[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 6 (Wednesday, January 10, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 1217-1218]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 07-42]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmosphere Administration


Alaska Coastal Management Program: Incorporation of Revised 
Coastal District Management Plans for Cities of Skagway, Hoonah, and 
Pelican; and Deletion of Coastal District Management Plans for Cities 
of Angoon, Hydaburg, Kake, Klawock, and St. Paul with Associated Areas 
Meriting Special Attention; Availability of Environmental Assessment 
and Finding of No Significant Impact

AGENCY: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. 
Department of Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of availability of Environmental Assessment and Finding 
of No Significant Impact.

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SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given of the availability of the 
Environmental Assessment (EA) and Finding of No Significant Impact 
(FONSI) for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's 
(NOAA) approval of the State of Alaska's Coastal Management Program 
(ACMP) request to incorporate revisions to the cities of Skagway, 
Hoonah and Pelican's coastal district management and plan and to delete 
the cites of Angoon, Hydaburg, Kake, Klawock, and St. Paul coastal 
district management plans and associated Areas Meriting Special 
Attention (AMSA) as a routine program change to the ACMP. The EA was 
prepared pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) 
U.S.A. 4321 et seq. to assess the environmental impacts associated with 
the approval and implementation of these revisions to the ACMP, which 
were submitted to NOAA by the State of Alaska. Pursuant to Section 
306(g) of the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972 as amended (CZMA) and 
NOAA's Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management (OCRM) 
regulations (15 CFR part 923, subpart H), OCRM is required to approve 
any amendment, modification, or other change to a state's federally-
approved coastal management program. This includes changes to local 
coastal management programs. See 15 CFR part 923, subpart E.
    For the purposes of this EA, the proposed action is approval of the 
proposed revisions to three district coastal management plans and 
deletion of the five district coastal management plans and associated 
AMSA. These changes to the ACMP will bring the three revised district 
coastal management plans into compliance with the recently-approved 
amendments to the ACMP, and eliminate five previously-approved district 
coastal management plans and their associated AMSA. The five districts 
will no longer participate at the local level in the State's federally-
approved coastal zone management program. The coastal area in which the 
five deleted coastal management programs reside will continue to be 
covered by the ACMP's federally-approved statewide (rather than local) 
policies. However, due to other recent changes to the ACMP approved by 
OCRM, some district area uses and resources may not receive the same 
level of resource coverage, including subsistence resources.
    NOAA finds that the ACMP has met the requirements for submitting a 
routine program change to OCRM and proposes to approve the program 
change. Based upon the EA, NOAA proposes to conclude that a Finding of 
No Significant Impact is appropriate, and therefore, an Environmental 
Impact Statement is unnecessary. The Council on Environmental Quality's 
regulations to implement NEPA require agencies to provide public notice 
of the availability of environmental documents. 40 CFR 1506.6. This 
notice is part of NOAA's action to comply with this requirement.
    A copy of the final EA and the Finding of No Significant Impact may 
be found on OCRM's Web site at http://coastalmanagement.noaa.gov/assessments/welcome.html or may be obtained upon request from: Helen 
Bass, Coastal Programs Division (N/ORM3),

[[Page 1218]]

Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management, NOS, NOAA, 1305 East-
West Highway, Silver Spring, Maryland 20910, telephone: (301) 713-3155, 
x175, e-mail: [email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Helen Bass, Environmental Protection 
Specialist, at the above noted address, telephone number, or e-mail 
address.

    Dated: January 4, 2007.
William Corso,
Deputy Assistant Administrator, Ocean Services and Coastal Zone 
Management, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
(Federal Domestic Assistance Catalog 11.419 Coastal Zone Management 
Program Assistance)
[FR Doc. 07-42 Filed 1-9-07; 8:45 am]
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