Notice of Availability (NOA) of and Request for Comments on the 2017-2022 Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Oil and Gas Leasing Proposed Program MAA104000

BOEM is announcing the availability of, and requests comments on, the 2017-2022 Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Oil and Gas Leasing Proposed Program (Proposed Program). This proposal is the second of three proposals for the 2017-2022 OCS Oil and Gas Leasing Program that will succeed the current, 2012-2017 Program. The Proposed Program provides information and analyses to inform the Secretary of the Interior's (Secretary) decision on the size, timing, and location of leasing in the 2017-2022 Program. Section 18 of the OCS Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1344) specifies a multi- step process of consultation and analysis that must be completed before the Secretary may approve a new Five-Year Program. The required steps following this notice include the development of a Proposed Final Program (PFP) analysis and Secretarial decision. In conjunction with this notice, BOEM is publishing the Draft Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) for the 2017-2022 Program, which was prepared in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).