Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 125 / Wednesday, July 1, 2009 / Proposed Rules 31387 

Protection, EPA, Region 2, 290 

Broadway, 22nd Floor, New York, NY 

10007. Such deliveries are only 

accepted during the Regional Office’s 

normal hours of operation. The public is 

advised to call in advance to verify the 

business hours. Special arrangements 

should be made for deliveries of boxed 

information. 

Instructions: Direct your comments to 

Docket ID No. EPA–R02–RCRA–2009– 

0346. EPA’s policy is that all comments 

received will be included in the public 

docket without change and may be 

made available on line at http:// 

www.regulations.gov, including any 

personal information provided, unless 

the comment includes information 

claimed to be Confidential Business 

Information (CBI) or other information 

whose disclosure is restricted by statute. 

Do not submit information that you 

consider to be CBI or otherwise 

protected through http:// 

www.regulations.gov, or e-mail. The 

Federal http://www.regulations.gov Web 

site is an ‘‘anonymous access’’ system, 

which means EPA will not know your 

identity or contact information unless 

you provide it in the body of your 

comment. If you send an e-mail 

comment directly to EPA without going 

through http://www.regulations.gov, 

your e-mail address will be 

automatically captured and included as 

part of the comment that is placed in the 

public docket and made available on the 

Internet. If you submit an electronic 

comment, EPA recommends that you 

include your name and other contact 

information in the body of your 

comment and with any disk or CD–ROM 

you submit. If EPA cannot read your 

comment due to technical difficulties, 

and cannot contact you for clarification, 

EPA may not be able to consider your 

comment. Electronic files should avoid 

the use of special characters or any form 

of encryption, and be free of any defects 

or viruses. (For additional information 

about EPA’s public docket, visit the EPA 

Docket Center homepage at http:// 

www.epa.gov/epahome/dockets.htm). 

Docket: 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., CBI 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. 

You can view and copy New York’s 

application during business hours at the 

following addresses: EPA Region 2 

Library, 290 Broadway, 16th Floor, New 

York, NY 10007, Phone number: (212) 

637–3185; or New York State 

Department of Environmental 

Conservation, Division of Solid and 

Hazardous Materials, 625 Broadway, 

Albany, NY 12233–7250, Phone 

number: (518) 402–8730. The public is 

advised to call in advance to verify the 

business hours of the above locations. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Michael Infurna, Division of 

Environmental Planning and Protection, 

EPA Region 2, 290 Broadway, 22nd 

Floor, New York, NY 10007; telephone 

number (212) 637–4177; fax number: 

(212) 637–4377; e-mail address: 

infurna.michael@.epa.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: For 

additional information, please see the 

immediate final rule published in the 

‘‘Rules and Regulations’’ section of this 

Federal Register. 

Dated: May 19, 2009. 

George Pavlou, 

Acting Regional Administrator, Region 2. 

[FR Doc. E9–15546 Filed 6–30–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6560–50–P 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

National Highway Traffic Safety 

Administration 

49 CFR Part 571 

[Docket No. NHTSA–2009–0108] 

Vehicle Safety Rulemaking and 

Research Priority Plan 2009–2011 

AGENCY: National Highway Traffic 

Safety Administration (NHTSA), 

Department of Transportation (DOT). 

ACTION: Request for comments. 

SUMMARY: The purpose of this request 

for comments is to solicit and acquire 

public comment on the NHTSA’s 

‘‘Vehicle Safety Rulemaking and 

Research Priority Plan 2009–2011.’’ The 

plan is not an exhaustive list. Only 

programs and projects that are priorities 

or will take significant agency resources 

are listed. Furthermore, NHTSA’s 

enforcement, data collection, and 

analysis programs—vital elements in 

achieving NHTSA’s goals—have their 

own set of priorities that are not listed 

here. Each of these programs supports 

NHTSA’s rulemaking and research 

priorities by providing necessary safety 

data, economic analysis, expertise on 

test procedures, and technical issues 

gleaned from enforcement experience. 

The plan is an internal management tool 

as well as a means to communicate to 

the public NHTSA’s highest priorities to 

meet the Nation’s motor vehicle safety 

challenges. Among them are programs 

and projects involving rollover crashes, 

children (both inside as well as just near 

vehicles), motorcoaches and fuel 

economy that must meet Congressional 

mandates or Secretarial commitments. 

NHTSA is also currently in the process 

of developing a longer-term motor 

vehicle safety strategic plan that would 

encompass the period 2012 to 2020., 

and will be announced in a separate 

Federal Register notice. 

DATES: Comments must be received no 

later than August 31, 2009. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments 

[identified by Docket No. NHTSA– 

2009–0108] by any of the following 

methods: 

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to 

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

online instructions for submitting 

comments. 

