[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 15, Volume 3]
[Revised as of January 1, 2003]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 15CFR971.212]

[Page 345-346]
 
                  TITLE 15--COMMERCE AND FOREIGN TRADE
 
CHAPTER IX--NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT 
                               OF COMMERCE
 
PART 971--DEEP SEABED MINING REGULATIONS FOR COMMERCIAL RECOVERY PERMITS--Table of Contents
 
                         Subpart B--Applications
 
Sec. 971.212  Public notice, hearing and comment.

    (a) Notice and comments. The Administrator will publish in the 
Federal Register, for each complete application for issuance or transfer 
of a commercial recovery permit, notice that the application has been 
received. Subject to Sec. 971.802, interested persons will be allowed to 
examine the materials relevant to the application, and will have at 
least 60 days after publication of notice to submit written comments to 
the Administrator.
    (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

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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.