Federal Register / Vol. 69, No. 24 / Thursday, February 5, 2004 / Proposed Rules 5481

ACTION: Proposed rule; extension of 

comment period. 

SUMMARY: This document extends the 

comment period for public comments 

on the proposed regulations to require 

periodic underwater inspections of 

natural gas and hazardous liquid 

pipelines offshore or crossing navigable 

waterways in waters less than 15 feet 

deep.

DATES: Interested persons are invited to 

submit written comments by March 10, 

2004. Late filed comments will be 

considered to the extent practicable.

ADDRESSES: 

Filing Information 

You may submit written comments by 

mail or delivery to the Dockets Facility, 

U.S. Department of Transportation, 

Room PL–401, 400 Seventh Street, SW., 

Washington, DC 20590–0001. It is open 

from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through 

Friday, except Federal holidays. All 

written comments should identify the 

docket and notice numbers stated in the 

heading of this notice. Anyone desiring 

confirmation of mailed comments must 

include a self-addressed stamped 

postcard. 

Privacy Act Statement 

Anyone is able to search the 

electronic form of all comments 

received into any of our dockets by the 

name of the individual submitting the 

comment (or signing the comment, if 

submitted on behalf of an association, 

business, labor union, etc.). You may 

review DOT’s complete Privacy Act 

Statement in the Federal Register

published on April 11, 2000 (volume 65, 

number 70; pages 19477–78), or you 

may visit http://dms.dot.gov. 

Electronic Access 

You may also submit written 

comments to the docket electronically. 

To submit comments electronically, log 

on to the following Internet Web 

address: http://dms.dot.gov. Click on 

‘‘Help & Information’’ for instructions 

on how to file a document 

electronically. 

General Information 

You may contact the Dockets Facility 

by phone at (202) 366–9329, for copies 

of this proposed rule or other material 

in the docket. All materials in this 

docket may be accessed electronically at 

http://dms.dot.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: L.E. 

Herrick by phone at (202) 366–5523, by 

fax at (202) 366–4566, or by e-mail at 

le.herrick@rspa.dot.gov, regarding the 

subject matter of this proposed rule. 

General information about RSPA’s 

Office of Pipeline Safety (OPS) programs 

may be obtained by accessing OPS’s 

Internet page at http://ops.dot.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On 

December 12, 2003, RSPA/OPS 

published a notice of proposed 

rulemaking in the Federal Register (68 

FR 69368) to amend the pipeline safety 

regulations at 49 CFR parts 192 and 195 

to require owners and operators of 

pipeline facilities to develop procedures 

to conduct periodic underwater depth of 

burial inspections of underwater 

pipelines. The procedures would assess 

the risk of a pipeline becoming exposed 

or a hazard to navigation by taking into 

account the dynamics of the waterway, 

including the probability of flotation, 

scour, erosion, and major storms. The 

operator would also be required to 

establish a risk-based timetable for 

inspection of underwater pipelines. 

In response to the NPRM the 

Interstate Natural Gas Association of 

America (INGAA) submitted a request 

for extension of the comment period. It 

noted that the end of year holidays and 

ongoing efforts to implement other 

regulatory requirements minimized the 

opportunity for the public to provide 

meaningful comments on the NPRM by 

the published due date.

Issued in Washington, DC, on January 30, 

2004. 

Richard D. Huriaux, 

Manager, Regulations, Office of Pipeline 

Safety.

[FR Doc. 04–2453 Filed 2–4–04; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4910–60–P

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

50 CFR Part 300 

[I.D. 013004D] 

Public Scoping Meetings on the 

Management of Antarctic Marine Living 

Resources Within the Area of the 

Convention on the Conservation of 

Antarctic Marine Living Resources

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Department of Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare a 

programmatic environmental impact 

statement (EIS); notice of scoping 

meetings; request for written comments. 

SUMMARY: NMFS announces its intent to 

prepare an EIS in accordance with the 

National Environmental Policy Act of 

1969 (NEPA) on the Federal 

management of Antarctic marine living 

resources (AMLR) pursuant to 

conservation and management measures 

adopted by the Commission for the 

Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living 

Resources (the Commission or 

CCAMLR.) NMFS will convene public 

scoping meetings in Silver Spring, MD, 

and Long Beach, CA, to solicit 

comments on AMLR fishery issues and 

potential management options related to 

these resources. The scope of the EIS 

analysis will, among other things, 

describe activities related to the 

management, monitoring, and conduct 

of the fisheries; the ecological 

relationships between harvested, 

dependent and related populations of 

AMLR; the potential impacts to 

protected species, non-target species, 

and fish habitat. The scoping meetings 

will provide for public input on the 

issues, range of alternatives, and 

impacts the EIS should consider. 

