Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 221 / Wednesday, November 15, 2000 / Notices 68999

First Street, NE., Washington, DC 20426.

A copy of the motion to intervene must

also be served upon each representative

of the Applicant specified in the

particular application.

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. 00–29203 Filed 11–14–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6717–01–M

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

AGENCY

[FRL–6902–1]

National Drinking Water Advisory

Council Research Working Group;

Notice of Public Meeting

AGENCY: Environmental Protection

Agency.

ACTION: Notice of public meeting.

Under section 10(a)(2) of Public Law

92–423, ‘‘The Federal Advisory

Committee Act,’’ notice is hereby given

that a meeting of the Drinking Water

Research Working Group of the National

Drinking Water Advisory Council

(NDWAC) established under the Safe

Drinking Water Act, as amended (42

U.S.C. S300f et seq.), will be held on

November 28–29, 2000. On November

28 the meeting will be held from 8:30

am–5 pm ET (approximately), at

RESOLVE, 1255 23rd Street, NW., Suite

275, Washington, DC 20037. On

November 29 the meeting will be held,

from 8:30 an–3:30 pm ET

(approximately), at the Environmental

Protection Agency’s Washington

Information Center (WIC), 401 M Street,

SW., Conference Room #3 North

Washington, DC 20460. The meeting

will be open to the public to observe

and statements will be taken from the

public as time allows. Seating is limited.

This is the first meeting of the

Drinking Water Research Working

Group. The Environmental Protection

Agency (EPA) anticipates 3–4 meetings

of this working group over the course of

the next year. The purpose of this

working group will be to provide advice

to NDWAC as it develops

recommendations for EPA on a

Comprehensive Drinking Water

Research Strategy (as required under the

Safe Drinking Water Act) that will

consider a broad range of research needs

to support the Agency’s drinking water

regulatory activities. The research

strategy will include an assessment of

research needs for microbes and

disinfection by-products (M/DBPs),

arsenic, contaminants on the

Contaminant Candidate List (CCL), and

other critical research issues. This first

meeting will focus on the proposed

approach for developing the

Comprehensive Drinking Water

Research Strategy. Specifically, the

working group will discuss the outline

of the strategy, the scientific framework

upon which it is organized, and the list

of topics to be included.

For more information please contact

Paula Mason, Designated Federal

Officer, U.S. EPA (4607), Office of

Ground Water and Drinking Water, 1200

Pennsylvania Avenue, NW.,

Washington, DC 20460. The telephone

number is 202–260–1893, fax 202–401–

6135, and e-mail mason.paula@epa.gov.

Dated: November 7, 2000.

Charlene E. Shaw,

Designated Federal Officer, National Drinking

Water Advisory Council.

[FR Doc. 00–29227 Filed 11–14–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6560–50–P

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

AGENCY

[FRL–6901–8]

Notice of Availability of Annex to the

Report of the Grand Canyon Visibility

Transport Commission

AGENCY: Environmental Protection

Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of availability.

SUMMARY: The purpose of this notice is

to inform the public that the Western

Regional Air Partnership (WRAP) has

submitted an Annex to the 1996 report

of the Grand Canyon Visibility

Transport Commission (GCVTC) to EPA

on September 29, 2000. This submittal

was required under 40 CFR 51.309 of

the regional haze rule in order for nine

Western States to have the option of

submitting State plans implementing

the GCVTC recommendations by

December 31, 2003. The Annex contains

a number of recommendations

addressing sulfur dioxide emissions (a

key precursor to the formation of fine

particles and regional haze) in the

region, including a set of emissions

milestones for the 2003–2018 period

across the 9-State region. In the coming

months, we will review the Annex to

determine whether it meets the

requirements of the regional haze rule

and applicable requirements under the

Clean Air Act (CAA). At the end of this

review, we will propose changes to the

regional haze rule to incorporate

recommendations from the Annex if we

find, after a formal 60-day public notice

and comment period, that the Annex

meets the requirements of the regional

haze rule and the CAA.

