This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER

contains notices to the public of the proposed

issuance of rules and regulations. The

purpose of these notices is to give interested

persons an opportunity to participate in the

rule making prior to the adoption of the final

rules.

Proposed Rules Federal Register

54292 

Vol. 75, No. 172 

Tuesday, September 7, 2010 

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 

AGENCY 

40 CFR Part 52 

[EPA–HQ–OAR–2010–0107; FRL–9197–2] 

RIN 2060–AQ45 

Action To Ensure Authority To Issue 

Permits Under the Prevention of 

Significant Deterioration Program to 

Sources of Greenhouse Gas 

Emissions: Federal Implementation 

Plan 

AGENCY: Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA). 

ACTION: Notice of public hearing; 

correction. 

SUMMARY: In this document, EPA is 

making a correction to the Action to 

Ensure Authority To Issue Permits 

Under the Prevention of Significant 

Deterioration Program to Sources of 

Greenhouse Gas Emissions: Federal 

Implementation Plan; Public Hearing to 

be held on September 14, 2010 

(published in the Federal Register on 

August 30, 2010, 75 FR 52916). We 

inadvertently within the summary 

section of the document stated that the 

hearing will be held in Arlington, VA. 

This document corrects the location to 

Washington, DC. 

ADDRESSES: Public Hearing: The 

September 14, 2010 hearing will be held 

at the EPA Ariel Rios East building, 

Room 1153, 1301 Constitution Avenue, 

Washington, DC 20460. The public 

hearing will convene at 9 a.m. (eastern 

standard time) and continue until the 

later of 6 p.m. or 1 hour after the last 

registered speaker has spoken. The EPA 

will make every effort to accommodate 

all speakers that arrive and register. A 

lunch break is scheduled from 12:30 

p.m. until 2 p.m. Because this hearing 

is being held at U.S. Government 

facilities, individuals planning to attend 

the hearing should be prepared to show 

valid picture identification to the 

security staff in order to gain access to 

the meeting room. In addition, you will 

need to obtain a property pass for any 

personal belongings you bring with you. 

Upon leaving the building, you will be 

required to return this property pass to 

the security desk. No large signs will be 

allowed in the building, cameras may 

only be used outside of the building, 

and demonstrations will not be allowed 

on Federal property for security reasons. 

The EPA Web Site for the rulemaking, 

which includes the proposal and 

information about the public hearing, 

can be found at: http://www.epa.gov/ 

nsr. 

Docket: The EPA has established a 

docket for this action under Docket ID 

No. EPA–HQ–OAR–2010–0107. All 

documents in the docket are listed in 

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

Although listed in the index, some 

information is not publicly available, 

e.g., confidential business information 

or other information whose disclosure is 

restricted by statute. Certain other 

material, such as copyrighted material, 

will be publicly available only in hard 

copy. Publicly available docket 

materials are available either 

electronically in http:// 

www.regulations.gov or in hard copy at 

the EPA Docket Center EPA/DC, EPA 

West, Room 3334, 1301 Constitution 

Ave., NW., Washington, DC. The Public 

Reading Room is open from 8:30 a.m. to 

4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, 

excluding legal holidays. The telephone 

number for the Public Reading Room is 

(202) 566–1744, and the telephone 

number for the EPA Docket Center is 

(202) 566–1742. The EPA Web Site for 

the rulemaking, which includes the 

proposal and information about the 

public hearing, can be found at http:// 

www.epa.gov/nsr. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Pamela Long, U.S. EPA, Office of Air 

Quality Planning and Standards, Air 

Quality Policy Division, C504–03, 

Research Triangle Park, NC 27711; 

telephone number (919) 541–0641, 

e-mail address: long.pam@epa.gov. 

Dated: August 31, 2010. 

Mary Henigin, 

Acting Director, Office of Air Quality Planning 

and Standards. 

