Executive Order (E.O.) 13891 of October 9, 2019, Promoting the Rule of Law Through Improved Agency Guidance Documents, and the Office of Management and Budget Memorandum M-20-02, issued October 31, 2019, which provides guidance on implementing the E.O., require that each Federal agency establish or maintain on its website a single, searchable, indexed database that contains or links to all guidance documents in effect from the agency.
On February 28, 2020, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) established its Guidance Portal, which contains all of the guidance documents that BOEM intends to cite, use or rely on. BOEM’s portal can be accessed at: http://www.boem.gov/guidance. Since that time, in accordance with E.O 13891 and M-20-02, ten Notices to Lessees and Operators (NTLs), have been revised, reissued, and uploaded to the portal. Seven of these NTLs are applicable to oil and gas operations in the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) in the Gulf of Mexico, one of which is a joint NTL with the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement. One NTL is applicable to the Pacific OCS, one to the Alaska OCS, and one is applicable to all areas of the OCS. The updates, which are largely technical and do not change the NTLs in a substantial way, are recommended rather than mandatory. The NTLs are as follows:
- JOINT NTL No. 2009-G26, U. S. Air Force Communication Towers
- BOEM NTL No. 2009-G34, Ancillary Activities
- BOEM NTL No. 2013-G01, Well Producibility Determinations
- BOEM NTL No. 2014-G02, Designation of Operator of an OCS Oil and Gas or Sulphur Lease
- BOEM NTL No. 2016-G01, Vessel Strike Avoidance and Injured/Dead Protected Species Reporting
- BOEM NTL No. 2016-G02, Implementation of Seismic Survey Mitigation Measures and Protected Species Observer Program
- BOEM NTL No. 2013-P01, Bottomhole Pressure Surveys
- BOEM NTL No. 2009-N11, Air Quality Jurisdiction on the OCS
- BOEM NTL No. 2005-G07, Archaeological Resource Reports and Surveys
- BOEM NTL No. 05-A03, Archaeological Survey and Evaluation for Exploration and Development Activities