Gulf of Mexico OCS oil and gas lease sales 171, 174, 177, and 180: western planning area: final environmental impact statement

This environmental impact statement (EIS) addresses four proposed Federal actions that offer for lease areas on the Gulf of Mexico Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) that may contain economically recoverable oil and gas resources... Although this EIS addresses four proposed sale actions, only one sale decision will be made each year. This EIS will serve as a decision document for Sale 171 scheduled for 1998... The analytical methods used in this EIS have been formulated over a period of years. This first step of analysis is the identification of significant environmental and socioeconomic resources through the scoping process. A range of oil and natural gas resource estimates is derived from geologic and economic assumptions. Alternatives to the proposed actions are established. Estimated levels of exploration and development activity are assumed for the purposes of the anlysis. An analysis of the potential impacts expected on the significant environmental resources from the projected OCS-related activities is then conducted.