60448 Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 216 / Friday, November 7, 1997 / Notices

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

AGENCY

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Office of the Secretary

[FRL–5919–6]

Clean Water Act; Vice President’s

Initiatives

AGENCY: Environmental Protection

Agency and Department of Agriculture.

ACTION: Notice of Vice President Gore’s

Clean Water Initiatives.

SUMMARY: On October 18, 1997, Vice

President Gore announced a set of Clean

Water Initiatives to celebrate the 25th

anniversary of the Clean Water Act. In

a memorandum to Heads of

Departments and Agencies, he asked the

Secretary of Agriculture (USDA) and the

Administrator of the Environmental

Protection Agency (EPA) to convene this

effort.

Despite many successes in cleaning

up our Nation’s waters, significant

challenges remain. For example,

harmful organisms in our waters and

polluted runoff continue to pose threats

to human health, fish and wildlife. To

help solve these problems, the Vice

President directed Federal agencies to

develop a comprehensive Action Plan

within 120 days to improve and

strengthen water pollution control

efforts across the county. He also

identified a number of specific

initiatives to achieve these major goals:

enhanced protection of public health;

more effective control of polluted

runoff; and increased community

participation in local watershed

management. Agencies will also

emphasize high levels of public

participation and access to information,

innovative solutions, and cooperative

relationships with private parties and

landowners.

USDA, EPA and other Federal

agencies have begun work on the Action

Plan. Since public involvement is an

important part of this effort, the

agencies are planning a series of

constituent meetings to discuss the

Action Plan. An Internet website is

being created to provide the public with

information about this effort.

Groups or individuals may submit

comments on actions that agencies

should undertake in response to the

Vice President’s memorandum and are

encouraged to specifically identify their

topical interests and suggest ways to

involve the public in development of

the Action Plan. In addition to public

involvement in the Action Plan, each

element of the Plan will have

substantial, and in some cases formal,

opportunities for public involvement in

the specific agency actions. The Plan

will not determine the outcome of

regulations, but will identify the overall

goals of agency actions and the vision of

how they fit together.

DATES: Written submissions should be

addressed to one of the persons listed

directly below on or before December 8,

1997.

ADDRESSES: Comments should be sent to

Denise Coleman, Room 6032S, PO Box

2890, U.S. Department of Agriculture,

Washington, D.C. 20013 or Robert Goo,

Assessment and Watershed Protection

Division (4503F), U.S. Environmental

Protection Agency, 401 M Street SW.,

Washington, D.C. 20460.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Denise Coleman, USDA; (202) 720–1845

or Robert Goo at (202) 260–7025.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The full

text of Vice President Gore’s Clean

Water Initiative, October 18, 1997,

Memorandum follows.

Dated: November 4, 1997.

Robert Perciasepe,

Assistant Administrator, Office of Water,

Environmental Protection Agency.

James R. Lyons,

Under Secretary, Natural Resources and

Environment, Department of Agriculture.

October 18, 1997.

Memorandum for Heads of Departments and

Agencies

From the Vice President

Subject: Clean Water Initiatives

The twenty-fifth anniversary of the Clean

Water Act presents an opportunity for all

Americans to celebrate the successes of the

Act to date, and to recognize the vital role of

clean water in protecting public health and

securing our economic future. In 25 years,

the Clean Water Act has stopped billions of

pounds of pollution from flowing into our

rivers, lakes, and streams, and doubled the

number of waterways that are safe for

swimming and fishing. Rivers once polluted

enough to catch fire, lakes once devoid of

life, and streams once used as open sewers

are now restored centerpieces of healthy

communities because of the Clean Water Act.

This is also an appropriate occasion to

recognize that, despite significant progress,

the challenge for all of us in protecting our

Nation’s waters remains unfinished. The

health of our people continues to be

threatened by exposure to harmful organisms

in our waters; consumption of fish from

many of our waters presents a threat to the

most vulnerable among us; polluted runoff

has for too long eluded control under

conventional regulatory approaches.

Communities need Federal help and

partnership to protect water quality on a

community-led, watershed basis, rather than

through piecemeal steps. It is incumbent on

all Federal agencies to respond to these

challenges in a manner that honors and

furthers the goals of the Clean Water Act.

Agencies must bring to these challenges a

new vision, one which ensures that the level

of effort is commensurate with the

importance of clean water to the health and

well-being of every community.

I am therefore requesting that the Secretary

of Agriculture and the Administrator of the

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in

consultation with all other affected agencies

develop a comprehensive Action Plan that

builds on the Administration’s clean water

successes over the past five years and

addresses three major goals: enhanced

protection from public health threats posed

by water pollution; more effective control of

polluted runoff; and promotion of water

quality protection on a watershed basis. This

Action Plan will be informed by the

following principles:

• Agencies will develop cooperative

approaches that promote coordination and

reduce duplication among Federal, State and

local agencies and Tribal governments

wherever possible.

• Agencies will ensure participation of

community groups and the public to the

maximum extent practicable. Such

participation will include community and

public access to information, to protect the

public’s right-to-know about water quality

issues.

• Agencies will emphasize innovative

approaches to pollution control, including,

where appropriate, incentives, market-based

mechanisms, and cooperative partnerships

with landowners and other private parties.

The Action Plan developed according to

these principles will encompass all

appropriate regulatory, incentive,

compliance, enforcement, and budgetary

steps, and will include, at a minimum, the

following elements:

Protecting Public Health

1. EPA and the Department of Commerce

(acting through the National Oceanic and

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)) will

identify steps to reduce the need for fish

consumption advisories, giving particular

attention to toxics that affect fetal and

childhood development. The Action Plan

will also identify steps to ensure protection

of children from exposure to harmful

organisms on our beaches and other

recreational waters.

