The Interior Department’s Bureau of Safety & Environmental Enforcement today announced that it is seeking comments by Tuesday, Sept. 7 on its intent to prepare a Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement to inform future decisions on applications for the decommissioning of oil and gas pipelines, platforms, and other facilities in federal waters off Southern California. The preliminary proposed action is to authorize applications for complete removal of platforms and other facilities, decommissioning all pipelines by removal, and clearing the seafloor of all obstructions created by the lease or right-of-way operations.
Acting BSEE Pacific Region Director Mike Mitchell called the announcement “the first step toward a robust and efficient review of anticipated applications for decommissioning oil and gas infrastructure off the California coast.”
A draft Programmatic EIS is scheduled for publication in Feb. 2022, followed by a final Programmatic EIS in June 2022.
