[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 165 (Thursday, August 26, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 52555-52556]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-21154]
[[Page 52555]]
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NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION
Notice of Availability of a Draft Site-Specific Environmental
Assessment and Notice of Public Hearings; Correction
AGENCY: National Science Foundation.
ACTION: Notice of the availability of a Draft Site-Specific
Environmental Assessment (Draft SSEA) for the Ocean Observatories
Initiative (OOI), request for public comment on the Draft SSEA, and
notice of public hearings; Correction.
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SUMMARY: The National Science Foundation (NSF) published a document in
the Federal Register of August 16, 2010, concerning requests for public
comment on a Draft Site-Specific Environmental Assessment for the Ocean
Observatories Initiative (OOI). The document did not include the dates
and times for the open house sessions.
Correction
In the Federal Register of August 16, 2010, in FR Doc. 2010-20107,
on page 50008, in the second column, correct the DATES and ADDRESSES
caption to read:
DATES and ADDRESSES: All hearings will start with an open house session
from 7 p.m. to 7:45 p.m. A presentation and formal public comment
period will be held from 7:45 p.m. to 9 p.m. Public hearings will be
held on the following dates and at the following locations:
Wednesday, September 1, 2010, at Westport Maritime Museum,
Westport, WA.
Thursday, September 2, 2010, at Guin Library Seminar Room,
Hatfield Marine Science Center, Newport, OR.
Wednesday, September 8, 2010 date, at New Bedford Library,
613 Pleasant Street, New Bedford, MA 02740-6203.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Copies of the Draft SSEA are available
upon request from: Jean McGovern, NSF, Division of Ocean Sciences, 4201
Wilson Blvd., Arlington, VA 22230; Telephone: (703) 292-7591. The Draft
SSEA is also available at the following Web site: http://www.nsf.gov/geo/oce/envcomp/index.jsp.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The text from the original notice follows:
The National Science Foundation (NSF) gives notice of the
availability of the Draft SSEA for the OOI, and requests public review
and comment on the document. NSF also provides notice of public
hearings on the Draft SSEA for the OOI. The Division of Ocean Sciences
in the Directorate for Geosciences (GEO/OCE) has prepared a Draft SSEA
for the OOI, a multi-million dollar Major Research Equipment and
Facilities Construction effort intended to put moored and cable
infrastructure in discrete locations in the coastal and global ocean.
The Draft SSEA has been prepared to assess the potential impacts on the
human and natural environment associated with proposed site-specific
requirements in the design, installation, and operation of the OOI that
were previously assessed in a 2008 Programmatic Environmental
Assessment (PEA) and a 2009 Supplemental Environmental Report (SER).
The scope of the environmental impact analysis of the SSEA is tiered
from the previously prepared PEA, associated Finding of No Significant
Impact (FONSI), and SER. It focuses only on those activities and the
associated potential impacts, including cumulative impacts, resulting
from the site-specific installation and operation of OOI assets and not
previously assessed in the PEA and SER. The Draft SSEA is available for
public comment for a 30-day period. Comments may be mailed to Jean
McGovern, National Science Foundation, Division of Ocean Sciences, 4201
Wilson Blvd., Arlington, VA 22230, or submitted via e-mail at
[email protected]. The deadline for submitting comments is September
15, 2010.
NSF will conduct three public hearings to receive oral and written
comments on the Draft SSEA. Federal, state, and local agencies, Native
American Tribes and Nations, and interested individuals are invited to
be present or represented at the public hearings. This notice announces
the dates and locations of the public hearings for this Draft SSEA. An
open house session will precede the scheduled public hearing at each of
the locations listed below and will allow individuals to review the
information presented in the Draft SSEA. NSF representatives will be
available during the open house sessions to clarify information related
to the Draft SSEA.
