[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 203 (Thursday, October 20, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 72622-72624]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-25372]


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OFFICE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY POLICY


Northeast Ocean Plan for National Ocean Council Certification

AGENCY: National Ocean Council, Office of Science and Technology 
Policy; Council on Environmental Quality; Department of Agriculture; 
Department of Commerce; Department of Defense; Department of Energy; 
Environmental Protection Agency; Department of Homeland Security; 
Department of the Interior; Department of Transportation; and Chairman, 
Joint Chiefs of Staff.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The National Ocean Council notifies the public that the 
Northeast Ocean Plan was approved for submittal to the National Ocean 
Council by the Northeast Regional Planning Body and submitted to the 
National Ocean Council for certification on October 14, 2016, as 
required by Executive Order 13547. The National Ocean Council will 
certify, or not certify, the Northeast Ocean Plan as consistent with 
the National Ocean Policy, Final Recommendations of the Interagency 
Ocean Policy Task Force, and the Marine Planning Handbook no sooner 
than 30 days from the publication of this Notice. The Northeast Ocean 
Plan can be found on the National Ocean Council's Web site at: https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/microsites/ostp/NortheastOceanPlan_October2016.pdf.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Deerin S. Babb-Brott, Director, 
National Ocean Council, 202-456-4444.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Background

National Ocean Policy

    Executive Order 13547, Stewardship of the Ocean, Our Coasts, and 
the Great Lakes, signed July 19, 2010, established the National Ocean 
Policy to protect, maintain, and restore the health and biodiversity of 
the ocean, coastal, and Great Lakes ecosystems and resources; enhance 
the sustainability of the ocean and coastal economies and provide for 
adaptive management; increase our scientific understanding and 
awareness of changing environmental conditions; and support 
preservation of navigational rights and freedoms, in accordance with 
customary international law, which are essential for conservation of 
marine resources, sustaining the global economy and promoting national 
security. The National Ocean Policy encourages a comprehensive, 
ecosystem-based, and transparent ocean planning process for analyzing 
current and anticipated uses of ocean and coastal areas and resources. 
This includes the voluntary development of regional marine plans by 
intergovernmental regional planning bodies such as the Northeast 
Regional Planning Board (NERPB). These regional plans build on existing 
Federal, State, and Tribal planning and decision-making processes to 
enable a more comprehensive and proactive approach to managing marine 
resources, sustaining coastal uses and improving the conservation of 
the ocean, our coasts, and the Great Lakes.

Northeast Regional Planning Body

    The NERPB includes six States (Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, 
New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont) and six federally recognized 
Indian Tribes (Aroostook Band of Micmacs, Houlton Band of Maliseet 
Indians, Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Council, Mohegan Indian Tribe of 
Connecticut, Narragansett Indian Tribe of Rhode Island, and Wampanoag 
Tribe of Gay Head [Aquinnah]). Ten Federal Agencies serve on the NERPB: 
Department of Agriculture represented by the Natural Resource 
Conservation Service; Department of Commerce represented by the 
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; Department of Defense 
represented by the U.S. Navy; Department of Energy; Department of 
Homeland Security represented by the U.S. Coast Guard; Department of 
the Interior represented by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management in 
coordination with Fish and Wildlife Service, National Park Service, and 
U.S. Geological Survey; Department of Transportation represented by the 
Maritime Administration; Environmental Protection Agency; Chairman of 
the Joint Chiefs of Staff represented by the U.S. Navy; and the U.S. 
Army Corps of Engineers in an ex officio status. The New England 
Fishery Management Council also serves on the NERPB. The NERPB is not a 
regulatory body and has no independent legal authority to regulate or 
direct Federal, State, or Tribal entities, nor does the Northeast Ocean 
Plan (NE Ocean Plan or Plan) augment or subtract from any agency's

[[Page 72623]]

existing statutory or regulatory authorities.

National Ocean Council

    Executive Order 13547 established the National Ocean Council (NOC) 
to direct implementation of the National Ocean Policy. The NOC is 
comprised of: The Secretaries of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, 
Energy, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Interior, Labor, 
State, and Transportation; the Attorney General; the Administrators of 
the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Aeronautics and Space 
Administration, and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; 
the Directors of the Office of Management and Budget, National 
Intelligence, the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), and 
National Science Foundation; the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; 
the Chairs of the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) and the 
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission; the Assistants to the President 
for National Security Affairs, Homeland Security and Counterterrorism, 
Domestic Policy, Energy and Climate Change, and Economic Policy; and an 
employee of the Federal Government designated by the Vice President. 
The Chair of CEQ and the Director of OSTP co-chair the NOC.

NOC Certification of Regional Marine Plans

    Executive Order 13547 adopts the Final Recommendations of the 
Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force (Final Recommendations). The Final 
Recommendations set forth the process for the NOC to review and certify 
each regional marine plan to ensure it is consistent with the National 
Ocean Policy and includes the essential elements described in the Final 
Recommendations as further characterized by the NOC's subsequent Marine 
Planning Handbook (Handbook; 2013). Consistent with the Final 
Recommendations and the Handbook, the NOC will determine whether to 
certify, or not certify, the Northeast Ocean Plan no sooner than 30 
days from the publication of this Notice. Pursuant to Executive Order 
13547, if the NOC certifies the NE Ocean Plan, Federal Agencies shall 
comply with the Plan in the conduct of their missions and programs to 
the fullest extent consistent with applicable law.