Written comments will also be accepted 

concerning the various management 

options the EIS should consider.

DATES: Public scoping meetings will be 

held in Silver Spring, MD, on March 1, 

2004, and in Long Beach, CA, on March 

3, 2004. Written comments must be 

submitted by March 22, 2004. See 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION for specific 

dates, times, and locations.

ADDRESSES: Written comments on the 

issues, range of alternatives, and 

impacts that should be discussed in the 

EIS may be sent to Robert Gorrell, Office 

of Sustainable Fisheries—F/SF3, 

National Marine Fisheries Service, 1315 

East-West Highway, Silver Spring, MD 

20910 or via facsimile (fax) at 301–713–

1193 and must be received by March 22, 

2004. Comments may also be submitted 

by e-mail. The mailbox address for 

providing e-mail comments is CCAMLRScoping@noaa.gov. Include in the 

subject line of the e-mail comment the 

following document identifier: I.D. 

013004D, Scoping for CCAMLR.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Robert Gorrell, 301–713–2341 Ext. 150.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under the 

Antarctic Marine Living Resources 

Convention Act of 1984 (AMLRCA) (16 

U.S.C. 2431 et seq.; see 50 CFR part 300, 

Subparts A and G), the United States 

implements the conservation and 

management decisions of CCAMLR for 

the harvesting and importation of all 

AMLR other than whales and seals 

found within the Area of the 

Convention on the Conservation of 

Antarctic Marine Living Resources (the 

Convention Area). The management of 

AMLR is vested in the Secretary of 

Commerce (Secretary). The Secretary is 

directed by the AMLRCA to consult 

5482 Federal Register / Vol. 69, No. 24 / Thursday, February 5, 2004 / Proposed Rules 

with the Secretary of State, the agency 

in which the Coast Guard is operating, 

and other appropriate departments and 

agencies of the United States in 

promulgating regulations implementing 

the AMLRCA and CCAMLR measures. 

NEPA requires preparation of an EIS 

for major Federal actions significantly 

impacting the quality of the human 

environment. Regulations implementing 

NEPA at 40 CFR 1502.4(b) state: 

‘‘Environmental impact statements may 

be prepared, and are sometimes 

required, for broad Federal actions such 

as adoption of new agency programs or 

regulations. Agencies shall prepare 

statements on broad actions so that they 

are relevant to policy and are timed to 

coincide with meaningful points in 

agency planning and decision making.’’

NMFS has decided to prepare a 

programmatic EIS for all activities 

regulated by the United States pursuant 

to the conservation and management 

measures adopted by CCAMLR. 

Background 

AMLR other than whales and seals in 

the Convention Area are managed 

pursuant to the conservation and 

management decisions of CCAMLR. The 

Convention Area is the area south of 60°

South latitude and between that latitude 

and the Antarctic Convergence forming 

part of the Antarctic marine ecosystem. 

Conservation and management 

decisions for AMLR within the 

Convention Area are made by consensus 

during annual meetings of the 

Commission created by the Convention. 

The United States is a contracting party 

and a member of the Commission. The 

Commission adopted its first 

conservation measures during its third 

annual meeting in 1984. 

With respect to the measures adopted 

by CCAMLR at each of its annual 

meetings, the Convention provides that 

if a member of the Commission, within 

ninety days of the notification of 

measures adopted by the Commission, 

notifies the Commission that it is unable 

to accept any measure, in whole or in 

part, the measure, shall not, to the 

extent stated, be binding upon that 

member of the Commission. 

Pursuant to AMLRCA, the Secretary 

of State, with the concurrence of the 

Secretary of Commerce and the Director 

of the National Science Foundation, 

appoints the U.S. representative to the 

Commission. The AMLRCA requires the 

Secretary of State to publish a Federal 

Register notice of the conservation and 

other measures adopted annually by the 

Commission and solicits public 

comments on those measures. 