Oceanographic research has long relied on research vessel cruises
(expeditions) as the predominate means to make direct measurements of
the ocean. Remote sensing (use of satellites) has greatly advanced
abilities to measure ocean surface characteristics over extended
periods of time. A major advancement for oceanographic research methods
is the ability to make sustained, long-term, and adaptive measurements
from the surface to the ocean bottom. ``Ocean Observatories'' are now
being developed to further this goal. Building upon recent technology
advances and lessons learned from prototype ocean observatories, NSF's
Ocean Sciences Division (OCE) is proposing to fund the OOI, an
interactive, globally distributed and integrated infrastructure that
will be the backbone for the next generation of ocean sensors and
resulting complex ocean studies presently unachievable. The OOI
reflects a community-wide, national and international scientific
planning effort and is a key NSF contribution to the broader effort to
establish focused national ocean observatory capabilities through the
Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS).
The OOI infrastructure would include cables, buoys, deployment
platforms, moorings, junction boxes, electric power generation (solar,
wind, and/or fuel cell,), and two-way communications systems. This
large-scale infrastructure would support sensors located at the sea
surface, in the water column, and at or beneath the seafloor. The OOI
would also support related elements, such as unified project
management, data dissemination and archiving, modeling of oceanographic
processes, and education and outreach activities essential to the long-
term success of ocean science. It would include the first U.S. multi-
node cabled observatory; fixed and re-locatable coastal arrays coupled
with mobile assets; and advanced buoys for interdisciplinary
measurements, especially for data limited areas of the Southern Ocean
and other high-latitude locations.
The OOI design is based upon three main technical elements across
global, regional, and coastal scales. At the global and coastal scales,
moorings would provide locally generated power to seafloor and platform
instruments and sensors and use a satellite link to shore and the
Internet. Up to four Global Scale Nodes (GSN) or buoy sites are
proposed for ocean sensing in the Eastern Pacific and Atlantic oceans.
The Regional-Scale Nodes (RSN) off the coast of Washington and Oregon
would consist of seafloor observatories with various chemical,
biological, and geological sensors linked with submarine cables to
shore that provide power and Internet connectivity. Coastal-Scale Nodes
(CSN) would be represented by the fixed Endurance Array, consisting of
a combination of cabled nodes and stand-alone moorings, off the coast
of Washington and Oregon, and the relocatable Pioneer Array off the
coast of Massachusetts, consisting of a suite of stand-alone moorings.
In addition, there would be an integration of mobile assets such as
autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVS) and/or
[[Page 52556]]
gliders with the GSN, RSN, and CSN observatories.
The Draft SSEA is available upon request from: Jean McGovern, NSF,
Division of Ocean Sciences, 4201 Wilson Blvd., Arlington, VA 22230;
Telephone: (703) 292-7591. It is also available for electronic public
viewing at the following Web site: http://www.nsf.gov/geo/oce/envcomp/index.jsp.
Federal, state, local agencies, Native American Tribes and Nations,
and interested parties are invited to be present or represented at the
public hearings. Written comments can also be submitted during the open
house sessions preceding the public hearings or at any time during the
30-day public review period of the Draft SSEA.
Oral statements will be heard and transcribed by a stenographer;
however, to ensure the accuracy of the record, all statements should be
submitted in writing. All statements, both oral and written, will
become part of the public record on the Draft SSEA and will be
responded to in the Final SSEA. Equal weight will be given to both oral
and written statements. In the interest of time available time, and to
ensure all who wish to give an oral statement have the opportunity to
do so, each speaker's comments will be limited to three (3) minutes. If
a long statement is to be presented, it should be summarized at the
public hearing with the full text submitted either in writing at the
hearing or mailed to Jean McGovern, National Science Foundation,
Division of Ocean Sciences, 4201 Wilson Blvd., Arlington, VA 22230. In
addition, comments may be submitted via e-mail at [email protected].
Dated: August 20, 2010.
Suzanne H. Plimpton,
Reports Clearance Officer, National Science Foundation.
[FR Doc. 2010-21154 Filed 8-25-10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7555-01-P