53298 Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 168 / Tuesday, August 31, 2010 / Notices 

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 

AGENCY 

[FRL–9195–4; Docket ID No. EPA–HQ–ORD– 

2010–0709] 

A Method to Assess Climate-Relevant 

Decisions: Application in the 

Chesapeake Bay 

AGENCY: Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA). 

ACTION: Notice of public comment 

period. 

SUMMARY: The EPA is announcing a 60- 

day public comment period for the draft 

document titled, ‘‘A Method to Assess 

Climate-Relevant Decision: Application 

in the Chesapeake Bay’’ (EPA/600/R–10/ 

096a). The draft document was prepared 

by the National Center for 

Environmental Assessment (NCEA) 

within EPA’s Office of Research and 

Development. 

In the 2010 Executive Order (EO) 

Strategy entitled, Protecting and 

Restoring the Chesapeake Bay 

Watershed, EPA has committed to 

‘‘minimize the vulnerability of the 

Chesapeake Bay watershed to adverse 

impacts from climate change.’’ The EO 

Strategy also commits EPA to ensuring 

that ‘‘TMDL allocations account for 

climate change impacts [by working] in 

conjunction with the states to conduct 

an analysis by 2017 to consider 

accounting for uncertainties of climate 

change in TMDL allocations.’’ To 

accomplish this, it is necessary to 

understand the rates at which 

conditions are changing and are 

projected to change in the future; how 

various factors, such as land-use 

changes, interact with climate change 

impacts; and the likely consequences for 

water quality, habitats, fish and wildlife 

and communities. This draft report 

presents a systematic approach for 

evaluating these factors and practices 

for their relative potential effectiveness 

in ameliorating climate changes 

impacts. The report also includes the 

results of applying this approach in a 

pilot assessment of management 

practices in the Chesapeake Bay 

watershed. The practices evaluated 

could be used for both nutrient and 

sediment reductions, and also to 

ameliorate the effects of climate change 

on water quality that will ultimately 

inform the 2017 reassessment for Bay 

restoration. 

The public comment period and the 

external peer-review workshop, which 

will be scheduled at a later date and 

announced in the Federal Register, are 

separate processes that provide 

opportunities for all interested parties to 

comment on the document. EPA intends 

to forward public comments that are 

submitted in accordance with this 

notice to the external peer-review panel 

prior to the meeting for their 

consideration. When finalizing the draft 

document, EPA intends to consider any 

public comments that EPA receives in 

accordance with this notice. 

EPA is releasing this draft document 

solely for the purpose of predissemination peer review under 

applicable information quality 

guidelines. This document has not been 

formally disseminated by EPA. It does 

not represent and should not be 

construed to represent any Agency 

policy or determination. 

DATES: The 60-day public comment 

period begins August 31, 2010, and ends 

November 1, 2010. Technical comments 

should be in writing and must be 

received by EPA by November 1, 2010. 

ADDRESSES: The draft ‘‘A Method To 

Assess Climate-Relevant Decisions: 

Application in the Chesapeake Bay’’ is 

available via the Internet on the 

National Center for Environmental 

Assessment’s home page under the 

Recent Additions and the Data and 

Publications menus at http:// 

www.epa.gov/ncea. A limited number of 

paper copies are available from the 

Information Management Team (IMT), 

NCEA; telephone: 703–347–8561; 

facsimile: 703–347–8691. If you are 

requesting a paper copy, please provide 

your name, mailing address, and the 

document title, ‘‘A Method To Assess 

Climate-Relevant Decisions: Application 

in the Chesapeake Bay.’’ 

Comments may be submitted 

electronically via http:// 

www.regulations.gov, by mail, by 

facsimile, or by hand delivery/courier. 

Please follow the detailed instructions 

as provided in the SUPPLEMENTARY

INFORMATION section of this notice. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For 

information on the public comment 

period, contact the Office of 

Environmental Information Docket; 

telephone: 202–566–1752; facsimile: 

202–566–1753; or e-mail: 

ORD.Docket@epa.gov. 