In 1986, NMFS prepared an 

environmental assessment (EA) that 

analyzed the effects on the human 

environment of the regulations that 

implemented AMLRCA. In 2000, NMFS 

prepared an EA that analyzed the effects 

of CCAMLR’s toothfish Catch 

Documentation Scheme (CDS) on the 

importation of toothfish into the United 

States. As a part of that analysis, NMFS 

looked at the fishery-wide effects on the 

human environment of the harvesting 

and trade sectors for toothfish. This 

analysis was critical to the 

implementation of the CDS, a scheme 

developed by CCAMLR to curtail the 

negative effects on toothfish stocks of 

illegal, unregulated and unreported 

fishing for toothfish. In 2003, NMFS 

prepared an EA that also analyzed the 

fishery-wide effects on the human 

environment. The 2003 EA focused on 

a preapproval process for the 

importation of toothfish into the United 

States. The process was created by 

NMFS to streamline the administration 

of the CDS and enhance efforts to 

prevent and discourage unlawful 

harvest and trade in toothfish. 

Each of these EAs led to a finding of 

no significant impact to the human 

environment and, thus, no EIS was 

prepared. However, based on 

information presented to CCAMLR by 

its Scientific Committee in the years 

since 1986, trade tracking and 

monitoring of toothfish, and an increase 

in the number of U.S. participants in 

fisheries in the Convention Area, NMFS 

intends to prepare an EIS examining the 

effects of these changes to the fishery on 

the human environment. 

Public Involvement 

Public scoping is an early and open 

process for determining the scope of 

issues to be addressed. A principle 

objective of the scoping and public 

involvement process is to identify 

possible regulatory alternatives that, 

with adequate analysis, will delineate 

critical issues and provide a clear basis 

for distinguishing between those 

alternatives and selecting a preferred 

alternative. 

In developing a draft EIS, NMFS seeks 

public comment for possible 

alternatives to implement the 

conservation and management measures 

adopted by CCAMLR. Those measures 

include: Compliance and enforcement 

(including permitting by CCAMLR 

members); the toothfish catch 

documentation scheme; gear 

regulations; data reporting; research and 

experiments; minimization of incidental 

mortality; general measures for new and 

exploratory fisheries; fishing seasons, 

closed areas and prohibitions of fishing; 

bycatch limits; and CCAMLR Ecosystem 

Monitoring and Management sites. 

Current measures can be found at 50 

CFR part 300, Suparts A and G. In 

addition to developing possible 

alternatives to these management 

components of the CCAMLR program, 

scoping meetings will serve to identify 

any issues that may improve or 

otherwise support U.S. participation in 

CCAMLR. For example, should the 

United States take stronger measures 

than those adopted by the Commission 

to address illegal, unregulated or 

unreported (IUU) fishing? In summary, 

public input is sought on possible 

alternatives to current regulations, on 

fishery or other issues, and on impacts 

the EIS should consider with a focus on 

increased U.S. fishing participation and 

contemporary scientific information. 

After scoping meetings are concluded, 

NMFS will prepare a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) and file 

it with the Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA). The EPA will then 

publish a notice of availability (NOA) 

for the DEIS in the Federal Register

with a 45-day public comment period. 

After considering all public comments, 

NMFS will prepare a Final 

Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) 

and file it with the EPA. The EPA will 

then publish a NOA for the FEIS. At this 

time NMFS is unaware of the need to 

change the way in which it implements 

the conservation and management 

measures adopted by CCAMLR; 

however, the NEPA review may cause 

NMFS to reconsider the need for 

change. 

Dates, Times, and Locations for Public 

Scoping Meetings 

March 1, 2004, 2–4 p.m., Room 2358, 

SSMC2, 1325 East-West Highway, 

Silver Spring, MD 20910. 

March 3, 2004, 2–5 p.m., Room 3300, 

Glen Anderson Federal Building, 501 

W. Ocean Boulevard, Long Beach, CA 

90802. 

Special Accommodations 

These meetings are physically 

accessible to people with disabilities. 

Requests for sign language 

interpretation or other auxiliary aids 

should be directed to, in Long Beach, 

Svein Fougner, Phone 562–980–4040, 

Fax 562–980–4047 or, in Silver Spring, 

Robert Gorrell, Phone 301–713–2341 

Ext. 150, Fax 301–713–1193 at least five 

days prior to the meeting date.

Authority: 16 U.S.C. 2431 et seq.

Dated: February 2, 2204. 

Bruce C. Morehead, 

Acting Director, Office of Sustainable 

Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service.

[FR Doc. 04–2534 Filed 2–4–04; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P