51878 Federal Register / Vol. 82, No. 215 / Wednesday, November 8, 2017 / Notices 

Pollution Prevention and Control Act 

(‘‘Colorado Act’’), Colorado’s federally 

approved State Implementation Plan 

(‘‘Colorado SIP’’), and Colorado Air 

Quality Control Commission Regulation 

Number 7 (‘‘Regulation No. 7’’) at tank 

batteries (referred to in the consent 

decree as ‘‘Tank Systems’’) owned and 

operated by PDC Energy, Inc. (‘‘PDC’’) in 

a portion of the Denver-Julesburg Basin 

in Colorado (known as the ‘‘8-hour 

Ozone Control Area’’) designated as 

non-attainment with the National 

Ambient Air Quality Standards for 

ground-level ozone. The violations 

relate to alleged failures to adequately 

design, operate, and maintain vapor 

control systems at the Tank Systems, 

resulting in emissions of volatile organic 

compounds (‘‘VOC’’) and other 

pollutants to the atmosphere. 

The proposed consent decree covers 

PDC’s Tank Systems in the 8-hour 

Ozone Control Area equipped with 

vapor control systems pursuant to 

Regulation No. 7 to achieve required 

system-wide emission reductions (more 

than 600 Tank Systems). The proposed 

decree requires PDC to perform 

injunctive relief, including conducting 

engineering evaluations of the vapor 

control systems at each of the Tank 

Systems and completing any necessary 

corrective actions to ensure that the 

vapor control systems are adequately 

designed and sized. PDC must also 

complete two environmental mitigation 

projects at a cost of $1.7 million and pay 

a $2.5 million civil penalty, $1 million 

of which is anticipated to be used to 

perform one or more State-Only 

Supplemental Environmental Projects. 

Entering into and fully complying with 

the proposed consent decree will release 

PDC from past civil liability at the Tank 

Systems and associated vapor control 

systems for violations of the Colorado 

SIP and Regulation No. 7 relating to 

VOC emissions from condensate storage 

tanks. 

The publication of this notice opens 

a period for public comment on the 

consent decree. Comments should be 

addressed to the Assistant Attorney 

General, Environment and Natural 

Resources Division, and should refer to 

United States, et al. v. PDC Energy, Inc., 

D.J. Ref. No. 90–5–2–1–11467. All 

comments must be submitted no later 

than thirty (30) days after the 

publication date of this notice. 

Comments may be submitted either by 

email or by mail: 

To submit 

comments: Send them to: 

By email ......... pubcomment-ees.enrd@

usdoj.gov. 

To submit 

comments: Send them to: 

By mail ........... Assistant Attorney General, 

U.S. DOJ—ENRD, P.O. 

Box 7611, Washington, 

D.C. 20044–7611. 

During the public comment period, 

the consent decree may be examined 

and downloaded at this Justice 

Department Web site: https://

www.justice.gov/enrd/consent-decrees. 

We will provide a paper copy of the 

consent decree upon written request 

and payment of reproduction costs. 

Please mail your request and payment 

to: Consent Decree Library, U.S. DOJ— 

ENRD, P.O. Box 7611, Washington, DC 

20044–7611. 

Please enclose a check or money order 

for $25.25 (25 cents per page 

reproduction cost) payable to the United 

States Treasury. 

Jeffrey Sands, 

Assistant Section Chief, Environmental 

Enforcement Section, Environment and 

Natural Resources Division. 

[FR Doc. 2017–24250 Filed 11–7–17; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4410–15–P 

NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION 

Notice of Availability and Notice of 

Public Meeting for the Draft 

Environmental Impact Statement 

(DEIS) for the Green Bank 

Observatory, Green Bank, West 

Virginia 

AGENCY: National Science Foundation. 

ACTION: Notice of availability and notice 

of public meeting. 

SUMMARY: The National Science 

Foundation (NSF) has made available 

for public review and comment the 

Draft Environmental Impact Statement 

(DEIS) for Green Bank Observatory. This 

DEIS has been prepared for the National 

Science Foundation (NSF) to evaluate 

the potential environmental impacts 

resulting from proposed operational 

changes due to funding constraints for 

the Green Bank Observatory in Green 

Bank, West Virginia. The DEIS was 

prepared in compliance with the 

National Environmental Policy Act of 

1969. Consultation under Section 106 of 

the National Historic Preservation Act 

(NHPA) is being conducted concurrent 

with the NEPA process. 

