[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 40 (Tuesday, March 1, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 10620-10621]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-04448]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[EPA-HQ-OW-2015-0335; FRL-9943-13-OW]
Request for Public Comment on the Draft EPA-USGS Technical
Report: Protecting Aquatic Life From Effects of Hydrologic Alteration
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and United States
Geological Survey (USGS).
ACTION: Notice of availability.
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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the United
States Geological Survey are releasing a draft technical report:
Protecting Aquatic Life from Effects of Hydrologic Alteration, for a
60-day public comment period. This report was developed because
hydrologic alteration can be a contributor of impairment for water
bodies that are designated to support aquatic life. Stresses on aquatic
life associated with hydrologic alteration may be further exacerbated
through climate change. Recent climate trends have included the change
in frequency and duration of extreme weather events, such as droughts
and floods, which can have an impact on flow and affect aquatic life.
The report is a nonprescriptive framework with information to help
states, tribes, territories, water resource managers, and other
stakeholders responsible for the maintenance of hydrologic flow regime
to quantify flow targets for the preservation of aquatic life and
habitat. This report also provides information on the relationship
between hydrologic condition and water quality and gives examples of
what some states and authorized tribes have done to address flow
concerns using the Clean Water Act. The framework can also be used to
translate narrative criteria and develop flow targets to protect
aquatic life and habitat.
DATES: Comments must be received on or before May 2, 2016.
ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OW-
2015-0335, to the Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the online instructions for submitting
comments. Once submitted, comments cannot be edited or withdrawn. EPA
may publish any comment received to its public docket. Do not submit
electronically any information you consider to be Confidential Business
Information (CBI) or other information whose disclosure is restricted
by statute. Multimedia submissions (audio, video, etc.) must be
accompanied by a written comment. The written comment is considered the
official comment and should include discussion of all points you wish
to make. EPA will generally not consider comments or comment contents
located outside of the primary submission (i.e., on the web, cloud, or
other file sharing system). For additional submission methods, the full
EPA public comment policy, information about CBI or multimedia
submissions, and general guidance on making effective comments, please
visit http://www2.epa.gov/dockets/commenting-epa-dockets.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Diana Eignor, Health and Ecological
Criteria Division, Office of Water (Mail Code 4304T), Environmental
Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20460;
telephone number: (202) 566-1143; email address: [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. General Information
A. How can I Get Copies of This Document and Other Related Information?
1. Docket: All documents in the docket are listed in the
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 www.regulations.gov or in hard copy at the Water Docket, 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 Water
Docket is (202) 566-2426. For additional information about EPA's public
docket, visit EPA Docket Center homepage at http://www.epa.gov/epahome/dockets.htm.
II. How will this document be used?
This draft report is a nonprescriptive framework that can be used
to help quantify targets for flow regime components that are protective
of aquatic life and their habitats. Flow targets can help states,
tribes, and territories to prepare for changes in historic flow
patterns. Maintaining flow targets may help increase a stream's
resilience to climate change by reducing or avoiding intensification of
existing stresses. This document, even after issued in final form, is
not a rule, and it is therefore not mandatory for states and authorized
tribes to adopt this framework into their water quality standards. Once
the comment period has ended, EPA and the USGS will consider the
comments, revise the document, as appropriate, and then publish a final
document that will serve as a source of information for states, tribes,
territories, and other stakeholders.
III. Solicitation of Scientific Views
EPA and USGS are soliciting additional scientific views, data, and
information regarding the science and technical approach used in the
derivation of this draft technical document on hydrologic alteration.
IV. Additional Information
EPA and USGS each conducted internal peer reviews of the report,
and EPA managed a contractor-led independent external peer review of
the Draft EPA-USGS Technical Report: Protecting Aquatic Life from
Effects of Hydrologic Alteration. EPA will make the external peer
review comments and Agency responses to these comments available in the
docket with the revised draft technical document at http://www.regulations.gov.
[[Page 10621]]
Dated: February 22, 2016.
Joel Beauvais,
Deputy Assistant Administrator, Office of Water.
[FR Doc. 2016-04448 Filed 2-29-16; 8:45 am]
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