If you need technical information 

about the document, please contact 

Susan Julius, National Center for 

Environmental Assessment (NCEA); 

telephone: 703–347–8619; facsimile: 

703–347–8694; e-mail: 

julius.susan@epa.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Summary of Information About the 

Project/Document 

Climate change is a global 

phenomenon that is affecting natural 

and human systems in all parts of the 

world. Some of the decisions and 

actions taken to manage these systems 

are likely to be affected by climate 

change and may likewise affect the 

vulnerability of the managed resource or 

ecosystem to climate change. The goal 

of this study is to formalize an approach 

to inventory and analyze management 

decisions in order to produce useful 

information targeted toward effective 

adaptation to climate change. The 

approach uses as its starting point 

ongoing planning processes and 

decisions geared toward achieving 

environmental management goals, and 

then collects information on decisions 

and prioritizes them according to 

specific attributes. The pilot study 

described in this report applies this 

approach and examines its usefulness to 

decision makers. 

The major steps of the approach are 

to (1) select a study area and compile a 

list of key decisions (2) develop criteria 

for evaluating the climate-relevance of 

decisions; (3) apply the criteria to select 

decisions that are potentially sensitive 

to climate change; (4) solicit expert 

judgment regarding those selections 

(and refine the selections accordingly); 

and (5) test alternative weighting 

schemes for prioritizing decisions most 

in need of decision support or 

additional research based on the 

selected attributes. 

II. How To Submit Technical Comments 

to the Docket at www.regulations.gov 

Submit your comments, identified by 

Docket ID No. EPA–HQ–ORD 2010– 

0709, by one of the following methods: 

• http://www.regulations.gov: Follow 

the on-line instructions for submitting 

comments. 

• E-mail: ORD.Docket@epa.gov. 

• Fax: 202–566–1753. 

• Mail: Office of Environmental 

Information (OEI) Docket (Mail Code: 

2822T), U.S. Environmental Protection 

Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW., 

Washington, DC 20460. The phone 

number is 202–566–1752. 

• Hand Delivery: The OEI Docket is 

located in the EPA Headquarters Docket 

Center, Room 3334 EPA West Building, 

1301 Constitution Ave., NW., 

Washington, DC. The EPA Docket 

Center Public Reading Room is open 

from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday 

through Friday, excluding legal 

holidays. The telephone number for the 

Public Reading Room is 202–566–1744. 

Such deliveries are only accepted 

during the Docket’s normal hours of 

operation, and special arrangements 

should be made for deliveries of boxed 

information. 

If you provide comments by mail or 

hand delivery, please submit three 


srobinson on DSKHWCL6B1PROD with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 168 / Tuesday, August 31, 2010 / Notices 53299 

copies of the comments. For 

attachments, provide an index, number 

pages consecutively with the comments, 

and submit an unbound original and 

three copies. 

Instructions: Direct your comments to 

Docket ID No. EPA–HQ–ORD–2010– 

0709. Please ensure that your comments 

are submitted within the specified 

comment period. Comments received 

after the closing date will be marked 

‘‘late,’’ and may only be considered if 

time permits. It is EPA’s policy to 

include all comments it receives in the 

public docket without change and to 

make the comments available online at 

http://www.regulations.gov, including 

any personal information provided, 

unless a comment includes information 

claimed to be Confidential Business 

Information (CBI) or other information 

whose disclosure is restricted by statute. 

Do not submit information that you 

consider to be CBI or otherwise 

protected through http:// 

www.regulations.gov or e-mail. The 

http://www.regulations.gov Web site is 

an ‘‘anonymous access’’ system, which 

means EPA will not know your identity 

or contact information unless you 

provide it in the body of your comment. 

If you send an e-mail comment directly 

to EPA without going through http:// 

www.regulations.gov, your e-mail 

address will be automatically captured 

and included as part of the comment 

that is placed in the public docket and 

made available on the Internet. If you 

submit an electronic comment, EPA 

recommends that you include your 

name and other contact information in 

the body of your comment and with any 

disk or CD–ROM you submit. If EPA 

cannot read your comment due to 

technical difficulties and cannot contact 

you for clarification, EPA may not be 

able to consider your comment. 

Electronic files should avoid the use of 

special characters, any form of 

encryption, and be free of any defects or 

viruses. For additional information 

about EPA’s public docket visit the EPA 

Docket Center homepage at http:// 

www.epa.gov/epahome/dockets.htm. 

Docket: Documents in the docket are 

listed in the http://www.regulations.gov 

index. Although listed in the index, 

some information is not publicly 

available, e.g., CBI or other information 

whose disclosure is restricted by statute. 

Certain other materials, such as 

copyrighted material, are publicly 

available only in hard copy. Publicly 

available docket materials are available 

either electronically in http:// 

www.regulations.gov or in hard copy at 

the OEI Docket in the EPA Headquarters 

Docket Center. 

Dated: August 25, 2010. 

Rebecca Clark, 

Acting Director, National Center for 

Environmental Assessment. 

