GM-21-x03 Mini-SOW_FINAL.docx

DESCRIPTION/SPECIFICATIONS/STATEMENT OF WORK

Environmental Justice Workshops for the Gulf of Mexico Region The Environmental Studies Program (ESP) of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) is offering a cooperative agreement opportunity to conduct workshops for improving procedures and methods for Environmental Justice (EJ) analyses and outreach by the Gulf of Mexico Regional Office (GOMRO). The mission of BOEM is to manage the exploration and development of the nation’s offshore resources in a way that appropriately balances economic development, energy independence and environmental protection through oil and gas leases and renewable energy development. ESP environmental studies and associated reviews support the decision-making behind the management of the nation’s offshore resources.

AUTHORITIES

Section 1346 of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA) mandates the conduct of environmental and socioeconomic studies needed for the assessment and management of environmental impacts on the human, marine, and coastal environments which may be affected by oil and gas or other mineral development. OCSLA Section 1345 authorizes the use of cooperative agreements with affected States to meet the requirements of OCSLA, including sharing of information and joint utilization of available expertise to carry out applicable Federal and State laws, regulations, and stipulations relevant to outer continental shelf operations both onshore and offshore. The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969 requires federal agencies to assess the environmental effects of their proposed actions prior to making decisions. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) is the federal agency established to conduct Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) lease sales and to assess the environmental and socioeconomic consequences of OCS activities. BOEM designed this project in direct response to Executive Order 14008 and DOI Secretarial Order No. 3399 regarding the climate crisis and restoring transparency and integrity to the decision-making process and advancing EJ. This project will create a mini-team of experts to engage Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) scientists over several months to further develop our understanding of of EJ-potential impacts, measures, and responsibilities associated with conventional and renewable energy infrastructure and activities. The team will refine, explain, and assess EJ determinants and outcomes in the light of current and ongoing environmental and socioeconomic changes.

BACKGROUND

The conventional energy industry in the Gulf of Mexico Region (GOMR) has matured over decades and is well-developed, expansive, extensive, and deeply intertwined in the coastal communities and economies of the Gulf states. Since the late 1990’s, this industry has been changing rapidly in terms of international business climate, industry practices, reorganizations, advances in technology, and significant market shifts, all of which have led to volatile fluctuations in oil and gas prices. Added to these massive changes is the recognition of climate change and the new and pressing need to develop renewable energy projects on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS). All of these relate to other unprecedented challenges (e.g., sea level rise, land loss, and forced migration) for coastal communities and populations. BOEM needs to consider how to ensure we are meaningfully addressing these issues that are facing coastal communities.

PURPOSE

This project aims to support BOEM’s effort to establish “best practices” for its Environmental Justice (EJ) analyses and communications. BOEM integrates EJ directives into its National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) processes, assessments, and tribal consultations. Thus, its purpose is to robustly address Executive Orders 12898 and 14008 which direct Federal agencies to consider and communicate the potential disproportionate effects of their actions on low income, minority, and indigenous populations. Renewable energy activities have become a potential new reality for the Federal OCS in the Gulf of Mexico with BOEM’s first wind energy lease auction scheduled for December 2022. Thus, the project’s purpose is to inform our EJ assessments for both conventional and renewable energy development in the Gulf Region. Also, the White House Environmental Justice Executive Council (WEJEC) and the Department of the Interior (DOI) have indicated that EJ analyses should be expanded, when appropriate, to include such issues as social and economic equity and climate change. Thus, the project aims to explore effective ways for BOEM’s GOMR to address these issues under EJ. In sum, the purpose of this project is to support BOEM decisionmaking regarding EJ-related processes, determinations, and outreach.

OBJECTIVES This project will support the refinement of BOEM EJ practices and procedures by providing expert advice – via a workshop format – on EJ goals, methods, applications, and alternative solutions specifically as they apply to baseline conditions. The workshops will allow participants to assess and document issues, questions, and potential approaches relevant to implementing EJ.

TASKS

Tasks to be completed include, but are not limited to:

1. Post-award meeting, provide agenda and summary

2. Identify and recruit participants

3. Establish overall workshop design Task numbers 4-8 occur for each workshop (3-4 in total, based on progress and BOEM/PI determination of the potential usefulness of a 4th workshop).

4. Draft agendas and circulate for revision

5. Finalize agendas

6. Conduct and document workshops with Workshop Summaries

7. Circulate Workshop Summaries for revisions

8. Finalize Workshop Summaries Tasks 9-11 occur after all workshops are held.

9. Draft and circulate Technical Synthesis of the workshop results with supporting materials to BOEM and external workshop participants for review

10. Finalize Technical Synthesis and supporting materials

11. Presentation of findings (if requested) BOEM anticipates a funding level of $96,000 for this work with a twelve (12) month Period of Performance (POP).

