[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 46 (Tuesday, March 10, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 11655-11656]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-6017]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Environmental Protection Agency
Coastal Nonpoint Pollution Control Program: Conditional
Approvals, Findings Documents, Responses to Comments, and Records of
Decision
AGENCY: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S.
Department of Commerce, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
ACTION: Notice of conditional approval of Coastal Nonpoint Pollution
Control Programs and availability of Findings Documents, Responses to
Comments, and Records of Decision for Maine, North Carolina, South
Carolina, Oregon, and Virginia.
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SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given of the conditional approval of the
Coastal Nonpoint Pollution Control Programs (coastal nonpoint programs)
and of the availability of the Findings Documents, Responses to
Comments, and Records of Decision for Maine, North Carolina, South
Carolina, Oregon, and Virginia. Section 6217 of the Coastal Zone Act
Reauthorization Amendments (CZARA), 16 U.S.C. section 155b, requires
states and territories with coastal zone management programs that have
received approval under section 306 of the Coastal Zone Management Act
to develop and implement coastal nonpoint programs. Coastal states and
territories were required to submit their coastal nonpoint programs to
the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for approval in July 1995.
NOAA and EPA have approved, with conditions, the coastal nonpoint
programs submitted by Maine, North Carolina, South Carolina, Oregon,
and Virginia.
NOAA and EPA have prepared a Findings Document for each 6217
program submitted for approval. The Findings Documents were prepared by
NOAA and EPA to provide the rationale for the agencies' decision to
approve each state and territory coastal nonpoint program. Proposed
Findings Documents, Environmental Assessments, and Findings of No
Significant Impact prepared for the coastal nonpoint programs submitted
by Maine, North Carolina, South Carolina, Oregon, and Virginia were
made available for public comment in the Federal Register. Public
comments were received and responses prepared on the programs submitted
by South Carolina, Oregon, and Virginia. No public comments were
received on the programs submitted by Maine and North Carolina.
In accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA),
NOAA has also prepared a Record of Decision on each program. The
requirements of 40 CFR Parts 1500-1508 (Council on Environmental
Quality (CEQ) regulations to implement the National Environmental
Policy Act) apply to the preparation of a Record of Decision.
Specifically, 40 CFR 1505.2 requires an agency to prepare a concise
public record of decision at the time of its decision on the action
proposed in an environmental impact statement. The Record of Decision
shall: (1) State what the decision was; (2) identify all alternatives
considered, specifying the alternative considered to be environmentally
preferable; and (3) state
[[Page 11656]]
whether all practicable means to avoid or minimize environmental harm
from the alternative selected have been adopted.
In March 1996, NOAA published a programmatic environmental impact
statement (PEIS) that assessed the environmental impacts associated
with the approval of state and territory coastal nonpoint programs. The
PEIS forms the basis for the environmental assessments NOAA has
prepared for each state and territorial coastal nonpoint program
submitted to NOAA and EPA for approval. In the PEIS, NOAA determined
that the approval and conditional approval of coastal nonpoint programs
will not result in any significant adverse environmental impacts and
that these actions will have an overall beneficial effect on the
environment. Because the PEIS served only as a ``framework for
decision'' on individual state and territorial coastal nonpoint
programs, and no actual decision was made following its publication,
NOAA has prepared a NEPA Record of Decision on each individual state
and territorial program submitted for review.
Copies of the Findings Documents, Responses to Comments, and
Records of Decision may be obtained upon request from: Joseph A.
Uravitch, Chief, Coastal Programs Division (N/ORM3), Office of Ocean
and Coastal Resource Management, NOS, NOAA, 1305 East-West Highway,
Silver Spring, Maryland, 20910, tel. (301) 713-3155, x195.
(Federal Domestic Assistance Catalog 11.419 Coastal Zone Management
Program Administration)
)Dated: March 4, 1998.
Nancy Foster,
Assistant Administrator for Ocean Services and Coastal Zone Management,
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Robert H. Wayland, III,
Director, Office of Wetlands, Oceans and Watersheds, Environmental
Protection Agency.
[FR Doc. 98-6017 Filed 3-9-98; 8:45 am]
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