[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 211 (Friday, October 31, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Page 58941]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-28904]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY


Coastal Nonpoint Pollution Control Program: Conditional 
Approvals, Findings Documents, Responses to Comments, and Records of 
Decision

AGENCY: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. 
Department of Commerce and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

ACTION: Notice of conditional approval of Coastal Nonpoint Pollution 
Control Programs and availability of Findings Documents, Responses to 
Comments, and Records of Decision for America Samoa, the Commonwealth 
of the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, Delaware, Maryland, and 
Pennsylvania.

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SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given of the conditional approval of the 
Coastal Nonpoint Pollution Control Programs (coastal nonpoint programs) 
and of the availability of the Findings Documents, Responses to 
Comments, and Records of Decision for American Samoa, the Commonwealth 
of the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, Delaware, Maryland, and 
Pennsylvania. Section 6217 of the Coastal Zone Act Reauthorization 
Amendments (CZARA), 16 U.S.C. section 1455b, requires states and 
territories with coastal zone management programs that have received 
approval under section 306 of the Coastal Zone Management Act to 
develop and implement coastal nonpoint programs. Coastal states and 
territories were required to submit their coastal nonpoint programs to 
the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the U.S. 
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for approval in July 1995.
    NOAA and EPA have approved, with conditions, the coastal nonpoint 
programs submitted by American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern 
Mariana Islands, Guam, Delaware, Maryland, and Pennsylvania.
    NOAA and EPA have prepared a Findings Document for each 6217 
program submitted for approval. The Findings Documents were prepared by 
NOAA and EPA to provide the rationale for the agencies' decision to 
approve each state and territory coastal nonpoint program. Proposed 
Findings Documents, Environmental Assessments, and Findings of No 
Significant Impact prepared for the coastal nonpoint programs submitted 
by American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, 
Guam, Delaware, Maryland, and Pennsylvania were made available for 
public comment in the Federal Register. Public comments were received 
and responses prepared on the programs submitted by Delaware, Maryland, 
and Pennsylvania. No public comments were received on the programs 
submitted by American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana 
Islands, and Guam.
    In accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), 
NOAA has also prepared a Record of Decision on each program. The 
requirements of 40 CFR Parts 1500-1508 (Council on Environmental 
Quality (CEQ) regulations to implement the National Environmental 
Policy Act) apply to the preparation of a Record of Decision. 
Specifically, 40 CFR section 1505.2 requires an agency to prepare a 
concise public record of decision at the time of its decision on the 
action proposed in an environmental impact statement. The Record of 
Decision shall: (1) State what the decision was; (2) identify all 
alternatives considered, specifying the alternative considered to be 
environmentally preferable; and (3) state whether all practicable means 
to avoid or minimize environmental harm from the alternative selected 
have been adopted.
    In March 1996, NOAA published a programmatic environmental impact 
statement (PEIS) that assessed the environmental impacts associated 
with the approval of state and territory coastal nonpoint programs. The 
PEIS forms the basis for the environmental assessment NOAA has prepared 
for each state and territorial coastal nonpoint program submitted to 
NOAA and EPA for approval. In the PEIS, NOAA determined that the 
approval and conditional approval of coastal nonpoint programs will not 
result in any significant adverse environmental impacts and that these 
actions will have an overall beneficial effect on the environment. 
Because the PEIS served only as a ``framework for decision'' on 
individual state and territorial coastal nonpoint programs, and no 
actual decision was made following its publication, NOAA has prepared a 
NEPA Record of Decision on each individual state and territorial 
program submitted for review.
    Copies of the Findings Documents, Responses to Comments, and 
Records of Decision may be obtained upon request from: Joseph A. 
Uravitch, Chief, Coastal Programs Division (N/ORM3), Office of Ocean 
and Coastal Resource Management, NOS, NOAA, 1305 East-West Highway, 
Silver Spring, Maryland, 20910, tel. (301) 713-3155, x195.

(Federal Domestic Assistance Catalog 11.419 Coastal Zone Management 
Program Administration)

    Dated: October 28, 1997.
Nancy Foster,
Assistant Administrator for Ocean Services and Coastal Zone Management, 
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Robert H. Wayland, III,
Director, Office of Wetlands, Oceans and Watersheds, Environmental 
Protection Agency.
[FR Doc. 97-28904 Filed 10-30-97; 8:45 am]
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