2404 Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 11 / Friday, January 16, 2015 / Notices 

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Dated: January 12, 2015. 

Michael K. Yudin, 

Acting Assistant Secretary for Special 

Education and Rehabilitative Services. 

[FR Doc. 2015–00605 Filed 1–15–15; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4000–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY 

Engineered High Energy Crop 

Programs Draft Programmatic 

Environmental Impact Statement, 

Southeastern United States 

AGENCY: Department of Energy. 

ACTION: Notice of availability and public 

hearings. 

SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of 

Energy (DOE) Advanced Research 

Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA–E) 

announces the availability of the 

Engineered High Energy Crop (EHEC) 

Programs Draft Programmatic 

Environmental Impact Statement (or 

Draft PEIS) (DOE/EIS–0481). DOE also 

announces one in-person public hearing 

to be held in Washington, DC, and two 

Web-based public hearings, to receive 

comments on the Draft PEIS. The Draft 

PEIS evaluates the potential 

environmental impacts associated with 

DOE’s Proposed Action to implement 

one or more programs to catalyze the 

development and demonstration of 

crops specifically engineered for 

increased energy production. A main 

component of the proposed programs 

would be providing financial assistance 

to conduct field trials to test the 

effectiveness of EHECs in the 

Southeastern United States, specifically 

in Alabama, Florida (excluding the 

Everglades/Southern Florida coastal 

plain ecoregion), Georgia, Kentucky, 

Mississippi, North Carolina, South 

Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. 

DATES: Comments on the Draft PEIS 

Notice of Availability (NOA) will be 

accepted until March 17, 2015. During 

the public comment period, DOE will 

host one in-person public hearing and 

two Web-based public hearings to 

receive comments on the Draft PEIS. 

Comments submitted during this public 

comment period will be considered in 

preparation of a Final PEIS and used by 

DOE in its decision-making process for 

the Proposed Action. DOE will consider 

late comments to the extent practicable. 

DOE will conduct public hearings: 

• February 17, 2015, from 5:00–7:00 

p.m., at the Holiday Inn Washington 

Capitol, 550 C Street Southwest, 

Washington, DC 20024. 

• February 24, 2015, from 2:00–4:00 

p.m., Web-based. 

• February 26, 2015, from 2:00–4:00 

p.m., Web-based. 

Information on how to register for the 

Web-based public hearings will be 

available on the DOE EHEC PEIS project 

Web site (See ADDRESSES section). 

ADDRESSES: Written comments on the 

Draft PEIS may be submitted by any of 

the following methods: 

• EHEC Web site: http://

engineeredhighenergycropsPEIS.com 

• Email: comments@

engineeredhighenergycropsPEIS.com 

• Mail: Dr. Jonathan Burbaum, 

Program Director, ARPA–E, U.S. 

Department of Energy, ATTN: EHEC 

PEIS, 1000 Independence Avenue SW., 

Mailstop-950–8043, Washington, DC 

20585. Note: Comments submitted by 

U.S. Postal Service may be delayed by 

mail screening. 

This NOA, the EPA NOA, and the 

Draft PEIS will be posted on the DOE 

NEPA Web site at http://energy.gov/

nepa. These documents, and additional 

materials relating to this Draft PEIS, will 

also be available on the EHEC PEIS 

project Web site at: http://

engineeredhighenergycropsPEIS.com. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For 

more information on the PEIS, contact 

Dr. Jonathan Burbaum, Program 

Director, by one of the methods 

described in the ADDRESSES section, or 

by telephone at (202) 287–5453. For 

general information on the DOE NEPA 

process, contact Carol Borgstrom, 

Director, Office of NEPA Policy and 

Compliance (GC–54), U.S. Department 

of Energy, 1000 Independence Avenue 

SW., Washington, DC 20585, or 

telephone at (202) 586–4600, voicemail 

at (800) 472–2756, or email at 

askNEPA@hq.doe.gov. Persons with 

disabilities who require alternative 

means for communication (Braille, large 

print, audio tape, etc.) should contact 

(800) 877–8339. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The EHEC 

PEIS (DOE/EIS–0481) is being prepared 

in accordance with NEPA (42 U.S.C. 

4321 et seq.) requirements, the Council 

on Environmental Quality’s NEPA 

regulations (40 CFR parts 1500–1508), 

and DOE’s NEPA Implementing 

Procedures (10 CFR part 1021). 

The Draft PEIS evaluates the potential 

environmental impacts of the Proposed 

Action and alternatives to develop and 

implement one or more programs to 

catalyze the research, development, and 

demonstration of EHECs in the 

Southeastern United States. EHECs are 

agriculturally-viable photosynthetic 

species containing genetic material that 

has been intentionally introduced 

through biotechnology, interspecific 

hybridization, or other engineering 

processes (excluding processes that 

occur in nature without human 

intervention), specifically engineered to 

increase the amount of energy produced 

per acre (e.g., improving the 

photosynthetic process), without 

increasing the amount of biomass. These 

approaches are referred to in this PEIS 

as approaches ‘‘independent of 

increasing the amount of biomass.’’ A 

main component of the proposed EHEC 

Programs would be DOE or other 

Federal or state agencies providing 

financial assistance for confined field 

trials to evaluate the performance of 

EHECs that could facilitate the 

commercial development and 

deployment of biofuels. The field trials 

would demonstrate the EHEC’s 

biological and economic viability and 

further DOE ARPA–E’s mission. 

Confined field trials may range in size 

and could include development scale 

(up to 5 acres), pilot scale (up to 250 

acres), or demonstration scale (up to 

15,000 acres). The Draft PEIS evaluates 

the potential environmental impacts of 

these scaled alternatives, which reflect 

the range of reasonable alternatives. 

Signed in Washington, DC, this 12th day of 

January, 2015. 

Jonathan Burbaum, 

Program Director, Advanced Research 

Projects Agency-Energy. 

[FR Doc. 2015–00601 Filed 1–15–15; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6450–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY 

Office of Energy Efficiency and 

Renewable Energy 

Agency Information Collection 

Extension 

AGENCY: Office of Energy Efficiency and 

Renewable, Energy Department of 

Energy. 

ACTION: Notice and Request for OMB 

Review and Comment. 

SUMMARY: The Department of Energy 

(DOE) has submitted to the Office of 

Management and Budget (OMB) for 

clearance, pursuant to the Paperwork 

Reduction Act of 1995, a three-year 


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