15052 Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 50 / Wednesday, March 14, 2012 / Notices 

the area or temporarily alter their 

behavior at time of exposure. 

Based on the analysis contained in 

this notice, the proposed IHA notice (77 

FR 2701, January 19, 2012), and the IHA 

application, and taking into 

consideration the implementation of the 

mitigation and monitoring measures, 

NMFS has determined that ORPC’s pile 

driving activities will result in the 

incidental take of small numbers of 

marine mammals, by Level B 

harassment only, and that the total 

taking will have a negligible impact on 

the affected species or stocks. 

Impact on Availability of Affected 

Species for Taking for Subsistence Uses 

There are no relevant subsistence uses 

of marine mammals implicated by this 

action. 

Endangered Species Act (ESA) 

No marine mammal species listed 

under the ESA are anticipated to occur 

within the action area. Therefore, 

section 7 consultation under the ESA is 

not required. 

National Environmental Policy Act 

(NEPA) 

In compliance with the National 

Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 

U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), as implemented by 

the regulations published by the 

Council on Environmental Quality (40 

CFR parts 1500–1508), and NOAA 

Administrative Order 216–6, NMFS 

prepared an Environmental Assessment 

(EA) to consider the environmental 

impacts of issuance of a 1-year IHA and 

made a finding of no significant impact 

FONSI. The EA and FONSI are available 

on the NMFS Web site listed in the 

beginning of this document (see 

ADDRESSES). 

Dated: March 8, 2012. 

Helen M. Golde, 

Deputy Director, Office of Protected 

Resources, National Marine Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. 2012–6196 Filed 3–13–12; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

Dataset Workshop—U.S. Billion Dollar 

Disasters Dataset (1980–2011): 

Assessing Dataset Strengths and 

Weaknesses for a Pathway to an 

Improved Dataset 

AGENCY: National Environmental 

Satellite, Data, and Information Service 

(NESDIS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Department of Commerce (DOC). 

ACTION: Notice of request for 

information. 

SUMMARY: This notice sets forth the 

schedule and topics of an upcoming 

workshop hosted by NOAA’s National 

Climatic Data Center in Asheville, North 

Carolina. Invited participants will 

discuss topics as outlined below. 

Members of the administrative public, 

private and academic sectors are invited 

to attend the workshop, and are 

required to fulfill a request to RSVP to 

Karen.L.Miller@noaa.gov by 5 p.m. EDT, 

Friday, April 27, 2012 if they wish to 

attend. The workshop is to be held in 

a federal facility; building-security 

restrictions preclude attendance for 

those who do not RSVP by the deadline. 

Space is also limited to the first 35 

responses, but remote access via 

webinar will be made available for the 

first 50 participants requesting webinar 

participation. The remote access 

participation information will be 

provided on an individual basis once 

participation has been confirmed 

through RSVP. 

Workshop Date and Time: The 

workshop will be held on May 3, 2012 

from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and May 4, 2012 

from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. 

RSVP Deadline: Anyone wishing to 

attend the workshop must RSVP no later 

than 5:00 pm EDT on April 27, 2012. 

ADDRESSES: The workshop will be held 

at the Veach-Baley Federal Complex, 

located at 151 Patton Avenue, Asheville, 

North Carolina 28801. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Adam Smith, National Climatic Data 

Center, 151 Patton Avenue, Rm. 471, 

Asheville, North Carolina 28801. 

(Phone: 828–271–4183, Email: 

Adam.Smith@noaa.gov) For RSVP 

responses, use the email address noted 

above (Karen.L.Miller@noaa.gov). 

Workshop Goals 

The workshop will focus on a review, 

discussion, and evaluation of NOAA’s 

U.S. Billion Dollar Disasters (1980– 

2011) dataset and associated methods 

used to develop the data set. An 

important goal of the meeting is to 

identify strengths and weaknesses of the 

current dataset and related 

methodology. Emphasis will be placed 

on dataset accuracy and time-dependent 

biases. Pathways to overcome accuracy 

and bias issues will be an important 

focus. 

Participants will consider: 

• Historical development and current 

state of the U.S. Billion Dollar Disasters 

Report; 

• What additional data sources and/ 

or new methods should be considered to 

enhance the robustness of the Billion 

Dollar Disasters dataset; 

• Examination of unique 

uncertainties related to the cost of each 

of the major types of weather and 

climate disasters the data set addresses; 

• What steps should be taken to 

enhance the robustness of the billiondollar disaster dataset and the input 

sources used for it; and 

• What steps might NOAA take to 

leverage the expertise of the public, 

private and academic partners in the 

development, maintenance and the 

timely review/revision of the U.S. 

Billion Dollar Dataset in the long-term? 

The report from this workshop will 

include: 

Æ A peer review of the current 

methods used to estimate disaster costs. 

Æ Guidance for improving these 

methods. 

Æ Recommendations for rectifying 

any known time-dependent biases. 

Æ Recommendations for minimizing 

future errors and biases. 

Mary E. Kicza, 

Assistant Administrator for Satellite and 

Information Services. 

[FR Doc. 2012–6069 Filed 3–13–12; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE P 

COUNCIL ON ENVIRONMENTAL 

QUALITY 

National Ocean Council—National 

Ocean Policy Draft Implementation 

Plan 

AGENCY: Council on Environmental 

Quality. 

ACTION: Extension of comment period. 

SUMMARY: On July 19, 2010, President 

Obama signed Executive Order 13547 

establishing a National Policy for the 

Stewardship of the Ocean, our Coasts, 

and the Great Lakes (National Ocean 

Policy). As part of the President’s charge 

for Federal agencies to implement the 

National Ocean Policy, the National 

Ocean Council developed actions to 

achieve the Policy’s nine priority 

objectives, and to address some of the 

most pressing challenges facing the 

ocean, our coasts, and the Great Lakes. 

Collectively, the actions are 

encompassed in a single draft National 

Ocean Policy Implementation Plan 

(Implementation Plan). The draft 

Implementation Plan describes more 

than 50 actions the Federal Government 

will take to improve the health of the 

ocean, coasts, and Great Lakes, which 

support tens of millions of jobs, 


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