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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 11 / Tuesday, January 19, 2021 / Rules and Regulations 3. Draft Environmental Impact Statement In accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act NEPA, 42
U.S.C. 4321 et seq. and the NMSA 16
U.S.C. 1434, NOAA prepared and released a DEIS 81 FR 37576, June 10, 2016. The DEIS considered alternatives for the proposed expansion of boundaries at FGBNMS and application of the existing sanctuary regulations and management actions to the expanded area. The DEIS evaluated the environmental consequences of the alternatives and provided an in-depth resource assessment. The action alternatives in the DEIS would expand the network of protected areas within FGBNMS by incorporating selected reefs, banks, and other features throughout the north central Gulf of Mexico.
The DEIS evaluated five alternatives, ranging from no action maintaining the current boundaries to one that included a total of 45 discrete boundary units and encompassed approximately 935 square miles. The action discussed in this rulemaking falls within the bounds of the DEIS alternatives as discussed below in part II, section 5 of this final rule and in the supplemental information report which is available at the FGBNMS website.2 NOAAs preferred alternative in the 2016 DEIS
Alternative 3 sought to expand the existing sanctuary from approximately 56 square miles to approximately 383
square miles, including additional important and sensitive marine habitat areas in the northwestern Gulf of Mexico. This alternative would have applied the existing sanctuary regulations and management actions to the expanded area. The 2016 preferred alternative included 15 reefs and banks in addition to those contained within the existing 3 sanctuary units encompassed within 11 discrete boundary polygons, including multibank complexes. No significant adverse impacts to the human environment were identified under any alternative considered in the DEIS.
In June 2016, NOAA opened a public comment period on the DEIS for sixtynine 69 days, which closed on August 19, 2016. During this public comment period, NOAA also held five 5 in person public hearings in Galveston, TX; Houston, TX; New Orleans, LA;
Lafayette, LA; and Mobile, AL. NOAA
received 1,421 separate comments, including three letter campaigns and one petition, each with multiple signatories. All written comments on 2 https flowergarden.noaa.gov/management/

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the DEIS are available at the Regulations.gov website.3 NOAAs response to the public comments are set forth in Appendix A of the FEIS, which was made available to the public on December 11, 2020 85 FR 80093.
4. NOAAs Revised Preferred Alternative and Supplemental Information Report In response to concerns raised primarily by the oil and gas industry regarding the potential impacts to offshore energy operations arising from the Preferred Alternative presented in the 2016 DEIS, the FGBNMS Advisory Council Advisory Council established a new BEWG to review NOAAs expansion proposal and make a recommendation. Between July 2016
and May 2018, the BEWG met 21 times, and considered a variety of topics, including a range of boundary and regulatory issues. The BEWG
recommended revised FGBNMS
expansion boundaries that tracked the BOEM-designated NAZs. NAZs are areas within which no operations, anchoring, or structures are allowed for oil and gas operations. The NAZs were developed in the 19701980s to protect the shallowest portion of the reefs and banks. Based primarily on the May 2018
FGBNMS Advisory Council recommendation, along with input received from public comments and consultation with the GMFMC and various Federal agencies, NOAA revised the preferred alternative.
In the revised preferred alternative, NOAA reduced the size of the expansion areas proposed in the 2016
DEIS preferred alternative to promote compatibility with users and reduce potential economic impacts to the offshore energy and fishing industries.
On March 22, 2019, NOAA evaluated changes to the 2016 DEIS preferred alternative in a Supplemental Information Report SIR. Through this review, NOAA determined that preparing a supplement to the 2016
DEIS is neither required nor necessary under NEPA. The SIR is available on the FGBNMS website.4 Pursuant to applicable Council on Environmental Quality CEQ guidance, NOAAs rationale for the revised preferred alternative is now presented as NOAAs Final Preferred Alternative in the FEIS
and part II, section 7 of this final rule and the ROD.
3 https www.regulations.gov/docket?D=NOAANOS-2016-0059.
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5. The Proposed Rule On May 1, 2020, NOAA published a proposed rule which would expand the boundaries of FGBNMS from approximately 56 square miles to 160
square miles 85 FR 25359 May 1, 2020.
This action would add 14 banks, for a total of 17 banks, represented in 19
polygons including 3 banks with multipolygons, and apply the existing sanctuary regulations and management plan to the expanded sanctuary boundaries. Under the existing sanctuary regulations, only conventional hook and line gear would be permissible in the expanded sanctuary boundaries.
NOAA solicited public comment on the proposed rule from May 1, 2020 to July 3, 2020, including specifically on whether to provide exemptions for spearfishing and pelagic longline in the expanded area. NOAA accepted comments in the form of letters and written comments through electronic submissions to http regulations.gov, letters submitted by mail, and public hearings. As a result of the Coronavirus global pandemic and restrictions on public gatherings, three virtual public hearings were held via Gotowebinar.
NOAA received 485 separate comments, including four letter campaigns and four petitions, each with multiple signatories, for a total of 36,111
comments. All written public comments on the proposed expansion are available on the Regulations.gov website.5
NOAAs responses to the public comments are available in Appendix A
of the FEIS, and in section IV of this final rule.
III. Summary of Final Regulations With this final rule, NOAA is revising the FGBNMS regulations at 15 CFR part 922, subpart L, as follows.
1. Sanctuary Boundary Expansion NOAA is amending the sanctuary boundary descriptions at 15 CFR part 922, subpart L, and the terms of designation in order to expand the boundaries of FGBNMS to include portions of 14 additional reefs and banks in the sanctuary, adding approximately 104 square miles, bringing the total area to 160.4 square miles and encompassing 17 banks. The boundary changes were selected through a public process to identify and assess marine areas that could more effectively complement current management authorities or enhance natural and cultural resource values.
5 https www.regulations.gov/
docketBrowser?rpp=25&so=DESC&sb=comment DueDate&po=0&D=NOAA-NOS-2019-0033.

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