National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.
Announcement of public scoping; request for comments.
Pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969 and in compliance with the implementing regulations issued by the Council on Environmental Quality and procedures issued by NOAA Administrative Order 216–6, NOAA is providing notice of its intent to develop a Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) to evaluate the potential environmental impacts of different ranges of coastal and marine habitat restoration project types conducted and supported by the NOAA Restoration Center.
Interested parties should provide written comments by May 31, 2012.
Interested parties that wish to send questions, comments or requests for information may send an email to the following address:
Interested parties that wish to send questions, comments or requests for information through regular mail may use the following mailing address: NOAA Restoration Center (F/HC3), ATTN: Restoration PEIS Scoping, 1315 East West Highway, Silver Spring, MD 20910.
The NOAA Restoration Center Web site that contains information and updates relevant to this PEIS can be found at:
Tom Barry at 301–427–8653 or via the following email address:
The NOAA Restoration Center is the only office within NOAA solely devoted to restoring the nation's coastal, marine, and migratory fish habitat. Recognizing that the most successful environmental restoration projects are supported and implemented at the community-level, the Restoration Center creates and builds partnerships on local, regional and national scales to carry out habitat restoration projects within the coastal United States, Great Lakes region, and territories. Restoration projects use a number of priority habitat restoration approaches to positively impact fishery production. Most notably these approaches include, but are not limited to, opening rivers, reconnecting coastal wetlands, restoring corals, rebuilding shellfish populations, land and easement acquisition, erosion reduction, public outreach, restoration research, or a combination of these project types. The Restoration Center provides financial and technical assistance for implementing habitat restoration projects to partners primarily on a competitive basis through a number of programs and funding opportunities administered by the Restoration Center. These include the Community-based Restoration Program (CRP), the Damage Assessment, Remediation and Restoration Program (DARRP), the Coastal Wetland Planning, Protection and Restoration Act (CWPPRA) Program, and the Great Lakes Habitat Restoration Program (GLHRP).
In 2002 the NOAA Restoration Center released the “NOAA Fisheries' Implementation Plan for the Community-based Restoration Program” to document environmental compliance processes and procedures for the CRP. In 2006, the NOAA Restoration Center released a Supplemental Programmatic Environmental Assessment (SPEA) to update and further refine the environmental impact evaluation process for the CRP. Since that time, the Restoration Center has increased the scope and scale of the individual projects implemented by the CRP, as well as other Restoration Center programs. Therefore, the environmental impact analysis process under NEPA that uses the 2002 implementation plan and 2006 SPEA needs to be revised.
Accordingly, NOAA is providing notice of its intent to develop a PEIS to evaluate the potential environmental impacts of proposed coastal and marine habitat restoration activities that the NOAA Restoration Center may conduct and support through its funding programs and restoration partners. These activities include: (1) Technical Assistance (includes planning, permitting, monitoring, research and outreach); (2) Riverine/Riparian/Associated Uplands Restoration (includes channel, bank and floodplain, buffer area and watershed revegetation); (3) Inter-tidal Restoration (includes saltmarsh and oyster restoration); (4) Sub-tidal Restoration (includes submerged aquatic vegetation and coral restoration); and (5) Land and Water Acquisition. Possible alternatives NOAA will explore during the scoping process include the following:
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The publication date of this notice constitutes the start of the public scoping process under NEPA for the PEIS. Through public comment, the scoping process will help identify and determine the environmental issues that the PEIS will address. This notice provides information on how the public may participate. NOAA encourages all parties with an interest in or who are affected by habitat restoration activities to provide suggestions, comments and input on the alternatives, scope of
The authority for these actions include the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (16 U.S.C. 1891a), and the Fish and Wildlife Coordination Act (16 U.S.C. 661).