Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 76 / Thursday, April 19, 2012 / Notices 23481 

THE PROPOSED NO DISCHARGE AREA FOR MOUNT HOPE BAY

Waterbody/general area Latitude Longitude 

The northern edge of the NDA boundary on the Taunton River is the Center Street/Elm Street bridge at: 41°50′5.90′′ N 71°6′29.34′′ W 

The northern edge of the NDA boundary on the Lees River is the Route 6 bridge at: 41°44′24.87′′ N 71°11′12.72′′ W 

The northern edge of the NDA boundary on the Cole River is the Route 6 Bridge at: 41°44′47.03′′ N 71°12′7.81′′ W 

The southwestern edge of the NDA boundary is the Rhode Island/Massachusetts border at Swansea at: 41°42′43.94′′ N 71°13′34.27′′ W 

The southeastern edge of the NDA boundary is the Rhode Island/Massachusetts border at Fall River at: 41°40′30.28′′ N 71°11′43.86′′ W 

The Mount Hope Bay NDA will encompass the tidal waters of Dighton, Berkley, Freetown, Somerset, Swansea, and Fall River to the mean 

high tide line. 

There are marinas, yacht clubs and 

public landings/piers in the proposed 

area with a combination of mooring 

fields and dock space for the 

recreational and commercial vessels. 

Mount Hope Bay is a shared waterbody 

between Massachusetts and Rhode 

Island and in 1998 Rhode Island 

designated all its state waters as no 

discharge, including its portion of 

Mount Hope Bay. Massachusetts has 

certified that there are three pumpout 

facilities, within the proposed state 

waters, available to the boating public. 

A list of the facilities, locations, contact 

information, hours of operation, and 

water depth is provided at the end of 

this petition. 

Massachusetts has provided 

documentation indicating that the total 

vessel population is estimated to be 585 

in the proposed area. It is estimated that 

523 of the total vessel population may 

have a Marine Sanitation Device (MSD) 

of some type. The total number of MSDs 

certified by the Commonwealth of 

Massachusetts is an overestimate, 

conservatively, giving the boating public 

a 1:175 ratio of pumpouts to boats, 

which is much less than the ratio 

suggested by EPA Region 1 guidelines 

(300–600 vessels for every one facility.) 

PUMPOUT FACILITIES WITHIN PROPOSED NO DISCHARGE AREA

Name Town Contact information Hours of operation Depth 

(Ft) 

Fall River Harbormaster Boat .................................. Fall River ..................... 774–644–3609, VHF 16 .... On Call ........................... N/A 

Somerset Harbormaster Boat .................................. Somerset ..................... 774–319–3126, VHF 9, 16 8:30 a.m.–8:30 p.m. ....... N/A 

Somerset Land-based Pumpout Station at Town 

Boat Ramp.

Somerset ..................... N/A Self Serve .................. 8 a.m.–5 p.m. Weekdays; 8 a.m.–6 p.m. 

Weekends.

3.5 

Dated: April 6, 2012. 

H. Curtis Spalding, 

Regional Administrator, New England Region. 

[FR Doc. 2012–9448 Filed 4–18–12; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6560–50–P 

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 

AGENCY 

[EPA–R01–OEP–12–006; FRL–9662–6] 

State Program Requirements; 

Approval of Maine’s Base National 

Pollutant Discharge Elimination 

System (NPDES) Permitting Program 

AGENCY: Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA). 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: Since January 2001, the State 

of Maine has been authorized to 

administer the National Pollutant 

Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) 

program in the Indian territories of the 

Penobscot Nation and the 

Passamaquoddy Tribe, with the 

exception of authorization to issue 

permits to two tribally owned and 

operated wastewater treatment works. 

On August 8, 2007, the U.S. Court of 

Appeals for the First Circuit vacated 

EPA’s October 31, 2003 decision to 

withhold authority to administer the 

program under the Clean Water Act 

with respect to the two tribally owned 

and operated treatment works. EPA is 

responding to the court’s order by 

approving Maine’s NPDES program to 

include the permitting of all discharges 

within the Indian territories of the 

Penobscot Nation and the 

Passamaquoddy Tribe. 

DATES: March 26, 2012. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Questions or requests for additional 

information may be submitted to: 

• Mail: Glenda Ve ́lez, USEPA–Region 

1, 5 Post Office Square—OEP06–01, 

Boston, MA 02109–3912. 

