Notice of Public Hearings and the Availability of a Draft Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement/Overseas Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS/OEIS), 62433-62435 [2010-25378]
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62433
Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 195 / Friday, October 8, 2010 / Notices
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Officer, NASA Headquarters, 300 E
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Janet LaBella,
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[FR Doc. 2010–25245 Filed 10–7–10; 8:45 am]
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NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND
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[Notice: (10–122)]
Notice of Information Collection
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ACTION: Notice of information collection.
AGENCY:
The National Aeronautics and
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continuing effort to reduce paperwork
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continuing information collections, as
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3506(c)(2)(A)).
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III. Data
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proposed collection of information;
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Comments submitted in response to
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approval of this information collection.
They will also become a matter of
public record.
Lori Parker,
NASA PRA Clearance Officer.
[FR Doc. 2010–25446 Filed 10–7–10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE P
NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION
Notice of Public Hearings and the
Availability of a Draft Programmatic
Environmental Impact Statement/
Overseas Environmental Impact
Statement (PEIS/OEIS)
National Science Foundation.
Notice of public hearings and
request for public comments on a Draft
PEIS/OEIS for Marine Seismic Research
Funded by the National Science
Foundation (NSF) or Conducted by the
U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).
AGENCY:
ACTION:
NSF gives notice of the
availability of a Draft PEIS/OEIS
(hereafter Draft PEIS) for marine seismic
research funded by NSF or conducted
by the USGS and requests public review
and comment on the document. NSF
also provides notice of public hearings
on the Draft PEIS.
The Division of Ocean Sciences in the
Directorate for Geosciences (GEO/OCE)
has prepared the Draft PEIS as the lead
agency with support from the
cooperating agencies, USGS and the
National Marine Fisheries Service
(NMFS) of the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
The Draft PEIS assesses the potential
impacts of marine seismic research on
the human and natural environment.
Under the Proposed Action, a variety of
SUMMARY:
E:\FR\FM\08OCN1.SGM
08OCN1
erowe on DSK5CLS3C1PROD with NOTICES
62434
Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 195 / Friday, October 8, 2010 / Notices
acoustic sources used for research
activities funded by NSF or conducted
by the USGS would be operated from
various research vessels operated by
U.S. academic institutions or
government agencies. The seismic
acoustic sources would include various
airgun configurations (particularly
strings or arrays with as little as 2 to as
many as 36 seismic airguns), as well as
low-energy seismic and non-seismic
acoustic sources.
The Draft PEIS examines the potential
impacts that may result from
geophysical exploration and scientific
research using seismic surveys that are
funded by NSF or conducted by the
USGS in non-Arctic waters. The
Proposed Action is for academic and
U.S. government scientists in the U.S.,
and possible international collaborators,
to conduct marine seismic research from
research vessels operated by U.S.
academic institutions and government
agencies. The purpose of the Proposed
Action is to fund the investigation of the
geology and geophysics of the seafloor
by collecting seismic reflection and
refraction data that reveal the structure
and stratigraphy of the crust and/or
overlying sediment below the world’s
oceans. NSF has a continuing need to
fund seismic surveys that enable
scientists to collect data essential to
understanding the complex Earth
processes beneath the ocean floor.
Two action alternatives and the NoAction Alternative have been carried
forward for analysis. The Draft PEIS is
available for public review for a 45-day
period. Comments must be submitted on
or before November 22, 2010.
NSF will conduct two public hearings
to receive oral and written comments on
the Draft PEIS. Federal, state, and local
agencies and interested individuals are
invited to be present or represented at
the public hearings. This notice
announces the dates and locations of the
public hearings for this Draft PEIS.
An open house session will precede
the scheduled public hearing at each of
the locations listed below and will
allow individuals to review the
information presented in the Draft PEIS.
NSF and USGS representatives will be
available during the open house
sessions to clarify information related to
the Draft PEIS.
