68386 Federal Register / Vol. 69, No. 226 / Wednesday, November 24, 2004 / Notices 

You may submit comments, identified 

by DHS–2004–0023, by one of the 

following methods: 

• EPA Federal Partner EDOCKET 

Web site: http://www.epa.gov/

feddocket. Follow instructions for 

submitting comments on the Web site. 

The Department of Homeland Security 

has joined the Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA) online public docket and 

comment system on its Partner 

Electronic Docket System (Partner 

EDOCKET). The Department of 

Homeland Security and its agencies 

(excluding the United States Coast 

Guard and Transportation Security 

Administration) will use the EPA 

Federal Partner EDOCKET system. The 

USCG and TSA [legacy Department of 

Transportation (DOT) agencies] will 

continue to use the DOT Docket 

Management System until full migration 

to the electronic rulemaking federal 

docket management system in 2005. 

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://

www.regulations.gov. Follow the 

instructions for submitting comments. 

• E-mail: HSAC@dhs.gov. Include 

docket number in the subject line of the 

message. 

• Fax: (202) 772–9718. 

• Mail: Mike Miron, Homeland 

Security Advisory Council, Department 

of Homeland Security, Washington, DC 

20528. 

Instructions: All submissions received 

must include the agency name and 

docket number for this rulemaking. All 

comments received will be posted 

without change to www.epa.gov/

feddocket, including any personal 

information provided. 

Docket: For access to the docket to 

read background documents or 

comments received, go to http://

www.epa.gov/feddocket. You may also 

access the Federal eRulemaking Portal 

at http://www.regulations.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For 

additional information concerning the 

meeting, please contact Rich Davis, Jeff 

Gaynor, Mike Miron, or Candice Stoltz 

of the HSAC staff via email at 

HSAC@dhs.gov, or via phone at 202–

692–4283.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Public Attendance: A limited number 

of members of the public may register to 

attend the public session on a firstcome, first-served basis per the 

procedures that follow. Security 

requires that any member of the public 

who wishes to attend the public session 

provide his or her name, social security 

number, and date of birth no later than 

5 p.m., EST, Tuesday, December 7, 2004 

to the Responsible Agency Officials 

(listed above) via email at 

HSAC@dhs.gov, or via phone at (202) 

692–4283. Persons with disabilities who 

require special assistance should 

indicate so in their admittance request 

and are encouraged to indicate their 

desires to attend as early as possible. 

Photo identification will be required for 

entry into the public session, and 

everyone in attendance must be present 

and seated by 9:15 a.m. 

Basis for Closure: In accordance with 

Section 10(d) of the Federal Advisory 

Committee Act, Public Law 92–463, as 

amended (5 U.S.C. App. 2), the 

Secretary has issued a determination 

that portions of this HSAC meeting will 

concern matters sensitive to homeland 

security within the meaning of 5 U.S.C. 

552b(c)(7) and (c)(9)(B) and that, 

accordingly, these portions of the 

meeting will be closed to the public.

Dated: November 18, 2004. 

Tom Ridge, 

Secretary of Homeland Security.

[FR Doc. 04–26057 Filed 11–23–04; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4410–10–P

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Fish and Wildlife Service 

Information Collection Renewal 

Submitted to the Office of Management 

and Budget (OMB) for Approval Under 

the Paperwork Reduction Act; OMB 

Control Number 1018–0102; Special 

Use Permit Applications on National 

Wildlife Refuges Outside Alaska 

Covering 50 CFR 25.41, 25.61, 26.36, 

27.71, 27.91, 27.97, 29.1, 29.2, 30.11, 

31.2, 31.13, 31.14, 31.16, and 43 CFR 5

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, 

Interior.

ACTION: Notice; request for comments.

SUMMARY: In accordance with the 

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the 

Fish and Wildlife Service (We) is 

requesting that OMB extend an existing 

approval to collect information for 

Special Use Permit Applications on 

Refuges Outside Alaska. We will use the 

information that we collect to determine 

if requested activities are compatible 

and appropriate with the purpose for 

which the refuge was established.

DATES: You must submit comments on 

or before December 27, 2004.

ADDRESSES: Send your comments on 

this information collection renewal to 

the Desk Officer for the Department of 

the Interior at OMB–OIRA at (202) 395–

6566 (fax) or at 

OIRA_DOCKET@OMB.eop.gov (e-mail). 