• Telephone: (617) 918–1677. 

• Email: velez.glenda@epa.gov. 

• No facsimiles (faxes) will be 

accepted. 

Copies of documents Maine has 

submitted in support of its program 

approval may be reviewed during 

regular business hours, Monday through 

Friday, excluding holidays at the 

address above. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

2001 Approval of the Program Outside 

Indian Territories 

On December 17, 1999, EPA 

determined that the State of Maine had 

submitted a complete application to 

administer the NPDES permitting 

program in the state under the Clean 

Water Act (CWA). 33 U.S.C. 1251, et 

seq., see 64 FR 73552 (Dec. 30, 1999). 

Maine’s application included an 

assertion of authority to implement the 

program in the territories of the 

federally-recognized Indian tribes 

within the state, based on the 

jurisdictional provisions of the Maine 

Indian Claims Settlement Act (MICSA), 

which ratified the Maine Implementing 

Act (MIA). 25 U.S.C. 1721, et seq. and 

30 M.R.S.A. section 6201, et seq., 

respectively. 

On January 12, 2001, EPA approved 

the State of Maine’s application to 

administer the NPDES program for all 

areas of the state other than Indian 

country. At that point EPA did not take 

any action on Maine’s application to 

administer the program within the 

territories of the federally-recognized 

Indian tribes in Maine. EPA published 

notice of its action on February 28, 

2001. 66 FR 12791. As described in the 

Federal Register, EPA approved the 

state’s application to administer both 

the NPDES permit program covering 

point source dischargers and the 

pretreatment program covering 

industrial dischargers into publicly 

mstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES

23482 Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 76 / Thursday, April 19, 2012 / Notices 

owned treatment works (POTWs). EPA 

did not authorize the state to regulate 

cooling water intake structures under 

CWA section 316(b) (33 U.S.C. 1326(b)). 

66 FR 12792. 

2003 Partial Approval of the Program 

in Indian Territories 

On October 31, 2003, EPA approved 

the State of Maine’s application to 

administer the NPDES program in the 

Indian territories of the Penobscot 

Indian Nation and the Passamaquoddy 

Tribe, with the exception of any 

discharges that qualified as ‘‘internal 

tribal matters’’ under MICSA and MIA. 

68 FR 65052 (Nov. 18, 2003). This 

action generally authorized the state to 

administer the NPDES program in the 

territories of the two largest Indian 

tribes in the state, finding that the 

combination of MICSA and MIA created 

a unique jurisdictional arrangement that 

granted the state authority to issue 

permits to dischargers. EPA did not 

approve the state’s program to regulate 

two small tribally-owned and operated 

POTWs. EPA determined that these 

POTWs qualified as internal tribal 

matters and, therefore, fell within an 

enumerated exception to the grant of 

jurisdiction to the state in MICSA and 

MIA. EPA did not take action on the 

state’s application as it applied to the 

territories of the two smaller federallyrecognized tribes in the state, the 

Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians and 

the Aroostook Band of Micmac Indians. 

These two tribes are subject to 

jurisdictional provisions separate from 

those that apply to the Penobscot and 

Passamaquoddy tribes. EPA’s 2003 

action addressed all the Indian 

territories that included existing point 

source dischargers covered by the 

NPDES program. 

Appeal and Decision in Maine v. 

Johnson 

Several parties petitioned for judicial 

review of EPA’s 2003 decision partially 

approving Maine’s NPDES program in 

the Penobscot and Passamaquoddy 

Indian territories. The Penobscot Nation 

and Passamaquoddy Tribe challenged 

EPA’s decision to generally approve the 

state to administer the program in their 

territories. The State of Maine and a 

coalition of public and private NPDES 

permit holders challenged EPA’s 

decision to disapprove the state’s 

program as to the two small tribal 

POTWs based on the finding that 

permitting those discharges qualified as 

an internal tribal matter. 