Regarding today’s notice of

availability, we are not having a formal

comment period on the Annex at this

time. However, should members of the

general public wish to provide any

informal comments to us on the

documents making up the Annex, we

will consider these comments during

the upcoming review of the Annex. We

request that these informal comments be

submitted to docket number A–2000–51

within 30 days of the date of publication

of this notice.

ADDRESSES: Comments. We are not

actively soliciting comments at this

time, given that we will hold a formal

comment period on any future

regulatory proposal related to the

Annex. We will, however, consider any

written comments that you may wish to

provide as we review the Annex. We

request that any such written comments

be submitted within 30 days of the date

of publication of this notice.

Written comments should be

submitted (in duplicate if possible) to:

Air and Radiation Docket and

Information Center (6102), Attention:

Docket No. A–2000–51, U.S.

Environmental Protection Agency, 1200

Pennsylvania Avenue, NW.,

Washington, DC 20460. We request that

you also send a separate copy to the

contact persons listed below (see FOR

FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT).

Comments may also be submitted to

the EPA docket by electronic mail at

A-and-R-Docket@epamail.epa.gov, or by

fax at (202) 260–4400. Electronic

comments must be submitted as an

ASCII file avoiding the use of special

characters and any form of encryption.

Comments and data also will be

accepted on computer disk in

WordPerfect 5.1 (or higher) format, or in

ASCII file format.

All comments and data provided in

electronic form or by fax must be

identified by the docket number A–

2000–51. Electronic comments on this

notice also may be filed online at many

Federal Depository Libraries.

Docket. Docket No. A–2000–51

contains information related to this

notice of availability, including the

Annex documents received by EPA from

the WRAP. Information at the Air and

69000 Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 221 / Wednesday, November 15, 2000 / Notices

Radiation Docket Office may be

inspected from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.,

Monday through Friday, excluding legal

holidays, at the following address: U.S.

Environmental Protection Agency, 401

M Street, SW., Washington, DC 20460 in

room M–1500, Waterside Mall (ground

floor). You may contact the docket office

by phone at (202) 260–7548. A

reasonable fee may be charged for

copying.

World Wide Web. The Annex

documents may also be retrieved from

EPA’s website at: http://www.epa.gov/

ttn/oarpg/gener.html.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Tim

Smith (telephone (919) 541–4718;

smith.tim@epa.gov) or Rich Damberg

(telephone (919) 541–5592;

damberg.rich@epa.gov), Mail Drop 15,

EPA, Air Quality Strategies and

Standards Division, Research Triangle

Park, North Carolina, 27711.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The

purpose of this notice is to inform the

public that the WRAP has submitted an

Annex to the 1996 report of the GCVTC

to EPA on September 29, 2000. We have

published the Annex on our website at

the following address: http://

www.epa.gov/ttn/oarpg/gener.html. The

EPA is not providing a formal public

comment period on the Annex, but

should members of the general public

wish to provide EPA any comments on

the WRAP’s Annex documents, EPA

will consider these comments during its

upcoming review of the Annex. The

EPA would like to receive these

informal comments in docket number

A–2000–51 within 30 days of the date

of publication of this notice.

On July 1, 1999, EPA published

regulations in 40 CFR 51.300–309 to

address regional haze in mandatory

Federal Class I areas (156 national parks

and wilderness areas) (64 FR 35714; July

1, 1999). Regional haze is a type of

visibility impairment that is caused by

the emissions of air pollutants from

numerous sources across a broad region.

In the final regional haze rule, we

included optional provisions that allow

nine Western States to implement the

specific recommendations of the GCVTC

for improving visibility across the

Colorado Plateau within the framework

of the national regional haze program.

These optional provisions are contained

in section 40 CFR 51.309 of the regional

haze rule. When EPA published the

final regional haze rule, we recognized

that the optional approach would be

contingent on the submittal of an Annex

to the GCVTC report by October 1, 2000

that contains acceptable stationary

source sulfur dioxide emissions

milestones for the nine-State region for

the 2003–2018 period, as well as a

backstop market trading program that

would be implemented if any interim

milestone is not achieved.

