15 C.F.R. Subpart B—Applications
Title 15 - Commerce and Foreign Trade
(a) Who may apply; how. Any United States citizen holding a valid exploration license may apply to the Administrator for issuance of a commercial recovery permit for all or part of the area to which the license applies. Any holder of a commercial recovery permit may apply to the Administrator for transfer of the permit. Applications must be submitted in the form and manner described in this subpart. (b) Place, form and copies. An application for the issuance or transfer of a commerical recovery permit must be in writing, verified and signed by an authorized officer or other authorized representative of the applicant. The application and 25 copies thereof must be submitted to:
Ocean Minerals and Energy Division, Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Suite 710, 1825 Connecticut Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20235. The Administrator may waive in whole or in part, at his discretion, the requirement that 25 copies of an application be filed with NOAA. (c) General contents. The application must contain a proposed commerical recovery plan and the financial, technical, environmental and other information specified in this part, which in total are necessary for the Administrator to make the determinations required by the Act and this part. Although the ultimate standards for determinations under these rules are identical for both transferees and original preexisting licensees, NOAA anticipates that applicants who are transferees will have to supply more information with the application than licensees will [see subsection (e) in this section]. (d) Identification of requirements. Each portion of the application should identify the requirements of this part to which it responds. (e) Information previously submitted in connection with an exploration license. Information previously submitted as part of an exploration license application, as well as information submitted during the course of license activities (such as data included in annual reports to NOAA), may be incorporated in the commercial recovery permit application by reference. (f) Request for confidential treatment of information. If an applicant wishes to have any information in its application not be subject to public disclosure, it must so request, at the time of submitting the information, pursuant to §971.802 which will govern disposition of the request. (g) Pre-application consultation. The Administrator will make NOAA staff available to potential applicants for pre-application consultations on how to respond to the provisions of this part. In appropriate circumstances, the Administrator will provide written confirmation to the applicant of oral guidance resulting from such consultations. Such consultation is required for the purpose of §971.207. The applicant is encouraged to consult with affected States as early as is practicable [see also §§971.213 and 971.606(b)]. (h) Compliance with Federal consistency requirements. An applicant for a commercial recovery permit must comply with all necessary requirements, including procedures, pursuant to 15 CFR part 930, subpart D. Applications and other necessary data and information must be transmitted to the designated State agency as prescribed under 15 CFR 930.50. (a) General. The application must contain information sufficient to demonstrate to the Administrator pursuant to §971.301 that, upon issuance or transfer of the permit, the applicant will have access to the financial resources to carry out, in accordance with this part, the commercial recovery program set forth in the applicant's commercial recovery plan. (b) Specific. In particular, the information on financial resources is expected to be general in nature but must include the likely sources and timing of funds to meet the applicant's scheduled expenditures in the recovery plan. These sources may include cash flow, reserves, and outside funding. (a) General. The application must contain information sufficient to demonstrate to the Administrator pursuant to §971.301 that, upon issuance or transfer of the permit, the applicant will have the technological capability to carry out, in accordance with the regulations contained in this part, the commercial recovery program set out in the applicant's commercial recovery plan. (b) Specific. In particular, the information submitted pursuant to this section must describe the equipment, knowledge, and skills the applicant possesses, or to which it can demonstrate access [see §971.200(e)]. The information must include: (1) A description of the technology or the equipment and methods to be used by the applicant in carrying out each step in the mining process, including nodule collection, retrieval, transfer to ship, environmental monitoring, transport to processing facilities, nodule processing, waste disposal and compliance with applicable water quality standards. The description must include: (i) An analysis of the performance of experimental systems, sub-systems, or analogous machinery; (ii) The rationale for extrapolating from test results to commercial mining. The more test data offered with the application the less analysis will be expected; and (iii) Anticipated system reliability within the context of anticipated production time lost through equipment failure. (2) A functional description of the types of technical persons on whom the applicant will rely to operate its equipment. (a) General. The application must include a proposed commercial recovery plan which describes the applicant's projected commercial recovery activities, in a general way, for the twenty year period to be covered by the proposed permit. Although preliminary and subject to change, the plan must be more detailed for that portion of