History: 

CZMA Review Extension For Maine; VGP and sVGP l:J 

John Nagle to: Burrowes, Todd 

Cc- "Leyden, Kathleen", "Mullen, Mike", David Webster, Juhl Saxena, 

· Ryan Albert 

This message has been forwarded. 

03/01/2012 12:01 PM 

j6l John Nagle 

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I 

Todd: This e-mail responds to your e-mail of January 19, 2012, (see b 

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I 

Todd: 

This e-mail responds to your e-mail of January 19, 2012, (see below) requesting an extension of 

time for you to provide your Coastal Zone Management Act (CZMA) consistency concurrence or 

objection on the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) national consistency determinations 

for re-issuance of the Vessel General Permit (VGP) and issuance of the Small Vessel General 

Permit (sVGP). EPA provided its "national consistency determinations" to you for review under 

section 307 of the CZMA by a letter dated December 19,2011. In that letter, EPA explained that 

it anticipated your response within 60 days of receipt or that EPA would presume concurrence. 

By this e-mail, EPA provides you an extension oftime until July 16, 2012 for completion ofyour 

CZMA consistency review, including your concurrence with or objection to EPA's national 

consistency determinations for the VGP and sVGP, respectively. The extension for your 

response is until your close ofbusiness on July 16, 2012. 

Your e-mail indicated that you will be unable to complete your CZMA consistency review until 

the Maine Department of Environmental Protection (Maine DEP) issues Clean Water Act 

(CWA) section 401 certifications for the draft VGP and sVGP because under Maine's networked 

coastal program, the 401 certifications will provide the basis for the State's concurrence with or 

objection to EPA's consistency determination. You also said that you would like to be able to 

coordinate with Maine DEP. EPA believes that it is appropriate to provide additional time for 

completion of your CZMA consistency review until July 16,2012 because Maine DEP has until 

June 30, 2012 to either provide or waive CW A section 401 certification on the permits. In order 

to enable you to fully and appropriately consider the results of the CW A section 40 l certification 

process in Maine, the extension provided extends until July 16, 2012. We are also notifying you 

now that in order to enable you to timely complete final action on these two permits, EPA 

generally will not be able to accommodate extensions beyond July 16. If a reply is not received 

within that time period, EPA intends to presume your concurrence. See, 15 C.F.R. 930.41(a). 

It is important to all of us that we are able to take timely final action on the next VGP and sVGP, 

and completion of the CZMA review process is an important part of that. EPA urges you to 

initiate your CZMA review promptly, including in coordination with your colleagues in Maine 

DEP. We look forward to working with you, and should you have further questions, please do 
not hesitate to contact me. 

JHN 

John H. Nagle 

Biologist I Environmental Scientist 

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 

New England Region I 

5 Post Office Square, Suite 100 

Mail Code OEP06-1 

Boston, MA 02109 - 3912 

(617) 918-1054 (phone) 

(61 7) 918-1505 (fax) 

nagle.john@epa.gov (e-mail) 

"Burrowes, Todd" Hi, John. I am writing to request a six-month ext... 

From: 

To: 

"Burrowes, Todd" <Todd.Burrowes@maine.gov> 

John Nagle/R1/USEPA/US@EPA 

01/19/201211:54:57 AM 

Cc: 

Date: 

"Leyden, Kathleen" <Kathleen.Leyden@maine.gov>, "Mullen, Mike" <Mike.Mullen@maine.gov> 

01/19/201211:54 AM 

Subject: CZMA review; VGP and sVGP 

Hi, John . I am writing to request a six-month extension of the period for 

review of EPA's federal consistency determination regarding its proposed 

vessel general permit and small vessel general permit. The purpose of the 

extension is to better align the period for CZMA review with that under 

Section 401 of the Clean Water Act. 

Under the terms of Maine's networked coastal program, the Maine Department of 

Environmental Protection's {DEP) review and 401 order regarding the proposed 

general permits will provide the basis for the State's concurren ce with or 

objection to EPA's consistency determinati on . As outlined in your recent 

e-mail, EPA is hosting an informational meeting to assist states reviewing the 

general permits and anticipates discussions with states about their 

consistency with pertinent state water quality-related laws. 

The proposed six- month extension would help us coordinate the State's CZMA 

response with DEP's review and decision, with the understanding that the State 

would issue its CZMA decision concurrently with and based on DEP's 401 

decision, likely within this six-month period. The precise schedule for DEP's 

review and decision has not been determined and may depend on issues and 

changes that emerge from your agency's dialogue with states. 

Please confirm that e-mail suffices for making this request; if not, we'll 

follow up by regular l etter. 

Please let me know if you have any questions. Thanks for your consideration. 

Todd Burrowes 

Federal Consistency Coordinator/Maine