🐻❄️Proposed Authorization for Polar Bear Incidental Harassment in Alaska
We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, in response to a request under the Marine Mammal Protection Act from the Bureau of Land Management, propose to authorize nonlethal incidental take by harassment of small numbers of Southern Beaufort Sea (SBS) polar bears (Ursus maritimus) for 1 year from the date of issuance of the incidental harassment authorization (IHA). The applicant requested this authorization for take by harassment that may result from activities associated with oil well plugging and reclamation, soil sampling, snow trail, pad, and airstrip construction, and summer cleanup activities in the North Slope Borough of Alaska between Wainwright and Oliktok. This proposed authorization, if finalized, will be for up to 12 takes of polar bears by Level B harassment. No Level A harassment or lethal take is requested, expected, or proposed to be authorized. We invite comments on the proposed IHA, the application package, draft environmental assessment, and related documents from the public and local, State, Tribal, and Federal agencies.
Learn More⚖️2025 Civil Penalties Adjustments for Offshore Energy Operations
This final rule implements the 2025 inflation adjustments to the maximum daily civil monetary penalties in the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management's (BOEM) regulations for violations of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA) and the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA). These inflation adjustments are made pursuant to the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015 (Improvements Act) and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) memorandum M-25-02. The 2025 adjustment multiplier of 1.02598 accounts for 1 year of inflation from October 2023 through October 2024.
Learn More💵2025 CMP Inflation Adjustments
Pursuant to the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 1990, as amended by the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015 (referred to herein as the "Inflation Adjustment Acts"), and Office of Management and Budget ("OMB") guidance, ONRR is adjusting for inflation the civil monetary penalty ("CMP") amounts it assesses under the Federal Oil and Gas Royalty Management Act of 1982 ("FOGRMA").
Learn More🌊New LOA for Marine Mammal Take in Gulf of Mexico Geophysical
In accordance with the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), as amended, its implementing regulations, and NMFS' MMPA Regulations for Taking Marine Mammals Incidental to Geophysical Surveys Related to Oil and Gas Activities in the Gulf of Mexico, notification is hereby given that NMFS has issued a Letter of Authorization (LOA) to LLOG Exploration Offshore, L.L.C. (LLOG) for the take of marine mammals incidental to geophysical survey activity in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM).
Learn More🛢️Coastal Plain Lease Sale Notice
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is changing the oil and gas lease sale bid opening date, previously published in the Federal Register on December 10, 2024, for 12 tracts in the Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
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