Notice2026-09969
Notice of Intent To Prepare a Supplemental Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement for the Coral Reef Conservation Program and To Solicit Public Input
Primary source
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Published
May 19, 2026
Issuing agencies
Commerce DepartmentNational Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Abstract
NOAA announces its intent to prepare a supplemental Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) for its Coral Reef Conservation Program (CRCP). The CRCP conducts and funds activities throughout parts of the United States, including Florida, Hawai'i, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and American Samoa. The CRCP funds monitoring activities and occasional research within the Gulf of America and the U.S. Pacific Remote Island Area, and provides technical support and capacity-building in targeted international regions, including the wider Caribbean, Micronesia, and the Coral Triangle. The supplemental PEIS will address the environmental impacts of new coral reef conservation and restoration activities and expanded methods to be conducted by the CRCP.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 91 Issue 96 (Tuesday, May 19, 2026)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 91, Number 96 (Tuesday, May 19, 2026)]
[Notices]
[Pages 29116-29117]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2026-09969]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Notice of Intent To Prepare a Supplemental Programmatic
Environmental Impact Statement for the Coral Reef Conservation Program
and To Solicit Public Input
AGENCY: Office for Coastal Management, National Ocean Service, National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Department of Commerce.
ACTION: Notice of intent; request for written comments.
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SUMMARY: NOAA announces its intent to prepare a supplemental
Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) in accordance with
the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) for its Coral Reef
Conservation Program (CRCP). The CRCP conducts and funds activities
throughout parts of the United States, including Florida, Hawai'i,
Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, the Commonwealth of the
Northern Mariana Islands, and American Samoa. The CRCP funds monitoring
activities and occasional research within the Gulf of America and the
U.S. Pacific Remote Island Area, and provides technical support and
capacity-building in targeted international regions, including the
wider Caribbean, Micronesia, and the Coral Triangle. The supplemental
PEIS will address the environmental impacts of new coral reef
conservation and restoration activities and expanded methods to be
conducted by the CRCP.
DATES: Written comments must be received at the appropriate address
(see ADDRESSES) on or before June 18, 2026.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments on this notice by either of the
following methods:
<bullet> Federal e-Rulemaking Portal: Go to <a href="https://www.regulations.gov/docket/NOAA-NOS-2026-1618">https://www.regulations.gov/docket/NOAA-NOS-2026-1618</a>. Click the ``Comment
Now!'' icon, complete the required fields, and enter or attach your
comments.
<bullet> Mail: Please direct written comments to Liz Fairey
(<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#8be7e2f1a5edeae2f9eef2cbe5e4eaeaa5ece4fd"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="cba7a2b1e5adaaa2b9aeb28ba5a4aaaae5aca4bd">[email protected]</span></a>), NOAA Office of Habitat Conservation, 1315 East-
West Highway, Silver Spring, Maryland 20910.
All relevant comments received are part of the public record.
Comments that are not related to the supplemental PEIS for the CRCP, or
that contain profanity, vulgarity, threats, or other inappropriate
language will not be considered. NOAA will accept anonymous comments
(enter N/A in the required fields to remain anonymous). All personally
identifiable information, (e.g., name, address) submitted voluntarily
by the sender will be publicly accessible. Do not submit confidential
business information or otherwise sensitive or protected information.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Liz Fairey, NOAA's Office of Habitat
Conservation, 1315 East-West Highway, Silver Spring, Maryland 20910,
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#8ce0e5f6a2eaede5fee9f5cce2e3ededa2ebe3fa"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="016d687b2f676068736478416f6e60602f666e77">[email protected]</span></a>, (301) 427-8632.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: CRCP supports activities that are funded and
carried out under the Coral Reef Conservation Act (16 U.S.C. 6401 et
seq.) to protect, conserve, and restore the nation's coral reefs by
maintaining healthy ecosystem functions while promoting the wise
management and sustainable use to benefit local communities and the
nation. In July 2020, NOAA published the NOAA Coral Reef Conservation
Program's Final Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS;
<a href="http://coast.noaa.gov/data/docs/compliance/crcp-feis.pdf">coast.noaa.gov/data/docs/compliance/crcp-feis.pdf</a>). The PEIS assesses a
suite of potential environmental impacts of NOAA-funded coral reef
conservation and restoration activities implemented through its
existing framework for implementing the CRCP, which is consistent with
obligations under the Coral Reef Conservation Act. The PEIS has been
reevaluated and continues to be valid for the activities described
within, but new activities and expanded methods are being implemented
due to advances in science, changes in restoration methods, and changes
in circumstances. Therefore, NOAA will draft a supplemental PEIS to
assess the environmental impacts of these new and expanded activities.