• Mail: Docket Management Facility, 

U.S. Department of Transportation, 1200 

New Jersey Avenue, SE., West Building 

Ground Floor, Room W12–140, 

Washington, DC 20590. 

• Hand Delivery or Courier: West 

Building Ground Floor, Room W12–140, 

1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., 

Washington, DC between 9 a.m. and 5 

p.m. ET, Monday through Friday, except 

Federal holidays. Telephone: 1–800– 

647–5527. 

• Fax: 202–493–2251. 

Instructions: All submissions must 

include the agency name and docket 

number. Note that all comments 

received will be posted without change 

to http://www.regulations.gov, including 

any personal information provided. 

Please see the Privacy Act heading 

below. 

Privacy Act: Anyone is able to search 

the electronic form of all comments 

received into any of our dockets by the 

name of the individual submitting the 

comment (or signing the comment, if 

submitted on behalf of an association, 

business, labor union, etc.). You may 

review DOT’s complete Privacy Act 

Statement in the Federal Register 

published on April 11, 2000 (Volume 

65, Number 70; Pages 19477–78) or you 

may visit http://www.dot.gov/ 

privacy.html. 

Docket: For access to the docket to 

read background documents or 

comments received, go to http:// 

www.regulations.gov and follow the 

online instructions, or visit Docket 

Management Facility at the street 

address listed above. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr. 

Joseph Carra, Director of Strategic 

Planning and Integration, National 

31388 Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 125 / Wednesday, July 1, 2009 / Proposed Rules 

1These estimates are in year 2000 dollars. 

Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 

Room W48–318, 1200 New Jersey 

Avenue, SE., Washington, DC 20590. 

Telephone: 202–366–0361. E-mail: 

joseph.carra@dot.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Introduction 

Motor vehicle crashes killed more 

than 41,000 people and injured nearly 

2.5 million others in more than 6 

million police-reported crashes in 2007. 

In addition to the terrible personal toll, 

these crashes make a huge economic 

impact on our society with an estimated 

annual cost of $230 billion,1 an average 

of $750 for every person in the United 

States. 

Motor vehicle crashes can be viewed 

through several different perspectives: 

• Vehicle type; 

• Crashworthiness; 

• Crash avoidance; 

• Crash partners; 

• Body region injured; and 

• Societal costs. 

Passenger vehicles still account for 

the majority of fatalities (70% or 28,933 

fatalities), but also account for 92 

percent of the vehicle miles traveled 

(VMT). 

From the crashworthiness 

perspective, NHTSA looks at occupant 

fatalities or crash types by what part of 

the vehicle was struck first. Typically 

for passenger vehicles the initial impact 

point in fatal crashes would be frontal 

in 55 percent of fatalities, side impacts 

in 28 percent, non-collision (rollovers) 

in 8 percent, rear impacts in 5 percent, 

and others in 4 percent. However, 

rollovers can be examined as the initial 

impact, or as any event in the crash. If 

rollovers are examined as any event in 

the crash, almost 10,200 fatalities occur 

per year in rollovers, or about one-third 

of the passenger vehicle total. 

From the crash avoidance perspective, 

NHTSA looks at types of crashes that 

might be mitigated by new technologies. 

Based on the General Estimates System 

(GES) and the Fatality Analysis 

Reporting System (FARS), four types of 

crashes total 85 percent of all crashes. 

These include Run-Off-Road (23%), 

Rear-End (28%), Lane Change (9%), and 

Crossing Path (25%). Those same four 

types of crashes also equal 75 percent of 

all road fatalities. These include RunOff-Road (41%), Rear-End (5%), Lane 

Change (4%), and Crossing Path (14%). 

The fourth perspective of looking at 

motor vehicle crashes is crash type with 

respect to what the vehicle impacted, if 

anything. For both passenger cars and 

light trucks, frontal crashes with other 

motor vehicles account for the highest 

percentage of crash fatalities, 32 percent 

and 37 percent respectively. For 

passenger cars, side impacts with other 

motor vehicles and impact with fixed 

objects both account for 18 percent of 

fatalities. In fatal crashes involving light 

trucks, non-collisions (rollovers) remain 

an issue, accounting for 23 percent of 

crash fatalities. 

A fifth and a sixth perspectives are 

those of body region injured and 

societal costs. Brain injuries and ankle 

and knee injuries that have long-term 

disability associated with them have 

very high societal costs. 

NHTSA looks at crashes from all these 

different perspectives in determining 

the priorities for the agency. 

Countermeasures affect different types 

of crashes in different ways and have to 

be examined individually and compared 

to the applicable target population. 

