[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 63 (Thursday, April 2, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Page 17732]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-07549]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

Department of the Navy


Supplemental Record of Decision for Surveillance Towed Array 
Sensor System Low Frequency Active (SURTASS LFA) Sonar

AGENCY: Department of the Navy, DoD.

ACTION: Notice of supplemental decision and availability.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The Department of the Navy (DoN) reaffirms its August 15, 
2012, Record of Decision to employ up to four Surveillance Towed Array 
Sensor System Low Frequency Active (SURTASS LFA) sonar systems with 
certain geographical restrictions and mitigation monitoring designed to 
reduce potential adverse effects on the marine environment, including 
operating LFA sonar systems in the waters in which the Hawaiian Islands 
Stock Complex of common bottlenose dolphins could occur. The August 15, 
2012, Record of Decision implemented the preferred alternative, 
Alternative 2, identified in the 2012 Final Supplemental Environmental 
Impact Statement (FSEIS)/Supplemental Overseas Environmental Impact 
Statement (SOEIS) for SURTASS LFA sonar.
    Following litigation challenging the adequacy of the 2012 FSEIS/
FSOEIS, the District Court for the Northern District of California 
determined that the DoN failed to use the best available data when it 
determined potential impacts from the employment of SURTASS LFA sonar 
systems on one stock of common bottlenose dolphins in Hawaiian waters 
rather than the more current information that shows five stocks of 
common bottlenose dolphins in Hawaiian waters. Accordingly, DoN 
prepared a narrowly-tailored FSEIS/SOEIS to remedy this deficiency. The 
National Marine Fisheries Service was a cooperating agency in 
accordance with 40 CFR 1501.6 for the development of the narrowly-
tailored FSEIS/FSOEIS.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The full text of the Record of Decision 
(ROD) is available for public viewing and download at http://www.surtass-lfa-eis.com. Single copies of the ROD are available upon 
request from SURTASS LFA Sonar SEIS/SOEIS Program Manager, 4350 Fairfax 
Drive, Suite 600, Arlington, VA 22203, or email: eisteam@surtass-lfa-
com.

    Dated: March 26, 2015.
P.A. Richelmi,
Lieutenant, Office of the Judge Advocate General, U.S. Navy, Alternate 
Federal Register Liaison Officer.
[FR Doc. 2015-07549 Filed 4-1-15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE CODE 3810-FF-P