[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 222 (Thursday, November 17, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 71341-71342]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-29749]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[FRL-9494-4; Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-ORD-2011-0914]
BASINS and WEPP Climate Assessment Tools: Case Study Guide to
Potential Applications
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice of public comment period and letter peer-review.
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SUMMARY: EPA is announcing a 30-day public comment period for the draft
document titled, BASINS and WEPP Climate Assessment Tools (CAT): Case
Study Guide to Potential Applications (EPA/600/R-11/123A). EPA also is
announcing that an EPA contractor for external scientific peer review
will select an independent group of experts to conduct a letter peer-
review of the draft document. The document was prepared by the National
Center for Environmental Assessment within EPA's Office of Research and
Development, and is intended to support application of two recently
developed water modeling tools, the BASINS and WEPP climate assessment
tools. The report presents a series of short case studies designed to
illustrate the capabilities of these tools for conducting scenario
based assessments of the potential future effects of climate, land use,
and management change on water resources.
EPA intends to forward the public comments that are submitted in
accordance with this notice to the external peer-reviewers for their
consideration during the letter review. When finalizing the draft
document, EPA intends to consider any public comments received in
accordance with this notice. EPA is releasing this draft assessment for
the purposes of public comment and peer review. This draft assessment
is not final as described in EPA's information quality guidelines, and
it does not represent and should not be construed to represent Agency
policy or views.
The draft document is available via the Internet on the NCEA home
page under the Recent Additions and the Data and Publications menus at
http://www.epa.gov/ncea.
DATES: The 30-day public comment period begins November 17, 2011, and
ends December 19, 2011. Technical comments should be in writing and
must be received by EPA by December 19, 2011.
ADDRESSES: The draft document, BASINS and WEPP Climate Assessment
Tools: Case Study Guide to Potential Applications, is available
primarily via the Internet on the National Center for Environmental
Assessment's home page under the Recent Additions and the Data and
Publications menus at http://www.epa.gov/ncea. A limited number of
paper copies are available from the Information Management Team, NCEA;
telephone: (703) 347-8561; facsimile: (703) 347-8691. If you are
requesting a paper copy, please provide your name, mailing address, and
the document title.
Comments may be submitted electronically via http://www.regulations.gov, by mail, by facsimile, or by hand delivery/
courier. Please follow the detailed instructions provided in the
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this notice.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For information on the public comment
period, contact the Office of Environmental Information Docket;
telephone: (202) 566-1752; facsimile: (202) 566-1753; or email:
[email protected].
For technical information, contact Thomas Johnson, NCEA; telephone:
(703) 347-8618; facsimile: (703) 347-8694; or email:
[email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Information About the Project/Document
There is growing concern about the potential effects of climate
change on water resources. U.S. EPA and partners have developed two
assessment tools, the BASINS Climate Assessment Tool (BASINS CAT) and
the Water Erosion Prediction Project Climate Assessment Tool (WEPPCAT),
that facilitate application of existing simulation models for
conducting scenario-based assessments of potential climate change
impacts on water.
This report presents a series of short case studies using the
BASINS and WEPP climate assessment tools. The case studies are designed
to illustrate the capabilities of these tools for conducting
assessments of the potential future effects of climate, land use, and
management change on water resources. Climate change scenarios are
created based on model projections as well as historical data and past
events. Land use change and management scenarios are also included to
address questions related to the relative effects of land use versus
climate change, and the effectiveness of management practices for
reducing impacts.
This report is technical in nature. It is of interest to modeling
professionals including water and watershed managers, urban or regional
planners, government officials, and scientists and engineers interested
in using the BASINS or WEPP water models to assess the potential
implications of climate change on water resources.
II. How To Submit Technical Comments to the Docket at
www.regulations.gov
Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-ORD 2011-
0914, by one of the following methods:
www.regulations.gov: Follow the on-line instructions for
submitting comments;
Email: [email protected];
Fax: (202)-566-9744;
Mail: Office of Environmental Information (OEI) Docket
(Mail Code: 28221T), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 1200
Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20460. The phone number is
(202) 566-1752. If you provide comments by mail, please submit one
unbound original with pages
[[Page 71342]]
numbered consecutively and three copies of the comments. For
attachments, provide an index, number pages consecutively with the
comments, and submit an unbound original and three copies; or
Hand Delivery: The OEI Docket is located in the EPA
Headquarters Docket Center, EPA West Building, Room 3334, 1301
Constitution Avenue, NW., Washington, DC. The EPA Docket Center's
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. Deliveries are only accepted during the
docket's normal hours of operation, and special arrangements should be
made for deliveries of boxed information. If you provide comments by
hand delivery, please submit one unbound original with pages numbered
consecutively and three copies of the comments. For attachments,
provide an index, number pages consecutively with the comments, and
submit an unbound original and three copies.
Instructions: Direct your comments to Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-ORD-
2011-0914. Please ensure that your comments are submitted within the
specified comment period. Comments received after the closing date will
be marked ``late,'' and may only be considered if time permits. It is
EPA's policy to include all comments it receives in the public docket
without change and to make the comments available online at http://www.regulations.gov, including any personal information provided,
unless a 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
email. The 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 email comment directly to EPA without going through http://www.regulations.gov, your email 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, 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: 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 materials,
such as copyrighted material, are publicly available only in hard copy.
Publicly available docket materials are available either electronically
at http://www.regulations.gov or in hard copy at the OEI Docket in the
EPA Headquarters Docket Center.
Dated: November 10, 2011.
Darrell A. Winner,
Acting Director, National Center for Environmental Assessment.
[FR Doc. 2011-29749 Filed 11-16-11; 8:45 am]
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