10672 Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 33 / Friday, February 16, 2001 / Notices

people and supplies across Cold Bay.

This action would involve the

placement of fill material in both

wetlands and waters of the US for the

construction of the road and the

hovercraft terminal and ramps. Funds

for the proposed project were allocated

by Congress in the Fiscal Year 1999

Omnibus Appropriations Act.

2. The proposed road and hovercraft

terminal is located on lands owned by

the King Cove Village Corporation. A

section of the road and the terminal are

sited within the boundaries of the

Izembek National Wildlife Refuge on

Section 22(g) Native owned lands.

3. Additional alternatives to the

applicant’s proposal include the

following: alternate hovercraft terminal

sites; two ferryboat alternatives with

various harbor locations within Cold

Bay; a ferry or smaller heavy weather

capable boat out of Lenard Harbor or

King Cove; upgrading the existing King

Cove airport; development of a new jet

or general aviation airport and the use

of a helicopter service. In addition, there

are three variations of an overland route:

the Native Lands road which would be

located on King Cove Corporation lands

and would use an elevated road and

bridges to cross the mouth of Kinzarof

Lagoon; a road and railroad combination

using the Native Lands route; and the

Isthmus road which would follow the

same route as the Native Lands road

until it reached the head of the bay, then

would go behind Kinzarof Lagoon

through the Izembek National Wildlife

Refuge and Wilderness to connect with

existing roads and trails. All overland

alternatives must cross AK Peninsula

Refuge lands at the northwest corner of

Cold Bay. This list of alternatives is

preliminary and contains suggestions

from many individuals and

organizations. Some may be dropped

and others added through the scoping

process. Certain alternative proposals

conflict with existing laws. The selected

alternatives will be further analyzed as

part of the EIS process.

4. Scoping: a. The Corps invites full

public participation to promote open

communication on the issues

surrounding the proposal. All Federal,

State, local agencies, and other persons

or organizations that have an interest are

urged to participate in the NEPA

scoping process. Public meetings will be

held to receive public input on the

purpose and need of the project, to

identify significant issues and to discuss

proposed alternatives. The scoping

process will help to further explain the

purpose and need plus the alternatives

to be reviewed in the DEIS.

b. The DEIS will analyze the potential

social, economic, and environmental

impacts to the local area and the

Izembek National Wildlife Refuge

resulting from the proposed project. The

following major issues will be analyzed

in depth in the DEIS: transportation

systems; essential fish habitat and other

marine mammal habitat; threatened and

endangered species including their

critical habitat; migratory birds

including the threatened Steller’s eider,

Emperor goose and Pacific brant;

resident and migratory mammals;

impacts to the wilderness area; cultural

resources; alternatives; secondary and

cumulative impacts; and

socioeconomics.

c. The Corps will serve as the lead

Federal agency in the preparation of the

DEIS. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife

Service (FWS) is participating as a

cooperating agency.

d. Some of these alternatives may

require additional federal approvals

such as a compatibility determination

from the FWS.

5. The scoping meetings are

tentatively planned for the following

dates and locations. Specific dates will

be further announced by local media.

Further information about these public

meetings will be published locally and

can be obtained by contacting the Corps

office.

Anchorage, Alaska—April 2, 2001

Sand Point, Alaska—April 3, 2001

Cold Bay, Alaska—April 4, 2001

King Cove, Alaska—April 5, 2001

6. It is anticipated that the DEIS will

be made available for public review in

fall 2001.

Larry L. Reeder,

Branch Chief, Regulatory Branch.

[FR Doc. 01–3847 Filed 2–15–01; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3710–NL–P

DEFENSE NUCLEAR FACILITIES

SAFETY BOARD

Meeting; Sunshine Act

Pursuant to the provision of the

‘‘Government in the Sunshine Act’’ (5

U.S.C. § 552b), notice is hereby given of

the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety

Board’s (Board) meeting described

below.

TIME AND DATE OF MEETING: 9 a.m.,

February 22, 2001.

PLACE: The Defense Nuclear Facilities

Safety Board, Public Hearing Room, 625

Indiana Avenue, NW., Suite 300,

Washington, DC 20004.

STATUS: Open.

MATTERS TO BE CONSIDERED: The Defense

Nuclear Facilities Safety Board

(‘‘Board’’) will reconvene and continue

the fourteenth quarterly open meeting

conducted on February 13, 2001,

regarding the status of progress of the

activities associated with the

Department of Energy’s Implementation

Plans for the Board’s Recommendation

95–2, Integrated Safety Management

(‘‘ISM’’), Recommendation 98–1,

Integrated Safety Management

(Response to Issues Identified by the

Office of Internal Oversight), and

Recommendation 2000–2, Configuration

Management, Vital Safety Systems.

