[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 133 (Wednesday, July 11, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 32099-32100]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-14750]


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

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration


Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement for the Coral Reef 
Conservation Program; Notice of Intent; Scoping Period Announcement

AGENCY: Office for Coastal Management (OCM), National Ocean Service 
(NOS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 
Department of Commerce (DOC).

ACTION: Notice of intent; announcement of public scoping period and 
request for written comments.

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

SUMMARY: The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 
Office for Coastal Management announces its intention to prepare a 
programmatic environmental impact statement (PEIS) in accordance with 
the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) for its Coral Reef 
Conservation Program (CRCP), which is managed out of NOAA's National 
Ocean Service in Silver Spring, MD, and implemented in coastal areas 
and marine waters of Florida, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, Gulf of 
Mexico, Hawaii, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, 
American Samoa, the U.S. Pacific Remote Island Area, and targeted 
international regions including the wider Caribbean, the Coral 
Triangle, the South Pacific, and Micronesia. Publication of this 
document begins the official scoping period that will help identify 
issues and alternatives to be considered in the PEIS.

DATES: Written comments on the intent to prepare a PEIS will be 
accepted on or before Wednesday, August 15, 2018.

ADDRESSES: You may submit scoping comments for the CRCP PEIS by any of 
the following methods:
     Federal e-Rulemaking Portal: Go to http://www.regulations.gov/NOAA-NOS-2018-0077. Click the ``Comment Now!'' 
icon, complete the required fields, and enter or attach your comments.
     Mail: Please direct written comments to Harriet Nash, 
Deputy Director, NOAA's Coral Reef Conservation Program, Office for 
Coastal Management, 1305 East-West Highway, N/OCM6, Room 10404, Silver 
Spring, MD 20910.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background

    NOAA is preparing a Draft Programmatic Environmental Impact 
Statement (DPEIS) for coral reef

[[Page 32100]]

conservation and restoration activities implementing NOAA's CRCP 
throughout the United States, South Atlantic Ocean, Gulf of Mexico, and 
Pacific Island Regions, and priority international areas (i.e., wider 
Caribbean, Coral Triangle, South Pacific, and Micronesia). It will 
assess the direct, indirect, and cumulative environmental impacts of 
NOAA's proposed action to continue funding and otherwise implementing 
coral reef conservation and restoration activities. This will be 
achieved through its existing programmatic framework and related 
procedures for implementing the CRCP. The CRCP is implemented 
consistently with the requirements of the Coral Reef Conservation Act 
of 2000 (CRCA) and Executive Order 13089. Projects implemented or 
funded by NOAA vary in terms of their size, complexity, geographic 
location, and NOAA involvement. They often benefit diverse coral 
species, habitats, and ecosystem types. The CRCP conducts research and 
monitoring to gather data on the existence and condition of coral reef 
ecosystems to support conservation and restoration efforts. NOAA 
implements the CRCP across four of its line offices (i.e., National 
Ocean Service, Oceanic and Atmospheric Research, National Marine 
Fisheries Service, National Environmental Satellite Data Information 
Service) and in coordination with other federal agencies, state and 
local agencies, private conservation organizations, and research and 
academic institutions. A significant amount of this support is 
administered through grants and cooperative agreements. CRCP activities 
are prioritized based on available funding and the responsiveness to 
the priorities in its strategic plan, including jurisdictional needs.
    The purpose of this DPEIS is to identify and evaluate the general 
environmental impacts, issues, and concerns related to the 
comprehensive management and implementation of the CRCP, including 
potential mitigation. NOAA anticipates that actual environmental 
effects will be caused by site-specific, project-level activities 
implementing the CRCP; therefore, this DPEIS will be used to support 
tiered, site-specific NEPA reviews by narrowing the scope of 
environmental impacts and facilitating focused, project-level reviews. 
NOAA also intends for this DPEIS to establish a tiered environmental 
decision making framework that will support efficient compliance with 
other statutes protecting natural resources such as the Endangered 
Species Act and Marine Mammal Protection Act. Since the CRCP will use 
this DPEIS to conduct tiered analyses, this document does not evaluate 
the environmental impacts of any project-level activities.

Alternatives

    NOAA is preliminarily proposing to analyze three program-level 
alternatives:
     No Action Alternative reflecting the ``status quo'' 
management of the CRCP based on minimizing threats.
     Alternative 1: Continued Operation of the CRCP based on 
minimizing threats with the addition of a framework to further 
research, test, and potentially implement novel coral restoration 
intervention techniques to respond rapidly to imminent threats to 
corals and coral ecosystems.
     Alternative 2: Continued Operation of the CRCP plus 
implementation of discretionary, standardized conservation and 
mitigation measures with or without the addition of a framework for 
novel intervention techniques.
    The fundamental distinction between Alternative 1 and the No Action 
Alternative is that Alternative 1 would adopt a framework that would 
add novel intervention techniques as tools to respond to imminent 
threats to corals. The DPEIS will consider the environmental effects of 
a suite of these intervention strategies, but will not commit to 
implement any. Implementation would occur through a separate decision 
making process. The primary distinction between Alternative 2 and the 
No Action Alternative is that Alternative 2 would call for 
implementation of not only mitigation measures imposed through 
statutory and regulatory compliance but also discretionary, 
standardized conservation and mitigation measures designed to further 
protect and conserve marine and other environmental resources. 
Alternative 2 could be adopted with or without a framework for novel 
intervention strategies.
    Preliminary major issues to be addressed in this DPEIS may include: 
the impact of the CRCP's activities and operations on coral ecosystems; 
coral species listed as threatened or endangered under the Federal 
Endangered Species Act; other marine and terrestrial resources; and the 
cumulative effects of the action when considered along with 
environmental conditions and past, present, and future actions 
potentially affecting coral and coastal ecosystems and coastal marine 
resources. The CRCP is also seeking to identify mitigation measures 
that would be effective at avoiding, minimizing, and mitigating adverse 
effects of project-level activities and specifically requests public 
comment on this issue.

Public Comment

    OCM begins this NEPA process by soliciting input from the public 
and interested parties on the type of impacts to be considered in the 
DPEIS, the range of alternatives to be assessed, and any other 
pertinent information. Specifically, this scoping process is intended 
to accomplish the following objectives:
    1. Invite affected federal, state, and local agencies, and 
interested persons to participate in the DPEIS process.
    2. Determine the potential significant environmental issues to be 
analyzed in the DPEIS.
    3. Identify and eliminate issues determined to be insignificant or 
addressed in other documents.
    4. Identify related environmental documents being prepared.
    5. Identify other environmental review and consultation 
requirements.
    The official scoping period ends on August 15, 2018. Please visit 
the CRCP web page for additional information regarding the program: 
https://coralreef.noaa.gov/.

Authority

    The preparation of the DPEIS for the CRCP will be conducted under 
the authority and in accordance with the requirements of NEPA, Council 
on Environmental Quality Regulations (40 CFR parts 1500-1508), other 
applicable regulations, and NOAA's policies and procedures for 
compliance with those regulations.
    Written comments must be received on or before August 15, 2018.

    Dated: June 29, 2018.
W. Russell Callender,
Assistant Administrator for Ocean Services and Coastal Zone Management, 
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
[FR Doc. 2018-14750 Filed 7-10-18; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3510-08-P