Federal Register / Vol. 69, No. 197 / Wednesday, October 13, 2004 / Notices 60861

information, processing and 

maintaining information, and disclosing 

and providing information; adjust the 

existing ways to comply with any 

previously applicable instructions and 

requirements; train personnel to be able 

to respond to a collection of 

information; search data sources; 

complete and review the collection of 

information; and transmit or otherwise 

disclose the information. 

Respondents/Affected Entities: State, 

Local, or Tribal Governments. 

Estimated Number of Respondents:

27. 

Frequency of Response: One time 

application. 

Estimated Total Annual Hour Burden:

360 hours. 

Estimated Total Annual Costs:

$26,438, which includes $0 annualized 

capital/startup costs, $0 annual O&M 

costs, and $26,438 annual labor costs. 

Changes in Estimates: There is a 

decrease of 67 hours in the total 

estimated burden currently identified in 

the OMB Inventory of Approved ICR 

Burdens. This decrease is based on 

estimates of fewer responses.

Dated: October 4, 2004. 

Oscar Morales, 

Director, Collection Strategies Division.

[FR Doc. 04–22960 Filed 10–12–04; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6560–50–P

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 

AGENCY 

[FRL–7827–4] 

State Innovation Grant Program, 

Preliminary Notice and Request for 

Input on the Development of a 

Solicitation for Proposals for 2004/

2005 Awards

AGENCY: Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice.

SUMMARY: The U.S. Environmental 

Protection Agency, Office of Policy, 

Economics and Innovation (OPEI) is 

giving a preliminary notice of its 

intention to solicit proposals for a 2004/

2005 grant program to support 

innovation by state environmental 

regulatory agencies—the ‘‘State 

Innovation Grant Program.’’ The Agency 

is also seeking input from State 

Environmental Regulatory Agencies on 

the topic areas for the solicitation. In 

addition, EPA is asking each State 

Environmental Regulatory Agency to 

designate a point of contact at the 

management level (in addition to the 

Commissioner or Cabinet Secretary 

level) who should receive further 

communication about the upcoming 

solicitation. EPA anticipates publication 

of a Federal Register notice to announce 

the availability of the next solicitation 

within 75 days.

DATES: State Environmental Regulatory 

Agencies will have 30 days from the 

date of this pre-announcement notice in 

the Federal Register publication until 

November 12, 2004, to respond with: (1) 

Suggestions for specific topics that 

should be included under the general 

subject area of ‘‘Innovation in 

Environmental Permitting Programs’’

(e.g., topics with 1–2 paragraphs 

description) for the next solicitation; 

and (2) point of contact information 

(name, title, mailing address, telephone 

and fax numbers, and e-mail address) 

for the person within the State 

Environmental Regulatory Agency (in 

addition to Commissioner or Cabinet 

Secretaries) who should receive future 

notices about the State Innovation 

Grants. We will automatically transmit 

notice of availability of the solicitation 

to people in State agencies identified for 

previous solicitations.

ADDRESSES: Information should be sent 

to: State Innovation Grant Program; 

Office of Policy, Economics and 

Innovation; U.S. Environmental 

Protection Agency (1807T); 1200 

Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington, 

DC 20460. Responses may also be sent 

by fax to (202–566–2220), addressed to 

the ‘‘State Innovation Grant Program,’’

or by e-mail to: 

Innovation_State_Grants@EPA.gov. We 

encourage e-mail responses. If you have 

questions about responding to this 

notice, please contact EPA at this e-mail 

address or fax number, or you may call 

Sherri Walker at 202–566–2186. For 

point of contact information, please 

provide: name, title, department and 

agency, street or Post Office address, 

city, State, zip code, telephone, fax, and 

e-mail address. EPA will acknowledge 

all responses it receives to this notice.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background: In April 2002, EPA 

issued its plan for future innovation 

efforts, published as Innovating for 

Better Environmental Results: A 

Strategy to Guide the Next Generation of 

Innovation at EPA (EPA 100–R–02–002; 

http://www.epa.gov/innovation/

strategy/). The Agency’s Innovation 

Strategy presents a framework for 

environmental innovation consisting of 

four major elements: 

