VGP and sVGP - CZMA Review Extension For Maine 

John Nagle to: Burrowes, Todd 

Cc· Juhi Saxena, Robin Danesi, Ryan Albert, Caitlin Gregg, Thelma 

· Murphy 

History: This message has been forwarded. 

John Nagle VGP and sVGP- CZMA Review Extension For Maine 

07/16/2012 03:13PM 

Burrowes, Todd John: Thanks for the prompt and timely response to our request and~ 

L_ 

Todd: 

This e-mail responds to your phone call and e-mail of July 13,2012, 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 ~ 20 11. In that letter, EPA explained that 

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

EPA provided 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. Subsequent to that action, EPA extended 

the 401 certification deadline to October 1, 2012, for all States/Tribes to certify the draft permits. 

You have previously 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 ofyour CZMA consistency review until October 15, 2012, 

because Maine DEP now has until October 1, 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 401 certification process in Maine, the CZMA consistency review extension 

is provided until October 15, 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 October 15. 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) 

(617) 918-1505 (fax) 

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

From: 

To: 

Date: 

Subject: 

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

John Nagle/R1/USEPAJUS@EPA 

07/13/2012 04:51 PM 

CZMA review; VGP/sVGP 

Hi, John: I'm following up on our recent conversation and related voice mail I left for you this afternoon. I 

am writing to confirm our request for an extension of the CZMA review period regarding EPA's 

VGP/sVGP. You recently explained that EPA has set a deadline of October 1, 2012 for states to respond 

to EPA water quality certification and you were speaking with EPA headquarters about a comparable 

extension re: CZMA consistency review. Maine DEP staff has indicated it is working to finalize its 401 

order, which would provide the basis for the State's response to EPA's consistency determination. 

Therefore, we are requesting an extension of the CZMA review period until August 17, 2012. Please 

confirm EPA's agreement with the proposed extension at your earliest convenience. 

Thanks for your consideration. 

-Todd