2. EPA will identify the major sources of

nitrogen and phosphorous in our waters, and

identify actions to address these sources. In

particular, EPA will accelerate water quality

criteria for waters in every geographic region

in the country. Specifically, EPA will

establish a schedule so that EPA and the

states are implementing a criteria system for

nitrogen and phosphorous runoff for lakes,

rivers, and estuaries by the year 2000.

Preventing Polluted Runoff

3. EPA will expedite new standards for

targeted problems of polluted runoff.

Specifically, EPA will expedite its new

strategy from animal feeding operations that

produce polluted runoff, and include in that

strategy specific commitments to revise

outdated regulations. EPA will ensure that

final regulations for polluted runoff from

storm water are in place by March 1, 1999.
Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 216 / Friday, November 7, 1997 / Notices 60449

4. Prior to or as part of the Action Plan, the

Department of Agriculture (USDA) will

notify the states through the Federal Register

of the availability of the Conservation

Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP) and

shall provide further guidance to the states in

presenting proposals. USDA will work with

states to help them develop proposals leading

to as many agreements as practicable that

will address critical water quality, soil

erosion, and fish and wildlife habitat needs,

including habitat needed for threatened and

endangered species. USDA will work with

states to identify whether such agreements

could be used to protect important habitat for

fish in the Pacific Northwest, California, and

other areas where significant natural

resources may be affected by diminished

water quality. While this further guidance is

being developed, USDA will continue to

work expeditiously with states to complete

pending proposals by states to protect water

quality and habitat through CREP.

5. NOAA and EPA will have in place all

29 state Coastal Nonpoint Pollution Control

Programs by June 30, 1998, beginning with

the highest priority watersheds. NOAA and

EPA will work with States to ensure that

these programs are fully approved by

December 31, 1999.

6. NOAA and EPA will develop an actionoriented strategy to comprehensively address

coastal nonpoint source pollution. This

strategy will be based on the full array of

NOAA’s and EPA’s scientific, educational,

technical assistance, and management

programs. This strategy will be coordinated

with other Federal agencies and coastal states

and territories, and will consider the needs

of approved state Coastal Nonpoint Pollution

Control Programs.

7. The Action Plan will include a strategy

for ensuring that lands and facilities owned,

managed, or controlled by Federal agencies

are national models and laboratories for

effective watershed planning and control of

polluted runoff. The Action plan will include

a strategy to ensure that Federal actions,

programs, and activities do not contribute to

the sprawl or other forms of development

that may exacerbate the problem of polluted

runoff or other water quality problems.

8. The Action Plan will include a strategy

to achieve a net gain of as many as 100,000

acres of wetlands by the year 2005. USDA

and the Department of the Interior (DOI) will

ensure that they use common data and

reference points in determining whether

these goals have been met. Consistent with

USDA’s Buffer Initiative, the Action Plan will

achieve a goal of 2 million miles of buffer

strips protecting waters from agricultural

runoff by the year 2002.

Ensuring Community-Based Watershed

Management

9. The Action Plan will include a strategy

for enhancing partnerships with state and

local agencies, Tribal governments, and local

communities in protecting water quality on

a watershed basis.

10. USDA will develop a strategy for

ensuring that agricultural producers in 1000

critical rural watersheds have the technical

and financial assistance they need to abate

polluted runoff and to comply with

applicable standards, using programs and

authorities like the Environmental Quality

Incentives Program, the Conservation Reserve

Program, the Wetlands Reserve Program, and

others. This effort will be undertaken in a

manner consistent with USDA’s goals for

watershed and basin-level planning. This

effort also will give preference to states that

have mechanisms in place to ensure effective

cooperation among Federal, state, and local

agencies as well as with local landowners

and the public.

11. USDA, in consultation with DOI, will

develop a strategy to ensure proper

stewardship of federally managed

watersheds, and to restore watersheds

adversely affected by past management

practices. The strategy will address the need

to address runoff from abandoned mines, to

eliminate unnecessary roads, to improve road

maintenance, and to ensure coordinated

watershed management strategies regardless

of jurisdictional boundaries. Working with

local landowners, USDA will develop a

strategy for addressing nonpoint source

pollution in those watersheds that consist of

a mix of public private lands, to make more

effective use of resources to address highpriority restoration efforts in these

watersheds.

All elements of the Action Plan will

provide for appropriate input from state and

local agencies, Tribal governments, Members

of Congress, and the public. EPA and USDA

will consider, in developing the Plan, what

further steps are needed to establish a

national consensus on the elements of the

Plan.

The Action Plan will be submitted to me

within one-hundred twenty (120) days,

following review by the Council on

Environmental Quality and the Office of

Management and Budget (OMB). The

Administrator of EPA and the Secretary of

Agriculture, and all affected agencies, will

ensure that all elements of the Action Plan

are coordinated with OMB and consistent

with the President’s budget.

All independent regulatory agencies are

requested to assist in the implementation of

this memorandum.

[This memorandum is not intended to create

any right, benefit, or trust responsibility,

substantive or procedural, enforceable at law

or equity by a party against the United States,

its agencies or instrumentalities, or any other

person.]

This memorandum will be published in

the Federal Register.

[FR Doc. 97–29592 Filed 11–6–97; 8:45 am]

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