(1) Strengthen EPA’s innovation 

partnerships with States; 

(2) Focus on priority environmental 

issues; 

(3) Diversify environmental protection 

tools and approaches; 

(4) Foster a more ‘‘innovationfriendly’’ organizational culture and 

systems. This assistance program 

strengthens EPA’s partnership with the 

States by supporting State innovation 

compatible with the Innovation 

Strategy. EPA would like to help States 

build on previous experience and 

undertake strategic innovation projects 

that promote larger-scale models for 

‘‘next generation’’ environmental 

protection and promise better 

environmental results. EPA is interested 

in funding projects that go beyond a 

single facility experiment and obtain 

better results from a program, process, 

or sector-wide innovation. EPA is 

particularly interested in innovation 

that promotes integrated (cross-media) 

environmental management and is 

transferable to other States. 

In 2002, EPA initiated the State 

Innovation Grants Program with a 

competition that asked for State project 

proposals that would create innovation 

in environmental permitting programs 

related to one of the Innovation 

Strategy’s four priority environmental 

issues: reducing greenhouse gases, 

reducing smog, improving water quality, 

and ensuring the long-term integrity of 

the nations’s water infrastructure. In 

addition, the solicitation encouraged 

projects that test incentives that 

motivate ‘‘beyond-compliance’’

environmental performance, or move 

whole sectors toward improved 

environmental performance. The 2002 

competition resulted in six state 

innovation project awards. In October 

2003, the EPA National Center for 

Environmental Innovation (NCEI) 

opened the 2003/2004 competition for 

projects to be funded in 2004. On April 

16, 2004, EPA announced the ten 

projects that have been selected from 

this new competition. EPA is currently 

completing awards to States selected in 

that competition. For more information 

on last year’s solicitation, the proposals 

received, and the 2003–04 award 

decisions, please see the Web site at: 

http://www.epa.gov/innovation/

stategrants.

Request for Input on Solicitation 

Topics and Priorities: Like the prior two 

solicitations, the 2004/2005 State 

Innovation Grant Program competition 

will seek to strengthen EPA’s innovation 

partnership with States by providing a 

source of funding to facilitate State 

efforts to test new models for ‘‘next 

generation’’ environmental protection 

that will provide better environmental 

results, consistent with the goals of 

EPA’s Innovation Strategy.

EPA proposes to retain ‘‘innovation in 

permitting’’ as the general subject area 

of the upcoming solicitation as well as 

60862 Federal Register / Vol. 69, No. 197 / Wednesday, October 13, 2004 / Notices 

the two specific topics under that theme 

from last year: (1) Support for 

development of state Environmental 

Results Programs (ERP); and (2) projects 

which explore the relationship between 

Environmental Management Systems 

(EMS) and permitting (see EPA’s 

Strategy for Determining the Role of 

EMS in Regulatory Programs at http://

www.epa.gov/ems or http://

www.epa.gov/ems/policy/

EMS_and_the_Reg_

Structure_41204F.pdf). EPA believes the 

general subject of ‘‘innovation in 

permitting’’ with specific topics of focus 

makes sense: the prior two solicitations 

have evidenced a great deal of 

innovation taking place in state 

permitting programs; and focusing on a 

small number of topics within this 

subject area effectively concentrates the 

limited resources available for greater 

strategic impact. EPA proposes to add a 

third specific topic this year to enhance 

the focus of eligible projects under the 

permitting subject area: development 

and implementation of incentives for 

environmental performance that goes 

beyond compliance as part of State 

leadership and recognition programs. 

