71780 Federal Register / Vol. 69, No. 237 / Friday, December 10, 2004 / Notices 

has been designated examiner to 

investigate the application and report to 

the Board. 

Public comment on the application is 

invited from interested parties. 

Submissions (original and three copies) 

shall be addressed to the Board’s 

Executive Secretary at the following 

addresses: 

1. Submissions via Express/Package 

Delivery Services: Foreign-Trade Zones 

Board, U.S. Department of Commerce, 

Franklin Court Building—4100W, 1099 

14th Street, NW., Washington, DC 

20005; or, 

2. Submissions via the U.S. Postal 

Service: Foreign-Trade Zones Board, 

U.S. Department of Commerce, FCB–

4100W, 1401 Constitution Ave., NW., 

Washington, DC 20230. 

The closing period for their receipt is 

February 8, 2005. Rebuttal comments in 

response to material submitted during 

the foregoing period may be submitted 

during the subsequent 15-day period (to 

February 23, 2005). 

A copy of the application will be 

available for public inspection at the 

Office of the Foreign-Trade Zones 

Board’s Executive Secretary at address 

No.1 listed above and at the Office of 

the Port Director, U.S. Customs and 

Border Protection, 112 W. Stutsman 

Street, Pembina, North Dakota 58271.

Dated: December 3, 2004. 

Dennis Puccinelli, 

Executive Secretary.

[FR Doc. 04–27183 Filed 12–9–04; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–DS–P

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration

[I.D. 110104A]

Taking and Importing Marine 

Mammals; Taking Marine Mammals 

Incidental to Construction and 

Operation of Offshore Oil and Gas 

Facilities in the Beaufort Sea

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of issuance of a letter of 

authorization.

SUMMARY: In accordance with the 

Marine Mammal Protection Act 

(MMPA), as amended, and 

implementing regulations, notice is 

hereby given that NMFS has issued a 

letter of authorization (LOA) to BP 

Exploration (Alaska), Inc. (BP) to take 

marine mammals incidental to the 

production of offshore oil and gas at the 

Northstar development in the Beaufort 

Sea off Alaska.

DATES: This LOA is effective from 

December 6, 2004, through May 25, 

2005.

ADDRESSES: A copy of BP’s letter, a list 

of monitoring reports, and/or the LOA 

may be obtained by writing to the Office 

of Protected Resources, NMFS, 1315 

East-West Highway, Silver Spring, MD 

20910, or by telephoning one of the 

contacts listed here.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Kenneth R. Hollingshead (301) 713–

2055, ext. 128, or Bradley Smith (907) 

271–5006.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Section 

101(a)(5)(A) of the MMPA (16 U.S.C. 

1361 et seq.) directs NMFS to allow, on 

request, the incidental, but not 

intentional, taking of small numbers of 

marine mammals by U.S. citizens who 

engage in a specified activity (other than 

commercial fishing) within a specified 

geographical region, if certain findings 

are made by NMFS and regulations are 

issued. Under the MMPA, the term 

‘‘take’’ means to harass, hunt, capture, 

or kill or to attempt to harass, hunt, 

capture or kill marine mammals.

Permission may be granted for periods 

up to 5 years if NMFS finds, after notice 

and opportunity for public comment, 

that the taking will have a negligible 

impact on the species or stock(s) of 

marine mammals, and will not have an 

unmitigable adverse impact on the 

availability of the species or stock(s) of 

marine mammals for subsistence uses. 

In addition, NMFS must prescribe 

regulations setting forth the permissible 

methods of taking and other means of 

effecting the least practicable adverse 

impact on the species and its habitat, 

and on the availability of the species for 

subsistence uses. The regulations also 

must include requirements pertaining to 

the monitoring and reporting of such 

taking. Regulations governing the taking 

of marine mammals incidental to 

construction and operation of the 

offshore oil and gas facility at Northstar 

in the Beaufort Sea were published and 

made effective on May 25, 2000 (65 FR 

34014), and remain in effect until May 

25, 2005. These regulations include 

mitigation, monitoring, and reporting 

requirements.