the permit term leading up to the initiation of commercial recovery. The plan must include sufficient information for the Administrator, pursuant to this part, to make the necessary determinations pertaining to the certification and issuance or transfer of a permit and to the development and enforcement of the TCRs for a permit. (b) Specific. The plan must include: (1) A description of the activities proposed to be carried out during the period of the permit; (2) The intended schedule of commercial recovery (see “Diligent commercial recovery,” §971.503); (3) Environmental safeguards and monitoring systems, which must take into account requirements under subpart F of this part, including best available technologies (BAT) (§971.604) and monitoring (§971.603); (4) Details of the area or areas proposed for commercial recovery, which meet requirements for diligence (§971.503) and conservation of resources pursuant to subpart E (especially §971.502); (5) A resource assessment of the area or areas proposed for commercial recovery which meets the requirements for resource assessment and logical mining unit (§971.501); (6) A description of the methods and technology to be used for commercial recovery and processing (see §971.202(b)(1)); and (7) The methods to be used for disposal of wastes from recovery and processing, including the areas for disposal and identification of any toxic substances in wastes. (a) Environmental information submission. The application must be supported by sufficient marine environmental information for the Administrator to prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) on the proposed mining activities, and to determine the appropriate permit TCRs based on environmental characteristics of the requested minesite. The Administrator may require the submission of additional data, in the event he determines that the basis for a suitable EIS, or a determination of appropriate TCRs, is not available. (b)(1) In preparing the EIS, the Administrator will attempt to characterize the environment in such a way as to provide a basis for judging the potential for significant adverse effects or irreparable harm triggered by commercial mining (see subpart F). In compiling these data, the Administrator will utilize existing information including the relevant license EIS, additional exploration data acquired by the applicant, and other data in the public domain. (2) The EIS must present adequate physical, chemical, and biological information for the permit area. If the permit area lies within the area of NOAA's Deep Ocean Mining Environmental Study (DOMES), the parameters listed in NOAA's Technical Guidance Document pertaining to the upper and lower water column should be included. Specifically, these parameters include: (i) Upper water column—
Nutrients Endangered species Salinity, temperature, density Currents. (ii) Lower water column and seafloor—
Currents Suspended particulate matter dispersion Sediment characteristics (mineralogy, particle size, shape and density, and water content) Topography Benthos. (3) For a permit area outside the DOMES area, the applicant is encouraged to consult with NOAA at the earliest opportunity in order to determine the specific parameters to be measured based on the location and specific environmental characteristics of the permit area. The Administrator, in consultation with the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency and with the assistance of other appropriate Federal agencies, may determine that a programmatic EIS is required for any new area. (c) The application must include a monitoring plan for test mining and at-sea commercial recovery activities which meets the objectives and requirements of §971.603. (d) Use conflict analysis. The application must include information known to the applicant on other uses of the proposed mining area to support the Administrator's determination regarding potential use conflicts between commercial mining activities and those activities of other nations or of other U.S. citizens. (e) Onshore information. Because of NEPA requirements, the Administrator must include in the EIS on the proposed permit the complete spectrum of activities resulting from the issuance of a permit. Therefore, onshore information including the location and operation of nodule processing facilities must be submitted with the application in accordance with the details in §971.606. In order to provide a basis for the necessary determinations with respect to the safety of life and property at sea, pursuant to §971.407, §971.422 and Subpart G of this part, the application must contain the following information for vessels used in commercial recovery, except for those vessels under 300 gross tons which are engaged in oceanographic research: (a) U.S. flag vessel. All mining ships and at least one of the transport ships used by each permittee must be documented under the laws of the United States. To the extent that the applicant knows which United States flag vessels it will use, it must include with its application copies of the vessels' current valid Coast Guard Certificates of Inspection. (b) Foreign flag vessels. To the extent that the applicant knows which foreign flag vessel(s) it will be using for other purposes, the application must include evidence of the following: (1) That any foreign flag vessel whose flag state is party to the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea, 1974 (SOLAS 74) possesses current valid SOLAS 74 certificates; (2) That any foreign flag vessel whose flag state is not party to SOLAS 74 but is party to the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea, 1960 (SOLAS 60) possesses current valid SOLAS 60 certificates; and (3) That any foreign flag vessel whose flag state is not a party to either