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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 103 / Tuesday, June 1, 2021 / Proposed Rules submit an annual monitoring and reporting plan at least 90 days prior to the initiation of a proposed activity, and the applicant must submit a final monitoring report to us no later than 90
days after the expiration of the LOA. We base each years monitoring objective on the previous years monitoring results.
We require an approved plan for monitoring and reporting the effects of oil and gas Industry exploration, development, and production activities on polar bears and walruses prior to issuance of an LOA. Since production activities are continuous and long term, upon approval, LOAs and their required monitoring and reporting plans will be issued for the life of the activity or until the expiration of the regulations, whichever occurs first. Each year, prior to January 15, we will require that the operator submit development and production activity monitoring results of the previous years activity. We require approval of the monitoring results for continued operation under the LOA.

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Request for Public Comments If you wish to comment on this proposed regulation or the associated draft environmental assessment, you may submit your comments by any of the methods described in ADDRESSES.
Please identify if you are commenting on the proposed regulation, the draft environmental assessment, or both, make your comments as specific as possible, confine them to issues pertinent to the proposed regulation, and explain the reason for any changes you recommend. Where possible, your comments should reference the specific section or paragraph that you are addressing. The Service will consider all comments that are received by the close of the comment period see DATES.
Clarity of This Rule We are required by Executive Orders 12866 and 12988 and by the Presidential Memorandum of June 1, 1998, to write all rules in plain language. This means that each rule we publish must:
a Be logically organized;
b Use the active voice to address readers directly;
c Use common, everyday words and clear language rather than jargon;
d Be divided into short sections and sentences; and e Use lists and tables wherever possible.
If you feel that we have not met these requirements, send us comments by one of the methods listed in ADDRESSES. To better help us revise the rule, your
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comments should be as specific as possible. For example, you should tell us the numbers of the sections or paragraphs that you find unclear, which sections or sentences are too long, the sections where you feel lists or tables would be useful, etc.
Required Determinations Treaty Obligations The proposed ITR is consistent with the 1973 Agreement on the Conservation of Polar Bears, a multilateral treaty executed in Oslo, Norway, among the Governments of Canada, Denmark, Norway, the Soviet Union, and the United States. Article II
of this Polar Bear Agreement lists three obligations of the Parties in protecting polar bear habitat. Parties are obliged to:
1 Take appropriate action to protect the ecosystem of which polar bears are a part; 2 give special attention to habitat components such as denning and feeding sites and migration patterns; and 3 manage polar bear subpopulations in accordance with sound conservation practices based on the best available scientific data.
This rule, if finalized, will further consistency with the Services treaty obligations through incorporation of mitigation measures that ensure the protection of polar bear habitat. Any LOAs issued pursuant to this rule would adhere to the requirements of the rule and would be conditioned upon including area or seasonal timing limitations or prohibitions, such as placing 1.6-km 1-mi avoidance buffers around known or observed dens which halts or limits activity until the bear naturally leaves the den and monitoring the effects of the activities on polar bears. Available denning habitat maps are provided by the USGS.
National Environmental Policy Act NEPA
Per the National Environmental Policy Act NEPA; 42 U.S.C. 4321, et seq., the Service must evaluate the effects of the proposed action on the human environment. We have prepared a draft environmental assessment EA
in conjunction with this proposed rulemaking. Subsequent to the closure of the comment period for this proposed rule, we will finalize the EA and decide whether this rulemaking is a major Federal action significantly affecting the quality of the human environment within the meaning of Section 1022C
of the NEPA. See Request for Public Comments, above, if you wish to provide comment on our draft EA.

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Endangered Species Act Under the ESA, all Federal agencies are required to ensure the actions they authorize are not likely to jeopardize the continued existence of any threatened or endangered species or result in destruction or adverse modification of critical habitat. In 2008, the Service listed the polar bear as a threatened species under the ESA 73 FR 28212, May 15, 2008 and later designated critical habitat for polar bear subpopulations in the United States, effective January 6, 2011 75 FR 76086, December 7, 2010. Consistent with these statutory requirements, the Services Marine Mammal Management Office has initiated intra-Service section 7 consultation regarding the effects of these regulations on polar bears with the Services Fairbanks Ecological Services Field Office. The Service has found the issuance of the proposed ITR will not affect other listed species or designated critical habitat. We will complete the consultation prior to finalizing these proposed regulations.
Regulatory Planning and Review Executive Order 12866 provides that the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs OIRA in the Office of Management and Budget OMB will review all significant rules for a determination of significance. OMB has designated this rule as not significant.
Executive Order 13563 reaffirms the principles of Executive Order 12866
while calling for improvements in the nations regulatory system to promote predictability, reduce uncertainty, and use the best, most innovative, and least burdensome tools for achieving regulatory ends. The Executive order directs agencies to consider regulatory approaches that reduce burdens and maintain flexibility and freedom of choice for the public where these approaches are relevant, feasible, and consistent with regulatory objectives.
Executive Order 13563 emphasizes further that regulations must be based on the best available science and that the rulemaking process must allow for public participation and an open exchange of ideas. We have developed this proposed rule in a manner consistent with these requirements.
OIRA bases its determination upon the following four criteria: a Whether the rule will have an annual effect of $100 million or more on the economy or adversely affect an economic sector, productivity, jobs, the environment, or other units of the government; b whether the rule will create inconsistencies with other Federal agencies actions; c whether the rule
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