[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 30 (Thursday, February 13, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Page 8738]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-03183]


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NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION

Notice of Permit Emergency Provision


Under the Antarctic Conservation Act of 1978 (Pub. L. 95-541)

AGENCY: National Science Foundation.

ACTION: Notice of permit emergency provision for hazardous waste stored 
in Antarctica at a location other than a permanent station for more 
than 12 months due to an emergency, as specified by Sec.  671.17.

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SUMMARY: The Program of Environment Safety and Health in the Division 
of Polar Programs in accordance with Sec.  671.17, is giving notice 
that an emergency relating to considerations of human health and safety 
caused hazardous waste to be stored in a location other than a 
permanent station for more than 12 months.
    Hazardous waste in the form of one 55 gallon drum of waste fuel was 
packaged for removal from the field camp at the end of the 2012-2013 
season. This waste was to be removed during the 2013-2014 summer 
season.
    Due to the October 2013 government shutdown, the National Science 
Foundation began an orderly shutdown to ``caretaker status'' (i.e. the 
protection of life and property only) of the United States Antarctic 
Program (USAP). Once the government was reopened, it was impossible to 
support a normal summer field season. The lack of infrastructure 
available included the means to support a safe operation to recover 
this waste fuel drum. This was due to the lack of skilled labor and the 
lack of ability to stage a fuel cache between McMurdo Station and the 
PIG camp (required due to the extreme distance between McMurdo 
Station's airfield and the location of the PIG camp).
    During the 2014-2105 austral summer season, the priority will be to 
remove the hazardous waste drum at the PIG field camp to McMurdo 
Station, where it will be removed from the continent.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr. Polly A. Penhale at (703) 292-
7420.

Nadene G. Kennedy,
Polar Coordination Specialist, Division of Polar Programs.
[FR Doc. 2014-03183 Filed 2-12-14; 8:45 am]
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