[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 86 (Monday, May 4, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 26443-26444]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-09109]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration


Review of Nomination for Chumash Heritage National Marine 
Sanctuary

AGENCY: Office of National Marine Sanctuaries (ONMS), National Ocean 
Service (NOS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 
Department of Commerce (DOC).

ACTION: Notice; Request for Written Comments.

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[[Page 26444]]

SUMMARY: The Office of National Marine Sanctuaries (ONMS) of the 
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is requesting 
written comments to facilitate ONMS review of the nomination for 
Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary (CHNMS). NOAA is requesting 
relevant information as it pertains to the 11 national significance 
criteria and management considerations that NOAA applied to evaluate 
the CHNMS nomination for inclusion in the national inventory of areas 
that NOAA may consider for future designation as a national marine 
sanctuary. Particular attention will be given to new scientific 
information about the national significance of natural and cultural 
resources, as well as increases or decreases in the threats to 
resources originally proposed for protection, and changes to the 
management framework of the area. NOAA will also assess the level of 
community-based support for the nomination from a broad range of 
interests. NOAA has provided the original nominating party, the 
Northern Chumash Tribal Council, an opportunity to share its views on 
these same questions. Subsequent to the information gathering and 
internal analysis, the ONMS Director will make a final determination on 
whether or not the CHNMS nomination will remain in the inventory prior 
to the five-year anniversary of accepting the nomination, October 5, 
2020.

DATES: NOAA will conduct a virtual meeting to explain the review 
process to the public and accept information orally from speakers 
during the virtual meeting. The meeting will be conducted on Wednesday 
May 27, 2020 at 6:00 p.m. PT. For more information regarding how to 
participate in the public meeting and the CHNMS nomination go to 
https://nominate.noaa.gov. Written comments must be received by June 
15, 2020.

ADDRESSES: Comments may be submitted by the following method:
    Federal eRulemaking Portal: https://www.regulations.gov. Submit 
electronic comments via the Federal eRulemaking Portal with Docket 
Number NOAA-NOS-2020-0063.
    Instructions: All comments received are a part of the public 
record. All personal identifying information (for example, name, 
address, etc.) voluntarily submitted by the commenter may be publicly 
accessible. Do not submit confidential business information or 
otherwise sensitive or protected information. NOAA will accept 
anonymous comments (enter N/A in the required fields to remain 
anonymous).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: William Douros Regional Director, ONMS 
West Coast Region, 99 Pacific Street, Bldg. 100F, Monterey, CA 93940, 
or at [email protected], or 831-647-6452.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background Information

    In 2014, NOAA issued a final rule establishing the sanctuary 
nomination process (SNP), a process by which communities may submit 
nominations of areas of the marine and Great Lakes environment for NOAA 
to consider for designation as a national marine sanctuary (79 FR 
33851). The final rule establishing the SNP included a five-year limit 
on any nomination added to the inventory that NOAA does not advance for 
designation. In November 2019, NOAA issued a notice (84 FR 61546) to 
clarify procedures for evaluating and updating a nomination as it 
approaches the five-year mark. The clarified procedure ensures the 
inventory contains nominations that remain relevant and responsive to 
the 11 SNP national significance criteria and management considerations 
(``SNP Criteria''). The 11 SNP Criteria can be found at https://nominate.noaa.gov.
    The nomination for CHNMS was accepted to the national inventory on 
October 5, 2015, and is therefore scheduled to expire in October 2020. 
NOAA is not proposing to designate CHNMS or any other any new national 
marine sanctuary with this action. Accordingly, written comments 
submitted as part of this request should not focus on whether NOAA 
should initiate the designation process for CHNMS. Rather comments 
should address the relevance of the nomination towards the SNP Criteria 
and any new information NOAA should consider about the nominated area. 
Comments that do not address the SNP Criteria and new information NOAA 
should evaluate will not be considered in determining whether to extend 
the CHNMS nomination for another five years.
    The process to update a nomination about to expire at the five-year 
mark includes the following steps:
    1. ONMS notifies the nominating party at about the four and a half-
year mark to give the nominating party an opportunity to provide 
updates of the nominated area's relevance to the SNP Criteria.
    2. ONMS staff works with partners and the public to gather 
information on the nomination's relevance to the SNP Criteria. Given 
our inability to host public gatherings at this time, NOAA has chosen 
to host a virtual public meeting and request written comments to gather 
new information on the CHNMS nomination.
    3. ONMS staff reviews information received from the original 
nominating party, partners, the public and other relevant sources 
against the SNP Criteria to assess if the nomination is still accurate 
and relevant.
    4. ONMS staff produce a brief synopsis report to the ONMS Director, 
presenting an analysis of information that has been collected, and a 
recommendation regarding maintaining the nomination in the inventory, 
or removing it once the five-year anniversary is reached.

Whether removing or maintaining the nomination for CHNMS, NOAA would 
follow the same procedure for notifying the public as was followed when 
the nomination was submitted, including a letter to the nominator, a 
notice in the Federal Register, and posting information on 
``nominate.noaa.gov''.

    Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1431 et seq.

John Armor,
Director, Office of National Marine Sanctuaries, National Ocean 
Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
[FR Doc. 2020-09109 Filed 5-1-20; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3510-NK-P