Department of the Interior February 2, 2024 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, we, the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE), are proposing to renew an information collection.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) announces the availability of the draft environmental assessment (EA) to analyze the reasonably foreseeable impacts from additional site assessment plan (SAP) activities in Lease Area OCS-A 0520 offshore Massachusetts. Beacon Wind, LLC (Beacon Wind), the leaseholder, requests to conduct additional site assessment activities in the lease area that were not analyzed in the initial EA titled ``Commercial Wind Lease Issuance and Site Assessment Activities on the Atlantic Outer Continental Shelf Offshore Massachusetts'' (2014 EA). The draft EA analyzes the potential environmental impacts of the proposed site assessment activities, which consist of 35 deployments and removals of a single suction bucket foundation at 26 locations within the Lease Area to gather information to support the engineering design of wind turbine and offshore substation foundations that would potentially be installed within the Lease Area for a future Beacon Wind project. This notice of availability (NOA) announces the start of the public review and comment period, as well as the dates and times for public meetings on the draft EA. After BOEM holds the public meetings and addresses public comments submitted during the review period, BOEM will publish a final EA. The EA will inform BOEM's decision whether to approve the site assessment plan amendment for additional site assessment activities.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), propose new regulations to ensure that the biological integrity, diversity, and environmental health (BIDEH) of the National Wildlife Refuge System (Refuge System) are maintained, and where appropriate, restored and enhanced, in accordance with the National Wildlife Refuge System Improvement Act of 1997. In addition, the Service is proposing updates to the existing BIDEH policy, which will be available for public comment concurrently with the proposed regulations in this docket. These proposed regulatory and policy revisions would support conservation throughout the Refuge System in response to both longstanding and contemporary conservation challenges, including the universal and profound effects of climate change on refuge species and ecosystems. Together, these proposals would uphold BIDEH across the Refuge System by providing refuge managers with a consistent approach for evaluating and implementing management actions to protect vulnerable species, restore and connect habitats, promote natural processes, sustain vital ecological functions, increase resilience, and adapt to climate change.