Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 31 / Wednesday, February 15, 2012 / Notices 8855 

environmental issues and policies that 

are of importance to agriculture and 

rural communities. It is determined that 

the FRRCC is in the public interest in 

connection with the performance of 

duties imposed on the Agency by law. 

Inquiries may be directed to Alicia 

Kaiser, U.S. EPA, (mail code 1101–A), 

1200 Pennsylvania Avenue NW., 

Washington, DC 20460, telephone (202) 

564–7273, or kaiser.alicia@epa.gov. 

Dated: February 7, 2012. 

Lawrence Elworth, 

Agricultural Counselor to the Administrator. 

[FR Doc. 2012–3537 Filed 2–14–12; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6560–50–P 

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 

AGENCY 

[FRL–9632–2] 

Final Reissuance of the NPDES 

General Permit for Facilities Related to 

Oil and Gas Extraction in the Territorial 

Seas of Texas 

AGENCY: Environmental Protection 

Agency. 

ACTION: Notice of Final NPDES General 

Permit. 

SUMMARY: The Director of the Water 

Quality Protection Division, EPA Region 

6 today announces issuance of the final 

National Pollutant Discharge 

Elimination System (NPDES) general 

permit for the Territorial Seas of Texas 

(No. TXG260000) for discharges from 

existing and new dischargers and New 

Sources in the Offshore Subcategory of 

the Oil and Gas Extraction Point Source 

Category as authorized by section 402 of 

the Clean Water Act, 33 U.S.C. 1342 

(CWA). The permit supersedes the 

previous general permit (TXG260000) 

which expired on November 4, 2010. 

This permit renewal authorizes 

discharges from exploration, 

development, and production facilities 

located in and discharging to the 

territorial seas off Texas. 

EPA proposed the draft permit in the 

Federal Register on October 24, 2011. 

EPA Region 6 has considered all 

comments received and makes one 

significant change to the proposed 

permit. A copy of the Region’s 

responses to comments and the final 

permit may be obtained from the EPA 

Region 6 Internet site: http:// 

www.epa.gov/region6/water/npdes/

genpermit/index.htm. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms. 

Diane Smith, Region 6, U.S. 

Environmental Protection Agency, 1445 

Ross Avenue, Dallas, Texas 75202–2733. 

Telephone: (214) 665–2145. 

DATES: This permit was issued and 

effective on February 8, 2012, and 

expires February 7, 2017. In accordance 

with 40 CFR part 23, this permit shall 

be considered issued for the purpose of 

judicial review on February 29, 2012. 

Under section 509(b) of the CWA, 

judicial review of this general permit 

can be held by filing a petition for 

review in the United States Court of 

Appeals within 120 days after the 

permit is considered issued for judicial 

review. Under section 509(b)(2) of the 

CWA, the requirements in this permit 

may not be challenged later in civil or 

criminal proceedings to enforce these 

requirements. In addition, this permit 

may not be challenged in other agency 

proceedings. Deadlines for submittal of 

notices of intent are provided in Part 

I.A.2 of the permit. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: EPA 

intends to use the reissued permit to 

regulate discharges from oil and gas 

extraction facilities located in the 

territorial seas off Texas under the 

CWA. To obtain discharge 

authorization, operators of such 

facilities must submit a new Notice of 

Intent (NOI). To determine whether 

your facility, company, business, 

organization, etc. is regulated by this 

action, you should carefully examine 

the applicability criteria in Part I, 

Section A.1 of the permit. If you have 

questions regarding the applicability of 

this action to a particular entity, consult 

the person listed in the FOR FURTHER

INFORMATION CONTACT section above. 

Other Legal Requirements 

Oil Spill Requirements. Section 311 of 

the CWA prohibits the discharge of oil 

and hazardous materials in harmful 

quantities. Discharges that are in 

compliance with NPDES permits under 

normal operational conditions are 

excluded from the provisions of section 

311. However, the permit does not 

preclude the institution of legal action 

or relieve permittees from any 

responsibilities, liabilities, or penalties 

for other, unauthorized discharges of oil 

and hazardous materials which are 

covered by section 311 of the CWA. 

This general permit does not authorize 

discharges beyond normal exploration, 

development, and production of oil and 

gas extraction activities. For instance, an 

oil spill caused by explosion, like the 

Deepwater Horizon event that extended 

from April 20, 2010 to September 19, 

2010, when oil flowed from a well in 

the outer continental shelf portion of the 

Gulf of Mexico, or any potential gas 

spill, is not authorized by this general 

permit. 