Dates & Addresses: All hearings will
start with an open house session,
followed by a presentation, and then the
formal oral public comment period.
Public hearings will be held on the
following dates and at the following
locations:
• Monday, October 25, 2010, 5–7 p.m.
at Scripps Institution of Oceanography,
University California-San Diego,
VerDate Mar<15>2010
15:29 Oct 07, 2010
Jkt 223001
Vaughn Hall, Room 100, Discovery Way,
La Jolla, CA.
• Wednesday, October 27, 2010, 5–7
p.m. at the National Science
Foundation, 4201 Wilson Blvd., Room
110, Arlington, VA.
The Draft PEIS is available on NSF’s
Web site at: https://www.nsf.gov/geo/oce/
envcomp/index.jsp. Electronic or
printed copies of the Draft PEIS are also
available upon request from: Holly
Smith, National Science Foundation,
Division of Ocean Sciences, 4201
Wilson Blvd., Suite 725, Arlington, VA
22230. Telephone: (703) 292–8583. Email: nepacomments@nsf.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Currently,
individual Environmental Assessments
(EAs) are prepared for individual or
small numbers of related cruises to
assess the impact of the generated
seismic survey noise on the marine
environment. In the 7 years from 2003
through 2009, NSF prepared 31 EAs
assessing the impact of sound from
seismic surveys on marine resources
and species listed under the Marine
Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) and
Endangered Species Act (ESA) during
research projects investigating the
geology and geophysics of the seafloor.
These EAs were prepared for various
worldwide, academic research cruises
that required the use of various marine
seismic sources involving different
airgun configurations deployed from the
primary U.S. academic seismic survey
ship, or smaller airgun sources deployed
from other research vessels, often with
concurrent operations of non-seismic
acoustic sources such as echosounders
and bottom profilers.
For past seismic research cruise
actions, an EA has been used as the
basis for consultation with the NOAA
Office of Protected Resources (OPR)
under section 7(a)(2) of the ESA. For
each of the research cruises, NOAA OPR
issued a Biological Opinion (BO) and
related Incidental Take Statements
(ITSs), which included terms and
conditions to reduce impacts on
threatened and endangered species. In
parallel with this effort, when
applicable, a separate application for an
Incidental Harassment Authorization
(IHA) under Section 101(a)(5)(D) of the
MMPA was submitted for each cruise to
another division within NOAA OPR,
which subsequently issued the IHA. The
MMPA procedures for issuance of an
IHA involve publication of a proposed
IHA notice in the Federal Register and
solicitation of comments on that notice.
To reduce this apparent duplication
of effort in environmental
documentation and to address the
potential for cumulative effects of
PO 00000
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Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
marine seismic research acoustic
sources upon marine resources, NSF
and the USGS have decided that a PEIS
should be prepared. Preparing a PEIS for
NSF and USGS marine seismic research
serves several purposes. First, it
provides a format for a comprehensive
cumulative impacts analysis by taking a
view of the planned marine seismic
research activities as a whole. This is
accomplished by assembling and
analyzing the broadest range of direct,
indirect, and cumulative impacts
associated with all marine seismic
research activities in addition to other
past, present, and reasonably
foreseeable projects in the region of
influence. Furthermore, the collective
analysis of representative project
locations will provide a strong technical
basis for a more global assessment of the
potential cumulative impacts of NSFfunded and USGS marine seismic
activities in the future.
A PEIS also sets up a framework for
streamlining the preparation of
subsequent environmental documents
where needed for individual cruises. It
is expected that time- and locationspecific aspects, or similarly detailed
technical information if necessary to
evaluate unique impacts of specific
cruises and projects, will be addressed
in EIS supplements, tiered EAs, or other
appropriate environmental
documentation that would follow the
publication of this Draft PEIS. Thus,
while NSF-funded and USGS marine
seismic research is reviewed under this
Draft PEIS, the analysis of site-specific
impacts from future cruises may be
reserved for future analysis. Tiering of
environmental documents in this
manner makes subsequent documents of
greater use and meaning to the public as
NSF’s and USGS’s marine seismic
research develops, without duplicating
previous paperwork and environmental
analyses. Finally, a PEIS enables the
identification of an appropriate and
prudent set of standard mitigation
measures to be integrated into future
NSF-funded and USGS cruises, which is
a key goal of NSF and USGS.