These incentives and their 

implementation should be transferable 

to other State performance-based 

programs and/or the National 

Environmental Performance Track 

Program. In addition, EPA may 

contemplate a very small number of 

projects otherwise related to the theme 

of permitting. EPA is asking for State 

Environmental Regulatory Agencies and 

other interested parties to provide brief 

(about 1 paragraph) suggestions about 

additional innovation topics within the 

subject of innovation in permitting for 

possible inclusion in the upcoming 

solicitation. EPA will continue to 

encourage project proposals that address 

the four priority environmental areas 

identified above (i.e., reducing 

greenhouse gases; reducing smog; 

restoring and maintaining water quality; 

reducing the cost of water and 

wastewater infrastructure) and use tools 

(i.e., incentives, information, 

performance measurement, etc.) 

highlighted in the Innovation Strategy. 

State Environmental Regulatory Agency 

respondents should send their 

suggestions to EPA by mail, e-mail, or 

fax as described in the ADDRESSES

section above.

Note: These grants will not be applied to 

the development or demonstration of new 

environmental technologies, nor will NCEI be 

looking to fund projects that have as a 

primary focus the upgrading of information 

technology systems. Projects would be much 

less likely to be funded through this State 

Innovation Grant if agency resources are 

already available through another agency 

program.

Competition Limited to the State 

Environmental Regulatory Agency: The 

competition will be limited to the 

principal Environmental Regulatory 

Agency within each State, although 

these agencies are encouraged to partner 

with other agencies within the State that 

have environmental mandates (e.g., 

natural resources management, 

transportation, public health, energy). 

EPA will accept only one proposal from 

an individual State and it must be 

submitted by the principal 

Environmental Regulatory Agency from 

that State. States are also encouraged to 

partner with neighboring States to 

address cross-boundary issues, to create 

networks for peer-mentoring, and States 

are particularly encouraged to consider 

partnering with Tribal governments in 

developing projects and proposals. A 

multi-state or State-Tribal proposal will 

be accepted in addition to an individual 

State proposal, but a State may appear 

in no more than one multi-State or 

State-Tribal proposal in addition to its 

individual State proposal. 

Request for State to Designate a 

Primary Point of Contact: EPA asks that 

each State Environmental Regulatory 

Agency designate as a primary point-ofcontact, a manager who we will add to 

the EPA notification list for further 

announcements about the State 

Innovation Grant Program. We are 

asking that this name be submitted with 

the approval of the highest levels of 

management within an Agency 

(Secretary, Commissioner, or their 

deputies) within 30 days after 

publication of this notice in the FR 

November 12, 2004. Please submit this 

information to EPA as described in the 

ADDRESSES section above. 

Open Dialogue: Between now and the 

completion and release of the 

solicitation, States are encouraged to 

discuss potential projects with their 

EPA Regional contact to ascertain 

whether the scope of a potential project 

is suitable for funding under this 

program. Feel free to contact the 

appropriate Regional contact and the 

EPA HQ National Center for 

Environmental Innovation: 

Regional Contacts 

George Frantz, U.S. EPA Region I, 1 

Congress Street, Suite 1100, Boston, 

MA 02114–2023, (617) 918–1883, 

frantz.george@epa.gov, States: ME, 

NH, VT, MA, CT, RI. 

Jennifer Thatcher, U.S. EPA Region 2, 

290 Broadway, 26th Floor, New York, 

NY 10007–1866, (212) 637–3593, 

thatcher.jennifer@epa.gov, States & 

Territories: NY, NJ, PR, VI.

Marie Holman, U.S. EPA Region 3, 1650 

Arch Street (3EA40), Philadelphia, PA 

19103, (215) 814–5463, 

holman.marie@epa.gov, States: DE, 

DC, MD, PA, VA, WV. 

Melissa Heath, U.S. EPA Region 4, 61 

Forsyth Street, SW., Atlanta, GA 

30303, (404) 562–8381, 

heath.melissa@epa.gov, States: AL, 

FL, GA, KY, MS, NC, SC, TN. 

Marilou Martin, U.S. EPA Region 5, B–

19J, 77 West Jackson Blvd., Chicago, 

IL 60604–3507, (312) 353–9660, 

martin.marilou@epa.gov, States: MN, 

WI, MI, IL, IN, OH. 