[FR Doc. C1–2010–22208 Filed 9–3–10; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6560–50–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

50 CFR Part 648 

[Docket No.: 100813358–0392–01] 

RIN 0648–BA16 

Fisheries of the Northeastern United 

States; Discard Provision for Herring 

Midwater Trawl Vessels Fishing in 

Groundfish Closed Area I 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Proposed rule; request for 

comments. 

SUMMARY: NMFS seeks public comment 

on a provision of the regulations 

implemented by a November 2, 2009, 

final rule, as well as comments on 

proposed alternatives to replace this 

provision. The provision allows a 

midwater trawl vessel with an All Areas 

and/or Areas 2 and 3 Atlantic herring 

limited access permit fishing in 

Northeast (NE) multispecies Closed 

Area I (CA I) to release fish that cannot 

be pumped from the net and, thus, 

remain in the net at the end of pumping 

operations, without those fish being 

sampled by a NMFS at-sea observer. 

Based on comments that it receives, 

NMFS may keep the current provision 

unchanged, modify the provision, or 

remove the provision entirely. This 

action is part of a Court-approved joint 

motion to stay. 

DATES: Written comments must be 

received no later than 5 p.m. local time 

on October 7, 2010. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, 

identified by 0648–BA16, by any one of 

the following methods: 

• Electronic Submissions: Submit all 

electronic public comments via the 

Federal e-rulemaking portal: http:// 

www.regulations.gov. 

• Mail: Paper, disk, or CD–ROM 

comments should be sent to Patricia A. 

Kurkul, Regional Administrator, 

National Marine Fisheries Service, 55 

Great Republic Drive, Gloucester, MA 

01930–2276. Mark the outside of the 

envelope: ‘‘Herring Midwater Trawl 

Discard Provision; RIN 0648–BA16.’’ 

• Fax: (978) 281–9135. 


hsrobinson on DSK69SOYB1PROD with PROPOSALS
Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 172 / Tuesday, September 7, 2010 / Proposed Rules 54293 

Instructions: All comments received 

are part of the public record and will 

generally be posted to http:// 

www.regulations.gov without change. 

All Personal Identifying Information (for 

example, name, address, etc.) 

voluntarily submitted by the commenter 

may be publicly accessible. Do not 

submit confidential business 

information or otherwise sensitive or 

protected information. 

NMFS will accept anonymous 

comments (enter ‘‘N/A’’ in the required 

fields, if you wish to remain 

anonymous). Attachments to electronic 

comments will be accepted in Microsoft 

Word, Excel, WordPerfect, or Adobe 

PDF formats only. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Douglas Potts, Fishery Policy Analyst, 

(978) 281–9341, fax (978) 281–9135. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background 

On September 4, 2009, NMFS 

published a proposed rule (74 FR 

45798) to implement changes to access 

requirements for midwater trawl vessels 

fishing in CA I, at the request of the New 

England Fishery Management Council 

(Council), with the intended goal of 

collecting better information on bycatch 

in the midwater trawl fishery. A final 

rule was published on November 2, 

2009 (74 FR 56562) that implemented 

regulations requiring 100-percent 

observer coverage of trips by limited 

access Atlantic herring All Areas and/or 

Areas 2 and 3 category permitted vessels 

fishing for herring in CA I with 

midwater trawl gear. The rule also 

prohibited these vessels from releasing 

fish from the codend of the net, 

transferring fish to another vessel that is 

not carrying an observer, or otherwise 

discarding fish at sea, unless the fish 

has first been brought aboard the vessel 

and made available for sampling and 

inspection by the observer. The 

regulations provide the following 

exemptions to this prohibition: 

• The vessel operator has determined 

there is a compelling safety reason; or 

• A mechanical failure precludes 

bringing the fish aboard the vessel for 

inspection; or 

• After pumping of fish onto the 

vessel has begun, the vessel operator 

determines that pumping becomes 

impossible as a result of spiny dogfish 

clogging the pump intake. The vessel 

operator must take reasonable measures 

(such as strapping and splitting the net) 

to remove all fish that can be pumped 

from the net prior to release; or 

• When there are small amounts of 

fish that cannot be pumped and remain 

in the net at the completion of pumping 

operations. 

