Every five years, the Minerals Management Service (MMS), the government agency responsible for oil and gas leasing in the U.S. offshore, develops a Five-Year Plan. That plan determines where and how often oil and gas lease sales will occur over the next five-year period. The next plan will determine where oil and gas leasing will occur during the period 2007- 2012. Thus, if an area is not made available in the pending five-Year Plan, oil and gas leasing cannot occur in the area until beyond 2012.MMS designs the plan based on the input from the public. The MMS is now...