Meetings on proposed Gulf oil lease sales Tuesday

PANAMA CITY -- The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) will hold two public meetings in Panama City Tuesday to discuss two proposed oil and natural gas lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Florida, Alabama and Louisiana.

BOEM is in the process of preparing a supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) on the proposed new lease areas, which will provide an analysis of the environmental and socioeconomic impacts of oil and natural gas leasing, exploration, development and production in the Gulf.

According to BOEM, the EIS also will consider possible new circumstances and include information about the impacts of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

The meetings will be held at the Hilton Garden Inn, located at 1101 U.S. Highway 231 in Panama City at 1 p.m. and 6 p.m.