Topics will include the roles of line

management in executing these

Implementation Plans and the budgetary

resources required to satisfy the

Department’s commitments.

CONTACT PERSON FOR MORE INFORMATION:

Richard A. Azzaro, General Counsel,

Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board,

625 Indiana Avenue, NW., Suite 700,

Washington, DC 20004, (800) 788–4016.

This is a toll-free number.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The

Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board

reserves its right to further schedule and

otherwise regulate the course of this

meeting, to recess, reconvene, postpone

or adjourn the meeting, and otherwise

exercise its authority under the Atomic

Energy Act of 1954, as amended.

Dated: February 13, 2001.

John T. Conway,

Chairman.

[FR Doc. 01–4074 Filed 2–13–01; 4:41 pm]

BILLING CODE 3670–01–P

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Office of Science; Office of Science

Financial Assistance Program Notice

01–23; Atmospheric Radiation

Measurement Program

AGENCY: U.S. Department of Energy

(DOE).

ACTION: Notice inviting grant

applications.

SUMMARY: The Office of Biological and

Environmental Research (OBER) of the

Office of Science (SC), U.S. Department

of Energy (DOE), hereby announces its

interest in receiving applications for

experimental and theoretical studies of

radiation and clouds in conjunction

with the Atmospheric Radiation

Measurement (ARM) Program as part of

the U.S. Global Change Research

Program (USGCRP). This notice requests

new applications and renewal

applications of grants currently funded

by DOE under previous ARM Program

notices that are relevant to the terms of

reference for this announcement and

Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 33 / Friday, February 16, 2001 / Notices 10673

responsive to the particular needs

defined below.

DATES: Applicants are encouraged (but

not required) to submit a brief

preapplication for programmatic review.

The deadline for submission of

preapplications is April 16, 2001. Early

submission of preapplications is

encouraged to allow time for meaningful

responses.

Formal applications submitted in

response to this notice must be received

by 4:30 p.m., E.D.T., May 15, 2001, to

be accepted for merit review and to

permit timely consideration for award

in Fiscal Year 2002.

ADDRESSES: Preapplications referencing

Program Notice 01–23 may be sent to

the program contact, Dr. Wanda Ferrell,

via electronic mail at:

wanda.ferrell@science.doe.gov or by

U.S. Postal Service Mail at: Office of

Biological and Environmental Research,

Dr. Wanda Ferrell, Environmental

Sciences Division, SC–74, U.S.

Department of Energy, 19901

Germantown Road, Germantown, MD

20874–1290. Electronic mail is

recommended to speed up response to

preapplications.

Formal applications referencing

Program Notice 01–23 should be

forwarded to: U.S. Department of

Energy, Office of Science, Grants and

Contract Division, SC–64, 19901

Germantown Road, Germantown, MD

20874–1290, ATTN: Program Notice 01–

23. This address also must be used

when submitting applications by U.S.

Postal Service Express Mail, any

commercial mail delivery service, or

when hand-carried by the applicant. An

original and seven copies of the

application must be submitted;

however, applicants are requested not to

submit multiple application copies

using more than one delivery or mail

service.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr.

Wanda Ferrell, Office of Biological and

Environmental Research, Environmental

Sciences Division, SC–74, U.S.

Department of Energy, 19901

Germantown Road, Germantown, MD

20874–1290, telephone (301) 903–0043,

fax (301) 903–8519, Internet e-mail

address: wanda.ferrell@science.doe.gov.

The full text of Program Notice 01–23 is

available via the World Wide Web using

the following web site address: http://

www.sc.doe/production/grants/

grants.html.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

Atmospheric Radiation Measurement

(ARM) Program. One of the major

scientific objectives of the

Environmental Sciences Division (ESD)

is to improve the performance of

predictive models of the Earth’s climate

and to thereby make predictions of the

response of the climate system to

increasing concentrations of greenhouse

gases. The purpose of the ARM Program

is to improve the treatment of radiation

and clouds in the models used to

predict future climate, particularly the

General Circulation Models (GCMs).