Specifically, section 51.309(f) of the

regional haze rule required that the

GCVTC (or a regional planning body

formed to implement the Commission

recommendations) submit to EPA an

Annex to the GCVTC report no later

than October 1, 2000 that provides for

stationary source sulfur dioxide

emissions milestones for the years 2003,

2008, 2013, and 2018. These milestones

must provide for steady and continuing

emissions reductions for the 2003–2018

time period consistent with the

GCVTC’s definition of reasonable

progress, its goal of 50 to 70 percent

reduction in sulfur dioxide emissions

from 1990 actual emission levels by

2040, the applicable requirements under

the CAA, and the timing of

implementation plan assessments of

progress and identification of

deficiencies which will be due in the

years 2008, 2013, and 2018. The

emission reduction milestones must be

shown to provide for greater reasonable

progress than would be achieved by

application of best available retrofit

technology (BART) pursuant to section

51.308(e)(2) of the regional haze rule.

In addition to the emission

milestones, the Annex was required by

section 51.309 to contain

documentation of a market trading

program or other programs that would

be implemented if current programs and

voluntary measures fail to meet the

emission milestones. This

documentation must include model

rules, memoranda of understanding, and

other provisions describing in detail

how emission reduction progress will be

monitored, what conditions will require

the market trading program to be

activated, how allocations will be made,

and how the program will operate.

This notice fulfills EPA’s commitment

under section 51.309(f)(3) of the

regional haze rule to publish the Annex

upon receipt. It does not contain EPA

comments on the Annex or constitute

any formal action on the Annex package

at this time. The EPA stated in the

regional haze rule that if we find, after

public notice and opportunity for

comment, that the Annex meets the

requirements of the regional haze rule

and applicable requirements under the

CAA, EPA would incorporate

recommendations from the Annex into

the regional haze rule. The EPA would

then review State implementation plans

(SIPs) submitted in 2003 to determine

whether they meet all of the

requirements in the revised section 309

and provide for ‘‘reasonable progress’’

under the regional haze rule. However,

if we find that the Annex does not meet

the requirements in section 309(f), then

each of the affected Western States must

meet the requirements of section 51.308,

the same regional haze requirements

that apply to other States.

Based on discussions with WRAP

participants, EPA anticipates that the

WRAP will submit supplemental

information to clarify certain issues

discussed in the Annex. For example,

the WRAP has committed to providing

a protocol as part of the Annex that

accounts for possible changes in

emissions monitoring techniques at

certain facilities that use continuous

emissions monitors. The EPA will also

provide a notice of availability

indicating the receipt of any

supplemental information related to the

Annex and make it available on the EPA

website.

In the coming months, the EPA will

consider any supplemental information

and any public comments received in its

review of the Annex for consistency

with the regional haze rule and the

CAA. If EPA finds that the Annex meets

the requirements in the regional haze

rule and CAA, EPA will propose

appropriate revisions to the regional

haze rule.

Dated: November 6, 2000.

Robert Perciasepe,

Assistant Administrator for Air and

Radiation.

[FR Doc. 00–29226 Filed 11–14–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6560–50–P

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

AGENCY

[FRL–6902–2]

Final NPDES General Permits for Water

Treatment Facility Discharges in the

States of Massachusetts and New

Hampshire

AGENCY: Environmental Protection

Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of Final NPDES General

Permits—MAG640000 and NHG640000.

SUMMARY: The Director of the Office of

Ecosystem Protection, EPA-New

England, is issuing Notice of Final

National Pollutant Discharge

Elimination System (NPDES) general

permits for water treatment facility

discharges to certain waters of the States

of Massachusetts and New Hampshire

for the purpose of reissuing the current

permit which expired on January 9,

2000. These general NPDES permits

establish notice of intent (NOI)

requirements, effluent limitations,