Department of Commerce July 7, 2008 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This announcement provides notice that Broadwater Energy LLC and Broadwater Pipeline LLC (collectively, Broadwater), have filed an administrative appeal with the Department of Commerce (Department), asking that the Department override an objection by the New York State Department of State (New York). New York objects to Broadwater's proposal to construct and operate a floating liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal and associated pipeline, that would be located in the New York waters of Long Island Sound.

Notice is hereby given that the Estuarine Reserves Division, Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management, National Ocean Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), U.S. Department of Commerce is announcing a thirty-day public comment period on the revised Management Plan for the Guana Tolomato Matanzas National Estuarine Research Reserve in Florida. The Guana Tolomato Matanzas National Estuarine Research Reserve is located in St. Johns and Flagler counties and is geographically separated into a northern and southern component separated by the City of St. Augustine. The reserve was designated in 1999. Pursuant to 15 CFR Section 921.33(c), a state must revise their management plan every five years. The submission of this plan brings the Reserve into compliance and sets a course for successful implementation of the goals and objectives of the Reserve. Updated programmatic objectives, new facilities, and a boundary expansion are notable revisions from the previous management plan. The revised management plan outlines the administrative structure; the education, stewardship, and research goals of the reserve; and the plans for future land acquisition and facility development to support reserve operations. The reserve management goals and objectives can be categorized within the following five management challenges: Public use, habitat and species management, watershed land use, cultural preservation and interpretation, and global processes. These issues can be directly or indirectly linked to anthropogenic land use of increasing population densities accompanied by increasing development, recreation and economic pressures. The Guana Tolomato Matanzas Environmental Education Center is a notable addition since the last management plan and serves as the administrative, education, research, and stewardship facility for the northern component of the Reserve. The facility will provide an opportunity for further outreach to the community and serve as a center of excellence for regional science, education and stewardship forums. This management plan calls for a boundary expansion incorporating 8,865 acres of publicly owned land in the southern component of the reserve. Approximately 4,166 acres of the Faver-Dykes State Park adding to the 1,333 acres of Faver-Dykes State Park incorporated at designation. The additional park lands will provide new resources and allow for an extension of the existing partnership. Additionally, 4,699 acres of the Matanzas State Forest will be added to the Reserve boundary. This property will be incorporated to further protect the last remaining undisturbed salt marsh within the Reserve and is part of a 16,000 acre continuous conservation corridor. This land is comprised 75% by upland pine and 25% by wetlands. The area serves as an important bird habitat and contains significant natural and cultural resources. These additions will bring the total Reserve acreage to 73,352 acres protected for long-term research, education and stewardship.

The Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR) invites applications for the establishment of a cooperative institute (CI) that will: Explore and research continental shelf frontier ecosystems; advance the state of knowledge of both shallow and deep coral ecosystems under U.S. jurisdiction; and develop, test and evaluate advanced ocean technologies and tools. This CI will facilitate a long- term collaborative environment between NOAA and the recipient(s) within which broad-based exploration, research, technology development, and education and outreach capabilities that focus on NOAA's priorities for the living and non-living marine resources within and beyond the eastern U.S. Continental Shelf can be developed and sustained. The CI may consist of one or more research institutions with expertise and capabilities in the NOAA priority areas that contribute to the areas of research described as research themes listed below. The CI should possess outstanding capabilities to conduct ocean exploration, research and technology development in the three research themes summarized below. Additionally, the CI should possess the ability to conduct outreach and education activities in support of these three research themes. i. Develop advanced underwater technologies. The CI will expand the scope and efficiency of exploration and research by developing, testing, and applying new and/or innovative uses of existing technologies to ocean exploration and research activities. ii. Explore and research the frontier regions of the eastern U.S. Continental Shelf and beyond. The CI will focus on the exploration and research of ecosystems and habitats of economic, hazardous, scientific or cultural importance within and beyond the eastern U.S. Continental Shelf as defined by the NOAA Ocean Exploration and Research program. iii. Vulnerable Deep and Shallow Coral Ecosystems. Priority activities will include supporting ocean exploration and research using advanced underwater technologies and techniques to improve the understanding of coral and sponge ecosystems. This announcement provides requirements for the proposed CI and includes details for the technical program, evaluation criteria, and competitive selection procedures. Applicants should review NOAA's CI Policy and CI Interim Handbook (both available at https:// www.nrc.noaa.gov/ci) prior to preparing a proposal for this announcement.

The Mid-Atlantic Council's Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC) will hold a public meeting.

This action expands an area currently closed to the harvest of bivalve shellfish, except for sea scallop adductor muscles harvested and shucked at sea, identified in a temporary final rule initially published on October 18, 2005. The regulations contained in the temporary rule, emergency action, published on October 18, 2005, and subsequently extended several times at the request of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), were effective through December 31, 2008. This temporary rule supersedes the previous rule. This rule will expire on December 29, 2008. This temporary rule expands the closure area of Federal waters previously closed since the original emergency closure. The FDA has determined that current oceanographic conditions and alga sampling data warrant expanding the Northern Temporary Paralytic Shellfish Poison (PSP) Closure Area to encompass the current closure area and an adjacent area in the Federal waters southeast of Massachusetts around Nantucket Island and eastward to the George's Bank PSP Closure Area. This expanded area is closed to the harvest of bivalve molluscan shellfish, except for sea scallop adductor muscles harvested and shucked at sea. The remaining segment of the Southern Temporary PSP Closure Area continues to be closed to the harvest of whole or roe-on scallops only.