This program is one element of a major

effort to improve the quality of current

models and to support the development

of sets of climate models capable of

making regional prediction of climate

and climate change. The major

component of the ARM Program is an

experimental testbed to gather data for

the study of models of the terrestrial

radiation field, properties of clouds, the

full life cycle of clouds, and the

incorporation of these process-level

models into climate models. This

facility is referred to as the Cloud and

Radiation Testbed (CART). The first

ARM CART site, Southern Great Plains

(SGP), began operation in calendar year

1992, with instruments spread over an

area of approximately 60,000 sq. km.,

centered on Lamont, Oklahoma. The

Tropical Western Pacific (TWP) site

consists of island-based suites of

instrumentation focused on cloud and

radiative properties in the tropical

ocean environment. The first and

second of the TWP Atmospheric

Radiation and Clouds Stations (ARCS)

are operating on the islands of Manus,

Papua, New Guinea and the Republic of

Nauru respectively. Similar

instrumentation is gathering data in the

vicinity of Point Barrow, on the North

Slope of Alaska (NSA) and an inland

site near Atqasak. Program information

is available on the DOE/OBER WWW

site using the URL: http://

www.sc.doe.gov/production/OBER/GC/

arm.html.

To ensure that the program meets the

broadest needs of the research

community and the specific needs of the

DOE ESD, successful applicants are

expected to participate as ARM Science

Team members in the appropriate

working group(s) relevant to their

efforts. Costs for participation in ARM

Science Team meetings and

subcommittee meetings should be based

on two trips of 1 week each to

Washington, DC, and two trips of 3 days

each to Chicago, IL.

Request for Grant Applications

This notice requests applications for

grants, both new and renewals that

address the broad ARM goal of

improving cloud and radiation

parameterizations in climate models.

Successful applicants for renewal of

previously awarded grants, shall

demonstrate: (a) continued relevance of

their work to the goals of the ARM

Program; (b) the contribution of work

conducted under previous support to

the goals of the ARM Program,

including a listing of publications and

presentations; and (c) relevant

contribution to the development of the

ARM Program, particularly the design

and development of CART facilities, as

a result of previous funding. Renewal

applications should include a special

section covering items (b) and (c)

entitled ‘‘Accomplishments Under

Previous Support.’’

Successful applicants for new grants

will demonstrate the role of their

research in the improvement of GCMs

and/or related models and delineate the

path that their results will take to make

those improvements. Applications are

requested in one or more of the

following four areas: (a) the

development of models and

parameterization of radiative transfer or

cloud processes, including aerosol

effects, or the testing of these models in

GCMs or process-level models; (b)

experimental studies at CART facilities

to test elements of models and their

performance; (c) experimental studies to

obtain key laboratory data; or (d) the

analysis of existing data, including field

data and satellite data, to support model

development or testing.

The efforts proposed must have as a

focus the conduct of research using the

CART facilities either in operation or

being developed for ARM. Successful

applicants will participate in the

continuing development of the detailed

experimental approaches for CART and

guide the evolving development and

acquisition of the experimental

equipment.

Specific areas of interest to the ARM

Program include, but are not limited to:

• Determination of the concentration

and advection of cloud water and ice on

the regional scale;

• Statistics of cloud fields and their

interaction with atmospheric radiation;

• Realistic retrievals of the 3D

structure of clouds on scales of 10 to

100 km;

• Retrieval of ice water path and ice

cloud microphysics using remote

sensing measurements from the ground

or ground and satellite;

• Calculation of heating rate profiles

in realistic cloud fields;

• Climatological properties of

aerosols over the SGP site using ARM

data;

• Combining ground-based and

satellite remote sensing data to provide

improved characterization of the

10674 Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 33 / Friday, February 16, 2001 / Notices

atmospheric column above and

surrounding the CART sites,

particularly at the remote sites in the

TWP and NSA;

• Comparative studies using data

from multiple CART sites;

• Use of ARM data to test

quantitatively cloud and radiation

parameterizations used in both GCMs

and numerical weather prediction

(NWP) models;

• Development of new cloud and

radiation parameterizations.

Additional information about ARM

program needs and directions may be

found in the Vision 2000 Reports from

the Aerosol, Cloud Properties, Cloud

Parameterization and Modeling, and

Instantaneous Radiative Flux Working

Groups. These reports are available on

the ARM web site at: www.arm.gov.

Investigators are encouraged to consult

these reports. Not all the

recommendations in these reports,

however, are addressable by this current

grant process.

Program Funding

It is anticipated that approximately

$3,000,000 will be available for awards

in Fiscal Year 2002, contingent upon the

availability of appropriated funds.

Multiple year funding of awards is

expected, with out-year funding also

contingent upon the availability of

appropriated funds, progress of the

research, and programmatic needs. The

allocation of funds within the research

areas will depend upon the number and

quality of applications received.

