On March 21, 2013, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) announced the availability of the Effects of Oil and Gas Activities in the Arctic Ocean Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS). That announcement noted that the official 60-day public comment period would begin on March 29, 2013, and close on May 28, 2013. Based on a request to extend the comment period for the Supplemental DEIS, NMFS is hereby providing notice that the public comment period on the Supplemental DEIS has been extended by 30 days. The new end date for the public comment period is Thursday, June 27, 2013.

A notice announcing the extension of the comment period for the Supplemental DEIS will publish in the Federal Register on Wednesday, April 10, 2013. NMFS has also notified EPA about the extension of the comment period, and this will be announced by the EPA in the next available weekly notice of availability published by the EPA.

The Supplemental DEIS is available for download on the project website: http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/permits/eis/arctic.htm. To aid in your review, you can also find a summary document on this page, which notes the sections where substantive changes were made to the document since the release of the DEIS in December 2011.

Comments on the Effects of Oil and Gas Activities in the Arctic Ocean Supplemental DEIS will be accepted during the public comment period until June 27, 2013. Comments on the EIS should be identified by NOAA-NMFS-2013-0054 and can be submitted by any of the following methods:

Electronic Submission: Submit all electronic public comments via the Federal e-Rulemaking portal www.regulations.gov. To submit comments via the Federal e-Rulemaking portal, enter NOAA-NMFS-2013-0054 in the keyword search. Locate the document you wish to comment on from the resulting list and click on the "Comment Now" icon on the right of that line.
Mail: Director, Office of Protected Resources, 1315 East-West Highway, Silver Spring, MD 20910
Fax: (301) 713-0376 attn: Candace Nachman

We request that you include background documents to support your comments as appropriate.

THE DEADLINE FOR PROVIDING COMMENTS IS JUNE 27, 2013.

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Candace Nachman
Fishery Biologist

NOAA Fisheries
Office of Protected Resources
Permits and Conservation Division
1315 East West Highway, Rm 13115
Silver Spring, MD 20910

Ph: (301) 427-8429
Fax: (301) 713-0376

Web: http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/