MEETINGS, REPORTS, AND OTHER DELIVERABLES

A. Post-Award Meeting, Agenda and Summary. The Principal Investigator (PI) shall participate in a post-award meeting held at a location agreeable to all parties, or by teleconference/webinar (i.e., either face-to-face or by MS Teams or Zoom), within two (2) weeks following the award. The goal of this meeting is to ensure a clear understanding by all of project tasks, concerns, goals, deliverables, and timelines. At least one (1) week prior to the meeting the PI shall, in concert with the Project Officer (PO), develop the meeting agenda and list of participants. The agreed-to agenda will be emailed by the PI to the PO and the ESPR, when confirmed, will be forwarded to all meeting participants. The Post Award Meeting is held to ensure that the terms of the agreement are clear and workable.

Within one (1) week following this meeting, the Recipient shall submit to the PO and Environmental Studies Program Representative (ESPR) for review, via email, a short (1-2 pp.) Meeting Summary that highlights any significant points in the discussions. After acceptance, the PI shall resubmit a finalized Meeting Summary to BOEM incorporating BOEM feedback.

B. Memoranda: Selection of Workshop Participants. Two to three (2-3) BOEM staff will participate in the workshop including the PO. The PI along with three to seven (3-7) external experts will also participate in workshops although numbers and personnel will vary according to the content of the topics to be addressed at each workshop. The subject matter to be addressed is broad ranging, involving, for example, questions regarding the identification of impact areas, communities, and populations, impacting factors (or origins, causal relationships, and outcomes), case law, current distributions of authorities and responsibilities, and potential approaches to assessment, outreach, and mitigation. Because of this range, the workshop will benefit from expertise in many areas. For example, at different times the workshop will draw on detailed knowledge of local community conditions, engagement methods to encourage local participation, understanding of the local effects of infrastructure such as port facilities or pipelines, and experience with large questions such as climate change and its local effects. The group will address some questions serially from one workshop to the next and some in more detail from one to the next. The PI and PO will work in concert throughout the POP to identify and recruit workshop participants with the objective of matching their expertise to the questions at hand.

One (1) week prior to each Workshop, the PI will submit to BOEM a Memorandum that includes all participants. These Memoranda shall include attachments for each external member of a workshop providing the participant’s biography (preferably submitted by them) and any documentation necessary for BOEM to include their work in the final product.

C. Organizational Meetings and First Workshop Agenda. The PO and PI will begin planning the First Workshop Agenda via MS Teams or Zoom within two (2) weeks following the Post-Award Meeting. When the PO and PI have determined that sufficient workshop participants have been onboarded, they will hold a meeting that includes selected participants via MS Teams or Zoom to develop an overall vision for the Workshop series including the objectives, goals and procedures that will serve as a road map for the overall project. Based on this road map, the group will then develop the Workshop 1 Agenda. This Agenda will detail the subject matter (i.e., topics, issues, questions, related materials) to be discussed and, when relevant, assign roles and responsibilities.

Within one (1) week following the last Organizational Meeting, the PI shall distribute this draft Agenda via email to the workshop participants for their review.

D. Workshop Summaries (Draft and Final). The PI will organize hold and document between three (3) and four (4) workshops during the POP. The workshops will occur via MS Teams or Zoom with (probably) some in person attendance. The objective of these workshops is to provide guidance useful to BOEM. Since no definitive answers exist, the workshops are not designed to tell the Agency what it should do, but, rather, what alternative approaches exist for addressing various problems, what are their respective advantages and disadvantages, who has tried them and how have they worked. The workshops will explore questions of law and NEPA, environmental justice and the environment, and how other federal and state agencies have addressed similar questions. The project will proceed iteratively. Besides examining issues, each workshop except the last will discuss the questions to be taken up in the detailed agenda for the next meeting.

The workshop proceedings are the heart of this project. The PI will document the discussions and use them to produce each Workshop Summary. To ensure that critical meeting exchanges are properly interpreted, the workshops may be recorded but these would not be used as minutes or as permanent records and would be destroyed at the end of the project. They would only be used to supplement meeting notes while developing the Workshop Summary.

The PI will produce a draft Workshop Summary within one (1) week of each workshop’s conclusion. This summary should be clear, concise, underscore significant points, include short descriptions of discussions, and include appended presentations. The PI will distribute this draft (without the appended presentations) to the workshop participants via email for their review. Workshop participants will have one (1) week to provide comments and suggested revisions Within the four (4) weeks following each workshop’s conclusion, the PI will respond to review comments received, and will deliver, via email, this updated final version (Workshop Summary) to the workshop participants, the BOEM CO, and the ESPR.