DATES: NSF will accept comments on 

the DEIS for 60 days following 

publication of this Notice of 

Availability; an additional 15 days are 

being provided beyond the standard 45- 

day review period to allow for the 

holidays). Comments may be submitted 

verbally during the public meeting 

scheduled for November 30, 2017 (see 

details in SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION) 

or in writing until January 8th, 2018. 

Substantive comments will be 

addressed in a Final Environmental 

Impact Statement (FEIS). 

ADDRESSES: You may submit written 

comments by either of the following 

methods: 

• Email to: envcomp-ASTgreenbank@nsf.gov, with subject line 

‘‘Green Bank Observatory’’. 

• Mail to: Elizabeth Pentecost, RE: 

Green Bank Observatory, National 

Science Foundation, 2415 Eisenhower 

Avenue, Suite W9152, Alexandria, VA 

22314. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For 

further information regarding the EIS 

process or Section 106 consultation, 

contact: Elizabeth Pentecost, National 

Science Foundation, Division of 

Astronomical Sciences, 2415 

Eisenhower Avenue, Suite W9152, 

Alexandria, VA 22314; telephone: (703) 

292–4907; email: epenteco@nsf.gov. 

DEIS Information: The DEIS, as well 

as information about the public meeting, 

is posted at www.nsf.gov/AST. A copy 

of the DEIS will be available for review 

at the following libraries: Green Bank 

Public Library, 5683 Potomac Highlands 

Trail, Green Bank, WV 24944, Durbin 

Community Library, 4361 Staunton 

Parkersburg Turnpike, Durbin, WV 

26264. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Green 

Bank Observatory (GBO) is located in 

Pocahontas County, West Virginia, 

adjacent to the Monongahela National 

Forest. NSF owns the GBO land, which 

consists of numerous parcels acquired 

by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 

the 1950s, when GBO was formed as the 

first (and then, only) site of the National 

Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO). 

The GBO facilities include the Robert C. 

Byrd Green Bank Telescope, the largest 

fully steerable radio telescope in the 

world; the 43-meter Telescope; the 

Green Bank Solar Radio Burst 

Spectrometer; the 20-meter Geodetic 

Telescope; the 40-foot Telescope; the 

Interferometer Range; and previously 

operational telescopes. 

The NSF Directorate for Mathematical 

and Physical Sciences, Division of 

Astronomical Sciences (AST), through a 

series of academic community-based 

reviews, has identified the need to 

divest several facilities from its 

portfolio. This would allow NSF to 

retain the balance of capabilities needed 

to deliver the best performance on 

emerging and key science technology of 

the present decade and beyond. In 2012, 


ethrower on DSK3G9T082PROD with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 82, No. 215 / Wednesday, November 8, 2017 / Notices 51879 

AST’s portfolio review committee 

recommended divestment of the Green 

Bank Telescope (GBT) from the AST 

portfolio, stating the following: ‘‘The 

GBT is the world’s most sensitive 

single-dish radio telescope at 

wavelengths shorter than 10 cm; 

however, its capabilities are not as 

critical to New World New Horizons 

[astronomy and astrophysics decadal 

survey] science goals as the higherranked facilities.’’ In response to these 

recommendations, in 2016, NSF 

completed a feasibility study to inform 

and define options for the Observatory’s 

future disposition that would involve 

significantly decreasing or eliminating 

NSF funding of Green Bank 

Observatory. NSF issued a Notice of 

Intent to prepare an EIS on October 19, 

2016, held scoping meetings on 

November 9, 2016, and held a 30-day 

public comment period that closed on 

November 25, 2016. 

Alternatives to be evaluated in the 

EIS, which may be refined through 

public input, include the following: 

• Collaboration with interested 

parties for continued science- and 

education-focused operations with 

reduced NSF funding (Agency-preferred 

Alternative). 

• Collaboration with interested 

parties for operation as a technology and 

education park. 

• Mothballing of facilities 

(suspension of operations in a manner 

such that operations could resume 

efficiently at some future date). 

• Demolition and site restoration. 

• No-Action Alternative: Continued 

NSF investment for science-focused 

operations. 

No final decisions will be made 

regarding the proposed changes to 

operations at Green Bank Observatory 

prior to issuance of an FEIS, and, 

subsequently, a Record of Decision for 

the Proposed Action. 

Public Meeting: A public meeting to 

address the DEIS and to solicit public 

input under Section 106 of the NHPA 

will take place in Green Bank with 

notification of the time and location 

published in the local newspapers, as 

follows: 

• Public meeting: November 30, 2017, 

at 5:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. 

Green Bank Science Center 

155 Observatory Road 

Green Bank, WV 24915 

Telephone: (304) 456–2011 

The meeting will be transcribed by a 

court reporter. 