Endangered Species Act. EPA 

evaluated the potential effects of 

issuance of this permit upon listed 

threatened or endangered species. Based 

on that evaluation, EPA has determined 

that authorization of the discharges is 

not likely to adversely affect any listed 

threatened or endangered species. EPA 

initiated section 7 consultations in 

accordance with the Endangered 

Species Act with the U.S. Fish and 

Wildlife Service (FWS) and the National 

Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), and 

received the concurrence letter dated 

July 15, 2011, from FWS (Consultation 

No. 21410–2004–I–0051), and a letter 

dated January 3, 2012, from NMFS (Ref. 

No. I/SER/2011/00705). 

National Environmental Policy Act. 

EPA issued a final Environmental 

Impact Statement (EIS) which was 

published in the Federal Register at 69 

FR 15829 on March 26, 2004, to 

evaluate the potential environmental 

consequences of this Federal general 

permit action, pursuant to its 

responsibilities under the National 

Environmental Policy Act of 1969 

(NEPA). EPA responded to all issues 

raised on the Final EIS and issued a 

Record of Decision on January 11, 2005. 

EPA has prepared a Supplemental 

Information Report (SIR) dated 

September 2011 to the 2005 issued final 

EIS. The SIR is posted on the Internet 

at: http://www.epa.gov/region6/water/ 

npdes/genpermit/index.htm. 

Ocean Discharge Criteria Evaluation. 

For discharges into waters of the 

territorial sea, contiguous zone, or 

oceans, CWA section 403 requires EPA 

to consider guidelines for determining 

potential degradation of the marine 

environment in issuance of NPDES 

permits. These Ocean Discharge Criteria 

(40 CFR part 125, subpart M) are 

intended to ‘‘prevent unreasonable 

degradation of the marine environment 

and to authorize imposition of effluent 

limitations, including a prohibition of 

discharge, if necessary, to ensure this 

goal’’ (45 FR 65942, October 3, 1980). 

EPA prepared a report on ‘‘Ocean 

Discharge Criteria Evaluation for the 

NPDES General Permit for the 

Territorial Seas of the State of Texas’’ 

dated October 25, 2002, when EPA 

proposed the reissuance of the general 

permit in 2004, and concluded that 

reissuance of the Oil and Gas General 

Permit for the Territorial Seas of Texas 

would not result in unreasonable 

degradation of the marine environment. 

EPA has reevaluated the ten (10) criteria 

in the SIR mentioned above. 

Marine Protection, Research, and 

Sanctuaries Act. The Marine Protection, 

Research and Sanctuaries Act (MPRSA) 

of 1972 regulates the dumping of all 


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8856 Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 31 / Wednesday, February 15, 2012 / Notices 

types of materials into ocean waters and 

establishes a permit program for ocean 

dumping. In addition the MPRSA 

establishes the Marine Sanctuaries 

Program, implemented by the National 

Oceanographic and Atmospheric 

Administration (NOAA), which requires 

NOAA to designate ocean waters as 

marine sanctuaries for the purpose of 

preserving or restoring their 

conservation, recreational, ecological or 

aesthetic values. Pursuant to the Marine 

Protection and Sanctuaries Act, NOAA 

has not designated any marine 

sanctuaries within the area covered by 

the permit. The permit also prohibits 

discharges to marine sanctuary areas. 

Magnuson-Stevens Fishery 

Management and Conservation Act. 

EPA has determined that reissuance of 

this general permit is not likely to 

adversely affect Essential Fish Habitat 

established under the 1996 amendments 

to the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery 

Management and Conservation Act. In a 

letter dated June 17, 2011, National 

Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) 

concurred with the determination that 

issuance of the permit has no adverse 

effect to Essential Fish Habitat. 

Coastal Zone Management Act. EPA 

has determined that the activities which 

are authorized by this permit are 

consistent with the local and state 

Coastal Zone Management Plans. The 

State of Texas issued a letter of 

consistency on January 26, 2012. It 

should be noted that decisions to allow 

oil and gas exploration and production 

in the territorial seas are made by the 

State of Texas and not the EPA. 

State Certification. Under section 

401(a)(1) of the CWA. EPA may not 

issue an NPDES permit until the State 

in which the discharge will originate 

grants or waives certification to ensure 

compliance with appropriate 

requirements of the Act and State law. 

Section 301(b)(1)(C) of the CWA 

requires that NPDES permits contain 

conditions that ensure compliance with 

applicable state water quality standards 

or limitations. The permit contains 

limitations intended to ensure 

compliance with Texas Water Quality 

Standards and the corresponding 

implementation guidance. The Texas 

Railroad Commission issued the 401 

certification on January 26, 2012. 

