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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 58 / Monday, March 29, 2021 / Notices
issued or, if the taking is limited to harassment, a notice of a proposed incidental take authorization is provided to the public for review.
Authorization for incidental takings shall be granted if NMFS finds that the taking will have a negligible impact on the species or stocks and will not have an unmitigable adverse impact on the availability of the species or stocks for taking for subsistence uses where relevant. Further, NMFS must prescribe the permissible methods of taking and other means of effecting the least practicable adverse impact on the affected species or stocks and their habitat, paying particular attention to rookeries, mating grounds, and areas of similar significance, and on the availability of such species or stocks for taking for certain subsistence uses referred to here as mitigation measures. Monitoring and reporting of 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 1 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 1 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, activities as described in the Description of the Specified Activities and Anticipated Impacts section is planned or 2 the activities as described in the Description of the Specified Activities and Anticipated Impacts section 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 initial IHA Federal Register notice 85 FR 21198, April 10, 2020, provided all of the following conditions are met:
A request for renewal is received no later than 60 days prior to the needed renewal IHA effective date recognizing that the renewal IHA expiration date cannot extend beyond one year from expiration of the initial IHA.
The request for renewal must include the following:

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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.
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 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 evaluate our proposed action i.e., issuance of incidental harassment authorization and alternatives with respect to potential impacts on the human environment.
This action is consistent with categories of activities identified in Categorical Exclusion B4 of the Companion Manual for NAO 2166A, which do not individually or
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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 proposed action qualifies to be categorically excluded from further NEPA review.
Information in Atlantic Shores application and this notice collectively provide the environmental information related to proposed issuance of these regulations and subsequent incidental take authorization for public review and comment. We will review all comments submitted in response to this notice prior to concluding our NEPA process or making a final decision on the request for incidental take authorization.
History of Request On April 10, 2020, NMFS issued an IHA to Atlantic Shores to take marine mammals incidental to marine site characterization surveys off the coast of New York and New Jersey 85 FR
21198, effective from April 20, 2020
through April 19, 2021. On February 3, 2021, NMFS received a request from Atlantic Shores for the renewal of that initial IHA so that Atlantic Shores can continue its survey activities beyond April 19, 2021. As described in the request for the renewal IHA, the activities for which incidental take is requested are identical to those covered in the initial authorization. As required, the applicant also provided a preliminary monitoring report available at https www.fisheries.noaa.gov/
action/incidental-take-authorizationatlantic-shores-offshore-wind-llcmarine-site-characterization 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.
Description of the Specified Activities and Anticipated Impacts Atlantic Shores proposes to conduct a second year of marine site characterization surveys, consisting of high-resolution geophysical HRG and geotechnical surveys, within the 183,353-acre Lease Area, located approximately 18 nautical miles southeast of Atlantic City, New Jersey, and proposed Export Cable Route ECRs corridors from the Lease Area to shore landing locations along the coast of New Jersey and New York. The purpose of the HRG and geotechnical
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