[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 138 (Friday, July 17, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 43544-43545]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-15419]



[[Page 43544]]

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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

[NOAA-NOS-2020-0104]


Notice of Availability of a Final Programmatic Environmental 
Impact Statement for the Coral Reef Conservation Program

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

ACTION: Notice of availability.

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SUMMARY: The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 
Office for Coastal Management has prepared a final programmatic 
environmental impact statement (PEIS) in accordance with the National 
Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as amended (NEPA), for its Coral Reef 
Conservation Program (CRCP), which is managed by NOAA's National Ocean 
Service in Silver Spring, MD. The CRCP is 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 Islands, and targeted 
international regions including the wider Caribbean, the Coral 
Triangle, the South Pacific, and Micronesia.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Liz Fairey, NMFS Office of Habitat 
Conservation, NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program, 1315 East West 
Highway, Silver Spring, MD 20910, [email protected], 301-427-8632.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:  On July 11, 2018, NOAA published a Notice 
of Intent (NOI) in the Federal Register to prepare a PEIS for continued 
operation of NOAA's Coral Reef Conservation Program (CRCP) (83 FR 
32099). On December 13, 2019, NOAA published a draft PEIS for coral 
reef conservation and restoration activities conducted by the CRCP 
throughout parts of the United States, including the 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, and the U.S. Pacific Remote Islands, and priority 
international areas (i.e., the wider Caribbean, the Coral Triangle, the 
South Pacific, and Micronesia). The public comment period for the draft 
PEIS ended on January 27, 2020. Thirteen comments were received and 
broken down into components. The final PEIS responds to components of 
the comments as summarized in Appendix I and was revised as 
appropriate. The final PEIS assesses the direct, indirect, and 
cumulative environmental impacts of NOAA's proposed action to continue 
funding and otherwise conducting coral reef conservation and 
restoration activities through the CRCP's existing programmatic 
framework and related procedures. The CRCP is implemented in accordance 
with the requirements of the Coral Reef Conservation Act of 2000 and 
Executive Order 13089. Projects implemented or funded by NOAA vary in 
terms of their size, complexity, geographic location, and NOAA 
involvement, and 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, Office of 
Oceanic and Atmospheric Research, National Marine Fisheries Service, 
and National Environmental Satellite, Data, and 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 
final PEIS identifies and evaluates the general environmental impacts, 
issues, and concerns related to the comprehensive management and 
implementation of the CRCP, including potential mitigation. NOAA 
anticipates that some environmental effects will be caused by site-
specific, project-level activities implementing the CRCP; therefore, 
the final PEIS will be used to support tiered, site-specific National 
Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as amended (NEPA), reviews by 
narrowing the scope of environmental impacts and facilitating focused, 
project-level reviews. NOAA also intends for this final PEIS 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 (ESA) and Marine Mammal 
Protection Act, to the extent they apply. Since the CRCP will use the 
final PEIS to conduct tiered analyses, this document does not evaluate 
the environmental impacts of any project-level activities.
    The final PEIS analyzes three program-level alternatives:
     No Action Alternative: This is the agency's preferred 
alternative. It involves continued operation of the CRCP based on 
minimizing the three primary threats to coral reefs (i.e., fishing 
impacts, land-based sources of pollution, and climate change) and 
supporting research and possible application of novel coral restoration 
and intervention techniques to respond rapidly to imminent threats, 
such as increased bleaching and disease, to corals and coral reef 
ecosystems. CRCP operations would include monitoring, research 
activities, watershed and coral reef restoration, reduction of physical 
impacts to coral reefs, outreach and education, and program support. 
The CRCP would continue to be implemented using available 
appropriations, across four NOAA line offices, using a mix of internal 
and external funding, across existing geographic areas, and in 
collaboration with similar partners. The CRCP would continue to conduct 
program activities with mandatory mitigation measures developed in 
compliance with applicable environmental laws such as the ESA. For the 
purposes of this final PEIS, it is assumed that the activities would be 
conducted in the same manner as they currently are.
     Alternative 1: This alternative reflects the management of 
the CRCP to address and minimize the three primary threats listed 
above, but does not include research and possible application of 
restoration and intervention techniques. The CRCP would continue to be 
implemented using available appropriations, across four NOAA line 
offices, using a mix of internal and external funding, across existing 
geographic areas, and using similar partners. The CRCP would continue 
to conduct program activities with mandatory mitigation measures 
developed in compliance with applicable environmental laws such as the 
ESA.
     Alternative 2: This alternative continues the management 
of the CRCP to address and minimize the three primary threats and 
support research and possible application of novel coral restoration 
and intervention techniques to respond rapidly to imminent threats 
(i.e., the No Action Alternative) plus the implementation of 
discretionary mitigation measures. The fundamental difference between 
this alternative and the other alternatives is that Alternative 2 
identifies and implements a suite of standard, discretionary 
conservation

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and mitigation measures that would supplement mandatory mitigation 
measures required by statutes.
    The fundamental distinction between Alternative 1 and the No Action 
Alternative is that the No Action Alternative includes research and 
potential application of novel restoration and intervention techniques 
as tools to respond to imminent threats to corals. The final PEIS 
considers the environmental effects of these various intervention 
strategies.
    Please visit the CRCP web page for additional information regarding 
the CRCP: https://coralreef.noaa.gov/.
    This final PEIS is available for a 30-day waiting period, ending on 
August 17, 2020.
    Authority: The preparation of the final PEIS for the CRCP was 
conducted in accordance with the requirements of NEPA, the Council on 
Environmental Quality's NEPA regulations (40 CFR parts 1500-1508), 
other applicable regulations, and NOAA's policies and procedures for 
compliance with those regulations.

Keelin Kuipers,
Deputy Director, Office for Coastal Management, National Ocean Service, 
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

[FR Doc. 2020-15419 Filed 7-16-20; 8:45 am]
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