SOLAS 74 or SOLAS 60 meets all applicable structural and safety requirements contained in the published rules of a member of the International Association of Classification Societies (IACS). (c) Supplemental certificates. If the applicant does not know at the time of submitting an application which vessels it will be using, it must submit the applicable certification for each vessel before the cruise on which it will be used. (a) General. The application must include sufficient information to demonstrate that the applicant is a United States citizen. (b) Specific. In particular, the application must include: (1) Name, address, and telephone number of the United States citizen responsible for commercial recovery operations; (2) A description of the citizen or citizens engaging in commercial recovery, including: (i) Whether the citizen is a natural person, partnership, corporation, joint venture, or other form of association; (ii) The state of incorporation or state in which the partnership or other business entity is registered; (iii) The name and place of business of the registered agent or equivalent representative to whom notices and orders are to be delivered; (iv) Copies of all essential and nonproprietary provisions in articles of incorporation, charter or articles of association; and (v) The name of each member of the association, partnership, or joint venture, including information about the participation and/or ownership of stock of each partner or joint venturer. In order to support the antitrust review referenced in §971.211, the application must contain information sufficient, in the applicant's view and based on preapplication consultations pursuant to §971.200(g), to identify the applicant and describe any significant existing market share it has with respect to the mining or marketing of the metals proposed to be recovered under the permit. (a) General. Section 104 of the Act provides that no application for the issuance or transfer of a permit will be certified unless the applicant pays to NOAA an administrative fee which reflects the reasonable administrative costs incurred in reviewing and processing the application. (b) Amount. A fee payment of $100,000, payable to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce, must accompany each application. If the administrative costs of reviewing and processing the application are significantly less than or in excess of $100,000, the Administrator, after determining the amount of the under- or over-charge, as applicable, will refund the difference or require the applicant to pay the additional amount before issuance or transfer of the permit. In the case of an application for transfer of a permit to, or for a significant change to a permit held by, an entity which has previously been found qualified for a permit, the Administrator may reduce the fee in advance by an appropriate amount which reflects costs avoided by reliance on previous findings made in relation to the proposed transferee. (a) Except as provided in this section and §971.408, the processing of hard minerals recovered pursuant to a permit shall be conducted within the U.S., provided that the President or his designee does not determine that this restriction contravenes the overriding national interests of the United States. (b) If foreign processing is proposed, the applicant shall submit a justification demonstrating the basis for a finding pursuant to §971.408(a)(1). The justification shall include an analysis of each factor which the applicant considers essential to its conclusion that processing at a site within the U.S. is not economically viable. (c) If the Administrator determines that the justification provided by the applicant is insufficient, or if the Administrator receives during the public comment or hearing period what the Administrator determines to be a serious alternative U.S. processing site proposal, the Administrator may require the applicant to supply, within a specified reasonable time, additional information relevant to the §971.408(a)(1) finding. (d) The applicant must include in its application satisfactory assurances that such resources after processing, to the extent of the permittee's ownership therein, will be returned to the United States for domestic use if the Administrator determines pursuant to §971.408 that the national interest necessitates such return. Assurances must include proposed arrangements with the host country.
Title 15: Commerce and Foreign Trade
PART 971—DEEP SEABED MINING REGULATIONS FOR COMMERCIAL RECOVERY PERMITS
Subpart B—Applications
§ 971.200 General.
Contents
§ 971.201 Statement of financial resources.
§ 971.202 Statement of technological experience and capabilities.
§ 971.203 Commercial recovery plan.
§ 971.204 Environmental and use conflict analysis.
§ 971.205 Vessel safety and documentation.
§ 971.206 Statement of ownership.
§ 971.207 Antitrust information.
§ 971.208 Fee.
§ 971.209 Processing outside the United States.
Procedures
§ 971.210 Determination whether application is complete for further processing.
Upon receipt of an application, the Administrator will review it to determine whether it includes information specifically identifiable with and fully responsive to each requirement in §971.201 through §971.209. The Administrator will notify the applicant whether the application is complete within 60 days after it is received. The notice will identify, if applicable, in what respects the application is not complete, and will specify the information which the applicant must submit in order to make it complete, why the additional information is necessary, and a reasonable date by which the application must be completed. Application processing will not begin until the Administrator determines that the application is complete.
