[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 131 (Thursday, July 9, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 37094-37095]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-18202]
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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 Alabama, Alaska, California,
Connecticut, Hawaii, Louisiana, and Washington.
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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 Alabama, Alaska, California,
Connecticut, Hawaii, Louisiana, and Washington. Section 6217 of the
Coastal Zone Act Reauthorization Amendments (CZARA), 16 U.S.C. section
1455b, 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 Alabama, Alaska, California, Connecticut, Hawaii,
Louisiana, and Washington.
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
[[Page 37095]]
each state and territory coastal nonpoint program. The Proposed
Findings Documents, Environmental Assessments, and Findings of No
Significant Impact prepared for the coastal nonpoint programs submitted
by Alabama, Alaska, California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Louisiana, and
Washington were made available for public comment in the Federal
Register. Public comments were received and responses prepared on the
Alabama, Alaska, California, Connecticut, Hawaii, and Louisiana
programs.
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 section 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 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 in any
significant adverse environmental impacts and that these programs will
not result 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: July 6, 1998.
Captain Evelyn J. Fields,
Acting Deputy 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. 98-18202 Filed 7-8-98; 8:45 am]
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