[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 17 (Thursday, January 28, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 7365-7366]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-01856]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration


Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the 
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for Review and Approval; Comment 
Request; a Coastal Management Needs Assessment and Market Analysis for 
Financing Resilience

AGENCY: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 
Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of information collection, request for comment.

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SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce, in accordance with the Paperwork 
Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), invites the general public and other 
Federal agencies to comment on proposed, and continuing information 
collections, which helps us assess the impact of our information 
collection requirements and minimize the public's reporting burden. The 
purpose of this notice is to allow for 60 days of public comment 
preceding submission of the collection to OMB.

DATES: To ensure consideration, comments regarding this proposed 
information collection must be received on or before March 29, 2021.

ADDRESSES: Interested persons are invited to submit written comments to 
Adrienne Thomas, NOAA PRA Officer, at [email protected]. Do not 
submit Confidential Business Information or otherwise sensitive or 
protected information.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Requests for additional information or 
specific questions related to collection activities should be directed 
to Kim Penn, NOAA Office for Coastal Management, 1305 East-West Hwy. 
Silver Spring, MD 20910, (240) 533-0727, and [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Abstract

    This request is for a new information collection.
    NOAA's Office for Coastal Management (OCM) and its regional, state, 
federal, and non-profit partners have worked closely with coastal 
managers across the country to increase the resilience of our coastal 
communities, economies, and ecosystems. Per the Coastal Zone Management 
Act of 1972 (CZMA), OCM provides financial and technical assistance to 
states and territories, including that which helps its customers 
(coastal managers) develop hazard mitigation and climate adaptation 
plans that include strategies for short-term responses to immediate 
threats (e.g., flooding, hurricanes) as well as long-term responses to 
gradual changes (e.g., sea level rise, drought). Services are provided 
through outreach, training, funding, resource, and tool development.
    Solutions to these resilience challenges are often complex and 
cross-sectoral. Therefore, coastal decision-makers regularly point to 
the need for more substantial, coordinated, sustained and creative 
funding opportunities to support these efforts. The results of an 
initial review of more than 200 resources that NOAA conducted in 
support of this effort, and informal conversations with NOAA customers 
and other stakeholders indicate that there is no comprehensive 
inventory or guide to understanding and selecting appropriate funding 
options or financing strategies. These findings have been further 
confirmed in subsequent informal discussions with coastal resilience 
and finance practitioners at national venues such as the National 
Adaptation Forum in April 2019 and Social Coast Forum in February 2020. 
NOAA's coastal management partners have requested support on this 
topic.
    The financing world is one that is constantly evolving new products 
and retiring others. The range of funding and financing options, from 
grants and low-interest loans to more innovative private-public 
partnerships and emerging bonds, presents an ever-changing and complex 
array of choices. In initial internal communications and informal 
discussions conducted between June 2018 and February 2020, NOAA 
customers indicated that these opportunities and mechanisms are not 
well understood, and are generally inaccessible to coastal managers, 
particularly in small to mid-sized communities, rural areas, and tribal 
communities.
    In many coastal communities, investment in mitigation and 
resilience measures remains either limited or reactive in response to a 
catastrophic event. While there are no data on the number of 
adaptations plans that have been implemented, lack of funding is a 
frequently cited barrier to implementation. At the same time, it has 
been estimated that investing in mitigation can save communities $6 for 
every $1 spent through mitigation grants from agencies including the 
Federal Emergency Management Agency, Department of Housing and Urban 
Development, and Economic Development Administration (according to the 
National Institute of Building Sciences' October 2018 report, Natural 
Hazard Mitigation Saves: Utilities and Transportation Infrastructure). 
Understanding the suite of funding and financing options available at 
the time resilience planning is undertaken, and then incorporating 
financial strategies into the planning process and recommendations, 
will help ensure that these plans are implemented. Section 310 of the 
Coastal Zone Management Act allows for technical assistance and 
management-oriented research to develop and implement state coastal 
management program amendments.
    NOAA is in the process of developing a needs assessment to define 
the types of funding, financing mechanisms, and associated resources 
that its state and local coastal manager customers need for coastal 
resilience activities and a market analysis of existing funding and 
financing programs and mechanisms. Simultaneously, NOAA is identifying 
existing resources and partnership opportunities for state and local 
coastal managers and NOAA's non-profit, academic, and other customers.

[[Page 7366]]

    This request is for a set of related interviews to facilitate this 
research. NOAA will perform interviews with state and local coastal 
managers, as well as representatives from non-profit organizations, 
academia, the federal government, and the finance industry. The 
interviews will collect relevant information from interviewees on their 
experiences with coastal resilience funding and financing mechanisms, 
challenges and opportunities related to funding and financing coastal 
resilience, and technical support needs and opportunities that NOAA can 
address.
    The information provided by interviewees will be synthesized into 
the needs assessment, which will address needs and information gaps 
partitioned by region, financial scale, time scale, and scope/sector. 
The information provided by interviewees will also be used to help 
inform an inventory of existing entities providing resources for 
resilience funding, as well as a summary of existing and emerging 
funding sources and financial tools and mechanisms for coastal 
resilience. Finally, the interviews will inform recommendations on 
NOAA's potential niche in addressing the identified needs and gaps.
    The resulting research (and any subsequent resources or tools 
developed by NOAA to address identified gaps) will provide much needed 
information to NOAA's customers on funding and financing coastal 
resilience efforts, including available resources and mechanisms, best 
practices and strategies, real world success stories, and opportunities 
for technical and financial partnerships with private and public 
entities.

II. Method of Collection

    Information will be collected during structured telephone 
interviews.

III. Data

    OMB Control Number: 0648-xxxx.
    Form Number(s): None.
    Type of Review: Regular submission.
    Affected Public: Business or other for-profit organizations; Not-
for-profit institutions; State, Local, or Tribal government; Federal 
government.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 36.
    Estimated Time per Response: 1.25 hours.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 45.
    Estimated Total Annual Cost to Public: $0.
    Respondent's Obligation: Voluntary.
    Legal Authority: Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972 (CZMA).

IV. Request for Comments

    We are soliciting public comments to permit the Department/Bureau 
to: (a) Evaluate whether the proposed information collection is 
necessary for the proper functions of the Department, including whether 
the information will have practical utility; (b) Evaluate the accuracy 
of our estimate of the time and cost burden for this proposed 
collection, including the validity of the methodology and assumptions 
used; (c) Evaluate ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of 
the information to be collected; and (d) Minimize the reporting burden 
on those who are to respond, including the use of automated collection 
techniques or other forms of information technology.
    Comments that you submit in response to this notice are a matter of 
public record. We will include or summarize each comment in our request 
to OMB to approve this ICR. Before including your address, phone 
number, email address, or other personal identifying information in 
your comment, you should be aware that your entire comment--including 
your personal identifying information--may be made publicly available 
at any time. While you may ask us in your comment to withhold your 
personal identifying information from public review, we cannot 
guarantee that we will be able to do so.

Sheleen Dumas,
Department PRA Clearance Officer, Office of the Chief Information 
Officer, Commerce Department.
[FR Doc. 2021-01856 Filed 1-27-21; 8:45 am]
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