This is to acknowledge receipt of your letter of June 28, 1984 requesting reinitiation of formal consultation pursuant to Section 7 of the Endangered Species Act on OCS oil and gas leasing and exploration activities in the Mid-Atlantic planning area. Your request has been forwarded to the Northeast Region, National Marine Fisheries Service, for appropriate action. Questions concerning this consultation should be addressed to Douglas Beach, National Marine Fisheries Service, Northeast Region, 14 Elm Street, Federal Building, Gloucester, Massachusetts 01930 (FTS-837-9288), or Patricia Montanio, Office of Protected Species and Habitat Conservation, National Marine Fisheries Service, Washington, D.C. 20235 (FTS-634-7529). From: Director, Minerals Management Service, Reston, VA ACTING Regional Director, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Newton Corner, MA Subject: Endangered Species Act Section 7 Formal Consultation for Proposed Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Lease Sale No. 111 in the MidAtlantic Planning Area (Mr. Bettenberg's Memo of June 28, 1984) We have reviewed your request for consideration of Sale No. 111 and discussed it with Endangered Species representatives from our Ashville, North Carolina Office. We do not feel that a new biological opinion is warranted in this instance, because the September 30, 1982 opinion for Sale No. 76 can be applied to Sale No. 111. The species have not changed, nor has the stipulation that leasing and exploration are the only activities covered by the opinion. In the future, we suggest that Section 7 requests be directed either to this office or to our Atlanta Office because we are now providing the responses. |