[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 109 (Thursday, June 6, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 34093-34095]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-13451]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[FRL-9821-7; Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-ORD-2013-0189]
An Assessment of Potential Mining Impacts on Salmon Ecosystems of
Bristol Bay, Alaska
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice of extension of public comment period.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is announcing
an extension of the public comment period for 30 days for the revised
draft document titled, ``An Assessment of Potential Mining Impacts on
Salmon Ecosystems of Bristol Bay, Alaska'' (EPA-910-R-12-004Ba-c). The
original Federal Register notice announcing the public comment period
was published on April 30, 2013. This extension is
[[Page 34094]]
being granted in response to requests from interested parties. The
document was revised by EPA after reviewing comments received from the
public between May 18 and July 23, 2012, and input from the peer review
panel held in August 2012. EPA conducted this assessment to determine
the significance of Bristol Bay's ecological resources and the
potential impacts of large-scale mining on these resources.
DATES: The public comment period began on April 26, 2013, and is being
extended to end on June 30, 2013. Technical comments should be in
writing and must be received by EPA by June 30, 2013.
ADDRESSES: The revised draft ``An Assessment of Potential Mining
Impacts on Salmon Ecosystems of Bristol Bay, Alaska'' is available
primarily via the Internet on the EPA Region 10 Bristol Bay Web site at
www.epa.gov/bristolbay as well as on the National Center for
Environmental Assessment's Web site under the Recent Additions and the
Data and Publications menus at www.epa.gov/ncea. A limited number of CD
copies are available from the Information Management Team, NCEA;
telephone: 703-347-8561; facsimile: 703-347-8691. If you are requesting
a CD copy, please provide your name, your mailing address, and the
document title, ``An Assessment of Potential Mining Impacts on Salmon
Ecosystems of Bristol Bay, Alaska.''
Comments on the report may be submitted electronically via
www.regulations.gov, by email, 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: 202-566-9744; or email: [email protected]. For technical information concerning the report, contact
Judy Smith; telephone: 503-326-6994; facsimile: 503-326-3399; or email:
[email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Information About the Project/Document
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) conducted this
assessment to provide a characterization of the biological and mineral
resources of the Bristol Bay watershed, to increase understanding of
the potential impacts of large-scale mining on the region's fish
resources, and to inform future governmental decisions.
A previous draft was released for public comment on May 18, 2012
(77 FR 31353, May 25, 2012). Peer review panel members were announced
June 5, 2012 (77 FR 33213, June 5, 2012), and the external peer review
meeting was announced July 6, 2012 (77 FR 40037, July 6, 2012). The
external peer review meeting was held in Anchorage, Alaska, August 7-9,
2012. This revised draft was completed by the agency to address public
and peer review comments provided on the May 2012 draft.
EPA released this revised draft assessment for the purposes of
public comment. 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.
EPA is seeking comments from the public on all aspects of the
report, including the scientific and technical information presented in
the report, the realistic mining scenario used, the data and
information used to inform assumptions about mining activities and the
evaluations of risk to the fishery, and the potential mitigation
measures considered (and effectiveness of those measures). EPA is also
specifically seeking any additional data or scientific or technical
information about Bristol Bay resources or large-scale mining that
should be considered in our evaluation. EPA will consider any public
comments submitted in accordance with this notice when revising the
document.
II. Extension of Comment Period
EPA is extending the deadline for submitting comments on the
revised draft document titled, ``An Assessment of Potential Mining
Impacts on Salmon Ecosystems of Bristol Bay, Alaska'' to June 30, 2013.
An additional 30 days allows the public an opportunity to provide
feedback on changes made to the assessment as a result of extensive
input received in 2012. This extension is reasonable given the
complexity and length of the revised draft assessment.
III. How to Submit Technical Comments to the Docket at
www.regulations.gov
Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-ORD-2013-
0189, by one of the following methods:
www.regulations.gov: Follow the on-line instructions for
submitting comments.
Email: [email protected]. Include the docket number in
the subject line of the message.
Fax: 202-566-9744.
Mail: Office of Environmental Information (OEI) Docket
(Mail Code: 28221T), Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-ORD-2013-0189, 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
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.
Hand Delivery: The OEI Docket is located in the EPA
Headquarters Docket Center, Room 3334, EPA West Building, 1301
Constitution Avenue NW., Washington, DC. The EPA Docket Center 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-
2013-0189. 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 on-line at
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 www.regulations.gov or email. The
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 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
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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
comments due to technical difficulties and cannot contact you for
clarification, EPA may not be able to consider your comments.
Electronic files should avoid the use of special characters and 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 www.epa.gov/epahome/dockets.htm.
Docket: 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 at www.regulations.gov or in hard copy at the OEI Docket
in the EPA Headquarters Docket Center.
Dated: June 3, 2013.
Abdel Kadry,
Acting Deputy Director, National Center for Environmental Assessment.
[FR Doc. 2013-13451 Filed 6-5-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P