Programs and projects that warrant 

priority consideration fall into the 

following four categories: (1) large safety 

benefits; (2) vulnerable populations; (3) 

high-occupancy vehicles; and (4) other 

considerations 

Programs and projects that are in 

Category 1, large benefits, have the 

potential for large safety benefits based 

upon factors such as: 

• The size of the target population; 

• The effectiveness of 

countermeasures and their potential to 

save lives and prevent injuries; 

• The availability and practicability 

of these countermeasures; and 

• The potential that countermeasures 

could be developed in the future that 

could be reasonably effective against a 

large target population. 

It should be noted that some projects 

require additional research before 

specific countermeasures and their 

benefits can be identified and therefore 

the priority designation is based on the 

agency’s judgment of potential safety 

impacts. 

Programs and projects in Category 2, 

vulnerable populations, affect children, 

older people, the vision-impaired, or 

other populations that are considered 

vulnerable. 

Category 3, high-occupancy vehicles, 

involves buses or motorcoaches and 

other high-occupancy vehicles. 

Category 4, other considerations, 

includes priority projects that may not 

be captured in the other categories, but 

either reduce the impact of motor 

vehicles on energy security or address 

other specific items. 

The plan also includes a list of other 

significant programs and projects that 

the agency believes it will work on in 

the 2009–2011 timeframe. This area is 

fluid, because the agency receives 

petitions that require action, Congress 

may request that the agency address 

other areas, the Administration may set 

additional and/or different priorities, or 

some event may influence NHTSA’s 

priority agenda. 

Some programs and projects 

described in the plan require additional 

research before any rulemaking action 

can be taken. These programs may not 

be priorities now because NHTSA is not 

confident that an effective 

countermeasure can be found. However, 

with research going on, there is the 

possibility that countermeasures may be 

discovered that have the significant 

death and injury reduction benefits. 

Since these are expected to consume 

a significant portion of the agency’s 

rulemaking resources, they affect the 

schedules of the agency’s other 

priorities listed in this plan. The 

concept of this plan, in terms of timing, 

is a little different than the 5-year 

priority plans that the agency has issued 

in the past. This plan lists the programs 

and projects the agency anticipates 

working on even though there may not 

be a rulemaking planned to be issued by 

2011, and in several cases, the agency 

doesn’t anticipate that the research will 

be done by the end of 2011. Thus, in 

some cases the next step would be an 

agency decision in 2012 or 2013. 

The projects listed in the plan have 

been divided into the following program 

areas: Light-vehicle crash avoidance and 

mitigation advanced technologies, 

motorcycles, rollovers, front-impact 

occupant protection, side-impact 

occupant protection, rear-seat occupant 

protection, children, older people, 

global technical regulations 

(international harmonization), heavy 

vehicles, CAFE, and others (a catchall 

category for projects that don’t fit in the 

listed program areas). 

Crash avoidance projects and 

programs are listed first because their 

focus is on the first opportunity to save 

lives and reduce injuries by preventing 

crashes in the first place. In addition 

they serve to reduce property damage 

and traffic congestion that are the 

inevitable result of most crashes. 

NHTSA seeks public review and 

comment on the planning document. 

Comments received will be evaluated 

and incorporated, as appropriate, into 

the planned agency activities. Interested 

persons may obtain a copy of the plan, 

‘‘Vehicle Safety Rulemaking and 

Research Priority Plan 2009–2011,’’ by 

downloading a copy of the document. 

To download a copy of the document, 

go to http://www.regulations.gov and 

follow the online instructions, or visit 

Docket Management Facility at the 

street address listed above under 

Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 125 / Wednesday, July 1, 2009 / Proposed Rules 31389 

ADDRESSES and reference Docket No. 

NHTSA–2009–0108. 

II. Submission of Comments 

How Do I Prepare and Submit 

Comments? 

Your comments must be written and 

in English. To ensure that your 

comments are correctly filed in the 

Docket, please include the Docket 

number of this document in your 

comments. Please submit two copies of 

your comments, including attachments, 

to Docket Management at the address 

given above under ADDRESSES. 

Comments may also be submitted to the 

docket electronically by logging onto 

http://www.regulations.gov. Click on 

‘‘How to Use This Site’’ and then ‘‘User 

Tips’’ to obtain instructions for filing 

the document electronically. 

How Can I Be Sure That My Comments 

Were Received? 

If you wish Docket Management to 

notify you upon its receipt of your 

comments, enclose a self-addressed, 

stamped postcard in the envelope 

containing your comments. Upon 

receiving your comments, Docket 

Management will return the postcard by 

mail. 

How Do I Submit Confidential Business 

Information? 

