Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 193 / Friday, October 5, 2007 / Proposed Rules 56979 

Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance No. 

97.022, ‘‘Flood Insurance.’’

Dated: September 21, 2007. 

David I. Maurstad, 

Federal Insurance Administrator of the 

National Flood Insurance Program, 

Department of Homeland Security, Federal 

Emergency Management Agency. 

[FR Doc. E7–19680 Filed 10–4–07; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 9110–12–P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Fish and Wildlife Service 

50 CFR Part 17 

RIN 1018–AV19 

Endangered and Threatened Wildlife 

and Plants; 12-Month Petition Finding 

and Proposed Rule To List the Polar 

Bear (Ursus maritimus) as Threatened 

Throughout Its Range 

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, 

Interior. 

ACTION: Extension of comment period; 

notice of availability of new 

information. 

SUMMARY: We, the U.S. Fish and 

Wildlife Service (Service), announce the 

extension of the public comment period 

on nine new United States Geological 

Survey (USGS) reports produced for the 

Service to provide current data and 

modeling results relevant to the final 

determination of whether the polar bear 

(Ursus maritimus) qualifies for listing 

under the Endangered Species Act of 

1973, as amended (Act). We intend to 

take these reports into consideration as 

we make our final listing determination 

on the polar bear, and are extending the 

reopened public comment period on the 

January 9, 2007, proposed rule to list the 

polar bear as threatened throughout its 

range under the Act (72 FR 1064) for an 

additional 15 days to allow interested 

parties to comment on the USGS 

reports. We are limited in how long we 

can extend the public comment period 

because of the statutory deadline, which 

requires a final listing determination 

within one year of publication of the 

proposed rule, unless an extension of up 

to six months is granted due to 

substantial disagreement regarding the 

sufficiency or accuracy of the available 

data relevant to the determination. 

Please note that comments previously 

submitted should not be resubmitted. 

This comment period is open only for 

comments on the nine USGS reports 

listed below. Comments submitted 

during the prior comment period have 

been incorporated into the public record 

and will be fully considered during 

preparation of our final determination. 

DATES: We will accept public comments 

until October 22, 2007. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments 

and materials to us by any one of the 

following methods: 

(1) You may mail or hand-deliver 

written comments and information to 

the Supervisor, U.S. Fish and Wildlife 

Service, Marine Mammals Management 

Office, 1011 East Tudor Road, 

Anchorage, AK 99503. 

(2) You may send comments by 

electronic mail (e-mail) to: 

Polar_Bear_Finding@fws.gov. For 

instructions on how to file comments 

electronically, see the ‘‘Public 

Comments Solicited’’ section below. In 

the event that our Internet connection is 

not functional, please submit your 

comments by one of the alternate 

methods listed in this section. 

(3) You may submit your comments 

via the Federal eRulemaking Portal at 

http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the 

instructions for submitting comments. 

For information on obtaining copies 

of the nine USGS reports, see the 

‘‘Obtaining Copies of the Nine USGS 

reports’’ section below. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Rosa 

Meehan, Marine Mammals Management 

Office (see ADDRESSES) (telephone 907–

786–3800). Persons who use a 

telecommunications device for the deaf 

(TDD) may call the Federal Information 

Relay Service (FIRS) at 800–877–8339. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On 

January 9, 2007, the Service published 

a 12-month petition finding and 

proposed rule to list the polar bear 

(Ursus maritimus) as threatened 

throughout its range under the Act (72 

FR 1064). The document announced a 3- 

month public comment period on the 

proposed rule, which closed on April 9, 

2007. We also held three public 

hearings during the proposed rule’s 

comment period, as announced in the 

February 15, 2007, Federal Register (72 

FR 7381). 

On September 7, 2007, the Service 

received nine reports prepared by the 

USGS that provide new data and 

modeling outputs relevant to the final 

determination of whether the polar bear 

qualifies for listing as threatened or 

endangered under the Act. These 

reports are: 

(1) Polar Bear Population Status in the 

Northern Beaufort Sea by Stirling et al. 

(2) Polar Bear Population Status in 

Southern Hudson Bay Canada by 

Obbard et al. 

(3) Polar Bears in the Southern 

Beaufort Sea I: Survival and Breeding in 

Relation to Sea Ice Conditions, 2001–

2006 by Regehr et al. 