§ 971.211 Consultation and cooperation with Federal agencies.
(a) Promptly after receipt of an application that the Administrator has determined pursuant to §971.210 is complete, the Administrator will distribute a copy of the application to every Federal agency or department which, pursuant to section 103(e) of the Act, has identified programs or activities within its statutory responsibilities which would be affected by the activities proposed in the application (e.g., the Departments of State, Transportation, Justice, Interior, Defense, Treasury and Labor, as well as the Environmental Protection Agency, Federal Trade Commission, International Trade Administration and National Science Foundation). Based on its legal responsibilities and authorities, each such agency or department may, not later than 60 days after it receives a copy of the application, recommend certification of the application, issuance or transfer of the permit, or denial of such certification, issuance or transfer. The advice or recommendation by the Attorney General or Federal Trade Commission on antitrust review, pursuant to section 103(d) of the Act, must be submitted within 90 days after their receipt of a copy of the application.
(b) NOAA will use this process of consultation and cooperation to facilitate necessary Federal decisions on proposed commercial recovery activities, pursuant to the mandate of section 103(e) of the Act to reduce the number of separate actions required to satisfy Federal agencies' statutory responsibilities. The Administrator will not issue or transfer the permit during the 90 day period after receipt by the Attorney General and the Federal Trade Commission except upon written confirmation of the Attorney General and the Federal Trade Commission that neither intends to submit further comments or recommendations with respect to the application.
(c) In any case in which a Federal agency or department recommends a denial, it must set forth in detail the manner in which the application does not comply with any law or regulation within its area of responsibility and how the application may be amended, or how TCRs might be added to the permit, to assure compliance with such law or regulation.
(d) NOAA will cooperate with such agencies and with the applicant with the goal of resolving any concerns raised and satisfying the statutory responsibilities of these agencies.
(e) If the Administrator decides to issue or transfer a permit with respect to which denial of the issuance or transfer has been recommended by the Attorney General or the Federal Trade Commission, or to issue or transfer a permit without imposing TCRs recommended by the Attorney General or the Federal Trade Commission, as appropriate, the Administrator will, before or at issuance or transfer of the permit, notify the Attorney General and the Federal Trade Commission of the reasons for his decision.
§ 971.212 Public notice, hearing and comment.
(a) Notice and comments. The Administrator will publish in the
(b) Hearings. After preparation of the draft environmental impact statement (EIS) on an application, the Administrator will hold a public hearing on the application and the draft EIS in an appropriate location and may employ additional methods he/she deems appropriate to inform interested persons about each application and to invite comments thereon. A hearing will be conducted in any State in which a processing plant or any of its ancillary facilities (such as a marine terminal or a waste disposal facility) are proposed to be located.
(c) If the Administrator determines there exist one or more specific and material factual issues which require resolution by formal processes, at least one formal hearing will be held in the District of Columbia metropolitan area in accordance with the provisions of Subpart I of this part. The record developed in any such formal hearing will be part of the basis of the Administrator's decisions on an application.
(d) Hearings held pursuant to this section and other procedures will be consolidated, if practicable, with hearings held and procedures employed by other Federal and State agencies.
§ 971.213 Amendment to an application.
After an application has been submitted to the Administrator, but before a determination is made on the issuance or transfer of a permit, the applicant must submit an amendment to the application if there is a significant change in the circumstances represented in the original application which affects the requirements of this subpart. Applicants should consult with NOAA to determine if changes in circumstances are sufficiently significant to require submission of an amendment. The application, as amended, would then serve as the basis for determinations by the Administrator under this part. For each amendment judged by the Administrator to be significant, the Administrator will provide a copy of that amendment to each other Federal agency and department which received a copy of the original application, and also will provide for public notice, hearing and comment on the amendment pursuant to §971.212. After the issuance or transfer of a permit, any revision of the permit will be made pursuant to §971.413. Any amendment or modification which would cause coastal zone effects substantially different than those originally reviewed by the state agency would be subject to Federal consistency review as prescribed in 15 CFR part 930.