Collaboration

Applicants are strongly encouraged to

collaborate with researchers in other

institutions, such as: universities,

industry, non-profit organizations,

federal laboratories and Federally

Funded Research and Development

Centers (FFRDCs), including the DOE

National Laboratories, where

appropriate, and to include cost sharing

wherever feasible. Additional

information on collaboration is available

in the Application Guide for the Office

of Science Financial Assistance Program

that is available via the World Wide

Web at: http://www.sc.doe.gov/

production/grants/Colab.html.

Preapplications

Potential applicants are strongly

encouraged to submit a brief

preapplication that consists of two to

three pages of narrative describing the

research project objectives and methods

of accomplishment. These will be

reviewed relative to the scope and

research needs of the ARM Program.

Principal Investigator (PI) address,

telephone number, fax number and email address are required parts of the

preapplication. A response to each

preapplication discussing the potential

program relevance of a formal

application generally will be

communicated within 15 days of

receipt. Use of e-mail for this

communication will decrease the

possibility of delay in responses to the

preapplication. The deadline for the

submission of preapplications is April

16, 2001. But applicants should allow

sufficient time so that the formal

application deadline is met. SC’s

preapplication policy can be found on

SC’s Grants and Contracts Web Site at:

http://www.sc.doe.gov/production/

grants/preapp.html.

Merit Review

Applications will be subjected to

formal merit review (peer review) and

will be evaluated against the following

evaluation criteria which are listed in

descending order of importance codified

at 10 CFR 605.10(d):

1. Scientific and/or Technical Merit of

the Project;

2. Appropriateness of the Proposed

Method or Approach;

3. Competency of Applicant’s

personnel and Adequacy of Proposed

Resources;

4. Reasonableness and

Appropriateness of the Proposed

Budget.

The evaluation process will include

program policy factors such as the

relevance of the proposed research to

the terms of the announcement and the

agency’s programmatic needs. Note,

external peer reviewers are selected

with regard to both their scientific

expertise and the absence of conflict-ofinterest issues. Non-federal reviewers

will often be used, and submission of an

application constitutes agreement that

this is acceptable to the investigator(s)

and the submitting institution.

Submission Information

Information about development and

submission of applications, eligibility,

limitations, evaluation, selection

process, and other policies and

procedures may be found in 10 CFR Part

605 and in the Application Guide for

the Office of Science Financial

Assistance Program. Electronic access to

the Guide and required forms is made

available via the World Wide Web at:

http://www.sc.doe.gov/production/

grants/grants.html. DOE is under no

obligation to pay for any costs

associated with the preparation or

submission of applications if an award

is not made.

The technical portion of the

application should not exceed twentyfive (25) double-spaced pages and

should include detailed budgets for

each year of support requested. Awards

are expected to begin on or about

November 1, 2001. On the grant face

page, form DOE F 4650.2, in block 15,

also provide the PI’s phone number, fax

number and e-mail address.

Attachments include curriculum vitae, a

listing of all current and pending federal

support, and letters of intent when

collaborations are part of the proposed

research. Curriculum vitae should be

submitted in a form similar to that of

NIH or NSF (two to three pages), see for

example: http://www.nsf.gov/bfa/cpo/

gpg/fkit.htm#forms-9.

In addition to the original and seven

copies of the application that must be

submitted, the applicants are asked to

submit an electronic copy of the abstract

in ASCII format to:

wanda.ferrell@science.doe.gov. The

abstract should include the following

information: PI and co-PIs, their

institutions, and a brief summary of

research.

For researchers who do not have

access to the World Wide Web, please

contact Karen Carlson, Environmental

Sciences Division, SC–74, U.S.

Department of Energy, 19901

Germantown Road, Germantown, MD

20874–1290, phone: (301) 903–3338,

fax: (301) 903–8519, e-mail:

karen.carlson@science.doe.gov; for hard

copies of background material

mentioned in this solicitation.

Technical information on ARM is

available on the WWW at the URL:

http://www.arm.gov and the ARM

Program Office at the Pacific Northwest

National Laboratory, P.O. Box 999,

Richland, Washington 99352, telephone

(509) 375–6964.

The Catalog of Federal Domestic

Assistance Number for this program is

81.049, and the solicitation control

number is ERFAP 10 CFR part 605.

Issued in Washington, DC February 9,

2001.

John Rodney Clark,

Associate Director of Science for Resource

Management.

[FR Doc. 01–4004 Filed 2–15–01; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6450–01–U