Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 25 / Monday, February 8, 2010 / Notices 6175 

DC 20230 (or via the Internet at 

dhynek@doc.gov). 

Written comments and 

recommendations for the proposed 

information collection should be sent 

within 30 days of publication of this 

notice to Brian Harris-Kojetin, OMB 

Desk Officer either by fax (202–395– 

7245) or e-mail (bharrisk@omb.eop.gov). 

Dated: February 2, 2010. 

Glenna Mickelson, 

Management Analyst, Office of the Chief 

Information Officer. 

[FR Doc. 2010–2658 Filed 2–5–10; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–07–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

RIN 0648–XU06 

Notice of Intent to Prepare an 

Environmental Impact Statement on 

the Effects of Oil and Gas Activities in 

the Arctic Ocean 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Notice of Intent to prepare an 

Environmental Impact Statement; 

request for comments. 

SUMMARY: The National Marine 

Fisheries Service (NMFS) announces its 

intent to prepare an Environmental 

Impact Statement (EIS) to analyze the 

environmental impacts of issuing 

Incidental Take Authorizations (ITAs) 

pursuant to the Marine Mammal 

Protection Act (MMPA) to the oil and 

gas industry for the taking of marine 

mammals incidental to offshore 

exploration activities (e.g., seismic 

surveys and exploratory drilling) in 

Federal and state waters of the U.S. 

Chukchi and Beaufort Seas off Alaska. 

DATES: All comments, written 

statements, and questions regarding the 

scoping process and preparation of the 

EIS must be received no later than April 

9, 2010. 

ADDRESSES: Written comments and 

statements should be addressed to Mr. 

P. Michael Payne, Chief, Permits, 

Conservation and Education Division, 

Office of Protected Resources, NMFS, 

1315 East-West Highway, Silver Spring, 

MD 20190–3225. The mailbox address 

for providing e-mail comments is 

arcticeis.comments@noaa.gov. 

Comments sent via e-mail, including all 

attachments, must not exceed a 10– 

megabyte file size. Comments and 

statements may also be submitted via 

fax to (301) 713–0376. Information on 

this project can also be found on the 

Protected Resources webpage at: http:// 

www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/permits/eis/

arctic.htm. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Michael Payne, Office of Protected 

Resources, NMFS, (301) 713–2289 ext. 

110. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background 

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

MMPA (16 USC 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 proposed 

authorization is provided to the public 

for review. The term ‘‘take’’ under the 

MMPA means ‘‘to harass, hunt, capture, 

kill or collect, or attempt to harass, 

hunt, capture, kill or collect.’’ 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, but not limited to, migration, 

breathing, nursing, breeding, feeding, or 

sheltering [Level B harassment].’’ 

Authorization for incidental takings 

shall be granted if NMFS finds that the 

taking will have a negligible impact on 

the species or stock(s), will not have an 

unmitigable adverse impact on the 

availability of the species or stock(s) for 

subsistence uses (where relevant), and if 

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.’’ 

Summary of Previous National 

Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) 

Documents 

In 2006, the U.S. Minerals 

Management Service (MMS) prepared a 

Programmatic Environmental 

Assessment (PEA) for the 2006 Arctic 

Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) seismic 

surveys. NMFS was a cooperating 

agency and adopted the Final PEA on 

June 28, 2006. Under this PEA, NMFS 

issued Incidental Harassment 

Authorizations under Section 

101(a)(5)(D) of the MMPA to oil and gas 

companies for the taking of marine 

mammals incidental to seismic surveys 

in 2006. This PEA analyzed the effects 

of four concurrent seismic surveys in 

the Beaufort Sea and four concurrent 

seismic surveys in the Chukchi Sea. At 

that time, NMFS indicated that 

increased activity and new available 

science would result in a need to 

prepare an EIS for future authorizations. 

On April 6, 2007, NMFS and MMS 

published a Notice of Availability for a 

Draft Programmatic EIS (DPEIS) and a 

schedule of public hearings (72 FR 

17117) to assess the impacts of MMS’ 

issuance of permits and authorizations 

under the Outer Continental Shelf 

Lands Act (OCSLA) for the conduct of 

seismic surveys in the Chukchi and 

Beaufort Seas off Alaska and NMFS’ 

authorizations under the MMPA to 

incidentally harass marine mammals 

while conducting those surveys. The 

proposed scope and effects of the 

seismic survey activities analyzed in the 

DPEIS were based on the best available 

information at the time. Since then, new 

information (e.g., scientific study 

results, changes in projections of level 

of activity) has become available that 

alters the scope, range of possible 

alternatives, and analyses in the DPEIS. 