Federal, state, local agencies, Native
American Tribes and Nations, and
interested parties are invited to be
present or represented at the public
hearings. Written comments can also be
submitted anytime during the public
hearings or during the 45-day public
review period of the Draft PEIS.
Comments must be submitted on or
before November 22, 2010.
Oral statements will be heard and
transcribed by a stenographer; however,
to ensure the accuracy of the record, all
statements should be submitted in
writing. All statements, both oral and
E:\FR\FM\08OCN1.SGM
08OCN1
Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 195 / Friday, October 8, 2010 / Notices
written, will become part of the public
record on the Draft PEIS and will be
responded to in the Final PEIS. Equal
weight will be given to both oral and
written statements. In the interest of
time, and to ensure all who wish to give
an oral statement have the opportunity
to do so, each speaker’s comments will
be limited to three (3) minutes. If a long
statement is to be presented, it should
be summarized at the public hearing
with the full text submitted either in
writing at the hearing or mailed to:
Holly Smith, National Science
Foundation, Division of Ocean Sciences,
Room 725, 4201 Wilson Blvd.,
Arlington, VA 22230. In addition,
comments may be submitted via e-mail
at: nepacomments@nsf.gov. All written
comments must be postmarked by
November 22, 2010 to ensure they
become part of the official record.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For
further information regarding the Draft
PEIS contact: Holly Smith, National
Science Foundation, Division of Ocean
Sciences, 4201 Wilson Blvd., Suite 725,
Arlington, VA 22230; telephone: (703)
292–8583; e-mail:
nepacomments@nsf.gov.
Dated: October 5, 2010.
Suzanne H. Plimpton,
Reports Clearance Officer, National Science
Foundation.
[FR Doc. 2010–25378 Filed 10–7–10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7555–01–P
NUCLEAR REGULATORY
COMMISSION
[Docket No. NRC–2010–0235]
Agency Information Collection
Activities: Submission for the Office of
Management and Budget (OMB)
Review; Comment Request
Nuclear Regulatory
Commission (NRC).
ACTION: Notice of the OMB review of
information collection and solicitation
of public comment.
AGENCY:
The NRC has recently
submitted to OMB for review the
following proposal for the collection of
information under the provisions of the
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44
U.S.C. Chapter 35). The NRC hereby
informs potential respondents that an
agency may not conduct or sponsor, and
that a person is not required to respond
to, a collection of information unless it
displays a currently valid OMB control
number. The NRC published a Federal
Register Notice with a 60-day comment
period on this information collection on
August 3, 2010.
erowe on DSK5CLS3C1PROD with NOTICES
SUMMARY:
VerDate Mar<15>2010
15:29 Oct 07, 2010
Jkt 223001
1. Type of submission, new, revision,
or extension: Extension.
2. The title of the information
collection: 10 CFR Part 39—Licenses
and Radiation Safety Requirements for
Well Logging.
3. Current OMB approval number:
3150–0130.
4. The form number if applicable:
N/A.
5. How often the collection is
required: Applications for new licenses
and amendments may be submitted at
any time. Applications for renewal are
submitted every 10 years. Reports are
submitted as events occur.
6. Who will be required or asked to
report: Applicants for and holders of
specific licenses authorizing the use of
licensed radioactive material for well
logging.
7. An estimate of the number of
annual responses: 2,827 (346 NRC
Licensees + 2,481 Agreement State
Licensees).
