[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 143 (Thursday, July 25, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 35854-35855]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-15820]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Notice of Intent To Develop a Policy for Determining Harmful
Algal Bloom (HAB) and Hypoxia Events of National Significance in Marine
or Coastal Waters; Opportunity To Provide Information
AGENCY: National Ocean Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA), Department of Commerce.
ACTION: Notice; request for comments.
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SUMMARY: The Harmful Algal Bloom and Hypoxia Research and Control
Amendments Act of 2017 (HABHRCA) provides NOAA with authority to
determine that a harmful algal bloom (HAB) or hypoxia event in marine
or coastal waters is an event of national significance. NOAA may make
this determination on its own initiative or upon the request of the
Governor of an affected state. Following an event of national
significance determination, NOAA is further authorized to make sums
available to the affected state or local government for the purposes of
assessing and mitigating the detrimental environmental, economic,
subsistence use, and public health effects of the event of national
significance. Funds would be subject to the availability of
appropriations. The Federal share of the cost of any activity carried
out for the purposes described above may not exceed 50 percent of the
cost of that activity. NOAA is soliciting comments to inform the
development of agency policy for determining HAB and hypoxia events of
national significance in marine and coastal waters. NOAA will
subsequently issue, in the Federal Register, notice of availability of
the draft policy and provide an opportunity for formal public comment
on the draft policy after it is prepared. Note that HABHRCA provides
the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) with comparable
authority for determining freshwater hypoxia or HAB events of national
significance. The EPA will issue a separate notice to solicit comments
on freshwater hypoxia or HAB events.
DATES: Comments must be received on or before Monday, September 9,
2019.
ADDRESSES: You may submit information by any of the following methods:
Electronic Submission: Public comments can be submitted
electronically either through the National Centers for Coastal Ocean
Science web page (https://coastalscience.noaa.gov/).
Email: You may submit comments via email to
[email protected]. Please indicate ``HAB and hypoxia
event of national significance'' in the email subject line.
Mail: Submit all written comments to Caitlin Gould at
NOAA, National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science, SSMC-4, Rm. #8237,
1305 East-West Highway, Silver Spring, MD 20910. Please mark the
outside of the envelope ``HAB and hypoxia event of national
significance.''
Instructions: Comments must be submitted by one of the
above methods to ensure that the information is received, documented,
and considered by NOAA. Comments sent by any other method, or received
after the comment period, may not be considered by NOAA. Do not submit
confidential business information or otherwise sensitive or protected
information. NOAA will accept anonymous comments.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Maggie Broadwater at (843) 460-9684.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: HAB and hypoxic events are some of the most
scientifically complex and economically damaging coastal issues
challenging our ability to safeguard the health of our
[[Page 35855]]
nation's coastal ecosystems. Almost every state now experiences some
kind of HAB event, and the number of hypoxic water bodies in the United
States has increased over the last century. Recent economic analyses
show effects costing hundreds of millions of dollars. Even just one
major HAB or hypoxia event can incur tens of millions of dollars to
local coastal economies, indicating that the nationwide economic
impacts are likely much larger.
In 1998, Congress recognized the severity of these threats and
passed the Harmful Algal Bloom and Hypoxia Research and Control Act
(HABHRCA 1998; Pub. L. 105-383). The Harmful Algal Bloom and Hypoxia
Research and Control Amendments Act of 2004 (HABHRCA 2004, Pub. L. 108-
456) and 2014 (HABHRCA 2014, Pub. L. 113-124) reaffirmed and expanded
the mandate for NOAA to advance the scientific understanding and
ability to detect, monitor, assess, and predict HAB and hypoxia events.
Congress most recently reauthorized and amended HABHRCA through the
National Integrated Drought Information System Reauthorization Act of
2018 (Pub. L. 115-423). Section 9 of this Act, cited as the Harmful
Algal Bloom and Hypoxia Research and Control Amendments Act of 2017,
provides NOAA and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency with
independent authority to make a determination of ``HABs and hypoxia
events of national significance.'' Following such a determination,
federal officials may ``make sums available to the affected State or
local government for the purposes of assessing and mitigating the
detrimental environmental, economic, subsistence use, and public health
effects of the event of national significance.'' Funds would be subject
to the availability of appropriations. This notice focuses only on the
authority granted to NOAA and provides interested parties with an
opportunity to provide information early in the policy development
process for determining HAB and hypoxia events of national significance
in marine or coastal waters.
Factors to be considered in making a determination include the
toxicity of the HAB, severity of hypoxia, potential for spread,
economic impact, relative size in relation to the past five
occurrences, and the geographic scope. NOAA is accepting comments to
inform the development of guidance for assessing these considerations
and whether additional factors should be considered. The determination
process optimally will include quantitative and qualitative means of
assessment. In particular, NOAA is interested in the following topics:
The approach that NOAA should use to quantify and qualify
the factors identified in the reauthorization of HABHRCA to determine
an event of national significance.
[cir] How NOAA should define and weigh the following statutory
parameters:
[ssquf] Toxicity of the HAB and severity of hypoxia;
[ssquf] Economic impact;
[ssquf] Relative size in relation to the past five occurrences of
HAB or hypoxia events; that occur on a recurrent or annual basis;
[ssquf] Geographic scope, including the potential to spread and
affect either a single jurisdiction or multiple municipalities, states,
or countries.
[cir] Based on the statutory parameters above, how should NOAA
define significant detrimental environmental, economic, subsistence
use, and public health effects and what thresholds should be considered
in making a determination.
[cir] Whether NOAA should consider developing additional criteria,
and, if so, how NOAA should quantify or qualify these additional
criteria. For example:
[ssquf] How NOAA should define an hypoxia event, and whether
hypoxia should be defined relative to a set value or specific to an
organism, a place, or time;
[ssquf] Whether NOAA should consider inclusion of the duration of
an event;
[ssquf] Whether NOAA should consider the level of public concern
and, if so, how to measure that.
For the parameters described above, the information that a
state should provide when requesting a determination and/or funds.
For the purposes of a determination, and possible
assessments and/or mitigation funds, how NOAA should define (A) the
start and end of an event; and (B) the geographic extent of the event.
Relative to these definitions, whether and how NOAA should establish
the point at which states can/may make a funding request for assessment
and mitigation assistance.
For an event that has affected more than one state or
shows the potential to do so in the case of an on-going event, whether
NOAA should:
[cir] Make a single determination for an event applicable to all
states affected at the time of a determination and any future states
affected by the event via geographic expansion, movement, or
intensification of the event, or;
[cir] limit determinations to the area requested by a State based
on the then-current location and geographic extent of the event. This
alternative could result in multiple state-by-state determinations for
a single event.
How to define subsistence use.
The definition of the 50% federal/state match, and what
contributions may be considered.
To ensure clarity, NOAA requests separate comments for HAB and
hypoxia events as it is likely that the factors for each will be
considered differently. For more details and background, please refer
to this site: https://coastalscience.noaa.gov/.
Authority: 33 U.S.C. 4001 et seq.
Steven Thur,
Director, National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science, National Ocean
Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
[FR Doc. 2019-15820 Filed 7-24-19; 8:45 am]
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