CRE files Comments on NMFS’ 2nd Draft Acoustic Guidance

On September 14, 2015, the Center for Regulatory Effectiveness filed comments on the U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service’s “Draft Guidance for Assessing the Effects of Anthropogenic Sound on Marine Mammal Hearing—Acoustic Threshold Levels for Onset of Permanent and Temporary Threshold Shifts.” CRE’s comments included the following Executive Summary:

“CRE commends NMFS for emphasizing the need to comply with Information Quality Act (“IQA”) Guidelines, and for requiring multiple peer reviews of the Draft Guidance.

“NMFS needs to clearly state whether use of the Draft Guidance is mandatory during regulation of offshore oil and gas seismic. If use is mandatory then the Draft Guidance is a rule and should be treated as such.

NOAA Holds Public Meetings and Seeks Comment on Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary EIS Scoping

The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has published its notice of intent to conduct scoping and prepare a draft Environmental Impact Statement and Management Plan Management Plan for the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. This Sanctuary was designated in September 1992. It spans 4,601 square nautical miles (6.094 square miles) of marine waters off the central California coast, encompassing several large, nearshore submarine canyons, an offshore seamount and numerous marine habitats representative of the central California coastal and marine ecosystem.