Dated: November 3, 2017. 

Suzanne H. Plimpton, 

Reports Clearance Officer, National Science 

Foundation. 

[FR Doc. 2017–24322 Filed 11–7–17; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 7555–01–P 

NUCLEAR REGULATORY 

COMMISSION 

[NRC–2016–0201] 

Nuclear Power Plant Instrumentation 

for Earthquakes 

AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission. 

ACTION: Regulatory guide, issuance. 

SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission (NRC) is issuing Revision 3 

of Regulatory Guide (RG) 1.12, ‘‘Nuclear 

Power Plant Instrumentation for 

Earthquakes.’’ This revision to the guide 

addresses new reactor plant 

configurations and the state of practice 

of seismic instrumentation since 

Revision 2 of RG 1.12 in 1997. The 

revision describes the seismic 

instrumentation criteria, including 

instrumentation type, locations, 

characteristics, and maintenance, that 

the NRC staff considers acceptable for 

nuclear power plants. 

DATES: Revision 3 to RG 1.12 is available 

on November 8, 2017. 

ADDRESSES: Please refer to Docket ID 

NRC–2016–0201 when contacting the 

NRC about the availability of 

information regarding this document. 

You may obtain publicly-available 

information related to this document 

using any of the following methods: 

• Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to 

http://www.regulations.gov and search 

for Docket ID NRC–2016–0201. Address 

questions about NRC dockets to Carol 

Gallagher; telephone: 301–415–3463; 

email: Carol.Gallagher@nrc.gov. For 

technical questions, contact the 

individuals listed in the FOR FURTHER

INFORMATION CONTACT section of this 

document. 

• NRC’s Agencywide Documents 

Access and Management System 

(ADAMS): You may obtain publiclyavailable documents online in the 

ADAMS Public Documents collection at 

http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/ 

adams.html. To begin the search, select 

‘‘ADAMS Public Documents’’ and then 

select ‘‘Begin Web-based ADAMS 

Search.’’ For problems with ADAMS, 

please contact the NRC’s Public 

Document Room (PDR) reference staff at 

1–800–397–4209, 301–415–4737, or by 

email to pdr.resource@nrc.gov. The 

ADAMS accession number for each 

document referenced (if it is available in 

ADAMS) is provided the first time that 

it is mentioned. The RG 1.12 is available 

in ADAMS under Accession No. 

ML17094A831. 

• NRC’s PDR: You may examine and 

purchase copies of public documents at 

the NRC’s PDR, Room O1–F21, One 

White Flint North, 11555 Rockville 

Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852. 

Regulatory guides are not 

copyrighted, and NRC approval is not 

required to reproduce them. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Sarah Tabatabai, Office of Nuclear 

Regulatory Research, telephone: 301– 

415–2982, email: Sarah.Tabatabai@

nrc.gov; Vladimir Graizer, Office of New 

Reactors, telephone 301–415–0675, 

email: Vladimir.Graizer@nrc.gov, and 

Edward O’Donnell, Office of Nuclear 

Regulatory Research, telephone: 301– 

415–3317, email: Edward.ODonnell@

nrc.gov. All are staff members of the 

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 

Washington, DC 20555–0001. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Discussion 

The NRC is issuing a revision to an 

existing guide in the NRC’s ‘‘Regulatory 

Guide’’ series. This series was 

developed to describe and make 

available to the public information 

regarding methods that are acceptable to 

the NRC staff for implementing specific 

parts of the agency’s regulations, 

techniques that the NRC staff uses in 

evaluating specific issues or postulated 

events, and data that the NRC staff 

needs in its review of applications for 

permits and licenses. 

Revision 3 of RG 1.12 was issued with 

a temporary identification of draft 

Regulatory Guide, DG–1332. The NRC 

revised the guide to incorporate 

advances in seismic instrumentation 

and operating experience since the 

issuance of Revision 2 of RG 1.12 in 

1997. The revision describes the seismic 

instrumentation criteria, including 

instrumentation type, locations, 

characteristics, and maintenance, that 

the NRC staff considers acceptable for 

nuclear power plants. 

II. Additional Information 

The NRC published a notice of the 

availability of DG–1332 in the Federal 

Register on September 21, 2016 (81 FR 

64954), for a 60-day public comment 

period. The public comment period 

closed on November 21, 2016. Public 

comments on DG–1332 and the staff 

responses to the public comments are 

available under ADAMS under 

Accession No. ML17095A314. 


ethrower on DSK3G9T082PROD with NOTICES