Please provide a copy of your comments 

to Hope Grey, Information Collection 

Clearance Officer, Fish and Wildlife 

Service, 4401 N. Fairfax Drive, MS 222–

ARLSQ, Arlington, Virginia 22203 

(mail); (703) 358–2269 (fax); or 

hope_grey@fws.gov (e-mail).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: To 

request a copy of the information 

collection requirement, explanatory 

information, or related forms, contact 

Hope Grey at the address or fax number 

listed above or by telephone at (703) 

358–2482.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: We have 

sent a request to OMB to renew 

approval of the information collection 

requirements for Special Use Permit 

Applications on National Wildlife 

Refuges Outside of Alaska. Currently we 

have approval from OMB to collect 

information under OMB control number 

1018–0102. This approval expires on 

November 30, 2004. We may not 

conduct or sponsor, and a person is not 

required to respond to, a collection of 

information unless we display a 

currently valid OMB control number. 

OMB regulations at 5 CFR 1320, which 

implement provisions of the Paperwork 

Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501 

et seq.), require that interested members 

of the public and affected agencies have 

an opportunity to comment on 

information collection and 

recordkeeping activities (see CFR 

1380.8(d)). OMB has up to 60 days to 

approve or disapprove our information 

collection request, but their response 

may be given as early as 30 days after 

our submittal. Therefore, to ensure 

consideration, send your comments to 

OMB by the date listed in the DATES

section near the beginning of this notice. 

On July 16, 2004, we published in the 

Federal Register (69 FR 42762) a 60-day 

notice of our intent to request renewal 

of this information collection authority 

from OMB. In that notice, we solicited 

public comments for 60 days ending 

September 14, 2004. We received three 

comments regarding this notice. 

Comment: A commenter felt that (1) 

the proposal was too vague and we 

should describe what kind of permits 

we issue; (2) at an estimate of 25 permits 

issued per refuge, we were issuing too 

many permits; and (3) farming activities 

were incompatible with refuge 

operations. 

Response: (1) The universe of types of 

permits potentially issued on our 529 

national wildlife refuges outside of 

Alaska prevents us from listing each and 

every type of permit. We describe a 

sampling of the types of permits a refuge 

manager, upon finding an activity 

compatible, might issue. (2) As to the 

average estimate of permits issued per 

refuge, each refuge manager must decide

Federal Register / Vol. 69, No. 226 / Wednesday, November 24, 2004 / Notices 68387

on the merits of a request using various 

methods of determination, such as 

compatibility, funding and other 

resource availability to ensure adequate 

protection of refuge resources and the 

visiting public, etc., before issuing a 

Special Use Permit. (3) Again, the refuge 

manager may determine that, in some 

cases, farming activities are a 

management tool that may answer the 

criteria outlined in answer (2) and are 

compatible with the purpose for which 

their particular refuge was established.

Comment: We received two comments 

from ham radio operators that disagreed 

with the decision by the refuge manager 

to deny issuance of a permit for the 

purpose of receiving and broadcasting 

transmissions. The requestors felt this 

request was not incompatible with the 

purposes for which the refuge was 

established. 

Response: The purpose of this notice 

was to solicit comments on information 

collection requirements for Special Use 

Permit applications in the National 

Wildlife Refuge System. These 

comments relate not to the purpose of 

the notice itself, but rather to the 

compatibility decisionmaking process 

whereby a refuge manager decides 

whether or not to allow a public use on 

a national wildlife refuge. Because these 

comments are not substantive to the 

purpose of this notice and this is not the 

appropriate venue for the commenters 

to resolve their concerns, we will not 

address those concerns in this forum. 

Comment: We received a comment 

that suggested that the Special Use 

Permit application be made available 

online for potential permittees to 

download themselves and fill out to cut 

down on ‘‘hard paper’’ and facilitate 

electronic issuance of the permits. 

Response: We have considered 

electronic access to and processing of 

Special Use Permits. However, for the 

purposes of proper management 

oversight, control, and enforcement of 

permit condition violations (e.g., 

original signature on permit 

application), and ensuring local 

conditions are considered as part of 

each request, we elect at this time to 

continue with the existing local paper 

system. However, during this renewal 

period, we will be studying the 

feasibility of separating the application 

from the permit and making the 

application available online for 

electronic submission. 

The National Wildlife Refuge System 

Improvement Act of 1997 that amends 

the National Wildlife Refuge 

Administration Act of 1966 (16 U.S.C. 