Summary of Request

On October 19, 2004, NMFS received 

a request from BP for a renewal of an 

LOA issued on September 18, 2000 (65 

FR 58265, September 28, 2000) and 

reissued on December 14, 2001 (66 FR 

65923, December 21, 2001), December 9, 

2002 (67 FR 77750, December 19, 2002) 

and December 4, 2003 (68 FR 68874, 

December 10, 2003) for the taking of 

marine mammals incidental to oil 

production operations at Northstar, 

under section 101(a)(5)(A) of the 

MMPA. This latest request (BP, 2004) 

contains information in compliance 

with 50 CFR 216.209, which updates 

information provided in BP’s original 

application for takings incidental to 

construction and operations at 

Northstar. The 2003/2004 LOA for the 

taking of marine mammals incidental to 

oil production at the Northstar facility 

will expire on December 3, 2004. This 

current LOA is effective through May 

25, 2005, when the implementing 

regulations expire. A request for LOAs 

after May 25, 2005 is the subject of a 

separate rulemaking action (see 69 FR 

56995, September 23, 2004).

Background

BP is currently producing crude oil 

from the Nortstar facility in the U.S. 

Beaufort Sea and is injecting the natural 

gas into the formations. Northstar 

includes a gravel island work surface to 

support the main facilities required for 

drilling and oil production, and two 

pipelines connecting the island to the 

existing infrastructure in Prudhoe Bay. 

One pipeline transports crude oil to 

shore, and the other transports natural 

gas to the island for field injection. Oil 

production began in late 2001 and is 

ongoing. Activities under the LOA will 

include: (1) winter ice-road 

construction, (2) winter ice road traffic, 

(3) Northstar oil production activities, 

(4) environmental compliance 

monitoring, and (5) helicopter, 

hovercraft, tugboat and barge 

transportation of personnel, equipment 

and supplies.

Impacts on marine mammals at the 

Northstar facility may occur through 

noise from tugs, barges, helicopters and 

hovercraft traffic, and drilling and other 

noise sources on the island facility. 

Impacts may also result if there is an oil 

spill resulting from production. While 

noise impacts on marine mammals will 

be low (activities on Northstar Island 

will make less noise than that from 

standard jack-up rigs, a concrete island 

drilling structure, or seismic activity), 

bowhead whales will likely hear the 

noise at distances up to 10 km (6.2 mi) 

from the island. In addition, there may 

be some harassment, injury, or mortality 

of ringed seals during winter ice-road 

construction. In 2000 (65 FR 58265, 

September 28, 2000) and 2001 (66 FR 

65923, December 21, 2001), NMFS 

estimated that noise impacts may result 

in Level B harassment of approximately 

765 bowheads (i.e., the LOA authorizes 

up to 765 bowheads annually, with a 

Federal Register / Vol. 69, No. 237 / Friday, December 10, 2004 / Notices 71781

maximum of 1,533 in 2 out of 5 seasons, 

and a total of 3,585 in 5 years), 5 gray 

whales and 91 beluga whales. However, 

since this LOA is effective only through 

May 25, 2004, no bowhead, gray or 

beluga whales are expected to be 

harassed.

Year-round operations at Northstar 

may result in the harassment of up to 

approximately 191 ringed seals, 10 

bearded seals, and 5 spotted seals being 

harassed and the incidental mortality of 

up to 5 ringed seal pups. No take is 

authorized for an oil spill. NMFS and 

BP believe that these estimates remain 

conservative since, for example, 

monitoring between November, 2001 

and October, 2002 indicate that 

approximately 110 ringed seals, 1 

bearded seal and 10–20 beluga whales 

were present in the area and potentially 

may have been affected (Moulton et al., 

2003). MacLean and Williams (2003) 

and Moulton et al. (2003) indicate that 

Northstar production probably had little 

or no effect on most of the seals and no 

seals were injured or killed by activities 

along the ice road or operations at 

Northstar during the 2002/2003 or 2003/

2004 ice-covered seasons.

Monitoring and Reporting

Monitoring and reporting 

requirements contained in the Northstar 

regulations (50 CFR 216.206) and 

described in the Federal Register (65 FR 

34014, May 25, 2000). Additional 

information was provided on December 

21, 2001 (66 FR 65923), when NMFS 

issued an LOA to BP for oil production 

at Northstar. Monitoring reports are 

submitted annually as required by the 

regulations, and the LOA, and plans and 

reports are peer-reviewed as required 

regulations. A list of these reports is 

available upon request (see ADDRESSES). 

Recent peer-review meetings were held 

in June 2003, in Seattle, WA and in 

August, 2004 in Anchorage, AK. The 

August, 2004 meeting confirmed 

continued efforts begun in 2003 to 

convene an independent technical peerreview committee under the auspices of 

the North Slope Borough’s Science 

Advisory Committee. The next openwater peer-review meeting is planned 

for May, 2005 in Anchorage, AK. In 

accordance with the original marine 

mammal monitoring plan, BP plans to 

continue monitoring in the winter/early 

spring 2005 for those tasks that have not 

been completed.

