§ 930.128 - Public notice, comment period, and public hearing.

§ 930.128 Public notice, comment period, and public hearing.

(a) The Secretary shall provide public notice of the appeal within 30 days after the receipt of the Notice of Appeal by publishing a Notice in the Federal Register and in a publication of general circulation in the immediate area of the coastal zone likely to be affected by the proposed activity.

(b) Except in the case of appeals involving energy projects, the Secretary shall provide a 30-day period for the public and interested Federal agencies to comment on the appeal. Notice of the public and Federal agency comment period shall be provided in the Notice required in paragraph (a) of this section.

(c)

(1) The Secretary shall accord greater weight to those Federal agencies whose comments are within the subject areas of their technical expertise.

(2) The Secretary may, on the Secretary's own initiative or upon written request, for good cause shown, reopen the period for Federal agency comments before the closure of the decision record.

(d) Except in the case of appeals involving energy projects, the Secretary may hold a public hearing in response to a request or on the Secretary's own initiative. A request for a public hearing must be filed with the Secretary within 30 days of the publication of the Notice in the Federal Register required in paragraph (a) of this section. If a hearing is held by the Secretary, it shall be noticed in the Federal Register and guided by the procedures described within § 930.113. If a hearing is held by the Secretary, the Federal Register notice for the hearing shall reopen the public and Federal agency comment period and shall close such comment period 10 days after the hearing.

[71 FR 831, Jan. 5, 2006]