E. Workshop Agendas (Draft and Final). Workshops explore concerns regarding government actions and their consequences to minority and disadvantaged populations within current social, economic, physical, legal, and jurisdictional contexts and how, in these contexts, BOEM may better address these concerns through a combination of communication and assessment. Each workshop, except for the last, will be tasked with identifying the content and approaches that will be taken by the next workshop.

Within one (1) week after each workshop, based on these discussions, the PI will draft a Workshop Agenda to cover the next meeting, and provide this draft to the workshop participants via email for their review. Workshop participants will have one (1) week to provide comments and suggested revisions Within four (4) weeks following each workshop’s conclusion, the PI will make appropriate responses to review comments, and will deliver, via email, the Final Workshop Agendas to the workshop participants, the BOEM CO, and the ESPR.

F. Technical Synthesis (Draft and Final). The PI shall provide BOEM with a Draft of the Technical Synthesis designed to serve the Agency as an insightful source of salient information and analyses as BOEM addresses pressing issues of Environmental Justice. The Draft shall be clear and concise, yet a well-documented and complete summary and explanation of the Workshops’ proceedings and outcomes. All necessary supporting material and/or documentation (e.g., the bibliography) will be incorporated or appended.

The Technical Synthesis (Draft) will be completed within nine (9) months of Cooperative Agreement Award date. This Draft will be reviewed by Workshop participants for clarity and completeness. The PI and PO will resolve all editorial and substantive issues raised by the review. The PI will incorporate these changes into the final Technical Synthesis and provide to BOEM within eleven (11) months of the Award date by email.

G. Technical Summary (Draft and Final). The Recipient shall prepare a technical summary of the Final Report. The summary should be approximately two (2) single-spaced typewritten pages in length with a format as indicated by BOEM specifications. The Draft shall be submitted within nine (9) months the Cooperative Agreement Award date. The Final shall be submitted within eleven (11) weeks of the Award date by email.

H. Presentations of Findings. During the POP, BOEM may request that the PI provide up to two (2) “briefings” or presentations of the workshop results to BOEM management and/or staff. These might be at the BOEM New Orleans office but, more likely, by MS Teams or Zoom and would be intended to inform and elicit discussion. To ensure that there would be no scheduling conflicts, the PI would be provided at least three (3) weeks notice prior to BOEM plans to hold a briefing and the PI will review with the PO, either in person or via email, the presentation, and any supporting materials at least one (1) week prior to the event.

SCHEDULE AND DISTRIBUTION OF DELIVERABLES

Deliverable products shall be submitted to the addresses shown below in accordance with the following schedule:

ESPR – one (1) copy PO – one (1) copy CO – one (1) copy Within two (2) weeks of award. Agenda due one (1) week prior to meeting Summary due within one (1) week after meeting.

PO – one (1) copy CO – one (1) copy One (1) week prior to each workshop.

PO – one (1) copy

First meeting to be held within two (2) weeks after Post-Award Meeting. Agenda due one (1) week after the last Organizational Meeting.

PO – one (1) copy of each CO – one (1) copy of Final Draft distribution within one (1) week of each Workshop. Final due four (4) weeks after each Workshop’s conclusion

PO – one (1) copy CO – one (1) copy of Final Draft distribution within one (1) week of each Workshop. Final due four (4) weeks after each Workshop’s conclusion

PO – one (1) copy of each CO – one (1) copy of Final Draft due nine (9) months after Award. Final due eleven (11) months after Award.

ESPR – one (1) copy of each PO – one (1) copy of each CO – one (1) copy of Final Draft due nine (9) months after Award. Final due eleven (11) months after Award.

PO – one (1) copy CO – one (1) copy Presentation and any supporting materials due one (1) week prior to event for review

BUDGET LEVEL

The total budget is $96,000 comprised of $5,000 from the Environmental Studies Program and $91,000 from the Gulf of Mexico Region, Office of Environment.

ADDRESSES FOR DELIVERABLES

Project Officer [PO] Sindey Chaky Bureau of Ocean Energy Management Office of Environment, GM 673E 1201 Elmwood Park Blvd, New Orleans, LA 70123 Sindey.Chaky@boem.gov Contracting Officer [CO] Dominique Bruce-Morton Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement Acquisition Policy & Systems Branch 45600 Woodland Road, VAE-AMD Sterling, Virginia 20166 Dominique.Bruce-Morton@bsee.gov

(Addresses continued on next page) Chief, Division of Environmental Sciences [DES] U.S. Department of the Interior Bureau of Ocean Energy Management Division of Environmental Sciences 45600 Woodland Road, VAM-OEP Sterling, VA 20166 EnvironmentalStudiesProgram2@boem.gov Environmental Studies Program Representative [ESPR] John Primo Bureau of Ocean Energy Management Division of Environmental Sciences 45600 Woodland Road, VAM-OEP Sterling, Virginia 20166 john.primo@boem.gov