60662 Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 198 / Thursday, October 12, 2000 / Notices

Agency Comments—Federal, state,

and local agencies are invited to file

comments on the described application.

A copy of the application may be

obtained by agencies directly from the

Applicant. If an agency does not file

comments within the time specified for

filing comments, it will be presumed to

have no comments. One copy of an

agency’s comments must also be sent to

the Applicant’s representatives.

Linwood A. Watson, Jr.,

Acting Secretary.

[FR Doc. 00–26122 Filed 10–11–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6717–01–M

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

AGENCY

[FRL–6884–5]

Announcement of an Analysis of

Oversight and Review of EPA

Information Products

AGENCY: Environmental Protection

Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice.

SUMMARY: This notice is to announce

EPA’s intent to perform an analysis of

oversight and review mechanisms for

EPA information products. Oversight

and review of EPA information products

is an aspect of accountability, which

EPA is considering as the Agency

develops its public access strategy. The

analysis will provide useful background

for EPA’s strategy. Specifically, the

analysis will focus on mechanisms to

address concerns if inaccurate or

misleading information products are

published by EPA. The analysis will

look at the scope and adequacy of

various oversight mechanisms.

EPA will provide detailed issue

papers prepared by independent experts

from the fields of law, economics and

public administration for each of the

following issues:

1. What current mechanisms exist to

address concerns about inaccurate or

misleading information products

published by the government? The

analysis will address judicial and nonjudicial mechanisms for review in both

pre-publication and post-publication

stages.

2. Generally, what types of additional

pre-publication or post-publication

mechanisms could be developed under

existing law to ensure there is

accountability for correcting errors?

3. Assuming the availability of

judicial review, what are the costs and

benefits (e.g., to the government, to

private parties, and to society in

general)?

4. When considering the feasibility of

new mechanisms to ensure

accountability for accurate and clear

information or data, what economic and

social costs and benefits should be

considered (e.g., likelihood for abuse,

timeliness of resolution, completeness

of information disclosure, effectiveness

for resolving issues)?

5. What are some pertinent case

histories that show the costs and

benefits for judicial and non-judicial

review options?

These issue papers are intended to be

neutral in tone; they will explain the

range of opinions on each issue without

advocating any specific position. EPA

anticipates that the issue papers will be

ready in January 2001. When they are

complete, EPA will announce their

availability in the Federal Register and

on the EPA Website, and will post the

full texts on the EPA Website. The

Agency will open a 30-day public

comment period on-line to solicit public

input. EPA is interested in obtaining

comments from a broad spectrum of its

stakeholders, but is particularly

interested in hearing from experts in the

legal and administrative aspects of

judicial and non-judicial review. The

Agency would prefer that commenters

use the EPA Website to send comments,

but will also accept written comments

by mail.

ADDRESSES: There will be a 30-day

public comment period, announced on

the EPA Website (www.epa.gov) and in

the Federal Register when the issue

papers are available. Written comments

can be sent by mail to Kevin Donovan,

Office of Environmental Information,

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency,

1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Mail

Code 2843, Washington, DC 20460.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For

more detailed information on specific

aspects of the issue papers, contact

Kevin Donovan (donovan.kevine@epa.gov) or Vipul Bhatt

(bhatt.vipul@epa.gov), Office of

Environmental Information, U.S.

Environmental Protection Agency, 1200

Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Mail Code

2843, Washington, DC 20460.

Dated: October 6, 2000.

Elaine Stanley,

Director, Office of Information and Analysis

and Access, Office of Environmental

Information.

[FR Doc. 00–26188 Filed 10–11–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6560–50–U

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

AGENCY

[FRL–6884–3]

Interagency Project To Clean Up Open

Dumps on Tribal Lands: Request for

Proposals

AGENCY: Environmental Protection

Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of availability.

SUMMARY: The national Tribal Solid

Waste Interagency Workgroup

(Workgroup) is soliciting proposals for

its Tribal Open Dump Cleanup Project

(Cleanup Project) for Fiscal Year (FY)

2001. In FY 2000 the Workgroup made

$2.4 million available to fund or

partially fund eleven proposed projects.

The Workgroup believes that a similar

dollar amount will be available to fund

projects in FY 2001. In selecting

Cleanup Project proposals, the

Workgroup plans to use a two-step

process. The first step is to submit a preproposal which generally outlines the

proposed project and provides a general

budget estimate. This will allow the

tribes that are considering submitting

full proposals to present their ideas to

the Workgroup and receive feedback

prior to submitting full proposals. It will

also allow the Workgroup agencies to

assess and plan for potential financial

and technical needs early in the process.

The second step of the proposal

submission process is to submit a full

proposal. Please note that tribes are

eligible to submit full proposals even if

they do not submit a pre-proposal.

The Cleanup Project is intended to

assist tribal communities with closing or

upgrading high threat waste disposal

sites and providing alternative disposal

options. In determining whether a site is

high threat, the Workgroup will

generally rely on the Indian Health

Service’s Report to Congress on open

dumps on Indian lands. The Workgroup

recognizes that an individual tribe may

have information on high threat sites

that are not included in the IHS Report.

To address such sites, the Request for

Proposals package includes criteria that

allow a tribe to demonstrate that a site

represents a serious threat to human

health and the environment and should

be considered high threat.

The Tribal Solid Waste Interagency

Workgroup was established in April

1998 to design a Federal plan for

helping tribes bring their waste disposal

sites into compliance with the

municipal solid waste landfill criteria

(40 CFR Part 258), i.e., closing or

upgrading open dumps and planning for

appropriate alternative disposal. Current

Workgroup members include