NOAA continues to implement the CRCP across four of its line
offices (National Ocean Service, Oceanic and Atmospheric Research,
National Marine Fisheries Service, and National Environmental Satellite
Data Information Service) and in coordination with other Federal
agencies, state and local agencies, private conservation organizations,
and research and academic institutions. The CRCP supports research and
monitoring to gather data on the existence and condition of coral reef
ecosystems to support conservation, management, and restoration
efforts. The CRCP also supports coral and watershed restoration
activities, along with other activities to reduce physical impacts to
coral reefs. The projects implemented or funded under the CRCP vary in
terms of their size, complexity, geographic location, and level of
Federal involvement; they often benefit diverse coral species,
habitats, and ecosystem types. A significant amount of this support is
administered through grants and cooperative agreements. The CRCP
prioritizes activities based on available funding and the
responsiveness of priorities to the National Coral Reef Resilience
Strategy as well as jurisdictional needs.
In the supplemental PEIS, CRCP will include new actions and
expanded methods that incorporate the latest scientific advances and
new solutions needed to respond to shifting ocean conditions and
emerging threats, such as coral disease and invasive species. Thus,
these new activities undertaken and funded by the CRCP, and their
potential effects on the environment, will be analyzed in the
supplemental PEIS. These activities include:
<bullet> Expanding coral collection activities to include the
collection of whole coral colonies for use in research activities; for
coral nursery broodstock and restoration activities; for rescue during
disease outbreaks and thermal events; and for preservation in gene
banks.
<bullet> Expanding coral nursery activities to include more support
for ex-situ/land-based coral nurseries including expansion,
maintenance, and herbivore co-culturing.
<bullet> Expanding coral restoration activities to include larger
restoration areas approximately the size of two basketball courts
(1,000 m\2\ or 3,280 ft\2\), to incorporate broader application of
selectively bred (e.g., assisted gene flow to improve genetic
diversity) or preconditioned corals (e.g., stress hardening to improve
resistance to ocean conditions); and to add additional site preparation
techniques, such as stabilization of loose coral and rubble and
installing three-dimensional structures to improve survival of
outplanted corals.
<bullet> Expanding ecosystem intervention activities to include the
propagation and release of additional herbivores (e.g., fish and
snails) for algae control; additional methods to manage unwanted
invasive and nuisance species (e.g., soft corals); and activities to
increase coral larval settlement (e.g., playing natural sounds on
reefs).
<bullet> Expanding activities to address temporary shifts in ocean
conditions (e.g., thermal events and disease outbreaks) by the
temporary evacuation of corals to ex-situ facilities; moving coral
nurseries to deeper, cooler waters; shading of priority corals; and in-
situ coral feeding.
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<bullet> Expanding watershed restoration activities to include in-
situ mangrove nursery operations and restoration.
The evaluation within the original PEIS based on a broad range of
potential impacts that could result from implementation of all
activities, rather than a site-specific analysis. The actual
environmental effects are evaluated by tiered site-specific, project-
level review. In preparing the supplemental PEIS, NOAA will continue to
use the tiered environmental decision-making framework established in
the original PEIS to ensure compliance with other statutes protecting
natural resources.
Alternatives
NOAA will analyze four program-level alternatives:
<bullet> No-Action Alternative: This reflects the ``status quo''
operations of the CRCP as described in the original PEIS, without the
implementation of the new actions and expanded methods mentioned above.
<bullet> Alternative One: This alternative reflects the continued
operation of the CRCP, but would eliminate in-water activities that
restore viable coral populations (e.g., in-water coral restoration and
intervention techniques) and the activities that reduce physical
impacts to coral reefs (e.g., marine debris removal and installation of
buoys).
<bullet> Alternative Two: This alternative continues the operation
of the CRCP, including the in-water coral restoration and intervention
activities and reduction of physical impacts to coral reef ecosystems
that support restoring viable coral populations (i.e., the no-action
alternative), and requires the implementation of discretionary
conservation and mitigation measures. This alternative would include
the new actions and expanded methods mentioned above.
<bullet> Alternative Three: This is the agency's preferred
alternative, which reflects the ``status quo'' operations of the CRCP
as described in the original PEIS, with the addition of the new actions
and expanded methods mentioned above.
Public Comment
We begin this NEPA process by soliciting input from the public and
interested parties on environmental impacts and relevant information,
studies, or analyses with respect to the CRCP's new and expanded
activities to be considered in the supplemental PEIS. Specifically,
this scoping process is intended to accomplish the following
objectives:
<bullet> Invite affected Federal, State, and local agencies, as
well as other interested persons, to participate in the supplemental
PEIS process.
<bullet> Identify potential significant environmental impacts,
issues, or substantial new circumstances to be analyzed in the
supplemental PEIS.
<bullet> Identify and eliminate issues determined to be
insignificant or addressed in other documents.
<bullet> Identify related environmental documents being prepared.
<bullet> Identify other environmental review and consultation
requirements.
The official scoping period starts on May 19, 2026. Please visit
the NOAA CRCP web page for additional information regarding the
program: <a href="https://coralreef.noaa.gov/">https://coralreef.noaa.gov/</a>.
Authority: The preparation of the supplemental PEIS for NOAA's CRCP
will be conducted in accordance with the requirements of NEPA and
NOAA's policies and procedures for compliance with NEPA.
Nicole R. LeBoeuf,
Assistant Administrator for Ocean Services and Coastal Zone Management,
National Ocean Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration.
[FR Doc. 2026-09969 Filed 5-18-26; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-08-P
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