Document Headings

                    Document headings vary by document type but may contain                    the following:                  
                -                       the agency or agencies that issued and signed a document                    
                -                       the number of the CFR title and the number of each part                      the document amends, proposes to amend, or is directly                      related to                    
                -                       the agency docket number / agency internal file number                    
                -                       the RIN which identifies each regulatory action listed in                      the Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory                      Actions                    

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###### Department of Commerce

###### National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

# AGENCY:

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

# ACTION:

 Notice of decision.

                    On September 2, 1994, the Secretary of Commerce (Secretary) declined to override two objections by the State of North Carolina to the proposed drilling discharges (PDD) and overall Plan of Exploration (POE) by Mobil Oil Exploration & Producing Southeast, Inc. (Mobil) at a site about 38 miles offshore North Carolina. The Secretary made these decisions pursuant to section 307(c)(3) of the Coastal Zone Management Act (CZMA). Mobil challenged the Secretary's decisions in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia claiming they were made in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act. On March 11, 1996, the court ordered a stay of the litigation and remanded the matter to the Secretary for a determination whether the administrative record should be reopened to receive two recently produced studies, one on the impacts of Mobil's propsoed actions on benthic resources and one on their impacts on socio-economic resources.                     *Mobil, et al.*                     v.                     *Brown, et al.,*                    920 F. Supp. 1 (D.D.C. 1996).                

The Secretary's decision was held in abeyance pending settlement discussions and the outcome of related litigation.

                    On December 8, 1999, the Secretary issued a decision declining to reopen the record to admit the two studies at issue in                     *Mobil*                    v.                     *Brown,*                     for two reasons. First, both this Department and parties to appeals under the CZMA have an interest in the finality of Secretarial decisions and the administrative process. Once the administrative record is closed, a decision should be made, and new materials should not be submitted or considered without a showing of good cause. No good cause was shown in this case. Second, the two studies do not address all of the information gaps identified by the Secretary's 1994 decisions. The Secretary's decision has been submitted to the District Court in response to the court's order in                     *Mobil*                    v.                     *Brown.*                     Copies of the decision may be obtained from:                

Karl Gleaves, Assistant General Counsel for Ocean Services, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), U.S. Department of Commerce, 1305 East-West Highway, Room 6111, Silver Spring, MD 20910, (301) 713-2967.

(Federal Domestic Assistance Catalog No. 11.419 Coastal Zone Management Program Assistance)

Dated: May 26, 2000.

James A. Dorskind,

General Counsel.

[FR Doc. 00-13971  Filed 6-2-00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3510-08-M