The Minerals Management Service has issued the final notice of sale for Beaufort Sea OCS Lease Sale 186 scheduled for Sept. 24. The final notice describes the sale area and environmental protection requirements. The entire sale area will be offered, with the exception of two deferral areas encompassing 26 blocks off Barrow and 28 blocks off Kaktovik used for subsistence whaling by certain communities. The sale area extends from the Canadian border on the east to near Barrow on the west and includes 1,794 whole or partial blocks that encompass about 9.4 million acres offshore Alaska’s northern coast in the Beaufort Sea. The final notice suspends royalties on certain volumes of oil and condensate production, subject to price thresholds, and restructures the minimum bid and rental rates to be more comparable with state and other federal North Slope oil and gas leasing terms. A final notice of sale may be requested from akwebmaster@mms.gov or by calling 1-800-764-2627.

Above-normal temperatures are forecast for most of Nevada and Arizona extending into parts of California, Utah, Idaho and Oregon next month, the National Weather Service said on Thursday in its 30-day weather outlook. NWS also said it expects above normal temperatures in the southern tip of Florida during September. In the three months from September to November, most of Arizona will continue to have above normal temperatures.

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