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[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 10 (Wednesday, January 17, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 1995-1996]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-518]

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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-8270-1;Docket ID No. ORD-2005-0001]

Draft of Part 1 of the 2007 Release of the Causal Analysis/
Diagnosis Decision Information System (CADDIS)

Agency: Environmental Protection Agency.

ACTION: Notice of External Review Draft for Public Review and Comment.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is announcing a 
30-day public review and comment period for the external review draft 
of Part 1 of the 2007 release of the EPA Web site titled, ``Causal 
Analysis/Diagnosis Decision Information System (CADDIS).'' The CADDIS 
Web site was developed and prepared by EPA's National Center for 
Environmental Assessment (NCEA) in the Office of Research and 
Development (ORD). NCEA will consider public comments received in 
accordance with this notice when revising the CADDIS Web site. Review 
of Part 2 of CADDIS 2007 will be announced in the Spring of 2007.
    EPA is releasing the draft CADDIS 2007 Web site solely for the 
purpose of pre-dissemination peer review under applicable information 
quality guidelines. The draft CADDIS 2007 Web site has not been 
formally disseminated by EPA. It does not represent and should not be 
construed to represent any Agency policy or determination. EPA will 
consider any public comments submitted in accordance with this notice 
when revising the document.

DATES: The 30-day public comment period begins January 17, 2007, and 
ends February 16, 2007. Technical comments should be in writing and 
must be submitted electronically or postmarked by February 16, 2007.

ADDRESSES: The draft CADDIS 2007 Web site can be accessed via the 
Internet at http://caddis.tetratech-ffx.com. Enter the username 
``public'' and the password ``public.'' Additional instructions for 
submitting comments are provided at the top of the home page of the 
CADDIS Web site. Comments may be submitted electronically to the EPA's 
e-docket, by mail, by facsimile, or by hand delivery/courier. Please 
follow the detailed instructions as provided in the section of this 
notice entitled SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For information on the public comment 
period, contact the Office of Environmental Information Docket; 
telephone: 202-566-1752; facsimile: 202-566-1753; or e-mail: 
[email protected]. For technical information, contact Vic Serveiss, 
NCEA, via phone 202-564-3251, facsimile: 202-564-2018, or e-mail: 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Information About the Project/Document

    Over a thousand water bodies in the United States are listed by 
states as biologically impaired. For many of these sites, the cause of 
impairment is reported as ``unknown.'' To formulate appropriate 
management actions for impaired water bodies, it is important to 
identify the causes of biological impairment (e.g., excess fine 
sediments, nutrients, or toxic substances). Effective causal analyses 
call for knowledge of the mechanisms, symptoms, and stressor-response 
relationships for various stressors, as well as the ability to use that 
knowledge to draw appropriate, defensible conclusions. To aid in these 
causal analyses, NCEA developed CADDIS. CADDIS is a Web-based decision 
support system that will help regional, state, and tribal scientists 
find, access, organize, and share information useful for causal 
evaluations of impairment in aquatic systems. It is based on EPA's 
Stressor Identification process, which is an EPA-recommended method for 
identifying causes of impairments in aquatic environments. EPA released 
the first version of CADDIS earlier in 2006, after addressing comments 
from the public and independently selected peer reviewers. Current 
features of CADDIS include a step-by-step guide to conducting causal 
analysis, downloadable worksheets and examples, a library of conceptual 
models, and links to useful information sources. Additional information 
is being added to the CADDIS Web site in preparation for release of a 
major revision in September 2007. The review announced here is the 
first of two sets of modules added to the CADDIS Web site. 
Specifically, comment is invited on information on six candidate 
causes: metals, sediments, nutrients, dissolved oxygen, thermal 
alteration, and ionic strength. Since its release, CADDIS has become a 
valuable resource for EPA, state, tribal, and local risk assessors. 
CADDIS 2007 will add more capabilities to this already important 
diagnostic tool.

II. How To Submit Technical Comments to the Docket at 
www.regulations.gov

    Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-ORD-2005-
0001 by one of the following methods:
    www.regulations.gov: Follow the on-line instructions for 
submitting comments.
     E-mail: [email protected] Fax: 202-566-1753
     Mail: Office of Environmental Information (OEI) Docket 
(Mail Code: 2822T), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 
Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460. The phone number is 202-
566-1752.
     Hand Delivery: The OEI Docket is located in the EPA 
Headquarters Docket Center, EPA West Building, Room 3334, 1301 
Constitution Ave., NW., Washington, DC. 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. Such deliveries are only accepted during 
the docket's normal hours of operation, and special arrangements should 
be made for deliveries of boxed information.
    If you provide comments by mail or hand delivery, please submit 
three copies of the comments. For attachments, provide an index, number 
pages consecutively with the comments, and submit an unbound original 
and three copies.
    Instructions: Direct your comments to Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-ORD-
2005-0001. Please ensure that your comments are submitted within the 
specified comment period. Comments received after the closing date will 
be marked ``late,'' and may only be considered if time permits. It is 
EPA's policy to include all comments it receives in the public docket 
without change and to make the comments available online at 
www.regulations.gov, including any personal information provided, 
unless a comment includes information claimed to be Confidential 
Business Information (CBI) or other information whose disclosure is 
restricted by statute. Do not submit information that you consider to 
be CBI or otherwise protected through www.regulations.gov or e-mail. 
The www.regulations.gov Web site is an ``anonymous access'' system,

[[Page 1996]]

which means EPA will not know your identity or contact information 
unless you provide it in the body of your comment. If you send an e-
mail comment directly to EPA without going through www.regulations.gov, 
your e-mail address will be automatically captured and included as part 
of the comment that is placed in the public docket and made available 
on the Internet. If you submit an electronic comment, EPA recommends 
that you include your name and other contact information in the body of 
your comment and with any disk or CD-ROM you submit. If EPA cannot read 
your comment due to technical difficulties and cannot contact you for 
clarification, EPA may not be able to consider your comment. Electronic 
files should avoid the use of special characters, any form of 
encryption, and be free of any defects or viruses. For additional 
information about EPA's public docket visit the EPA Docket Center 
homepage at http://www.epa.gov/epahome/dockets.htm.
    Docket: Documents in the docket are listed in the 
www.regulations.gov index. Although listed in the index, some 
information is not publicly available, e.g., CBI or other information 
whose disclosure is restricted by statute. Certain other materials, 
such as copyrighted material, are publicly available only in hard copy. 
Publicly available docket materials are available either electronically 
in www.regulations.gov or in hard copy at the OEI Docket in the EPA 
Headquarters Docket Center.

    Dated: January 11, 2007.
Peter W. Preuss,
Director, National Center for Environmental Assessment.
[FR Doc. E7-518 Filed 1-16-07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P
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