If a codend is released in accordance 

with one of the first three exemptions, 

the vessel operator must complete and 

sign an affidavit to NOAA’s Office of 

Law Enforcement (OLE) detailing the 

vessel name and permit number; the 

vessel trip report (VTR) serial number; 

where, when, and for what reason the 

catch was released; the total weight of 

fish caught on that tow; and the weight 

of fish released (if less than the full 

tow). Completed affidavits are to be 

submitted to OLE at the conclusion of 

the trip. Following a released codend 

under one of the first three exemptions, 

the vessel may not fish in CA I for the 

remainder of the trip. 

Although not specifically mentioned 

in the proposed rule, the final rule 

added a narrow, additional exemption, 

based on public comment, which 

allowed for small amounts of fish that 

cannot be pumped from the net 

(sometimes called operational discards) 

to be released unobserved from the net 

in the water. NMFS considered this 

additional exemption to be a logical 

outgrowth of the proposed rule that 

needed no further public comment 

because it addressed a foreseeable 

practical problem that a small amount of 

fish may be left in a net after pumping 

operations were completed. 

Following publication of the final 

rule, a suit was filed by three fishermen 

challenging the exemption that allows 

release of small amounts of fish that 

remain after pumping (Taylor et al. v. 

Locke, 09–CV–02289–HHK), on grounds 

that this additional exemption violated 

the Administrative Procedure Act 

because it was not a ‘‘logical outgrowth’’ 

of the proposed rule and should have 

been subjected to public comment, and 

that it violated conservation 

requirements of the Magnuson-Stevens 

Fishery Conservation and Management 

Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act) by 

allowing fish to be released from herring 

nets unobserved. Plaintiffs also claimed 

that the terms ‘‘small amounts of fish’’ 

and ‘‘at the completion of pumping 

operations’’ were not adequately 

defined. 

Without admitting any fault in 

publishing the final rule, NMFS and the 

plaintiffs have agreed to stay the 

litigation while NMFS repromulgates 

the challenged provision, solicits public 

comment, and based on those 

comments, decides whether to retain, 

delete or amend the provision. As part 

of the agreement to stay the litigation, 

NMFS is publishing this proposed rule, 

and seeks public comment on the 

measure at § 648.80(d)(7)(ii)(D) that 

authorizes the release of fish before 

being sampled by the observer ‘‘when 

there are small amounts of fish that 

cannot be pumped and remain in the 

net at the completion of pumping 

operations.’’ In addition, NMFS intends 

to publish a new final rule if there is a 

change to this provision, or, in the 

alternative, to issue a Federal Register 

notice if the agency decides to retain the 

existing regulations. 

Therefore, NMFS is seeking 

comments on the current provision and 

on the following proposed alternatives: 

1. Removing the provision at 

§ 648.80(d)(7)(ii)(D). This would mean 

that a vessel would be required to bring 

the net on board the vessel for 

observation after the completion of 

pumping operations. The only 

exception from this requirement would 

be if one of the other exemptions (safety, 

mechanical failure, or clogging by spiny 

dogfish) is applicable. This alternative 

would result in additional time and 

effort by the vessel when compared to 

the current regulation, but would ensure 

that the observer is able to document the 

amount and type of fish that are 

released after pumping operations are 

completed. 

2. Specifying a maximum amount of 

fish, for example up to 200 lb (90.7 kg), 

that may be in the net without bringing 

the net on board, provided the vessel 

lifts the net out of the water for 

observation. Under this alternative, if 

the observer estimates that there is more 

than 200 lb (90.7 kg) of fish in the net, 

the vessel must bring the net on board 

for further observation. This alternative 

provides more flexibility to the vessel 

than alternative 1, but also may put the 

observer in the difficult position of 

requesting the captain of the vessel to 

bring the net on board the vessel based 

on a visual estimation of the amount of 

fish in the net. 

