in area usage would be mitigated through coordination of activities. This contact must be in writing at least ninety (90) days prior to moving a rig on-site, thus, in a timeframe commensurate with the NPDES permit application/evaluation process. This would apply for the following blocks: For blocks within the Deepwater Industrial Waste Site, the lessee must contact the U.S. EPA (Chief, Water Permits and Compliance Branch, U.S. EPA, Region II, Jacob K. Javits Federal Building, 26 Federal Plaza, New York, NY 10278), so that potential conflict in area usage would be mitigated through coordination of activities. This contact must be in writing at least ninety (90) days prior to moving a rig on-site, thus, in a timeframe commensurate with NPDES permit application/evaluation process. This would apply for the following blocks: NJ 18-6 161-163 205-207 Conflict with Proposed North Atlantic Incineration Site For blocks within the proposed North Atlantic Incineration Site, the lessee must contact the U.S. EPA (Chief, Marine Protection Branch, WH-585, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC 20460), so that potential conflict in area usage would be mitigated through coordination of activities. This contact must be in writing at least thirty (30) days prior to moving a rig on-site. This would apply for the following blocks: In the event that an alternative location within the proposed sale area is selected as the final North Atlantic Incineration Site, lessees of those blocks will be subject to the same provision specified above. Under Alternative 2, the resource estimates and the anticipated development scenario would remain the same as in the proposed action, unless additional information becomes available which would modify the resource estimates. This alternative assumes a delay period of one year. Delaying Lease Sale 111 would: 1) Allow incorporation of additional information from exploration on leased blocks in this region, or adjacent OCS regions, into the environmental assessment process. 2) Provide additional time to complete ongoing studies particularly in the lease sale area. (See Table IV.F.1). 3) Delay any adverse impacts from offshore operations in the b. lease sale area and allow time to increase the expertise and technology to mitigate environmental and socioeconomic perturbations. Summary of Environmental Consequences Implementation of this alternative would benefit the biological resources by allowing time to collect additional information to further assess potential impacts, and to evaluate mitigating techniques to protect the resources. Delaying the sale would not, however, reduce the potential impacting agents (e.g., number of platforms, volume of discharges, number of oil spills) unless the resource estimates are modified. Delay may benefit endangered species (e.g., turtles and whales) since preliminary results from related studies (NMFS's aerial survey of turtles and whales) will be available for a possible reassessment of the impacts discussed within this document. Also, these results could help to identify important habitat for whales and turtles, thus aiding appraisal of the benefits of various alternatives, particularly the deletion options. Impacts on water quality, plankton, benthos, fisheries, cultural resources, endangered species, marine and coastal birds, economic resources, and coastal recreation and tourism, would be unchanged from those projected to occur under the proposed action, Alternative 1. Implementation of this alternative is the equivalent of no action. However, this alternative will not preclude oil and gas activity in the Mid-Atlantic OCS. Previous lease sales have generated exploration activity with the potential for development and production operations should a commercial discovery be made. However, due to the relatively small mean resource estimate for currently leased lands located within Sale 111 area Cancelling Sale No. 111 will eliminate impacts expected to result from the proposed action as described under Alternative 1, but not all impacts from oil and gas activity in the Mid-Atlantic region. Exploration activities may continue from previous lease sales in the region. In addition, if proposed Sale No. 111 is cancelled, any of the blocks in it could be reoffered in the next Mid-Atlantic Sale. However, realization of economic or national security benefits resulting from the estimated OCS-generated 200 million barrels of oil and 3.6 trillion cubic feet of gas would be deferred for the near future with a corresponding loss in tax revenues. The reduction in available energy would necessitate increased imports of oil and gas, require increased energy conservation by industry or individuals and/or dictate the development of alternative energy sources to replace the energy resources expected to be recovered if the sale takes place. A description of alternative energy sources, equivalent energy amounts, and environmental/economic impacts and obstacles to implementation of alternative actions or sources is presented in Section IV.G.3. Should this alternative be implemented, the major Sale No. 111 exploratory/ development-associated structures (4 platforms, 28 exploratory/development wells, 45 production wells, 300 miles of gas pipeline) would be eliminated. Commensurately, routine discharges from the estimated (mean) number of rigs for Sale No. 111 would not occur. These discharges would include such items as drilling muds (1.4 million barrels), drill cuttings (348,960 barrels), and formation waters (160 million barrels). Also, the one assumed oil spill greater than 1,000 barrels resulting from Sale No. 111 activities would not occur. Cancellation of the sale could result in reduced impacts on some Mid-Atlantic fishery resources (especially the inshore and continental shelf species) benthic organisms, sea birds, endangered species (e.g., sea turtles) and critical habitats. Potential Sale No. 111-associated impacts on coastal recreation resources, such as tourist beaches, would be eliminated under this alternative. Cancellation of the sale would have no impact on current employment, population, or infrastructure at either the regional or local level. However, this would eliminate the estimated 1,810 direct and secondary jobs that could have been created by the sale. Cancellation of the sale would eliminate the use-conflict between oil and gas exploration and development activities and the NASA Wallops Island Flight Facility. Also, the potential, minor conflict with existing and proposed ocean dumping within the sale area would be eliminated. Although all impacts related to oil spills from the proposed action would be eliminated, the transport of imported oil through the region, the most likely cause of a large spill in the region (27 spills greater than 1,000 barrels projected), would continue. II.B.4 Alternative 4: NASA Deferral. Modify the Proposal by Deferring 65 Blocks to Avoid Operational Conflicts with NASA Activities This alternative consists of deferring 65 blocks (approximately 2 percent of the sale area) within protraction diagram NJ 18-8 (see figure II.B.4-1). NASA's Wallops Island Flight Facility at Wallops Island, Virginia, identified these 65 blocks to be within their surface-free flight zone. Deferral of these blocks will eliminate the remote possibility of an exploratory rig and/or production platform being damaged by falling debris from rocket and missile test conducted by NASA and Wallops Island. The conditional mean resource estimates for this alternative are 190 mmbbl of oil and 3.3 tcf. of gas. The development scenario will remain the same as the proposed action; one gas pipeline and tanker transport of oil to refineries on the Delaware and Raritan Bays (see Appendix B for more details). A list of the blocks to be deferred under this alternative is given below. Anticipated level of environmental impacts under this alternative remain the same as projected under the proposed action (see Section II.B.1.B) because the alternative defers only 2 percent of the total sale area. Direct impacts to Washington Canyon biological assemblages will be eliminated under this alternative. Because the number of wells, miles of pipeline, and discharge of drilling fluids will remain the same as the proposed action, no change in impact levels from the proposed action is expected for plankton, benthos, fisheries, fish, marine birds, endangered species, or recreation and tourism. II.B.5 Alternative 5: Canyon Area Deferral. Modify the Proposal The 59 whole blocks and 54 partial blocks (see Table |