[FR Doc. 2010–21696 Filed 8–30–10; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6560–50–P 

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 

AGENCY 

[FRL–9195–3] 

Issuance of NPDES General Permits 

for Wastewater Lagoon Systems 

Located in Indian Country in Colorado, 

Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, 

Utah and Wyoming 

AGENCY: Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA). 

ACTION: Notice of issuance of NPDES 

general permits. 

SUMMARY: EPA Region 8 is hereby giving 

notice of its reissuance of five National 

Pollutant Discharge Elimination System 

(NPDES) general permits for wastewater 

lagoon systems that are located in 

Indian country in the States of Montana, 

North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah and 

Wyoming and the issuance of the 

NPDES general permit for wastewater 

lagoon systems that are located in 

Indian country in the State of Colorado 

and that are treating primarily domestic 

wastewater. The general permits are 

grouped geographically by State, with 

the permit coverage being for specified 

Indian reservations in the State; any 

land held in trust by the United States 

for an Indian Tribe; and any other areas 

which are Indian country within the 

meaning of 18 U.S.C. 1151. The permits 

for the States of MT, ND, SD, UT, and 

WY are being reissued and replace 

permits that were issued in 2004. Those 

permits expired August 16, 2009, and 

have been administratively extended. 

The permit for the State of Colorado is 

being issued for the first time. The 

effective date of these general permits is 

September 14, 2010. 

The NPDES permit number and the 

area covered by that general permit are 

listed below by State: 

Colorado: COG589### This permit 

covers the Southern Ute Reservation 

and the Ute Mountain Reservation, 

including those portions of the Ute 

Mountain Reservation located in New 

Mexico and Utah; any land within the 

State of Colorado held in trust by the 

United States for an Indian Tribe; and 

any other areas within the State of 

Colorado which are Indian country 

within the meaning of 18 U.S.C. 1151. 

Montana: MTG589### This permit 

covers the Blackfeet Indian Reservation 

of Montana; the Crow Indian 

Reservation; the Flathead Reservation; 

the Fort Belknap Reservation of 

Montana; the Fort Peck Indian 

Reservation; the Northern Cheyenne 

Indian Reservation; the Rocky Boy’s 

Reservation; any land within the State 

of Montana held in trust by the United 

States for an Indian Tribe; and any other 

areas within the State of Montana which 

are Indian country within the meaning 

of 18 U.S.C. 1151. 

North Dakota: NDG589### This 

permit covers the Fort Berthold 

Reservation; the Spirit Lake Indian 

Reservation; the Standing Rock Sioux 

Reservation; the Turtle Mountain 

Reservation; any land within the State 

of North Dakota held in trust by the 

United States for an Indian Tribe; and 

any other areas within the State of North 

Dakota which are Indian country within 

the meaning of 18 U.S.C. 1151. 

This permit includes that portion of 

the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation 

and associated Indian country located 

within the State of South Dakota. It does 

not include any land held in trust by the 

United States for the Sisseton-Wahpeton 

Oyate of the Lake Traverse Reservation 

or any other Indian country associated 

with that Tribe, which is covered under 

general permit SDG589###. 

South Dakota: SDG589### This 

permit covers the Cheyenne River 

Reservation; Crow Creek Reservation; 

the Flandreau Santee Sioux Indian 

Reservation; the Lower Brule 

Reservation; the Pine Ridge Reservation 

(including the entire Reservation, which 

is located in both South Dakota and 

Nebraska); the Rosebud Indian 

Reservation; the Yankton Sioux 

Reservation; any land within the State 

of South Dakota held in trust by the 

United States for an Indian Tribe; and 

any other areas within the State of 

South Dakota which are Indian country 

within the meaning of 18 U.S.C. 1151. 

This permit includes any land in the 

State of North Dakota that is held in 

trust by the United States for the 

Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate of the Lake 

Traverse Reservation or any other 

Indian country associated with that 

Tribe. It does not include the Standing 

Rock Sioux Reservation or any 

associated Indian country, which is 

covered under general permit 

NDG589###. 

Utah: UTG589### This permit covers 

the Northwestern Band of Shoshoni 

Nation of Utah Reservation (Washakie); 

the Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah 

Reservation; the Skull Valley Indian 

Reservation; Indian country lands 

within the Uintah and Ouray Indian 

Reservation; any land within the State 

of Utah held in trust by the United 

States for an Indian Tribe; and any other 


srobinson on DSKHWCL6B1PROD with NOTICES