[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 7 (Wednesday, January 11, 1995)]
[Notices]
[Pages 2742-2743]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-648]


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[[Page 2743]]

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

Office of the Secretary


Marine Mammals

agency: Advanced Research Projects Agency, DOD.

action: Notice of public hearing on draft environmental impact 
statement.

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summary: The Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) in cooperation 
with the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) will hold a public 
hearing on a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for the Kauai 
Acoustic Thermometry of Ocean Climate (ATOC) Project and its associated 
Marine Mammal Research Program (MMRP).

dates: The public hearing will take place on February 10, 1995, at 6:00 
PM, at the Mabel Smyth Building, 510 S. Beretania Street, Honolulu, 
Hawaii.

addresses: For a copy of the Draft EIS, contact Marilyn E. Cox, Campus 
Planning Office, 0006, 9500 Gilman Drive, University of California, San 
Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093. Telephone (619) 534-3860.

for further information contact: All non-government organizations and 
scientists who wish to present prepared testimony should contact Mr. 
Eugene Nitta, Protected Species Program Coordinator, Pacific Ocean 
Area-NMFS at (808) 973-2937 at least 48 hours in advance of the hearing 
so that a general agenda can be prepared. A written copy of each 
testimony to be presented is requested on the day of the hearing. It is 
advised to use slides or overheads only if absolutely necessary during 
presentations, and copies of any slides or overheads are requested to 
be made available to Mr. Nitta on the day of the hearing.
    Other people who are interested in making a statement at this 
hearing should bring a written copy of the statement to the hearing, 
and will be given an opportunity to make such statements following the 
prepared testimonies. Anyone who needs additional information or 
requires special accommodations to attend the public hearing should 
contact the person named above at least seven (7) days in advance of 
the hearing. Comments on the Draft EIS will be accepted until February 
20, 1995.

supplementary information: On April 15, 1994, notice was published in 
the Federal Register that the ARPA, in cooperation with the NMFS, 
intended to prepare an EIS, pursuant to the National Environmental 
Policy Act (NEPA), on an application for a scientific research permit 
to allow harassment of marine mammals and sea turtles by a low 
frequency sound source associated with the ATOC program in waters off 
Kauai, Hawaii, and to monitor the effects thereof. The ATOC project is 
a basin scale research effort to determine long-term ocean climate 
changes by using acoustic sound paths in the sea's deep ``sound 
channel'' to precisely measure average ocean temperatures. A two-year 
research program is proposed to be carried out to study any potential 
effects of the ATOC sound transmissions on marine mammals and sea 
turtles. Two sound sources are currently proposed; one off the north 
shore of Kauai, Hawaii (which is the subject of this Draft EIS) and the 
other offshore California near Point Sur (the subject of a separate 
draft EIS).

    Dated: January 6, 1995.
Patricia L. Toppings,
Alternate OSD Federal Register Liaison Officer, Department of Defense.
[FR Doc. 95-648 Filed 1-10-95; 8:45 am]
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