1582 Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 7 / Tuesday, January 12, 2010 / Proposed Rules 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

50 CFR Part 226 

[Docket No. 09022432–91321–03] 

RIN 0648–AX50 

Endangered and Threatened Species; 

Designation of Critical Habitat for the 

Cook Inlet Beluga Whale 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Proposed rule; extension of 

public comment period. 

SUMMARY: We, NMFS, are extending the 

date by which public comments are due 

concerning the proposed rule to 

designate critical habitat for the 

endangered Cook Inlet beluga whale, 

Delphinapterus leucas, under the 

Endangered Species Act of 1973, as 

amended (ESA). We published a 

proposed rule to designate critical 

habitat for this species in the Federal 

Register of December 2, 2009. The 

original due date for receipt of public 

comments was scheduled to end on 

February 1, 2010, and today we extend 

the public comment period to March 3, 

2010. 

DATES: The comment date for the 

proposed rule published December 2, 

2009 (74 FR 63080) is extended to 

March 3, 2010. 

ADDRESSES: Send comments to Kaja 

Brix, Assistant Regional Administrator, 

Protected Resources, Alaska Region, 

NMFS, ATTN: Ellen Sebastian. You may 

submit comments, identified by ‘‘RIN 

0648–AX50’’ by any one of the following 

methods: 

Electronic submissions: Submit all 

electronic public comments via the 

Federal eRulemaking Portal website at 

http://www.regulations.gov. 

Mail: P.O. Box 21668, Juneau, AK 

99802–1668 

Fax: 907–586–7557 

Hand deliver to the Federal Building: 

709 West 9th Street, Room 420A, Juneau, 

AK. 

All comments received are a part of 

the public record and generally will be 

posted to http://www.regulations.gov 

without change. All Personal Identifying 

Information (e.g. name, address) 

voluntarily submitted by the commenter 

may be publicly accessible. Do not 

submit Confidential Business 

Information or otherwise sensitive or 

protected information. NMFS will 

accept anonymous comments (enter N/ 

A in the required fields, if you wish to 

remain anonymous). Attachments to 

electronic comments will be accepted in 

Microsoft Word, WordPerfect, of Adobe 

portable document file (PDF) format 

only. 

The proposed rule and other materials 

relating to the proposed rule to 

designate critical habitat for the Cook 

Inlet beluga whale can be found on our 

Web site at: http://www.fakr.noaa.gov/ 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kaja 

Brix, (907) 586–7824, or Marta 

Nammack, (301) 713–1401. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: We 

published a proposed rule to designate 

critical habitat for the Cook Inlet beluga 

whale in the Federal Register of 

December 2, 2009 (74 FR 63080). We 

received several requests, including 

from the Alaska Congressional 

delegation, to extend the comment 

period to allow the public to provide 

input to the designation of critical 

habitat and, in particular, to comment 

on the economic report. The Alaska 

Congressional delegation asked for an 

additional 30 days; another commenter 

asked for an additional 60 days. An 

additional 30–day comment period 

should allow sufficient time for 

responders to comment while 

preserving the time needed for NMFS to 

prepare the final rule. The original due 

date for receipt of public comments was 

scheduled to end on February 1, 2010, 

and today we extend the public 

comment period to March 3, 2010. 

Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1533 et seq. 

Dated: January 6, 2010. 

James W. Balsiger, 

Assistant Administrator for Fisheries, 

National Marine Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. 2010–384 Filed 1–7–10; 4:15 pm] 

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