Determinations

Accordingly, NMFS issued an LOA to 

BPXA on December 6, 2004, authorizing 

the taking of marine mammals 

incidental to oil production operations 

at the Northstar offshore oil and gas 

facility in state and federal waters in the 

U.S. Beaufort Sea until May 25, 2005. 

Issuance is based on findings, described 

in the preamble to the final rule (65 FR 

34014, May 25, 2000), that the activities 

described in the LOA will result in the 

taking of no more than small numbers 

of ringed seals, and possibly bearded 

seals and spotted seals, and that the 

total taking will have a negligible 

impact on these marine mammal stocks 

and would not have an unmitigable 

adverse impact on the availability of 

these species or stocks for taking for 

subsistence uses. NMFS also prescribed 

the means for effecting the least 

practicable adverse impact on these 

stocks. As the results from the 

monitoring program carried out since 

1999 have indicated that the 

determinations made in 2000 and 2001 

were not in error, the estimated levels 

of incidental harassment have not been 

exceeded, and as the activity that was 

reviewed in 2001 (oil production 

activities) has not changed, these 

determinations remain valid.

Dated: December 6, 2004.

Laurie K. Allen,

Director, Office of Protected Resources, 

National Marine Fisheries Service.

[FR Doc. 04–27180 Filed 12–9–04; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3510–22–S

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration

[I.D. 102204B]

Endangered Species; File No. 1418

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce.

ACTION: Issuance of permit amendment.

SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given that 

Lawrence D. Wood, Marinelife Center of 

Juno Beach, 14200 U.S. Hwy. 1, Juno 

Beach, FL, 33408 has been issued a 

modification to scientific research 

Permit No. 1418.

ADDRESSES: The modification and 

related documents are available for 

review upon written request or by 

appointment in the following office(s):

Permits, Conservation and Education 

Division, Office of Protected Resources, 

NMFS, 1315 East-West Highway, Room 

13705, Silver Spring, MD 20910; phone 

(301)713–2289; fax (301)713–0376; and

Southeast Region, NMFS, 9721 

Executive Center Drive North, St. 

Petersburg, FL 33702–2432; phone 

(727)570–5301; fax (727)570–5320.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Patrick Opay or Amy Sloan, (301)713–

2289.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On 

September 9, 2004, notice was 

published in the Federal Register (69 

FR 54649) that a modification of Permit 

No. 1418, issued January 14, 2004 (69 

FR 2118), had been requested by the 

above-named individual. The requested 

modification has been granted under the 

authority of the Endangered Species Act 

of 1973, as amended (ESA; 16 U.S.C. 

1531 et seq.) and the regulations 

governing the taking, importing, and 

exporting of endangered and threatened 

species (50 CFR 222–226).

The modification authorizes Mr. 

Wood to sample blood for sex 

determinations from the 75 hawksbill 

(Eretmochelys imbricata) sea turtles he 

is already authorized to annually 

capture under the existing permit.

Issuance of this modification, as 

required by the ESA was based on a 

finding that such permit (1) was applied 

for in good faith, (2) will not operate to 

the disadvantage of the endangered 

species which is the subject of this 

permit, and (3) is consistent with the 

purposes and policies set forth in 

section 2 of the ESA.

Dated: December 6, 2004.

Stephen L. Leathery,

Chief, Permits, Conservation and Education 

Division, Office of Protected Resources, 

National Marine Fisheries Service.

[FR Doc. 04–27179 Filed 12–9–04; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3510–22–S

COMMITTEE FOR THE 

IMPLEMENTATION OF TEXTILE 

AGREEMENTS

Solicitation of Public Comments on 

Request for Textile and Apparel 

Safeguard Action on Imports from 

China

December 6, 2004.

AGENCY: The Committee for the 

Implementation of Textile Agreements 

(the Committee)

ACTION: Solicitation of public comments 

concerning a request for safeguard 

action on imports from China of men’s 

and boys’ wool trousers (Category 447).

SUMMARY: The Committee has received a 

request from the National Council of 

Textile Organizations, the National 

Textile Association, the American 

Manufacturing Trade Action Coalition, 

SEAMS, and UNITE HERE! (Requestors) 

asking the Committee to limit imports 

from China of men’s and boys’ wool 

trousers in accordance with the textile