3. Requiring that the net either be 

raised out of the water or brought on 

board, at the discretion of the vessel 

captain, before release of fish left in the 

net. This alternative may be a preferable 

compromise between alternatives 1 and 

2, to allow some flexibility to the vessel 

in deciding how to allow an observer to 

determine what other fish may be in a 

net after pumping. However, this 

flexibility comes at the cost of less than 

ideal observation conditions if the 

vessel only lifts the net from the water. 

The public is invited to submit 

comments specifically on the measure at 

§ 648.80(d)(7)(ii)(D), and the proposed 

alternatives discussed above, as well as 

any other alternatives to ensure 

adequate observation of all fish caught 

by mid-water trawl vessels fishing in CA 

I. To be most useful, comments should 

be as detailed as possible and include 

specific documentation in support of 

the comments. Current regulations as 


hsrobinson on DSK69SOYB1PROD with PROPOSALS
54294 Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 172 / Tuesday, September 7, 2010 / Proposed Rules 

published in the November 2, 2009, 

final rule remain in place during this 

rulemaking process. 

Classification 

Pursuant to section 304(b)(1)(A) of the 

Magnuson-Stevens Act, the NMFS 

Assistant Administrator has determined 

preliminarily that this proposed rule is 

consistent with the Atlantic Herring and 

NE Multispecies FMPs, other provisions 

of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, and other 

applicable law, subject to further 

consideration after public comment. 

This proposed rule has been 

determined to be not significant for 

purposes of Executive Order 12866. 

The Regional Administrator has 

preliminarily determined that this 

proposed rule would constitute a minor 

addition, correction, or change to a 

management plan and would therefore 

be categorically excluded from the 

requirement to prepare an 

Environmental Impact Statement or 

equivalent document under the National 

Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). 

However, NMFS expects that measures 

in a final rule may differ from those 

proposed, based on public comment 

received on this proposed rule and other 

relevant factors. A final determination 

of the appropriate level of 

environmental review under NEPA will 

be made during the development of a 

final rule. 

The Chief Counsel for Regulation of 

the Department of Commerce certified 

to the Chief Counsel for Advocacy of the 

Small Business Administration that this 

proposed rule, if adopted, would not 

have a significant economic impact on 

a substantial number of small entities. 

None of the three proposed alternatives 

significantly affect the practices of any 

fishing operation. A total of 45 vessels 

currently have either an All Areas or an 

Areas 2 and 3 Atlantic herring limited 

access permit. Not all of these vessels 

fish in Closed Area I, and part of the 

intent of the increased observer 

coverage in CA I was to determine how 

many midwater trawl trips there are into 

this closed area. The requirement for 

100-percent observer coverage became 

effective on November 2, 2009, so there 

is not yet a full year’s worth of data 

available. Estimates based on VTR data 

suggest an average of 15 trips using 

midwater trawl gear into CA I, annually. 

Vessels that do fish in CA I may make 

multiple trips into CA I in a single year, 

so this action would impact fewer than 

15 small entities. The average midwater 

trawl trip makes less than three tows. 

Alternative 1 would have the greatest 

potential impact on vessel operations. 

The time to bring a near-empty codend 

aboard the vessel under this alternative 

is estimated to range between 30 

minutes and 60 minutes. The total 

impact to an average fishing trip would 

be at most 3 hours of additional time 

under alternative 1, or less time under 

alternative 2 or 3; plus associated cost 

of fuel. Therefore, any potential delay 

from the three alternatives in fishing 

operations to allow an at-sea observer to 

document catch remaining in the net at 

the end of pumping operations is 

expected to have a minimal impact. As 

a result, an initial regulatory flexibility 

analysis is not required and none has 

been prepared. 

Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq. 

Dated: September 2, 2010. 

Eric C. Schwaab, 

Assistant Administrator for Fisheries, 

National Marine Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. 2010–22347 Filed 9–2–10; 4:15 pm] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 


hsrobinson on DSK69SOYB1PROD with PROPOSALS