Therefore, MMS and NMFS filed a 

Notice of Withdrawal of the DPEIS on 

October 28, 2009 (74 FR 55539) and 

announced our decision to begin a new 

NEPA process. 

Objectives of the EIS 

This NOI announces NMFS’ intent, as 

lead agency, to prepare a new EIS to 

analyze the potential effects of both 

geophysical surveys and exploratory 

drilling, address cumulative effects over 

a longer time frame, consider a more 

reasonable range of alternatives 

consistent with our statutory mandates, 

and reanalyze the range of practicable 

mitigation and monitoring measures for 

protecting marine mammals and 

availability of marine mammals for 

subsistence uses. MMS will be a 

cooperating agency on this EIS. 

Specifically, this EIS would: 

(1) Assess the environmental impacts 

to the physical, biological, cultural, 

economic, and social resources from 

deep-penetration, two-dimensional (2D) 

and three-dimensional (3D) streamer 

and ocean bottom cable surveys 

(hereafter referred to as seismic surveys) 

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and shallow hazard and site clearance 

surveys; 

(2) Assess the environmental impacts 

to the physical, biological, cultural, 

economic, and social resources from 

open water offshore exploratory drilling 

operations during the open water season 

in order for the industry to drill priority 

exploration drill sites on MMS OCS 

leases in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas. 

Also, as part of this EIS, NMFS will 

analyze the effects of obtaining 

geotechnical data for pre-feasibility 

analyses of shallow sub-sea sediments 

as part of its proposed exploratory 

drilling operations; and 

(3) Assess whether alternatives 

developed would allow for the 

implementation of a long-term planning 

process pursuant to section 101(a)(5)(A) 

of the MMPA through the development 

and implementation of regulations that 

would be in place for 5 year time 

periods. 

For the purposes of complying with 

NEPA and to achieve greater 

administrative efficiency in its ITA 

program, NMFS has determined the 

need to prepare an EIS that will analyze 

a range of oil and gas exploratory 

actions and that will satisfy the 

requirements of the Council on 

Environmental Quality’s NEPA 

regulations and the NOAA NEPA 

administrative order 216–6. The 

proposed EIS would cover known and 

reasonably foreseeable projects 

requiring ITAs in the U.S. Arctic regions 

for future years, until such time that a 

revision of the document is necessary. 

NMFS has determined, based on the 

following factors, that an EIS would 

serve a more beneficial use in terms of 

agency decisionmaking and would 

allow greater public participation in 

future decisions related to ITAs for the 

oil and gas industry: 

• NMFS and MMS have received 

preliminary information from industry 

that suggests an additional increase in 

seismic survey applications beyond 

recent levels; 

• NMFS has received applications for 

exploratory drilling and expects more in 

the future, the effects of which were not 

analyzed in the withdrawn DPEIS; 

• Understanding that both drilling 

and seismic activities could be expected 

to continue in the immediate years, both 

agencies determined that a longer 

timeframe needed to be analyzed in 

order to most effectively and fully 

evaluate the potential for cumulative 

impacts; and 

• NMFS prepares environmental 

analyses under NEPA to support the 

issuance of ITAs under sections 

101(a)(5)(A) and (D) of the MMPA. 

Therefore, this EIS will also be used to 

support future MMPA authorizations 

issued by NMFS for seismic and 

exploratory drilling activities in state 

and Federal waters in the U.S. Arctic 

Ocean in the Beaufort and Chukchi 

Seas. 

Finally, the environmental analysis 

will assist NMFS and MMS in carrying 

out other statutory responsibilities 

relating to the agencies’ role in 

authorizing seismic survey and 

exploratory drilling activities or 

incidental take of marine mammals (e.g., 

assessing environmental impacts on 

listed species under the Endangered 

Species Act [Section 7 consultation] and 

effects of the proposed action on 

essential fish habitat [EFH] under the 

Magnuson-Stevens Fishery 

Conservation and Management Act 

[EFH consultation]). 

Overview of Proposed Activities 

Seismic Activities 

This EIS would analyze effects of 

seismic activities during the open water 

season in the Beaufort and Chukchi 

Seas. Seismic surveys are conducted to 

obtain data on geological formations 

from the sediment near-surface to 

several thousand meters deep (below 

the sediment surface). This information 

enables industry to accurately assess 

potential hydrocarbon reservoirs, helps 

to optimally locate exploration and 

development wells, maximizing 

extraction and production from a 

reservoir, and to locate shallow geologic 

hazards. It also allows MMS to fulfill its 

statutory responsibilities to ensure safe 

operations, support environmental 

impact analyses, protect benthic 

resources through avoidance measures, 

and perform other statutory 

responsibilities. 