8. The estimated number of annual
respondents: 278 (34 NRC Licensees +
244 Agreement State Licensees).
9. An estimate of the total number of
hours needed annually to complete the
requirement or request: 60,296 hours
(7,375 total NRC licensees hrs + 52,921
total Agreement State licensees hrs).
The NRC licensees total burden is 7,375
hours (108 reporting hrs + 7,267
recordkeeping hrs). The Agreement
State licensees total burden is 52,921
hours (767 reporting hrs + 52,154
recordkeeping hrs). The average burden
per response for both NRC licensees and
Agreement State licensees is 19.4 hours
and the burden per recordkeeper is 214
hours.
10. Abstract: 10 CFR Part 39
establishes radiation safety
requirements for the use of radioactive
material in well logging operations. The
information in the applications, reports
and records is used by the NRC staff to
ensure that the health and safety of the
public is protected and that licensee
possession and use of source and
byproduct material is in compliance
with license and regulatory
requirements.
A copy of the final supporting
statement may be viewed free of charge
at the NRC Public Document Room, One
White Flint North, 11555 Rockville
Pike, Room O–1 F21, Rockville,
Maryland 20852. OMB clearance
requests are available at the NRC
worldwide Web site: https://
www.nrc.gov/public-involve/doccomment/omb/. The
document will be available on the NRC
home page site for 60 days after the
signature date of this notice.
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62435
Comments and questions should be
directed to the OMB reviewer listed
below by November 8, 2010. Comments
received after this date will be
considered if it is practical to do so, but
assurance of consideration cannot be
given to comments received after this
date.
Christine J. Kymn, Desk Officer,
Office of Information and Regulatory
Affairs (3150–0130), NEOB–10202,
Office of Management and Budget,
Washington, DC 20503.
Comments can also be e-mailed to
Christine.J.Kymn@omb.eop.gov or
submitted by telephone at (202) 395–
4638.
The NRC Clearance Officer is
Tremaine Donnell, (301) 415–6258.
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 30th day
of September 2010.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Tremaine Donnell,
NRC Clearance Officer, Office of Information
Services.
[FR Doc. 2010–25406 Filed 10–7–10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590–01–P
NUCLEAR REGULATORY
COMMISSION
[Docket No. NRC–2010–0234]
Agency Information Collection
Activities: Submission for the Office of
Management and Budget (OMB)
Review; Comment Request
Nuclear Regulatory
Commission (NRC).
ACTION: Notice of the OMB review of
information collection and solicitation
of public comment.
AGENCY:
The NRC has recently
submitted to OMB for review the
following proposal for the collection of
information under the provisions of the
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44
U.S.C. Chapter 35). The NRC hereby
informs potential respondents that an
agency may not conduct or sponsor, and
that a person is not required to respond
to, a collection of information unless it
displays a currently valid OMB control
number. The NRC published a Federal
Register Notice with a 60-day comment
period on this information collection on
July 7, 2010.
1. Type of submission, new, revision,
or extension: Extension.
2. The title of the information
collection: 10 CFR Part 63, ‘‘Disposal of
High-Level Radioactive Wastes in a
Proposed Geologic Repository at Yucca
Mountain, Nevada.’’
3. Current OMB approval number:
3150–0199.
SUMMARY:
E:\FR\FM\08OCN1.SGM
08OCN1
]]>Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 195 (Friday, October 8, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 62433-62435]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-25378]
=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION
Notice of Public Hearings and the Availability of a Draft
Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement/Overseas Environmental
Impact Statement (PEIS/OEIS)
AGENCY: National Science Foundation.
ACTION: Notice of public hearings and request for public comments on a
Draft PEIS/OEIS for Marine Seismic Research Funded by the National
Science Foundation (NSF) or Conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey
(USGS).
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: NSF gives notice of the availability of a Draft PEIS/OEIS
(hereafter Draft PEIS) for marine seismic research funded by NSF or
conducted by the USGS and requests public review and comment on the
document. NSF also provides notice of public hearings on the Draft
PEIS.
