Federal Register / Vol. 71, No. 164 / Thursday, August 24, 2006 / Notices 50027 

of NEPA (40 CFR parts 1500–1508), (3) 

USDA regulations implementing NEPA 

(7 CFR part 1b), and (4) APHIS’ NEPA 

Implementing Procedures (7 CFR part 

372). 

Unless substantial issues with adverse 

environmental impacts are raised in 

response to this notice, APHIS intends 

to issue a finding of no significant 

impact (FONSI) based on the EA and 

authorize shipment of the above product 

for the initiation of field tests following 

the close of the comment period for this 

notice. 

Because the issues raised by field 

testing and by issuance of a license are 

identical, APHIS has concluded that the 

EA that is generated for field testing 

would also be applicable to the 

proposed licensing action. Provided that 

the field test data support the 

conclusions of the original EA and the 

issuance of a FONSI, APHIS does not 

intend to issue a separate EA and FONSI 

to support the issuance of the product 

license, and would determine that an 

environmental impact statement need 

not be prepared. APHIS intends to issue 

a veterinary biological product license 

for this vaccine following completion of 

the field test provided no adverse 

impacts on the human environment are 

identified and provided the product 

meets all other requirements for 

licensing. 

Authority: 21 U.S.C. 151–159; 7 CFR 2.22, 

2.80, and 371.4. 

Done in Washington, DC, this 21st day of 

August 2006. 

Kevin Shea, 

Acting Administrator, Animal and Plant 

Health Inspection Service. 

[FR Doc. E6–14040 Filed 8–23–06; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–34–P 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Forest Service 

Notice of Resource Advisory 

Committee, Sundance, WY 

AGENCY: Notice of Resource Advisory 

Committee, Sundance, Wyoming, USDA 

Forest Service, USDA. 

ACTION: Notice of meeting. 

SUMMARY: Pursuant to the authorities in 

the Federal Advisory Committee Act 

(Pub. L. 92–463) and under the Secure 

Rural Schools and Community SelfDetermination Act of 2000 (Pub. L. 106–

393) the Black Hills National Forests’

Crook County Resource Advisory 

Committee will meet Monday, 

September 11th, 2006 in Sundance, 

Wyoming for a business meeting. The 

meeting is open to the public. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

business meeting on September 11 will 

begin at 6:30 p.m., at the USFS 

Bearlodge Ranger District office, 121 

South 21st Street, Sundance, Wyoming. 

Agenda topics will include a review of 

previously funded projects and 

consideration of FY 2007 project 

proposals. A public forum will begin at 

8 p.m. (MT). 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Steve Kozel, Bearlodge District Ranger 

and Designated Federal Officer at (307) 

283–1361. 

Dated: August 18, 2006. 

Steven J. Kozel, 

District Ranger, Bearlodge Ranger District. 

[FR Doc. 06–7118 Filed 8–23–06; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–11–M 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

[I.D. 020306A] 

Small Takes of Marine Mammals 

Incidental to Specified Activities; 

Seismic Surveys in the Beaufort and 

Chukchi Seas off Alaska 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Notice of Issuance of an 

Incidental Harassment Authorization. 

SUMMARY: In accordance with 

regulations implementing the Marine 

Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) as 

amended, notification is hereby given 

that an Incidental Harassment 

Authorization (IHA) to take small 

numbers of marine mammals, by 

harassment, incidental to conducting a 

marine geophysical program, including 

deep seismic surveys, on oil and gas 

lease blocks located on Outer 

Continental Shelf (OCS) waters in the 

mid- and eastern-Beaufort Sea and on 

pre-lease areas in the Northern Chukchi 

Sea has been issued to Shell Offshore, 

Inc. (Shell) and WesternGeco, Inc. 

DATES: Effective from July 10, 2006 

through December 31, 2006. 

ADDRESSES: The application, a list of 

references used in this document, and 

the IHA are available by writing to P. 

Michael Payne, Chief, Permits, 

Conservation and Education Division, 

Office of Protected Resources, National 

Marine Fisheries Service, 1315 EastWest Highway, Silver Spring, MD 

20910–3225, or by telephoning one of 

the contacts listed here. A copy of the 

application and/or the research 

monitoring plan (LGL, 2006) is also 

available at: http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/ 

pr/permits/incidental.htm#iha. 

Documents cited in this document, that 

are not available through standard 

public (inter-library loan) access, may 

be viewed, by appointment, during 

regular business hours at this address. 

A copy of the Minerals Management 

Service’s (MMS) Programmatic 

Environmental Assessment (PEA) is 

available on-line at: http:// 

www.mms.gov/alaska/ref/pealbe.htm. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Kenneth Hollingshead or Jolie Harrison, 

Office of Protected Resources, NMFS, 

(301) 713–2289. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background 

Sections 101(a)(5)(A) and (D) of the 

MMPA (16 U.S.C. 1361 et seq.) direct 

the Secretary of Commerce to allow, 

upon 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 and either regulations are 

issued or, if the taking is limited to 

harassment, a notice of a proposed 

authorization is provided to the public 

for review. 

An authorization shall be granted if 

NMFS finds that the taking will have a 

negligible impact on the species or 

stock(s) and will not have an 

unmitigable adverse impact on the 

availability of the species or stock(s) for 

subsistence uses and the permissible 

methods of taking and requirements 

pertaining to the mitigation, monitoring 

and reporting of such takings are set 

forth. NMFS has defined ‘‘negligible 

impact’’ in 50 CFR 216.103 as ’’...an 

impact resulting from the specified 

activity that cannot be reasonably 

expected to, and is not reasonably likely 

to, adversely affect the species or stock 

through effects on annual rates of 

recruitment or survival.’’

Section 101(a)(5)(D) of the MMPA 

established an expedited process by 

which citizens of the United States can 

apply for an authorization to 

incidentally take small numbers of 

marine mammals by harassment. Except 

with respect to certain activities not 

pertinent here, the MMPA defines 

‘‘harassment’’ as: any act of pursuit, 

torment, or annoyance which 

(i) has the potential to injure a marine 

mammal or marine mammal stock in the wild 

[Level A harassment]; or (ii) has the potential 

to disturb a marine mammal or marine 

mammal stock in the wild by causing 

disruption of behavioral patterns, including, 


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