David Bond, U.S. EPA Region 6, 

Fountain Place, Suite 1200, 1445 Ross 

Avenue, Dallas, TX 75202–2733, (214) 

665–6431, bond.david@epa.gov,

States: AR, LA, NM, OK, TX. 

David Erickson, U.S. EPA Region 7, 901 

N. 5th Street, Kansas City, KS 66101, 

(913) 551–7162, 

erickson.david@epa.gov, States: KS, 

MO, NE, IA. 

Whitney Trulove-Cranor, U.S. EPA 

Region 8 (8P–SA), 999 18th Street, 

Suite 300, Denver, CO 80202–2466, 

(303) 312–6099, trulovecranor.whitney@epa.gov, States: CO, 

MT, ND, SD, UT, WY. 

Julie Anderson, U.S. EPA Region 9, 75 

Hawthorne Street (SPE–1), San 

Francisco, CA 94105, (415) 947–4260, 

anderson.julie@epa.gov, States & 

Territories: CA, NV, AZ, HI, AS, GU. 

Bill Glasser, U.S. EPA Region 10, 1200 

Sixth Avenue (ENF–T), Seattle, WA 

98101, 206–553–7215, 

glasser.william@epa.gov, States: AK, 

ID, OR, WA. 

Headquarters Office 

State Innovation Grants Program, 

National Center for Environmental 

Innovation, Office of the 

Administrator, U.S. EPA (MC 1807T), 

1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW., 

Washington, DC 20460, (202) 566–

2186, (202) 566–2220 FAX, 

Innovation_State_Grants@epa.gov.

For courier delivery only: Sherri 

Walker, U.S. EPA, EPA West Building, 

room 4214D, 1301 Constitution Ave., 

NW., Washington, DC 20005. 

Opportunity for Focused PreCompetition Workshop: In addition, 

prior to this year’s solicitation, we are 

planning to host a series of five 

‘‘cluster’’ phone calls with sets of two 

EPA Regions and all of their States. 

These conference calls will enable us to 

offer a two-hour streamlined proposal 

development workshop to all States 

prior to our solicitation, and will allow 

us to answer any questions that the 

States have prior to the competition, in 

Federal Register / Vol. 69, No. 197 / Wednesday, October 13, 2004 / Notices 60863

keeping with Federal requirements that 

we afford assistance fairly in a 

competition process. Specific 

conference call logistics and grant 

resource information will be provided to 

each Region and the States as well as 

being posted on our Web site at

http://www.epa.gov/innovation/

stategrants. We will probably conduct 

one conference call (workshop) per 

week, for five weeks in October, through 

early November 2004. Workshop 

summaries, and all other resource 

materials will be posted on the Web site 

at http://www.epa.gov/innovation/

stategrants. Through this effort, we are 

hoping to encourage individual States 

(and/or State-led teams) to submit welldeveloped pre-proposals that effectively 

describe in particular how their project 

will achieve measurable environmental 

results.

Dated: October 6, 2004. 

Elizabeth Shaw, 

Director, Office of Environmental Policy 

Innovation.

[FR Doc. 04–22958 Filed 10–12–04; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6560–50–P

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 

AGENCY

[OPP–2004–0339; FRL–7683–4]

The Association of American Pesticide 

Control Officials/State FIFRA Issues 

Research and Evaluation Group; 

Working Committee on Pesticide 

Operations & Management; Notice of 

Public Meeting

AGENCY: Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice.

SUMMARY: The Association of American 

Pesticide Control Officials (AAPCO)/

State FIFRA Issues Research and 

Evaluation Group (SFIREG) Working 

Committee on Pesticide Operations & 

Management (PO&M) will hold a 2–day 

meeting, beginning on November 8, 

2004, and ending November 9, 2004. 

This notice announces the location and 

times for the meeting and sets forth the 

tentative agenda topics.

DATES: The meeting will be held on 

Monday, November 8, 2004, from 8:30 

a.m. to 5 p.m., and on Tuesday, 

November 9, 2004, from 8:30 a.m. to 

noon.