The Division of Ocean Sciences in the Directorate for Geosciences
(GEO/OCE) has prepared the Draft PEIS as the lead agency with support
from the cooperating agencies, USGS and the National Marine Fisheries
Service (NMFS) of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
(NOAA).
The Draft PEIS assesses the potential impacts of marine seismic
research on the human and natural environment. Under the Proposed
Action, a variety of
[[Page 62434]]
acoustic sources used for research activities funded by NSF or
conducted by the USGS would be operated from various research vessels
operated by U.S. academic institutions or government agencies. The
seismic acoustic sources would include various airgun configurations
(particularly strings or arrays with as little as 2 to as many as 36
seismic airguns), as well as low-energy seismic and non-seismic
acoustic sources.
The Draft PEIS examines the potential impacts that may result from
geophysical exploration and scientific research using seismic surveys
that are funded by NSF or conducted by the USGS in non-Arctic waters.
The Proposed Action is for academic and U.S. government scientists in
the U.S., and possible international collaborators, to conduct marine
seismic research from research vessels operated by U.S. academic
institutions and government agencies. The purpose of the Proposed
Action is to fund the investigation of the geology and geophysics of
the seafloor by collecting seismic reflection and refraction data that
reveal the structure and stratigraphy of the crust and/or overlying
sediment below the world's oceans. NSF has a continuing need to fund
seismic surveys that enable scientists to collect data essential to
understanding the complex Earth processes beneath the ocean floor.
Two action alternatives and the No-Action Alternative have been
carried forward for analysis. The Draft PEIS is available for public
review for a 45-day period. Comments must be submitted on or before
November 22, 2010.
NSF will conduct two public hearings to receive oral and written
comments on the Draft PEIS. Federal, state, and local agencies and
interested individuals are invited to be present or represented at the
public hearings. This notice announces the dates and locations of the
public hearings for this Draft PEIS.
An open house session will precede the scheduled public hearing at
each of the locations listed below and will allow individuals to review
the information presented in the Draft PEIS. NSF and USGS
representatives will be available during the open house sessions to
clarify information related to the Draft PEIS.
Dates & Addresses: All hearings will start with an open house
session, followed by a presentation, and then the formal oral public
comment period. Public hearings will be held on the following dates and
at the following locations:
Monday, October 25, 2010, 5-7 p.m. at Scripps Institution
of Oceanography, University California-San Diego, Vaughn Hall, Room
100, Discovery Way, La Jolla, CA.
Wednesday, October 27, 2010, 5-7 p.m. at the National
Science Foundation, 4201 Wilson Blvd., Room 110, Arlington, VA.
The Draft PEIS is available on NSF's Web site at: https://www.nsf.gov/geo/oce/envcomp/index.jsp. Electronic or printed copies of
the Draft PEIS are also available upon request from: Holly Smith,
National Science Foundation, Division of Ocean Sciences, 4201 Wilson
Blvd., Suite 725, Arlington, VA 22230. Telephone: (703) 292-8583. E-
mail: nepacomments@nsf.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Currently, individual Environmental
Assessments (EAs) are prepared for individual or small numbers of
related cruises to assess the impact of the generated seismic survey
noise on the marine environment. In the 7 years from 2003 through 2009,
NSF prepared 31 EAs assessing the impact of sound from seismic surveys
on marine resources and species listed under the Marine Mammal
Protection Act (MMPA) and Endangered Species Act (ESA) during research
projects investigating the geology and geophysics of the seafloor.
These EAs were prepared for various worldwide, academic research
cruises that required the use of various marine seismic sources
involving different airgun configurations deployed from the primary
U.S. academic seismic survey ship, or smaller airgun sources deployed
from other research vessels, often with concurrent operations of non-
seismic acoustic sources such as echosounders and bottom profilers.
