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[Federal Register: May 17, 2010 (Volume 75, Number 94)]
[Notices]
[Page 27552-27553]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr17my10-59]

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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[EPA-HQ-OW-2010-0164; FRL-9152-2]

Guidance for Federal Land Management in the Chesapeake Bay
Watershed

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of availability.

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SUMMARY: This notice announces the availability of a final Guidance for
Federal Land Management in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed which EPA is
publishing pursuant to Section 502 of Executive Order (EO) 13508
(``Chesapeake Bay Protection and Restoration'', published on May 12,
2009). This guidance will allow the federal government to lead the way
in protecting the Bay and its watershed with the most effective tools
and practices available to reduce water pollution from a variety of
nonpoint sources, including agricultural lands, urban and suburban
areas, forestry, riparian areas, septic systems, and hydromodification.
This guidance is the first product under the Chesapeake Bay Executive
Order to provide technical tools that will be needed to restore the
Bay. Section 501 of the Executive Order directs federal agencies with
ten or more acres within the Chesapeake Bay watershed to implement the
Section 502 guidance as expeditiously as practicable and to the extent
permitted by law.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Katie Flahive, USEPA, Office of Water,
Office of Wetlands, Oceans and Watersheds, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW.,
MC 4503T, Washington, DC; telephone number: (202) 566-1206; fax number:
(202) 566-1437; e-mail: Flahive.Katie@epa.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. General Information

    Executive Order 13508, Chesapeake Bay Protection and Restoration,
dated May 12, 2009 (74 FR 23099, May 15, 2009), directed EPA to prepare
and publish a guidance for federal land management in the Chesapeake
Bay watershed within one year. A draft of this guidance was released
for public comment on March 24, 2010 (75 FR 91294, March 24). This
final guidance incorporates revisions resulting from public comments,
consideration by the federal agencies, and peer review comments.

Why was this guidance prepared?

    The purpose of this guidance is to describe ``proven cost-effective
tools and practices that reduce water pollution'' that are appropriate
to restore and protect the Chesapeake Bay. Assuming that all necessary
point source reductions are achieved and other needed restoration
actions are taken, these tools and practices, when implemented broadly,
aim to enable the Chesapeake Bay to be restored. While the primary
audience for this document is Federal land managers, nonfederal land
managers, including states, local governments, conservation districts,
watershed organizations, developers, farmers and citizens may also find
this guidance to be helpful.
    In significant part, this guidance is being developed to offer
solutions for implementation to meet specific Chesapeake Bay goals.
EPA, in

[[Page 27553]]

conjunction with other agencies, is currently developing Bay-wide
pollutant reduction goals that will ultimately be used to establish
total maximum daily loads (TMDL) under Section 303(d) of the Clean
Water Act for the Chesapeake Bay watershed. The TMDL will be followed
by the development of watershed implementation plans in 92 Bay sub-
watersheds that will have had load and wasteload allocations assigned
based on the TMDL and the Chesapeake Bay model. While the Section 502
guidance is required to be published before the TMDL is finalized, we
expect that the TMDL and sub-watershed allocations will clarify that
the nonpoint sources in the Chesapeake Bay watershed will need to be
controlled, and be controlled well, in order to restore the Bay. This
guidance should help land managers identify and select practices that
should provide the needed level of control.
    This guidance has chapters addressing the following categories of
activity (excluding sources regulated as point sources): Agriculture;
Urban and Suburban areas, including Turf; Decentralized Wastewater
Treatment Systems; Forestry; Riparian Areas; and Hydromodification.
Each chapter contains implementation measures that provide the
framework for the chapter. These are intended to convey the essential
actions that will need to be implemented in order to assure that the
broad goals of the Chesapeake Bay Executive Order can be achieved. Each
chapter also includes information on practices that can be used to
achieve the goals; information on the effectiveness and costs of the
practices; where relevant, cost savings or other economic/societal
benefits (in addition to the pollutant reduction benefits) that derive
from the implementation goals and/or practices; and copious references
to other documents that provide additional information.
    EPA emphasizes that this is not a regulatory document. At the same
time it is important to realize that Section 501 of the Executive Order
directs federal agencies with ten or more acres within the Chesapeake
Bay watershed to implement the Section 502 guidance as expeditiously as
practicable and to the extent permitted by law. While this guidance may
at times refer to existing statutory and regulatory provisions that
contain legally binding requirements, this document does not substitute
for those provisions or regulations, nor is it a regulation itself.
Thus, it does not impose legally binding requirements on EPA, states,
or the public and might not apply to a particular situation according
to the circumstances. EPA and state decision makers retain the
discretion to adopt approaches to control nonpoint source pollution
that differ from this guidance where appropriate, and EPA may change
this guidance in the future.

How can I get copies of this document and other related information?

    EPA Web site: EPA published the guidance on May 12, 2010, on our
Web site at http://www.epa.gov/nps/chesbay502. On this Web site, the
guidance can be downloaded in full or by chapter. Also available on
this Web site are a summary of the suite of implementation measures
described and a response to public and peer review comments.
    Docket: EPA has established a docket for this action under Docket
ID No. EPA-HQ-OW-2009-0761. The final EO 13508 Section 502 guidance
document is available in the docket at http://www.regulations.gov.
Assistance and tips for accessing the docket can be found at http://executiveorder.chesapeakebay.net. For additional information about the
public docket, visit the EPA Docket Center homepage at http://www.epa.gov/epahome/dockets.htm. Publicly available docket materials
are available electronically either through http://www.regulations.gov
or in hard copy at the EPA Docket Center (EPA/DC), EPA West, Room 3334,
1301 Constitution Ave., NW., Washington, DC. The telephone number for
this docket is 202-566-2426. 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. Certain material, such as copyrighted materials, will
be publicly available only in hard copy at the Docket Center.

    Dated: May 11, 2010.
Peter S. Silva,
Assistant Administrator.
[FR Doc. 2010-11693 Filed 5-14-10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P
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