Je veux savoir à propos de…

tkelley on DSKBCP9HB2PROD with NOTICES

10546

Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 33 / Monday, February 22, 2021 / Notices
such takings are also required. The meaning of key terms such as take, harassment, and negligible impact can be found in section 3 of the MMPA
16 U.S.C. 1362 and the agencys regulations at 50 CFR 216.103.
NMFS regulations implementing the MMPA at 50 CFR 216.107e indicate that IHAs may be renewed for additional periods of time not to exceed one year for each reauthorization. In the notice of proposed IHA for the initial authorization, NMFS described the circumstances under which we would consider issuing a renewal for this activity, and requested public comment on a potential renewal under those circumstances. Specifically, on a caseby-case basis, NMFS may issue a onetime one-year Renewal IHA following notice to the public providing an additional 15 days for public comments when 1 up to another year of identical or nearly identical, or nearly identical, activities as described in the Description of the Specified Activities and Anticipated Impacts section of this notice is planned or 2 the activities as described in the Description of the Specified Activities and Anticipated Impacts section of this notice would not be completed by the time the IHA
expires and a renewal would allow for completion of the activities beyond that described in the Dates and Duration section of the notice of proposed IHA
for the initial IHA, provided all of the following conditions are met:
A request for renewal is received no later than 60 days prior to the needed IHA renewal effective date recognizing that the r IHA renewal expiration date cannot extend beyond one year from expiration of the initial IHA;
The request for renewal must include the following:
1 An explanation that the activities to be conducted under the requested Renewal IHA are identical to the activities analyzed under the initial IHA, are a subset of the activities, or include changes so minor e.g., reduction in pile size that the changes do not affect the previous analyses, mitigation and monitoring requirements, or take estimates with the exception of reducing the type or amount of take; and 2 A preliminary monitoring report showing the results of the required monitoring to date and an explanation showing that the monitoring results do not indicate impacts of a scale or nature not previously analyzed or authorized.
Upon review of the request for renewal, the status of the affected species or stocks, and any other pertinent information, NMFS
determines that there are no more than
VerDate Sep<11>2014

19:48 Feb 19, 2021

Jkt 253001

minor changes in the activities, the mitigation and monitoring measures will remain the same and appropriate, and the findings in the initial IHA
remain valid.
An additional public comment period of 15 days for a total of 45 days, with direct notice by email, phone, or postal service to commenters on the initial IHA, is provided to allow for any additional comments on the proposed renewal. A description of the renewal process may be found on our website at:
www.fisheries.noaa.gov/national/
marine-mammal-protection/incidentalharassment-authorization-renewals.
Any comments received on the potential renewal, along with relevant comments on the initial IHA, have been considered in the development of this proposed IHA renewal, and a summary of agency responses to applicable comments is included in this notice. NMFS will consider any additional public comments prior to making any final decision on the issuance of the requested renewal, and agency responses will be summarized in the final notice of our decision.
National Environmental Policy Act To comply with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969
NEPA; 42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq. and NOAA Administrative Order NAO
2166A, NMFS must review our proposed action i.e., the issuance of an incidental harassment authorization with respect to potential impacts on the human environment.
This action is consistent with categories of activities identified in Categorical Exclusion B4 IHAs with no anticipated serious injury or mortality of the Companion Manual for NOAA
Administrative Order 2166A, which do not individually or cumulatively have the potential for significant impacts on the quality of the human environment and for which we have not identified any extraordinary circumstances that would preclude this categorical exclusion. Accordingly, NMFS has preliminarily determined that the issuance of the proposed IHA renewal qualifies to be categorically excluded from further NEPA review.
We will review all comments submitted in response to this notice prior to concluding our NEPA process or making a final decision on the IHA
renewal request.
History of Request On November 1, 2018, NMFS received a request from the Navy for authorization of the taking, by Level B
harassment and Level A harassment, of marine mammals incidental to the
PO 00000

Frm 00017

Fmt 4703

Sfmt 4703

modification and expansion of Dry Dock 1 at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine. The specified activity is expected to result in the take of five species of marine mammals harbor seals Phoca vitulina, gray seals Halichoerus grypsus, harp seals Pagophilus groenlandicus, hooded seals Cystophora cristata, harbor porpoises Phocoena phocoena. A
final version of the application, which we deemed adequate and complete, was submitted on March 11, 2019. We published a notice of a proposed IHA
referred to hereafter as the proposed initial IHA and request for comments on April 4, 2019 84 FR 13252. After the public comment period, NMFS
issued the final IHA on May 16, 2019, effective October 1, 2019, through September 30, 2020 84 FR 24476, hereafter referred to as the 2019 IHA. On September 30, 2019, the Navy informed NMFS that the project was delayed.
None of the work identified in the IHA
had occurred and no take of any marine mammals had occurred since the issuance of the IHA. The Navy requested that NMFS modify the effective dates in order to conduct the construction work that was previously analyzed and authorized. On December 3, 2019, NMFS re-issued, with new effective dates, an IHA to the Navy to take marine mammals incidental to modification and expansion of at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard Dry Dock 1
in Kittery, Maine 84 FR 67261;
December 9, 2019, effective from March 1, 2020 through February 28, 2021
hereafter referred to as the initial IHA.
On January 21, 2021, NMFS received an application for the renewal of the initial IHA. As described in the request for the renewal IHA, the activities for which incidental take is requested include a small subset of the activities that are covered by the initial authorization but will not be completed prior to its expiration, as well as a new addition of activity that is nearly identical to that covered in the initial authorization. As required, the applicant also provided a preliminary monitoring report available at: https
www.fisheries.noaa.gov/national/
marine-mammal-protection/incidentaltake-authorizations-constructionactivities which confirms that the applicant has implemented the required mitigation and monitoring, and which also shows that no impacts of a scale or nature not previously analyzed or authorized have occurred as a result of the activities conducted.

E:FRFM22FEN1.SGM

22FEN1