(4) Polar Bears in the Southern 

Beaufort Sea II: Demography and 

Population Growth in Relation to Sea 

Ice Conditions by Hunter et al. 

(5) Polar Bears in the Southern 

Beaufort Sea III: Stature, Mass, and Cub 

Recruitment in Relationship to Time 

and Sea Ice Extent Between 1982 and 

2006 by Rode et al. 

(6) Uncertainty in Climate Model 

Predictions of Arctic Sea Ice Decline: 

An Evaluation Relevant to Polar Bears 

by DeWeaver. 

(7) Predicting the Future Distribution 

of Polar Bear Habitat in the Polar Basin 

from Resource Selection Functions 

Applied to 21st Century General 

Circulation Model Projections of Sea Ice 

by Durner et al. 

(8) Predicting Movements of Female 

Polar Bears between Summer Sea Ice 

Foraging Habitats and Terrestrial 

Denning Habitats of Alaska in the 21st 

Century: Proposed Methodology and 

Pilot Assessment by Bergen et al. 

(9) Forecasting the Range-wide Status 

of Polar Bears at Selected Times in the 

21st Century by Amstrup et al. 

On September 20, 2007, we published 

a notice in the Federal Register 

announcing the availability of these 

nine reports and our intention to 

consider them in making our final 

listing determination (72 FR 53749). In 

that notice we also reopened the public 

comment period on the January 9, 2007, 

proposed rule to list the polar bear as 

threatened under the Act (72 FR 1064) 

for 15 days to provide the public the 

opportunity to submit comments or 

information on these reports. Because of 

the volume and complexity of the 

information in the reports, we are 

extending the public comment period 

for an additional 15 days. The comment 

period now closes on October 22, 2007. 

We are asking for public comments on 

these reports and a review of the extent 

to which they add to the knowledge 

base for making the final decision. In 

particular we are seeking information 

regarding whether the reports raise an 

issue of substantial disagreement among 

scientists knowledgeable about polar 

bears regarding the accuracy or 

sufficiency of the available data relevant 

to the listing determination. 

Obtaining Copies of the Nine USGS 

Reports 

You may obtain copies of any of the 

nine USGS reports: 

• By mail from the U.S. Department 

of the Interior, United States Geological 

Survey, Office of Communication, 119 

National Center, Reston, VA 20192; 


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56980 Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 193 / Friday, October 5, 2007 / Proposed Rules 

• By calling USGS Public Affairs at 

(703) 648–4460; 

• By visiting the USGS Web site at 

http://www.usgs.gov/newsroom/special/ 

polar_bears/; or 

• Via link to the USGS Web site from 

the Service’s Web site: http:// 

www.fws.gov/. 

Copies of the reports are also available 

for public inspection, by appointment 

during normal business hours, at the 

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Marine 

Mammals Management Office (see 

ADDRESSES). 

Public Comments Solicited 

Comments and information submitted 

during the initial comment period on 

the January 9, 2007 (72 FR 1064), 

proposed rule should not be 

resubmitted, as this comment period is 

open only for comments on the nine 

USGS reports listed above. Our final 

determination of whether the polar bear 

qualifies as threatened or endangered 

under the Act will take into 

consideration all comments and 

information we receive during both 

comment periods. 

You may submit your comments and 

any materials concerning the above 

reports by any one of several methods 

(see ADDRESSES). If you use e-mail to 

submit your comments, please include 

‘‘Attn: Polar Bear Finding’’ in your email subject header, preferably with 

your name and return address in the 

body of your message. 

Before including your address, phone 

number, e-mail address, or other 

personal identifying information in your 

comments, you should be aware that 

your entire comment—including your 

personal identifying information—may 

be made publicly available at any time. 

While you can ask us in your comment 

to withhold from public view your 

personal identifying information, we 

cannot guarantee that we will be able to 

do so. 

Author 

The primary author of this notice is 

staff of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife 

Service. 

Authority: The authority for this action is 

the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as 

amended (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.). 

Dated: September 28, 2007. 

Kenneth Stansell, 

Acting Director, U.S. Fish and Wildlife 

Service. 

[FR Doc. 07–4946 Filed 10–2–07; 11:36 am] 

BILLING CODE 4310–55–P 


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