[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 203 (Wednesday, October 21, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 56146-56147]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-28150]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY


Final Administrative Changes to the Coastal Nonpoint Pollution 
Control Program Guidance and Responses to Comments

AGENCY: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. 
Department of Commerce, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

ACTION: Notice of Availability of Final Administrative Changes to the 
Coastal Nonpoint Pollution Control Program Guidance and Responses to 
Comments.

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SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given of the availability of the Final 
Administrative Changes to the Coastal Nonpoint Pollution Control 
Program Guidance (Administrative Changes), developed under section 6217 
of the Coastal Zone Act Reauthorization Amendments of 1990 (CZARA), 16 
U.S.C. section 1455b, and of the Responses to Comments on the Proposed 
Administrative Changes, CZARA requires States and Territories with 
coastal zone management programs that have received approval under 
section 306 of the Coastal Zone Management Act (CZMA) to develop and 
implement coastal nonpoint pollution control programs. Coastal states 
and territories were required to submit their coastal nonpoint programs 
to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the 
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for approval in July 1995
    In response to coastal states' concerns over the ability to target 
the program; enforceable policies and mechanisms; timeframes; and 
resources to implement coastal nonpoint programs, NOAA and EPA 
completed a dialogue with the coastal states and other interested 
parties, resulting in a draft set of administrative changes. The draft 
administrative changes were made available for public comment (FR, 
March 12, 1998, Vol. 63, Number 48, pages 12078-12079) prior to 
producing the final guidance.

ADDRESSES: Copies of the Final Administrative Changes and Responses to 
Comments may be obtained upon request from: Joseph P. Flanagan, Coastal 
Programs Division (N/ORM3), Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource 
Management, NOS, NOAA, 1305 East-West Highway, Silver Spring, Maryland 
20910, telephone: (301) 713-3121, x201; e-mail: 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION

Background

    Subsequent to the 1990 enactment of the CZARA, in January 1993, EPA 
and NOAA published two documents to guide the development of States' 
(and Territories') coastal nonpoint pollution control programs: 
Guidance Specifying Management Measures for Sources of Nonpoint 
Pollution in Coastal Waters and Program Development and Approval 
Guidance. These provided both technical and programmatic guidance on 
program development. Subsequently, EPA and NOAA provided further 
program clarification in a January 6, 1995 letter and a March 16, 1995 
document entitled Flexibility for State Coastal Nonpoint Programs. 
These actions provided greater flexibility to States in prioritizing 
their activities; extended the implementation period from three years 
to five years; and clarified the range of enforceable policies and 
mechanisms that could be sued by States to implement their programs. 
The letters also established the principle that, in recognition of the 
complexity of the program, States could be granted conditional approval 
for programs that are not yet fully approvable, thereby affording more 
time for States to fully develop their programs.
    As of the date of this notice, NOAA and EPA have provided 
conditional approval to the 29 coastal States that submitted programs 
for approval. In April, 1997, NOAA, EPA, the States and other 
interested parties began discussions regarding the progress made to 
date in developing and implementing CZARA programs and the significant 
impediments to further progress. Both the States and Federal agencies 
recognized that while the goals of the CZARA program remain valid, the 
program and schedules originally conceived by NOAA and EPA were 
extremely ambitious and additional flexibility would be needed to 
enable the States to successfully implement their programs. Based on 
this understanding, the parties proceeded to discuss in detail the 
specific aspects of the program that would require modification while 
maintaining the overall objective that States implement management 
measures needed to protect coastal waters.
    Based on these discussions, EPA and NOAA drafted a set of 
administrative changes that the agencies proposed to use to guide 
future implementation of the CZARA program. After reviewing public 
comments that were submitted in response to the March 12, 1998 Federal 
Register notice on the availability of the proposed administrative 
changes, NOAA and EPA developed these final administrative changes to 
the program guidance. In some cases, these changes may impact previous 
findings and conditions to State programs. In such cases, EPA and NOAA 
will review those findings and conditions and make any necessary 
adjustments to those findings and conditions (including, where 
appropriate, elimination of conditions).
    On October 18, 1997, the 25th anniversary of the Clean Water Act, 
Vice President Gore directed the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) 
and Department of Agriculture (USDA) to work with other Federal 
agencies (including NOAA) to develop a Clean Water Action Plan within 
120 days. In a memorandum for Heads of Departments and Agencies, the 
Vice President specifically requested Federal agencies to ``* * * 
develop a

[[Page 56147]]

comprehensive Action Plan that builds on the * * * clean water 
successes over the past five years and addresses three major goals: 
enhanced protection from public health threats posed by water 
pollution; more effective control of polluted runoff; and promotion of 
water quality protection on a watershed basis.'' The Action Plan is 
informed by the following principles:
     Agencies will develop cooperative approaches that promote 
coordination and reduce duplication among Federal, State and local 
agencies and Tribal governments wherever possible.
     Agencies will ensure participation of community groups and 
the public to the maximum extent practicable. Such participation will 
include community and public access to information, to protect the 
public's right-to-know about water quality issues.
     Agencies will emphasize innovative approaches to pollution 
control, including, where appropriate, incentives, market-based 
mechanisms, and cooperative partnerships with landowners and other 
private parties.
    On February 19, 1998, President Clinton announced the Clean Water 
Action Plan to restore and protect America's waters. NOAA and EPA view 
these administrative changes as supporting the goals of the President's 
Clean Water Action Plan to reduce polluted runoff in coastal areas. In 
particular, these changes respond to the following key action included 
in the Clean Water Action Plan.

    NOAA and EPA will work with coastal states and territories to 
ensure that they have developed programs to reduce polluted runoff 
in coastal areas and that these programs are at least conditionally 
approved by June 1998 and that all programs are fully approved by 
December 1999, with appropriate state-enforceable policies and 
mechanisms.

    The Final Administrative Changes provide guidance to the States on 
how NOAA and EPA intend to exercise their discretion in implementing 
the Coastal Nonpoint Pollution Control Program. As such, these Final 
Administrative Changes, as well as the previously issued guidance they 
modify, are not regulations.

(Federal Domestic Assistance Catalog 11.419 Coastal Zone Management 
Program Administration)

    Dated: October 15, 1998.
Captain Evelyn J. Fields,
Deputy Assistant Administrator for Ocean Services and Coastal Zone 
Management, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
J. Charles Fox,
Acting Assistant Administrator for Water, Environmental Protection 
Agency.
[FR Doc. 98-28150 Filed 10-20-98; 8:45 am]
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