II. The Northeast Ocean Plan

    The NE Ocean Plan is a comprehensive, ecosystem-based, and 
proactive approach to managing uses and resources in the marine 
environment of the Northeast United States. The Plan is intended to 
strengthen interagency coordination, enhance public participation, and 
improve planning and policy implementation. The Plan has three main 
goals: (1) Healthy ocean and coastal ecosystems; (2) effective 
decision-making; and (3) compatibility among past, current, and future 
ocean uses. The Plan also describes best practices for coordination 
among Federal Agencies, Tribes, States, stakeholders, and the public.
    The NE Ocean Plan is informed by extensive stakeholder data and 
input. Throughout the planning process, stakeholders were involved in 
developing data products for human activities (such as shipping, 
fishing, recreation, energy, and aquaculture) and marine life and 
habitat (through review of the methods, analyses, and draft products 
for spatial data characterizing species and their habitat). These data 
products reside on the Northeast Ocean Data Portal (Data Portal or 
Portal). The NERPB developed the Portal, in collaboration with an 
associated working group, to serve as a user-friendly source of maps, 
data, and tools that can serve as one source of information to inform 
ocean planning from the Gulf of Maine to Long Island Sound. A range of 
government entities, non-government organizations, and stakeholders in 
the Northeast region are already using the Portal. It is available to 
the public online at www.northeastoceandata.org.
    As described in a Notice by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 
Administration, published in the Federal Register on May 25, (2016 81 
FR 33213), the NERPB previously released a draft NE Ocean Plan for a 
sixty-day public comment period. The NERPB prepared a summary and 
response to the comments received from the public and stakeholders that 
can be found at www.NOAA.oceanplanning.org.

III. Implementation of the NE Ocean Plan

    The Federal members of the NERPB administer a wide range of 
statutes and programs that involve or affect the marine environment in 
the Northeast regional ocean planning area. These Federal departments 
and agencies carry out actions under Federal laws involving a wide 
range of regulatory responsibilities and non-regulatory missions and 
management activities throughout the Nation's waterways and the ocean. 
Activities of Federal NERPB members include managing and developing 
marine transportation infrastructure, national security and homeland 
defense activities; regulating ocean discharges; siting energy 
facilities; permitting sand removal and beach re-nourishment; managing 
national parks, national wildlife refuges, and national marine 
sanctuaries; regulating commercial and recreational fishing; and 
managing activities affecting threatened and endangered species and 
migratory birds.
    The specific manner and mechanism each Federal agency will use to 
implement the NE Ocean Plan will depend on that agency's mission, 
authorities, and activities. If the NOC certifies that the NE Ocean 
Plan is consistent with the National Ocean Policy, the Final 
Recommendations, and the Handbook, each Federal NERPB member will use 
the NE Ocean Plan to inform and guide its planning activities and 
decision-making actions, including permitting, authorizing, and leasing 
decisions that involve or affect the Northeast regional ocean planning 
area.
    Specifically, consistent and within existing statutory authorities, 
Executive Order 13547 and the Final Recommendations, the Federal 
Agencies represented on the NERPB, and their relevant components, 
expressly including the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in its ex officio 
status for responsibilities beyond those in Title 10, U.S. Code, will: 
(1) Identify, develop, and make publicly available implementing 
instructions, such as internal agency guidance, directives, or similar 
organizational or administrative documents, that describe the way the 
agency will use the Plan to inform and guide its actions and decisions 
in or affecting the Northeast regional ocean planning area; (2) ensure 
that the agency, through such internal administrative instructions, 
will consider the data products available from the Data Portal in its 
decision making and as it carries out its actions in or affecting the 
Northeast regional ocean planning area; and (3) explain its use of the 
Plan and Data Portal in its decisions, activities, or planning 
processes that involve or affect the Northeast regional ocean planning 
area.

IV. Conclusion

    The National Ocean Policy provides a path for Federal Agencies, 
States and Tribes to work collaboratively and proactively to manage the 
many existing and future uses of the Nation's oceans, coasts and Great 
Lakes. If the NOC certifies the plan, NERPB members intend to use the 
NE Ocean Plan to align their priorities and share data and technical 
information to minimize conflicts among uses, take actions to

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promote the productivity of marine resources, sustain healthy 
ecosystems, and promote the prosperity and security of the Nation's 
ocean and coastal communities and their economies for the benefit of 
present and future generations. The NOC will review the NE Ocean Plan 
for consistency with the National Ocean Policy, Final Recommendations 
of the Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force, and the Marine Planning 
Handbook and make its determination no sooner than 30 days from the 
publication of this Notice.

    Authority:  Executive Order 13547, ``Stewardship of the Ocean, 
Our Coasts and the Great Lakes'' (July 19, 2010).

Ted Wackler,
Deputy Chief of Staff and Assistant Director.
[FR Doc. 2016-25372 Filed 10-19-16; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3270-F7-P