Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 209 / Monday, October 29, 2012 / Notices 65547 

The Commission strongly encourages 

electronic filings of comments, protests 

and interventions in lieu of paper using 

the ‘‘eFiling’’ link at http:// 

www.ferc.gov. Persons unable to file 

electronically should submit an original 

and 7 copies of the protest or 

intervention to the Federal Energy 

Regulatory Commission, 888 First Street 

NE., Washington, DC 20426. This filing 

is accessible on-line at http:// 

www.ferc.gov, using the ‘‘eLibrary’’ link 

and is available for review in the 

Commission’s Public Reference Room in 

Washington, DC. There is an 

‘‘eSubscription’’ link on the Web site 

that enables subscribers to receive email 

notification when a document is added 

to a subscribed docket(s). For assistance 

with any FERC Online service, please 

email FERCOnlineSupport@ferc.gov, or 

call (866) 208–3676 (toll free). For TTY, 

call (202) 502–8659. 

Comment Date: November 8, 2012. 

Dated: October 18, 2012. 

Kimberly D. Bose, 

Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 2012–26438 Filed 10–26–12; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6717–01–P 

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 

AGENCY 

[FRL–9747–6] 

Farm, Ranch, and Rural Communities 

Committee 

AGENCY: Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA). 

ACTION: Notice of cancellation of 

teleconference. 

SUMMARY: EPA announced in the 

Federal Register on October 3, 2012 

[FRL–9737–3] a Farm, Ranch, and Rural 

Communities Committee (FRRCC) 

Teleconference to be held on October 

22, 2012. Under the Federal Advisory 

Committee Act, Public Law 92463, EPA 

gives notice of cancellation of that 

public meeting for the Farm, Ranch, and 

Rural Communities Committee 

(FRRCC). The FRRCC provides policy 

advice, information, and 

recommendations to the EPA 

Administrator on a range of 

environmental issues and policies that 

are of importance to agriculture and 

rural communities. The purpose of this 

teleconference was to discuss specific 

topics of relevance for consideration by 

the Committee in order to provide 

advice and insights to the Agency on 

environmental policies and programs 

that affect and engage agriculture and 

rural communities. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Alicia Kaiser, Designated Federal 

Officer, kaiser.alicia@epa.gov, 202–564– 

7273, U.S. EPA, Office of the 

Administrator (1101A), 1200 

Pennsylvania Avenue NW., Washington, 

DC 20460. 

Dated: October 17, 2012. 

Alicia Kaiser, 

Designated Federal Officer. 

[FR Doc. 2012–26527 Filed 10–26–12; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6560–50–P 

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 

AGENCY 

[FRL–9747–5] 

Reissuance of the NPDES General 

Permits for Oil and Gas Exploration 

Facilities on the Outer Continental 

Shelf and Contiguous State Waters in 

the Beaufort Sea and on the Outer 

Continental Shelf in the Chukchi Sea, 

AK 

AGENCY: Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA). 

ACTION: Notice of availability of final 

NPDES general permits. 

SUMMARY: The Director, Office of Water 

and Watersheds, EPA Region 10, is 

publishing this notice of availability of 

the final National Pollutant Discharge 

Elimination System (NPDES) General 

Permits for Oil and Gas Exploration 

Facilities on the Outer Continental Shelf 

and Contiguous State Waters in the 

Beaufort Sea (Permit No. AKG282100) 

and on the Outer Continental Shelf in 

the Chukchi Sea (Permit No. 

AKG288100). The Beaufort and Chukchi 

general permits authorize thirteen types 

of discharges from facilities engaged in 

field exploration and exploratory 

drilling activities under the Offshore 

Subcategory of the Oil and Gas 

Extraction Point Source Category (40 

CFR part 425, Subpart A), as authorized 

by Section 402 of the Clean Water Act 

(CWA or ‘‘the Act’’), 33 U.S.C. 1342. 

The Beaufort and Chukchi general 

permits contain effluent limitations and 

requirements that ensure the discharges 

will not cause unreasonable degradation 

of the marine environment, as required 

by Section 403(c) of the Clean Water Act 

(i.e. the Ocean Discharge Criteria), 33 

U.S.C. 1343(c). 

DATES: The issuance date of the Beaufort 

and Chukchi NPDES general permits is 

October 29, 2012, the date of 

publication of this notice. The Beaufort 

and Chukchi general permits shall 

become effective on November 28, 2012. 

Operators must submit a new Notice of 

Intent (NOI) to discharge within 120 

days prior to initiation of discharges. 

Operators that have administratively 

extended coverage under the previous 

general permit must submit new NOIs 

that comply with the submission 

requirements of the Beaufort and 

Chukchi general permits. 

ADDRESSES: Copies of the Beaufort and 

Chukchi general permits, the Response 

to Comments document, and the Ocean 

Discharge Criteria Evaluations may be 

found on the Region 10 Web site at: 

http://yosemite.epa.gov/r10/water.nsf/ 

npdes+public+notices/arctic-gp-pn2012. Copies of the documents are 

available upon request. Written requests 

for copies of the documents may be 

submitted to EPA, Region 10, 1200 Sixth 

Avenue, Suite 900, OWW–130, Seattle, 

WA 98101. Electronic requests may be 

sent to: washington.audrey@epa.gov. 

Requests by telephone may be made to 

Audrey Washington at (206) 553–0523. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Erin 

Seyfried at (206) 553–1448, 

seyfried.erin@epa.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On June 

26, 2011, the previous NPDES general 

permit, the Arctic general permit, No. 

AKG280000, expired. EPA is replacing 

the Arctic general permit with two 

general permits, the Beaufort and 

Chukchi general permits, renumbered as 

AKG282100 and AKG288100, 

respectively. EPA solicited public 

comments on the draft Beaufort and 

Chukchi general permits in the Federal 

Register on January 31, 2012. Notices of 

the draft general permits were also 

published in the Anchorage Daily News, 

the Arctic Sounder, and Petroleum 

News on January 30, 2012. Public 

meetings and hearings were held in 

communities on the North Slope and in 

Anchorage the week of March 12–16, 

2012. The comment period closed on 

March 30, 2012. Changes have been 

made to the general permits in response 

to comments received from tribal, state, 

and local governments, the Alaska 

Eskimo Whaling Commission, 

environmental advocacy groups, 

industry representatives, trade 

organizations, and individual citizens. 

All comments, along with EPA’s 

responses, are summarized in the 

Response to Comments document. 

State Certification of Beaufort General 

Permit. Pursuant to Section 401 of the 

Clean Water Act, 33 U.S.C. 1341, on 

October 9, 2012, the State of Alaska 

Department of Environmental 

Conservation (DEC) certified that the 

conditions of the Beaufort general 

permit comply with State Water Quality 

Standards (Alaska Administrative Code 

18 AAC 15, 18 AAC 70, and 18 AAC 


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