If you wish to submit any information 

under a claim of confidentiality, you 

should submit three copies of your 

complete submission, including the 

information you claim to be confidential 

business information, to the Chief 

Counsel, NHTSA, at the address given 

above under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION

CONTACT. In addition, you should 

submit a copy from which you have 

deleted the claimed confidential 

business information to the docket. 

When you send a comment containing 

information claimed to be confidential 

business information, you should 

include a cover letter setting forth the 

information specified in our 

confidential business information 

regulation. (49 CFR part 512). 

Will the Agency Consider Late 

Comments? 

We will consider all comments that 

Docket Management receives before the 

close of business on the comment 

closing date indicated above under 

DATES. To the extent possible, we will 

also consider comments that Docket 

Management receives after that date. If 

a comment is received too late for us to 

consider it in developing a final plan, 

we will consider that comment as an 

informal suggestion for future revisions 

of the plan. 

How Can I Read the Comments 

Submitted by Other People? 

You may read the comments received 

by Docket Management at the address 

given above under ADDRESSES. The 

hours of the Docket are indicated above 

in the same location. You may also see 

the comments on the Internet. To read 

the comments on the Internet, take the 

following steps: 

1. Go to http://www.regulations.gov. 

2. On that page, in the field marked 

‘‘search,’’ type in the docket number 

provided at the top of this document. 

3. The next page will contain results 

for that docket number; it may help you 

to sort by ‘‘Date Posted: Oldest to 

Recent.’’ 

4. On the results page, click on the 

desired comments. You may download 

the comments. However, since the 

comments are imaged documents, 

instead of word processing documents, 

the downloaded comments may not be 

word searchable. 

Please note that even after the 

comment closing date, we will continue 

to file relevant information in the 

Docket as it becomes available. 

Accordingly, we recommend that you 

periodically check the Docket for new 

material. 

Anyone is able to search the 

electronic form of all comments 

received into any of our dockets by the 

name of the individual submitting the 

comment (or signing the comment, if 

submitted on behalf of an association, 

business, labor union, etc.). You may 

review DOT’s complete Privacy Act 

Statement in the Federal Register 

published on April 11, 2000 (Volume 

65, Number 70; Pages 19477–78) or you 

may visit http://www.dot.gov/ 

privacy.html. 

Authority: 49 U.S.C. 30111, 30117, 30168; 

delegation of authority at 49 CFR 1.50 and 

501.8. 

Issued on: June 25, 2009. 

Ronald L. Medford, 

Senior Associate Administrator for Vehicle 

Safety. 

[FR Doc. E9–15523 Filed 6–30–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4910–59–P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Fish and Wildlife Service 

50 CFR Part 17 

[FWS–R2–ES–2009–0030; 92210–1111– 

FY08–B2] 

Endangered and Threatened Wildlife 

and Plants; 90-Day Finding on a 

Petition to List the Northern Leopard 

Frog (Lithobates [=Rana] pipiens) in 

the Western United States as 

Threatened 

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, 

Interior. 

ACTION: Notice of a 90-day petition 

finding and initiation of status review. 

SUMMARY: We, the U.S. Fish and 

Wildlife Service (Service), announce a 

90-day finding on a petition to list the 

western U.S. population of the northern 

leopard frog (Lithobates [=Rana] 

pipiens) as threatened under the 

Endangered Species Act of 1973, as 

amended (Act). Following a review of 

the petition, we find that the petition 

presents substantial scientific or 

commercial information indicating that 

listing the western U.S. population of 

northern leopard frog may be warranted. 

Therefore, with the publication of this 

notice, we are initiating a status review 

of the species, and we will issue a 12- 

month finding to determine if listing the 

species throughout all or a significant 

portion of its range is warranted. To 

ensure that the status review of the 

northern leopard frog is comprehensive, 

we are soliciting scientific and 

commercial information and other 

information regarding this species. 

DATES: We made the finding announced 

in this document on July 1, 2009. To 

allow us adequate time to conduct a 

status review, we request that 

information be submitted on or before 

August 31, 2009. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments 

by one of the following methods: 

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: http:// 

www.regulations.gov. Follow the 

instructions for submitting comments. 

• U.S. mail or hand-delivery: Public 

Comments Processing, Attn: FWS–R2– 

ES–2009–0030; Division of Policy and 

Directives Management; U.S. Fish and 

Wildlife Service; 4401 N. Fairfax Drive, 

Suite 222; Arlington, VA 22203. 

We will post all information received 

on http://www.regulations.gov. This 

generally means that we will post any 

personal information you provide us 

(see the Information Solicited section 

below for more details). 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Steven L. Spangle, Field Supervisor,