Paperwork Reduction Act. The 

information collection required by this 

permit has been approved by the Office 

of Management and Budget (OMB) 

under the provisions of the Paperwork 

Reduction Act, 44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq., 

and assigned OMB control numbers 

2040–0086 (NPDES permit application) 

and 2040–0004 (discharge monitoring 

reports). 

This reissued permit requires 

reporting and application requirements 

for new facilities to comply with cooling 

water intake structure requirements and 

therefore it requires more reporting 

burdens for new facilities from those 

under the previous general permit. 

Since this permit is very similar in 

reporting and application requirements 

in discharges which are required to be 

monitored as the Western Gulf of 

Mexico Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) 

general permit (GMG290000) which also 

has cooling water intake structure 

requirements, the paperwork burdens 

are expected to be nearly identical. EPA 

estimated it would take an affected 

facility three hours to prepare the 

request for coverage and 3 hours per 

month to prepare discharge monitoring 

reports. It is estimated that the time 

required to prepare the request for 

coverage and discharge monitoring 

reports for this permit will be the same. 

A new facility may need more time to 

prepare information for cooling water 

intake structure requirements. This 

permit requires electronic reporting for 

discharge monitoring reports, and it will 

save some reporting time. 

However, the alternative to obtaining 

authorization to discharge under this 

general permit is to obtain an individual 

permit. The burden of obtaining 

authorization to discharge under the 

general permit is expected to be 

significantly less than the burden of 

obtaining an individual permit. 

Regulatory Flexibility Act. The 

Regulatory Flexibility Act, 5 U.S.C. 601 

et seq, requires that EPA prepare a 

regulatory flexibility analysis for 

regulations that have a significant 

impact on a substantial number of small 

entities. The permit renewal issued 

today is not a ‘‘rule’’ subject to the 

Regulatory Flexibility Act. EPA 

prepared a regulatory flexibility 

analysis, however, on the promulgation 

of the Offshore Subcategory guidelines 

on which many of the permit’s effluent 

limitations are based. That analysis has 

shown that issuance of this permit 

would not have a significant impact on 

a substantial number of small entities. 

Authority: Clean Water Act, 33 U.S.C. 

1251 et seq. 

Dated: February 8, 2012. 

William K. Honker, 

Acting Director, Water Quality Protection 

Division, EPA Region 6. 

[FR Doc. 2012–3584 Filed 2–14–12; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6560–50–P 

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 

AGENCY 

[EPA–HQ–OPP–2012–0040; FRL–9335–5] 

FIFRA Scientific Advisory Panel; 

Notice of Public Meeting 

AGENCY: Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA). 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: There will be a 4-day meeting 

of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, 

and Rodenticide Act Scientific Advisory 

Panel (FIFRA SAP) to consider and 

review scientific issues concerning 

chlorpyrifos health effects. 

DATES: The meeting will be held on 

April 10–13, 2012, from approximately 

9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. 

Comments. The Agency encourages 

that written comments be submitted by 

March 27, 2012, and requests for oral 

comments be submitted by April 3, 

2012. However, written comments and 

requests to make oral comments may be 

submitted until the date of the meeting, 

but anyone submitting written 

comments after March 27, 2012, should 

contact the Designated Federal Official 

(DFO) listed under FOR FURTHER

INFORMATION CONTACT. For additional 

instructions, see Unit I.C. of the 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION. 

Nominations. Nominations of 

candidates to serve as ad hoc members 

of FIFRA SAP for this meeting should 

be provided on or before February 29, 

2012. 

Webcast. This meeting may be 

webcast. Please refer to the FIFRA SAP’s 

Web site, http://www.epa.gov/scipoly/ 

sap for information on how to access the 

webcast. Please note that the webcast is 

a supplementary public process 

provided only for convenience. If 

difficulties arise resulting in webcasting 

outages, the meeting will continue as 

planned. 

Special accommodations. For 

information on access or services for 

individuals with disabilities, and to 

request accommodation of a disability, 

please contact the DFO listed under FOR

FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT at least 

10 days prior to the meeting to give EPA 

as much time as possible to process 

your request. 

ADDRESSES: The meeting will be held at 

the Environmental Protection Agency, 

Conference Center, Lobby Level, One 

Potomac Yard (South Bldg.), 2777 S. 

Crystal Dr., Arlington, VA 22202. 

Comments. Submit your comments, 

identified by docket identification (ID) 

number EPA–HQ–OPP–2012–0040, by 

one of the following methods: 


sroberts on DSK5SPTVN1PROD with NOTICES