ADDRESSES: The meeting will be held at 

the Hyatt Regency, Crystal City Hotel, 

2799 Jefferson Davis Highway, 

Arlington, VA 22202.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Georgia A. McDuffie, Field and External 

Affairs Division, (7506C), Office of 

Pesticide Programs, Environmental 

Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania 

Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460–

0001; telephone number: (703) 605–

0195; fax number: (703) 308–1850; email address: mcduffie.georgia@epa.gov

or 

Philip H. Gray, SFIREG Executive 

Secretary, P.O. Box 1249, Hardwick, VT 

05843–1249; telephone number: (802) 

472–6956; fax number: (802) 472–6957; 

e-mail address: 

aapco@plainfield.bypass.com.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. General Information 

A. Does this Action Apply to Me? 

You may be potentially affected by 

this action if you are interested in 

SFIREG information exchange 

relationship with EPA regarding 

important issues related to human 

health, environmental exposure to 

pesticides, and insight into EPA’s 

decision-making process. All interested 

parties are invited and encouraged to 

attend the meetings and participate as 

appropriate. Potentially affected entities 

may include, but are not limited to 

those persons who are or may be 

required to conduct testing of chemical 

substances under the Federal Food, 

Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA), or the 

Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and 

Rodenticide Act (FIFRA). Since other 

entities may also be interested, the 

Agency has not attempted to describe all 

the specific entities that may be affected 

by this action. If you have any questions 

regarding the applicability of this action 

to a particular entity, consult the person 

listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION

CONTACT.

B. How Can I Get Copies of this 

Document and Other Related 

Information? 

1. Docket. EPA has established an 

official public docket for this action 

under docket identification (ID) number 

OPP–2004–0339. The official public 

docket consists of the documents 

specifically referenced in this action, 

any public comments received, and 

other information related to this action. 

Although a part of the official docket, 

the public docket does not include 

Confidential Business Information (CBI) 

or other information whose disclosure is 

restricted by statute. The official public 

docket is the collection of materials that 

is available for public viewing at the 

Public Information and Records 

Integrity Branch (PIRIB), Rm. 119, 

Crystal Mall #2, 1801 S. Bell St., 

Arlington, VA. This docket facility is 

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

through Friday, excluding legal 

holidays. The docket telephone number 

is (703) 305–5805. 

2. Electronic access. You may access 

this Federal Register document 

electronically through the EPA Internet 

under the ‘‘Federal Register’’ listings at 

http://www.epa.gov/fedrgstr/. 

An electronic version of the public 

docket is available through EPA’s 

electronic public docket and comment 

system, EPA Dockets. You may use EPA 

Dockets at http://www.epa.gov/edocket/

to view public comments, access the 

index listing of the contents of the 

official public docket, and to access 

those documents in the public docket 

that are available electronically. 

Although not all docket materials may 

be available electronically, you may still 

access any of the publicly available 

docket materials through the docket 

facility identified in Unit I.B.1. Once in 

the system, select ‘‘search,’’ then key in 

the appropriate docket ID number.

II. Tentative Agenda

1. Atrazine relabeling.

2. E-labeling.

3. Mold issues and product 

registration.

4. Automatic mister applications of 

mosquito adulticides.

5. Phosphide fumigants, proposed Q & 

A documents.

6. Reconciling label directions and 

waste requirements.

7. Genetically Modified Organism 

(GMO) issues, plant-incorporated 

pesticides and genetically altered 

resistance.

8. Liability waivers.

9. Performance measures.

10. Risk mitigation label statements.

11. Endangered species program 

implementation status.

12. Container/containment rules and 

implementation issues.

13. Office of Pesticide Programs, and 

Office of Enforcement and Compliance 

Assurance updates.

14. Issue papers and wrap up.

List of Subjects 

Environmental protection.

Dated: October 1, 2004.

William R. Diamond,

Director, Field and External Affairs Division, 

Office of Pesticide Programs.

[FR Doc. 04–22877 Filed 10–12–04; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6560–50–S