For past seismic research cruise actions, an EA has been used as
the basis for consultation with the NOAA Office of Protected Resources
(OPR) under section 7(a)(2) of the ESA. For each of the research
cruises, NOAA OPR issued a Biological Opinion (BO) and related
Incidental Take Statements (ITSs), which included terms and conditions
to reduce impacts on threatened and endangered species. In parallel
with this effort, when applicable, a separate application for an
Incidental Harassment Authorization (IHA) under Section 101(a)(5)(D) of
the MMPA was submitted for each cruise to another division within NOAA
OPR, which subsequently issued the IHA. The MMPA procedures for
issuance of an IHA involve publication of a proposed IHA notice in the
Federal Register and solicitation of comments on that notice.
To reduce this apparent duplication of effort in environmental
documentation and to address the potential for cumulative effects of
marine seismic research acoustic sources upon marine resources, NSF and
the USGS have decided that a PEIS should be prepared. Preparing a PEIS
for NSF and USGS marine seismic research serves several purposes.
First, it provides a format for a comprehensive cumulative impacts
analysis by taking a view of the planned marine seismic research
activities as a whole. This is accomplished by assembling and analyzing
the broadest range of direct, indirect, and cumulative impacts
associated with all marine seismic research activities in addition to
other past, present, and reasonably foreseeable projects in the region
of influence. Furthermore, the collective analysis of representative
project locations will provide a strong technical basis for a more
global assessment of the potential cumulative impacts of NSF-funded and
USGS marine seismic activities in the future.
A PEIS also sets up a framework for streamlining the preparation of
subsequent environmental documents where needed for individual cruises.
It is expected that time- and location-specific aspects, or similarly
detailed technical information if necessary to evaluate unique impacts
of specific cruises and projects, will be addressed in EIS supplements,
tiered EAs, or other appropriate environmental documentation that would
follow the publication of this Draft PEIS. Thus, while NSF-funded and
USGS marine seismic research is reviewed under this Draft PEIS, the
analysis of site-specific impacts from future cruises may be reserved
for future analysis. Tiering of environmental documents in this manner
makes subsequent documents of greater use and meaning to the public as
NSF's and USGS's marine seismic research develops, without duplicating
previous paperwork and environmental analyses. Finally, a PEIS enables
the identification of an appropriate and prudent set of standard
mitigation measures to be integrated into future NSF-funded and USGS
cruises, which is a key goal of NSF and USGS.
Federal, state, local agencies, Native American Tribes and Nations,
and interested parties are invited to be present or represented at the
public hearings. Written comments can also be submitted anytime during
the public hearings or during the 45-day public review period of the
Draft PEIS. Comments must be submitted on or before November 22, 2010.
Oral statements will be heard and transcribed by a stenographer;
however, to ensure the accuracy of the record, all statements should be
submitted in writing. All statements, both oral and
[[Page 62435]]
written, will become part of the public record on the Draft PEIS and
will be responded to in the Final PEIS. Equal weight will be given to
both oral and written statements. In the interest of time, and to
ensure all who wish to give an oral statement have the opportunity to
do so, each speaker's comments will be limited to three (3) minutes. If
a long statement is to be presented, it should be summarized at the
public hearing with the full text submitted either in writing at the
hearing or mailed to: Holly Smith, National Science Foundation,
Division of Ocean Sciences, Room 725, 4201 Wilson Blvd., Arlington, VA
22230. In addition, comments may be submitted via e-mail at:
nepacomments@nsf.gov. All written comments must be postmarked by
November 22, 2010 to ensure they become part of the official record.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information regarding the
Draft PEIS contact: Holly Smith, National Science Foundation, Division
of Ocean Sciences, 4201 Wilson Blvd., Suite 725, Arlington, VA 22230;
telephone: (703) 292-8583; e-mail: nepacomments@nsf.gov.
Dated: October 5, 2010.
Suzanne H. Plimpton,
Reports Clearance Officer, National Science Foundation.
[FR Doc. 2010-25378 Filed 10-7-10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7555-01-P
