SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

On June 25, 2021, NOS published a Notice of Availability of a Draft PEIS for Surveying and Mapping Projects in U.S. Waters for Coastal and Marine Data Acquisition. 86 FR 33663 (June 25, 2021). The Draft PEIS was prepared in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as amended (NEPA), to analyze the potential environmental impacts associated with NOS's recurring data collection projects to characterize submerged features ( e.g., habitat, bathymetry, marine debris). The “action area” for these projects encompasses United States (U.S.) rivers, states' offshore waters, the U.S. territorial sea, the contiguous zone, the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone (U.S. EEZ), and coastal and riparian lands. As a part of the Proposed Action, NOS may use active acoustic equipment such as sub-bottom profilers, single beam and multibeam echo sounders, side-scan sonars, and Acoustic Doppler Current Profilers. The Draft PEIS analyzes NOS data collection projects for a time period of six years. Please refer to the original Notice of Availability for additional summary information. ( printed page 47300)

The original public comment period for the Draft PEIS was scheduled to close on August 24, 2021. In response to written and verbal requests from members of the public including representatives of the Alaska whaling community, NOS is extending the public comment period by 90 days to November 22, 2021. The comment period extension will ensure adequate time for review of the Draft PEIS by all interested parties and will accommodate the Alaskan subsistence hunting and fishing community which is particularly busy during the start of the fall whaling season from August to October. NOS recognizes that Alaskan communities have valuable regional expertise in oceanography, marine mammals and other resources, and the subsistence patterns and needs of their community.

NOS invites affected government agencies, non-governmental organizations, tribes and tribal organizations, and interested members of the public to participate in the Draft PEIS process and provide comments on the structure, contents, and analysis in the Draft PEIS. Please visit the project web page for additional information regarding the program: https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/​about/​environmental-compliance/​surveying-mapping.html.

Authority: The preparation of the Draft PEIS was conducted in accordance with the requirements of NEPA, the Council on Environmental Quality's Regulations (40 CFR 1500 et seq. (1978)), other applicable regulations, and NOAA's policies and procedures for compliance with those regulations. While the CEQ regulations implementing NEPA were revised as of November 14, 2020 (85 FR 43304, Jul. 16, 2020), NOS prepared this Draft PEIS using the 1978 CEQ regulations because this environmental review began on December 19, 2016, when NOS published a Notice of Intent to conduct scoping and prepare a Draft Programmatic Environmental Assessment. Written comments must be received on or before November 22, 2021.

86 FR 47299