Seismic surveys are most often 

characterized by the type of data being 

collected. Seismic surveys may be 

described in very general terms by when 

the surveys occur (pre-lease, post-lease) 

because the timing can indicate the type 

of data likely to be collected. Surveys 

may be described by the acoustic sound 

source (air gun, water gun, sparker, 

pinger, etc.) or by the purpose for which 

the data is being collected (speculative 

shoot, exclusive shoot, site clearance). 

Each seismic vessel may be 

accompanied by other support vessels 

for provision re-supply and crew 

change. In addition, fixed-wing aircraft 

may be used for marine mammal 

surveillance over-flights. 

Drilling Activities 

This EIS would also analyze effects of 

offshore exploratory drilling operations 

during the open water season in order 

that oil companies can drill exploration 

targets on their OCS leases in the 

Beaufort and Chukchi Seas. Also, as part 

of this EIS, NMFS would analyze the 

effects of obtaining geotechnical data for 

pre-feasibility analyses of shallow subsea sediments as part of its proposed 

exploratory drilling operations by 

drilling a series of boreholes, each up to 

400 feet (122 m) in depth. 

Each drilling vessel is typically 

accompanied by up to two Arctic class 

ice management vessels which also 

serve duty as anchor tenders and other 

drill ship support tasks, as well as 

additional support vessels, oil spill 

response vessels, and aircraft. 

Additional support vessels will be used 

for provision re-supply and crew 

change. In addition, fixed-wing aircraft 

may be used for marine mammal 

surveillance over-flights, as well as for 

activities such as crew change and 

provision re-supply. 

Scoping 

Publication of this notice begins the 

official scoping period that will help 

clarify previously identified issues of 

concern and determine the range and 

structure of alternatives to be 

considered in the EIS. NMFS invites 

comments and input from the public, 

organizations and interest groups, local 

governments, and Federal and state 

agencies on issues surrounding the 

proposal. The scoping period will end 

on April 9, 2010; for consideration in 

the development of the EIS, all written 

statements and questions must be 

received by this date, via contact means 

identified above (see ADDRESSES). 

NMFS will consider all comments 

received during the scoping period. All 

hardcopy submissions must be unbound 

and suitable for copying and electronic 

scanning. Comments sent via e-mail, 

including all attachments, must not 

exceed a 10–megabyte file size. NMFS 

requests that you include in your 

comments: 

(1) Your name and address; 

(2) Whether or not you would like a 

copy of the Draft EIS; and 

(3) Any background documents to 

support your comments as you feel 

necessary. 

Instructions: All comments received 

are a part of the public record. All 

Personal Identifying Information (for 

example, name, address, etc.) 

voluntarily submitted by the commenter 

may be publicly accessible. Do not 

submit Confidential Business 

Information or otherwise sensitive or 

protected information. 

This notice requests public 

participation in the scoping process, 

provides information on how to 

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Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 25 / Monday, February 8, 2010 / Notices 6177 

participate, and identifies a set of 

preliminary alternatives to serve as a 

starting point for discussions. The 

public will have additional 

opportunities to comment on the Draft 

EIS and any applications received under 

the MMPA as part of this action. In 

particular, NMFS is soliciting 

information on: 

(1) Effects of oil and gas exploration 

on marine mammal behavior and use of 

habitat; 

(2) Effects of oil and gas exploration 

on availability of species for subsistence 

uses; 

(3) Available new science on the 

Arctic ecosystem; and 

(4) Available new technology for 

monitoring or obtaining seismic/drilling 

data. 

The scoping comments will help 

inform NMFS’ formulation of a range of 

reasonable alternatives considered in 

the EIS. The scope and structure of the 

alternatives evaluated will reflect the 

combined input from the public, 

industry, stakeholders, affected state 

and Federal agencies, and NMFS 

administrative and research offices. The 

range of reasonable alternatives that are 

analyzed in this EIS will be determined 

based on information gathered during 

scoping and will be consistent with the 

purpose and need of NMFS’ and MMS’ 

actions and with applicable law. 

Issues and concerns associated with 

oil and gas related activities in the 

Arctic marine environment have been 

documented by the scientific 

community, government publications, at 

scientific symposia, through the scoping 

and public hearings/comments, and 

other NEPA analyses. In addition, 

public testimony and traditional 

knowledge from Alaskan Natives have 

provided valuable information about the 

potential impacts to marine mammals 

and on subsistence hunting of such 

species from seismic surveying and 

drilling operations. Based on 

information from these sources, the 

following prominent issues and 

concerns on which NMFS is seeking 

public comments have been identified 

and will be included in an alternatives 

framework and analysis of effects: 

• Protection of subsistence resources 

and Inupiat culture and way of life 

• Disturbance to bowhead whale 

migration patterns 

• Impacts of seismic operations on 

marine fish reproduction, growth, and 

development 

• Harassment and potential harm of 

wildlife, including marine mammals 

and marine birds, by vessel operations, 

movements, and noise 

• Impacts on water quality 

• Changes in the socioeconomic 

environment 

• Impacts to threatened and 

endangered species 

• Impacts to marine mammals, 

including disturbance and changes in 

behavior 

• Incorporation of traditional 

knowledge in the decision-making 

process 

• Effectiveness and feasibility of 

marine mammal monitoring and other 

mitigation and monitoring measures 

To provide a framework for public 

comments, the range of reasonable 

alternatives will include the Proposed 

Action and several other action 

alternatives, as well as a No Action 

alternative. The action alternatives 

analyzed will represent a range of levels 

of activities from unrestricted to no 

seismic or exploratory drilling and 

could address the following, although 

this list is not exhaustive: 

Levels of Activity 

• Number, scale/size, location, and 

duration of seismic activities 

• Number, scale/size, location, and 

duration of drilling activities 

• Number, scale/size, location, and 

duration of shallow hazard/site 

clearance activities 

• Number, scale/size, location, and 

duration of associated support activities 

(vessel, aircraft, shore) 

• The degree to which those activities 

can overlap in space and time 

Mitigation 

• Exclusion zones based on received 

levels of sounds; 

• Exclusion zones based on presence 

of specific biological factors in 

combination with received levels of 

sound; 

• Exclusion zones based on presence 

and timing of subsistence activities; 

• Time/area closures for biological 

and subsistence reasons; and 

• Limitations on certain combinations 

of activities in specific temporal/spatial 

circumstances. 

The EIS will assess the direct and 

indirect effects of the alternative 

approaches to authorizing oil and gas 

seismic surveys under the OCSLA and 

the taking of marine mammals 

incidental to seismic surveys and 

exploratory drilling activities under the 

MMPA. The EIS will assess the effects 

on the marine mammal species and 

availability of those species for 

subsistence uses, as well as other 

components of the marine ecosystem 

and human environment. The EIS will 

assess the contribution of these 

activities to the cumulative effects on 

these resources, including effects from 

past, present, and reasonably 

foreseeable future events and activities 

in the U.S. Arctic. Anyone having 

relevant information they believe NMFS 

should consider in its analysis should 

provide a description of that 

information along with complete 

citations for supporting documents. 

For additional information on the 

withdrawn MMS and NMFS 2007 

DPEIS, please visit the MMS website at: 

http://www.mms.gov/alaska/ref/

EIS%20EA/draftlarcticlpeis/

draftlpeis.htm. 

Scoping Meetings Agenda 

Public scoping meetings will be held 

at the following locations in February 

and March, 2010: Anchorage, Barrow, 

Kaktovik, Kotzebue, Nuiqsut, Point 

Hope, Point Lay, and Wainwright. 

Public scoping meetings will be held at 

the following dates, times, and 

locations: 

(1) February 18, 2010, 6 – 8 p.m., 

Northwest Arctic Borough Assembly 

Chambers, Kotzebue, Alaska; 

(2) February 19, 2010, 5 – 7 p.m., 

Point Hope Community Center, Point 

Hope, Alaska; and 

(3) February 22, 2010, 7 – 9 p.m., 

Point Lay Community Center, Point Lay, 

Alaska. 

The final dates, times, and locations 

are not yet finalized for the public 

scoping meetings in Anchorage, Barrow, 

Kaktovik, Nuiqsut, and Wainwright; a 

supplement to this NOI will be 

published with the final meeting dates, 

times, and locations. Comments will be 

accepted at all public scoping meetings, 

as well as during the scoping period and 

can be submitted via the methods 

described earlier in this document (see 

ADDRESSES). 

Special Accommodations 

These meetings are accessible to 

people with disabilities. Requests for 

sign language interpretation or auxiliary 

aids should be directed to Sheyna 

Wisdom by telephone at (907) 261–6705 

or by email at 

SheynalWisdom@URSCorp.com at 

least 7 days before the scheduled 

meeting date. 

Dated: February 2, 2010. 

James H. Lecky, 

Director, Office of Protected Resources, 

National Marine Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. 2010–2681 Filed 2–5–10; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–S 

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