[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 240 (Friday, December 13, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 68146-68147]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-26825]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Notice of Availability of a Draft Programmatic Environmental
Impact Statement for the Coral Reef Conservation Program
AGENCY: Office for Coastal Management (OCM), National Ocean Service
(NOS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),
Department of Commerce (DOC).
ACTION: Notice of availability of a draft Programmatic Environmental
Impact Statement; Request for comments.
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SUMMARY: The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),
Office for Coastal Management has prepared a draft programmatic
environmental impact statement (PEIS) in accordance with the National
Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) for its Coral Reef Conservation
Program (CRCP), which is managed by NOAA's National Ocean Service in
Silver Spring, MD, and implemented in coastal areas and marine waters
of Florida, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, Gulf of Mexico, Hawaii,
Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa,
the U.S. Pacific Remote Islands, and targeted international regions
including the wider Caribbean, the Coral Triangle, the South Pacific,
and Micronesia. Publication of this document begins the public comment
period for the draft PEIS.
DATES: Written comments on the draft PEIS will be accepted on or before
January 27, 2020.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments on the CRCP's draft PEIS by any of
the following methods:
Federal e-Rulemaking Portal: Go to http://www.regulations.gov/NOAA-NOS-201-0127. Click the ``Comment Now!'' icon,
complete the required fields, and enter or attach your comments.
Mail: Please direct written comments to Harriet Nash,
Deputy Director, NOAA's Coral Reef Conservation Program, Office for
Coastal Management, 1305 East-West Highway, N/OCM6, Room 10404, Silver
Spring, MD 20910.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Liz Fairey, NMFS Office of Habitat
Conservation, NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program, 1315 East-West
Highway, Silver Spring, MD 20910, [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: NOAA has prepared a draft PEIS for coral
reef conservation and restoration activities conducted by NOAA's Coral
Reef Conservation Program (CRCP) throughout parts of the United States,
including the South Atlantic Ocean, Gulf of Mexico, and Remote Pacific
Islands, and priority international areas (i.e., wider Caribbean, Coral
Triangle, South Pacific, and Micronesia). The draft PEIS assesses the
direct, indirect, and cumulative environmental impacts of NOAA's
proposed action to continue funding and otherwise conducting coral reef
conservation and restoration activities through the CRCP's existing
programmatic framework and related procedures. The CRCP is implemented
consistently with the requirements of the Coral Reef Conservation Act
of 2000 (CRCA) and Executive Order 13089. Projects implemented or
funded by NOAA vary in terms of their size, complexity, geographic
location, and NOAA involvement, and often benefit diverse coral
species, habitats, and ecosystem types. The CRCP conducts research and
monitoring to gather data on the existence and condition of coral reef
ecosystems to support conservation and restoration efforts. NOAA
implements the CRCP across four of its line offices (i.e., National
Ocean Service, Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research, National
Marine Fisheries Service, and National Environmental Satellite, Data,
and Information Service) and in coordination with other federal
agencies, state and local agencies, private conservation organizations,
and research and academic institutions. A significant amount of this
support is administered through grants and cooperative agreements. CRCP
activities are prioritized based on available funding and the
responsiveness to the priorities in its strategic plan, including
jurisdictional needs. The draft PEIS identifies and evaluates the
general environmental impacts, issues, and concerns related to the
comprehensive management and implementation of the CRCP, including
potential mitigation. NOAA anticipates that some environmental effects
will be caused by site-specific, project-level activities implementing
the CRCP; therefore, the final PEIS will be used to support tiered,
site-specific National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) reviews
by narrowing the scope of environmental impacts and facilitating
focused, project-level reviews. NOAA also intends for this draft PEIS
to establish a tiered environmental decision-making framework that will
support efficient compliance with other statutes protecting natural
resources such as the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and Marine Mammal
Protection Act to the extent they apply. Since the CRCP will use the
Final PEIS to conduct tiered analyses, this document does not evaluate
the environmental impacts of any project-level activities. The draft
PEIS analyzes three program-level alternatives:
No Action Alternative: The No Action Alternative would
involve continued operation of the CRCP based on minimizing the three
primary threats to coral reefs (i.e., fishing impacts, land-based
sources of pollution, and climate change) and supporting research and
possible application of novel coral restoration and intervention
techniques to respond rapidly to imminent threats, such as increased
bleaching and disease, to corals and coral reef ecosystems. CRCP
operations would include monitoring, research activities, watershed and
coral reef restoration, reduction of physical impacts to coral reefs,
outreach and education, and program support. The CRCP would continue to
be implemented using available appropriations, across four NOAA line
offices, using a mix of internal and external funding, across existing
geographic areas, and in collaboration with similar partners. The CRCP
would continue to conduct program activities with mandatory mitigation
measures developed in
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compliance with applicable environmental laws such as the ESA. For the
purposes of this draft PEIS, it is assumed that the activities would be
conducted in the same manner as they currently are.
Alternative 1: This alternative would reflect the
management of the CRCP to address and minimize the three primary
threats but would not include research and possible application of
restoration and intervention techniques targeting coral populations.
The CRCP would continue to be implemented using available
appropriations, across four NOAA line offices, using a mix of internal
and external funding, across existing geographic areas, and using
similar partners. The CRCP would continue to conduct program activities
with mandatory mitigation measures developed in compliance with
applicable environmental laws such as the ESA.
Alternative 2: This alternative would continue management
of CRCP to address and minimize the three primary threats and support
research and possible application of novel coral restoration and
intervention techniques to respond rapidly to imminent threats (i.e.,
the No Action Alternative) plus implement discretionary mitigation
measures. The fundamental difference between this alternative and the
other alternatives is that Alternative 2 would identify and implement a
suite of standard, discretionary conservation and mitigation measures
that would supplement mandatory mitigation measures required by
statutes.
The fundamental distinction between Alternative 1 and the No Action
Alternative is that the No Action Alternative would include research
and potential application of novel restoration and intervention
techniques as tools to respond to imminent threats to corals. The draft
PEIS considers the environmental effects of a suite of these
intervention strategies. Implementation could occur through a separate
decision-making process. Alternative 1 would not implement restoration
and intervention techniques targeting coral populations: It would
instead focus resources solely on addressing the three primary threats
that CRCP has prioritized over the last several years. Alternative 2
would be identical to the No Action Alternative except that it would
call for implementation of not only mitigation measures imposed through
statutory and regulatory compliance but also discretionary conservation
and mitigation measures designed to further protect and conserve marine
and other environmental resources.
The purpose of this NOA is to invite affected federal, state, and
local agencies, and interested persons to participate in the draft PEIS
process and provide comments on the structure, contents, and analysis
in the draft PEIS. The official public review and comment period ends
on January 27, 2020. Please visit the CRCP web page for additional
information regarding the program: https://coralreef.noaa.gov/.
Authority: The preparation of the draft PEIS for the CRCP will
be conducted in accordance with the requirements of NEPA, the
Council on Environmental Quality's Regulations (40 CFR parts 1500-
1508), other applicable regulations, and NOAA's policies and
procedures for compliance with those regulations. Written comments
must be received on or before January 27, 2020.
Keelin Kuipers,
Deputy Director, Office for Coastal Management, National Ocean Service,
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
[FR Doc. 2019-26825 Filed 12-12-19; 8:45 am]
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