On August 8, 2007, the U.S. Court of 

Appeals for the First Circuit issued its 

opinion in Maine v. Johnson. 498 F.3d 

37. The court held that EPA had 

correctly determined that MICSA and 

MIA granted the state sufficient 

authority to administer the NPDES 

permit program in the territories of 

these two tribes. The court disagreed 

with EPA’s finding, however, that 

permitting the two small tribal POTWs 

qualified as an internal tribal matter. It 

found that ‘‘[d]ischarging pollutants into 

navigable waters is not of the same 

character as tribal elections, tribal 

membership or other exemplars [of 

internal tribal matters] that relate to the 

structure of Indian government or the 

distribution of tribal property.’’ Id. at 46. 

The court affirmed EPA’s approval of 

Maine’s NPDES program, but vacated 

EPA’s decision to withhold program 

approval with respect to issuing NDPES 

permits to the two tribal POTWs and 

remanded the matter back to EPA to 

amend the program approval consistent 

with its opinion. Id. at 48–49. The 

court’s mandate was issued on October 

2, 2007. 

Program Approval To Address the 

Court’s Remand 

EPA proposed to implement the 

court’s order by modifying its approval 

of Maine’s NPDES program to authorize 

the State to issue NPDES permits for all 

discharges within the Indian territories 

of the Penobscot Nation and 

Passamaquoddy Tribe. 76 FR 29747 

(May 23, 2011). Additionally, the notice 

stated that EPA does not plan to 

undertake a case-by-case analysis of any 

new discharges to determine whether 

they qualify as internal tribal matters 

under MICSA and MIA. EPA received 

no public comments on the record in 

response to the May 23, 2011 proposal. 

As a result, the state will assume 

responsibility from EPA for issuing and 

administering the permits for the 

Penobscot Nation Indian Island 

treatment works (EPA NPDES Permit 

No. ME 0101311 and MEPDES License 

No. 2672) and the Passamaquoddy 

Tribal Council treatment works (EPA 

NPDES Permit No. 1011773 and 

MEPDES License No. 2561). Neither 

tribe has applied to EPA to implement 

the NPDES permit program, so this 

action does not address the question of 

either tribe’s authority to implement the 

program. 

The finalization of this action does 

not modify the types of activities 

covered by Maine’s base program as 

EPA approved it in 2001. Thus, the 

state’s program does not include 

regulation of cooling water intake 

structures under CWA section 316(b). 

Nor is EPA taking action on Maine’s 

application to implement the NPDES 

permit program in the territories of the 

Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians and 

the Aroostook Band of Micmac Indians. 

Authority: This action is taken under the 

authority of Section 402 of the Clean Water 

Act as amended, 42 U.S.C. 1342. 

Dated: March 28, 2012. 

H. Curtis Spalding, 

Regional Administrator, Region 1. 

[FR Doc. 2012–9450 Filed 4–18–12; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6560–50–P 

FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION 

Sunshine Act Meeting 

AGENCY: Federal Election Commission. 

DATE AND TIME: Tuesday, April 24, 2012 

at 10 a.m. 

PLACE: 999 E Street NW., Washington, 

DC. 

STATUS: This meeting will be closed to 

the public. 

ITEMS TO BE DISCUSSED: 

Compliance matters pursuant to 

2 U.S.C. 437g. 

Audits conducted pursuant to 2 U.S.C. 

437g, 438(b), and Title 26, U.S.C. 

Matters concerning participation in civil 

actions or proceedings or arbitration. 

Internal personnel rules and procedures 

or matters affecting a particular 

employee. 

Investigatory records compiled for law 

enforcement purposes, or information 

which if written would be contained 

in such records. 

Information the premature disclosure of 

which would be likely to have a 

considerable adverse effect on the 

implementation of a proposed 

Commission action. 

* * * * * 

PERSON TO CONTACT FOR INFORMATION: 

Judith Ingram, Press Officer. Telephone: 

(202) 694–1220. 

Shawn Woodhead Werth, 

Secretary of the Commission. 

[FR Doc. 2012–9615 Filed 4–17–12; 4:15 pm] 

BILLING CODE 6715–01–P 

FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM 

Formations of, Acquisitions by, and 

Mergers of Bank Holding Companies 

The companies listed in this notice 

have applied to the Board for approval, 

pursuant to the Bank Holding Company 

Act of 1956 (12 U.S.C. 1841 et seq.) 

(BHC Act), Regulation Y (12 CFR part 

225), and all other applicable statutes 

and regulations to become a bank 

holding company and/or to acquire the 

assets or the ownership of, control of, or 

mstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES