National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration March 10, 2021 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

Notice is hereby given that permits and permit amendments have been issued to the following entities under the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) and the Endangered Species Act (ESA), as applicable.

NMFS received a request from Dominion Energy Virginia (Dominion) on February 5, 2021, for a modification to the incidental harassment authorization (IHA) that was initially issued on August 28, 2020 and subsequently modified and issued on December 11, 2020. The initial IHA as now modified allowed Dominion to take nine species of marine mammals, by Level B harassment, incidental to marine site characterization surveys conducted in the areas of the Commercial Lease of Submerged Lands for Renewable Energy Development on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Offshore Virginia (Lease No. OCS-A-0483) as well as in coastal waters where an export cable corridor will be established. Dominion has recently been recording take of common dolphin (Delphinus Delphis) by Level B harassment at a rate that would exceed their authorized take limit. Therefore, NMFS is proposing to modify the IHA to increase authorized take by Level B harassment of common dolphin. The mitigation, monitoring, and reporting measures remain the same as prescribed in the initial IHA and no additional take was requested for other species. NMFS will consider public comments on the requested modification prior to making any final decision and agency responses will be summarized in the final notice of our decision.