[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 106 (Friday, June 4, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Page 30034]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-11714]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration


Withdrawal of Notice of Intent To Prepare an Environmental Impact 
Statement for Monterey Bay Regional Water Project Desalination Facility

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

ACTION: Withdrawal of notice of intent to prepare an environmental 
impact statement.

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SUMMARY: NOAA's Office of National Marine Sanctuaries is issuing this 
notice to advise Federal, state, and local government agencies and the 
public that it is withdrawing its Notice of Intent to prepare a draft 
environmental impact statement for the proposed action to construct and 
operate a seawater reverse osmosis desalination facility and co-located 
seawater-cooled 150-megawatt computer data center campus project at 
Moss Landing, Monterey County, California. NOAA is terminating the 
review of this project under the National Environmental Policy Act 
because the proposed project scope has changed significantly.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Karen Grimmer, Resource Protection 
Coordinator, Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, at 
[email protected], or by mail at 99 Pacific Street, Suite 455A, 
Monterey, California 93940.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: NOAA published a Notice of Intent (NOI) in 
the Federal Register on June 1, 2015 (80 FR 31022), to prepare a joint 
environmental impact report (EIR)/environmental impact statement (EIS) 
with the California State Lands Commission (CSLC) in accordance with 
the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the California 
Environmental Quality Act. The joint EIR/EIS would have analyzed the 
impacts on the human environment resulting from DeepWater Desal's 
construction and operation of a seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) 
desalination facility and co-located seawater-cooled 150-megawatt 
computer data center campus project (Project) at Moss Landing, Monterey 
County, California.
    DeepWater Desal submitted an application for permit approval to 
Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary to construct and operate a SWRO 
desalination facility capable of producing 25,000 acre-feet per year of 
potable water and a co-located seawater-cooled computer data center 
campus on a 110-acre site located approximately 1.5 miles east of Moss 
Landing. Additional details about the Project are included in the NOI 
dated June 1, 2015. NOAA solicited public input on the scope of the 
analysis through a public comment period on the NOI from June 1, 2015, 
to July 1, 2015. NOAA received six comments in response to the notice, 
which are publicly available on http://www.regulations.gov under docket 
NOAA-NOS-2015-0069. NOAA and CSLC held a joint public scoping meeting 
for the project on Tuesday, June 16, 2015, and six commenters provided 
testimony.
    NOAA is terminating the NEPA process and closing the Project's 
permit application because the permit applicant notified NOAA in May 
2020 that the primary scope of the Project changed from desalination to 
land-based aquaculture. NOAA finds that the scope of the Project has 
changed significantly since publication of the 2015 NOI and the scoping 
process completed in 2015 is no longer relevant. Therefore, NOAA is 
withdrawing the NOI to prepare an EIS for this Project. Should NOAA 
receive a new permit application, NOAA will determine at that time what 
level of NEPA review is required for the project.

    Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1431 et seq.; 40 CFR 1500-1508; Companion 
Manual for NOAA Administrative Order 216-6A, 82 FR 4306.

John Armor,
Director, Office of National Marine Sanctuaries National Ocean Service, 
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
[FR Doc. 2021-11714 Filed 6-3-21; 8:45 am]
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