668dd–668ee) requires that we 

authorize economic privileges on any 

national wildlife refuge by permit only 

when the activity will be compatible 

with and contribute to refuge purposes 

(50 CFR 29.21). We will provide the 

permit applications as requested by 

interested citizens. We will use 

information provided on the required 

written forms and verbal explanatory 

information to ensure that the applicant 

is eligible for the permit. We make 

provision in our general refuge 

regulations for public entry for 

specialized purposes, including 

economic activities such as the 

operation of guiding and other visitor 

services on refuges by concessionaires 

or cooperators under the appropriate 

legal instrument or special use permits 

(50 CFR 25.41, 25.61, 26.36, 27.71, 

27.91, 27.97, 29.1, 29.2, 30.11, 31.2, 

31.13, 31.14, 31.16, and 43 CFR 5). 

These regulations provide the 

authorities and procedures for allowing 

permits on refuges outside of Alaska. 

We will use this permit to authorize 

such items as farming operations 

(haying and grazing, 50 CFR 29.2), 

beneficial management tools that we use 

to provide the best habitat possible on 

some refuges (50 CFR 30.11, 31.14, 

31.16), recreational visitor service 

operations (50 CFR 25.41 and 25.61), 

commercial filming (50 CFR 27.71), 

other commercial activities (50 CFR 

29.1), research, and other 

noncommercial activities (50 CFR 

26.36). We will issue permits for a 

specific period as determined by the 

type and location of the use or visitor 

service provided. 

Title: Special Use Permit Applications 

on National Wildlife Refuges Outside 

Alaska. 

OMB Control Number: 1018–0102. 

Form Number: 3–1383. 

Frequency of Collection: On occasion. 

Description of Respondents:

Individuals and households; business 

and other for-profit organizations; 

nonprofit institutions; farms; and State, 

local or tribal governments. 

Total Annual Responses: 14,150. We 

have 529 national wildlife refuges and 

37 wetland management districts 

outside the State of Alaska. We 

anticipate that each unit will authorize 

approximately 25 permits each year. 

Total Annual Burden: 14,150 hours. 

Your comments are invited on: (1) 

Whether or not this collection of 

information is necessary for us to 

properly perform our functions, 

including whether or not this 

information will have practical utility; 

(2) the accuracy of our estimates of 

burden, including the validity of the 

methodology and assumptions we use; 

(3) ways to enhance the quality, utility, 

and clarity of the information we are 

proposing to collect; and (4) ways to 

minimize the burden of the collection of 

information on those who are to 

respond, including through the use of 

appropriate automated, electronic, 

mechanical, or other technological 

collection techniques or other forms of 

information technology. 

Our practice is to make comments, 

including names and home addresses of 

respondents, available for public review 

during regular business hours. 

Individual respondents may request that 

we withhold their home addresses from 

the record, which we will honor to the 

extent allowable by law. If you wish us 

to withhold your name and/or address, 

you must state this clearly at the 

beginning of your comment. We will not 

consider anonymous comments. We 

generally make all submissions from 

organizations or businesses, and from 

individuals identifying themselves as 

representatives or officials of 

organizations or businesses, available 

for public inspection in their entirety.

Dated: November 5, 2004. 

Hope Grey, 

Information Collection Clearance Officer, 

Fish and Wildlife Service.

[FR Doc. 04–25899 Filed 11–23–04; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4310–55–P

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management 

[WO–310–1310–PB–24 1A] 

OMB Control Number 1004–0196; 

Information Collection Submitted to 

the Office of Management and Budget 

Under the Paperwork Reduction Act 

The Bureau of Land Management 

(BLM) has submitted an extension of a 

currently approved collection to collect 

the information listed below to the 

Office of Management and Budget 

(OMB) under the provisions of the 

Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 

3501 et seq.). On February 10, 2003, the 

BLM published a notice in the Federal 

Register (68 FR 6757) requesting 

comment on this information collection. 

The comment period ended on April 11, 

2003. The BLM received no comments. 

You may obtain copies of the collection 

of information and related forms and 

explanatory material by contacting the 

BLM Information Collection Clearance 

Officer at the telephone number listed 

below. 

The OMB must respond to this 

request within 60 days but may respond 

after 30 days. For maximum 

consideration your comments and 

suggestions on the requirements should 

be directed within 30 days to the Office