[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 213 (Thursday, November 3, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 76635-76637]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-26623]


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OFFICE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY POLICY


Submittal of Mid-Atlantic Regional Ocean Action Plan for National 
Ocean Council Certification

AGENCY: Office of Science and Technology Policy National Ocean Council, 
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 Mid-
Atlantic Regional Ocean Action Plan was approved for submittal to the 
National Ocean Council by the Mid-Atlantic Regional Planning Body and 
submitted to the National Ocean Council for certification, as required 
by Executive Order 13547. The National Ocean Council will certify, or 
not certify, the Mid-Atlantic Regional Ocean Action 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 Mid-
Atlantic Regional Ocean Action Plan can be found on the National Ocean 
Council's Web site at: https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/microsites/ostp/MidARegionalOceanActionPlan_November2016.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

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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 Mid-Atlantic 
Regional Planning Body (MidA RPB). 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.

Mid-Atlantic Regional Planning Body

    The MidA RPB includes six States (Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, 
New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia) and two Federally recognized 
Indian Tribes in the region, the Shinnencock Indian Nation and the 
Pamunkey Indian Tribe. Eight Federal Agencies serve on the MidA RPB: 
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, the National Park Service, the U.S. Fish and 
Wildlife 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 in an ex officio 
status. The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council also serves on the 
MidA RPB. The MidA RPB is not a regulatory body and has no independent 
legal authority to regulate or direct Federal, state, or tribal 
entities, nor does the Mid-Atlantic Regional Ocean Action Plan (Plan) 
augment or subtract from any agency's 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 Mid-Atlantic Regional Ocean Action Plan no 
sooner than 30 days from the publication of this Notice. Pursuant to 
Executive Order 13547, if the NOC certifies the Mid-Atlantic Regional 
Ocean Action 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 Mid-Atlantic Regional Ocean Action Plan

    The Mid-Atlantic Regional Ocean Action Plan is a comprehensive, 
flexible, and proactive approach to managing uses and resources in the 
marine environment of the Mid-Atlantic United States. The Plan is 
intended to strengthen interagency coordination, enhance public 
participation, and improve planning and policy implementation. The Plan 
has two main goals: (1) Healthy ocean ecosystems and (2) sustainable 
ocean uses. The Plan also describes best practices for coordination 
among Federal Agencies, Tribes, States, stakeholders, and the public. 
The Mid-Atlantic Regional Ocean Action 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, and energy) and 
marine life and habitat (through review of the methods, analyses, and 
draft products for spatial data characterizing species and their 
habitats). These data products reside on the Mid-Atlantic Ocean Data 
Portal (Data Portal or Portal). The MidA RPB uses the Portal, developed 
by the Mid-Atlantic Regional Council on the Ocean (MARCO), 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 New York to Virginia. A 
range of government entities, non-government organizations, and 
stakeholders in the Mid-Atlantic region are already using the Portal. 
It is available to the public online at the MidA Regional Ocean Action 
Plan Web site: http://midatlanticocean.org/data-portal/.
    As described in a Notice by the Department of the Interior's Bureau 
of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), published in the Federal Register on 
July 6, 2016 (81 FR 44040), the MidA RPB previously released a draft 
Mid-Atlantic Regional Ocean Action Plan for a 60-day public comment 
period. The MidA RPB prepared a summary and response to the comments 
received from the public and stakeholders on this draft that can be 
found at http://www.boem.gov/Ocean-Action-Plan.

III. Implementation of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Ocean Action Plan

    The Federal members of the MidA RPB administer a wide range of 
statutes and programs that involve or affect the marine environment in 
the Mid-Atlantic 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 MidA RPB 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

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affecting threatened and endangered species and migratory birds.
    The specific manner and mechanism each Federal agency will use to 
implement the Mid-Atlantic Regional Ocean Action Plan will depend on 
that agency's mission, authorities, and activities. If the NOC 
certifies that the Mid-Atlantic Regional Ocean Action Plan is 
consistent with the National Ocean Policy, the Final Recommendations, 
and the Handbook, each Federal MidA RPB member will use the Mid-
Atlantic Regional Ocean Action Plan to inform and guide its planning 
activities and decision-making actions, including permitting, 
authorizing, and leasing decisions that involve or affect the Mid-
Atlantic regional ocean planning area.
    Specifically, consistent with applicable statutory authorities, 
Executive Order 13547 and the Final Recommendations, the Federal 
Agencies represented on the MidA RPB, 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 Mid-Atlantic 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 Mid-Atlantic 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 Mid-
Atlantic 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 Mid-Atlantic Regional Ocean Action 
plan, MidA RPB members intend to use the Plan to align their priorities 
and share data and technical information to minimize conflicts among 
uses, take actions to 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 Mid-
Atlantic Regional Ocean Action 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. 2016-26623 Filed 11-2-16; 8:45 am]
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