National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration March 27, 2008 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

On October 30, 2006, NMFS received a request from Northeast Gateway Energy Bridge\TM\ L.L.C. (Northeast Gateway) and Algonquin Gas Transmission, L.L.C. (Algonquin), for authorization to harass marine mammals, by harassment, incidental to construction and operation of an offshore liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility in the Massachusetts Bay. Following notice and comment, NMFS issued an incidental harassment authorization (IHA) to Northeast Gateway and Algonquin for a period of one year from May 8, 2007, to May 7, 2008, with mitigation, monitoring, and reporting requirements. On February 28, 2008, NMFS received a request from Tetra Tech EC, on behalf of Northeast Gateway to renew the IHA for a period of one year. NMFS will propose regulations at a later date that would govern these incidental takes under a Letter of Authorization (LOA) issued to Northeast Gateway for a period of up to 5 years after the 1-year IHA expires. Pursuant to the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), NMFS is requesting comments on its proposal to issue an authorization to Northeast Gateway to incidentally take, by harassment, small numbers of marine mammals for a period of 1 year. NMFS is also requesting comments, information, and suggestions concerning Northeast Gateway's application and the structure and content of future regulations.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) previously published proposed revised management plans, revised Designation Documents, and revised regulations for the Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary (CBNMS), Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary (GFNMS), and Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary (MBNMS). The currently pending proposed regulations would revise and provide greater clarity to existing regulations. After reviewing public comments on the proposed rules, including a request from the California State Water Resources Control Board to prohibit discharges from certain vessels in national marine sanctuaries offshore of California, and further analyzing vessel discharge issues, NOAA now proposes additional discharge regulations for the CBNMS, GFNMS, and MBNMS consistent with the request of the California State Water Resources Control Board. This proposed rule would prohibit discharge of treated waste from vessels 300 gross registered tons (GRT) or more with sufficient holding tank capacity to hold treated sewage while within the sanctuary and limit the exception for graywater discharges to vessels less than 300 GRT, and vessels 300 GRT or more without sufficient holding tank capacity to hold graywater while within the MBNMS.