[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 133 (Tuesday, July 11, 2000)]
[Notices]
[Pages 42690-42697]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-17354]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-6732-1]


Notice of Availability and Request for Comment on Draft Plan of 
Action for Reducing, Mitigating, and Controlling Hypoxia in the 
Northern Gulf of Mexico

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of Availability and Request for Public Comment.

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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), on behalf of the 
Mississippi River/Gulf of Mexico Watershed Nutrient Task Force (Task 
Force), invites public comments on the draft Action Plan for Reducing, 
Mitigating, and Controlling Hypoxia in the Northern Gulf of Mexico 
(Action Plan) as required by section 604(b) of Public Law 105-383, the 
Harmful Algal Bloom and Hypoxia Research and Control Act of 1998, Title 
VI, enacted on November 13, 1998. The Task Force is comprised of senior 
policymakers from eight Federal agencies, nine States, and two Tribal 
governments. The Action Plan is the result of several years of study 
and discussion by the members of the Task Force and many interested 
officials and citizens who participated in their deliberations.

DATES: Comments must be received by September 11, 2000. All comments 
received during the formal comment period will be reviewed and 
delivered to the Mississippi River/Gulf of Mexico Watershed Nutrient 
Task Force for their consideration prior to the development of the 
final Action Plan. Late comments will be considered as time allows. 
Submission of comments prior to the end of the comment period is highly 
encouraged.

ADDRESSES: Submit written comments to: Mississippi River/Gulf of Mexico 
Action Plan (4503F), c/o U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 
Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20460. For information on 
electronic filing of comments, see ``Additional Comment Information'' 
in SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. John Wilson, U.S. EPA, Assessment 
and Watershed Protection Division (AWPD) (4503F), 1200 Pennsylvania 
Avenue NW, Washington, D.C. 20460, telephone (202) 260-7878; Internet: 
[email protected]. The draft Action Plan below, as well as related 
information, may be reached via the EPA website: at http://www.epa.gov/msbasin/>.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
    Additional Comment Information: Comments may also be submitted 
electronically. Comments should be sent to the following Internet 
address: [email protected]. Electronic comments must be submitted as an 
ASCII or WordPerfect file avoiding the use of special characters and 
any form on encryption.
    The Task Force first met on December 4, 1997 and has had five 
meetings since that time in various locations within the Mississippi/
Atchafalaya river basin. At its November 18, 1999 meeting in Chicago, 
IL, the Task Force expressed general support for a previous draft of 
this Action Plan, but requested staff development of additional 
information on quantitative goals for the reduction of hypoxia in the 
Gulf of Mexico. At its June 15 and 16 meeting in St. Louis, MO, the 
Task Force had a spirited discussion about alternative goals and 
directed that several alternatives be published for public comment. 
Accordingly, the Task Force is particularly interested in comment on 
the following:
    1. Which of the ``Coastal Goals'' should be in the final Action 
Plan, and if not any of these, please suggest alternatives? Are the 
``Within Basin'' and ``Quality of Life'' Goals appropriate or how 
should they be modified?;
    2. Are the Implementation Actions listed and the dates associated 
with them appropriate?;
    3. Provide examples of any effective nutrient management State/
Tribal program successes or challenges which can be highlighted in the 
final Action Plan; and
    4. Are the listings of Federal programs in the section ``Funding 
the National Effort'' complete?

Draft Action Plan for Reducing, Mitigating, and Controlling Hypoxia 
in the Northern Gulf of Mexico

Purpose and Background
Background on the Issue
Long-Term Goals
Implementation Actions
Key Roles and Responsibilities
The Framework and Approach for Reducing Hypoxia in the Gulf of 
Mexico
Adaptive Management: Action, Monitoring, and Research
Funding the National Effort: Clean Rivers/Clean Gulf Budget 
Initiative
Indicators of Success/Progress

Purpose and Background

    This Action Plan describes a national strategy to reduce the 
frequency, duration, size and degree of oxygen depletion of the hypoxic 
zone of the northern Gulf of Mexico (the Gulf). The Plan is the result 
of several years of study and discussion by the members of the 
Mississippi River/Gulf of Mexico Watershed Nutrient Task Force (the 
Task Force) and many concerned officials and citizens who participated 
in their deliberations. This Plan is submitted in accordance with The 
Harmful Algal Bloom and Hypoxia Research and Control Act of 1998, Title 
VI of P.L. 105-383, section 604(b), enacted on November 13, 1998.
    This Action Plan is informed by the findings of the Committee on 
Environment and Natural Resources (CENR) Integrated Assessment of 
Hypoxia in the Northern Gulf of Mexico along with many comments 
submitted about it and the six topic reports on which it is based. In 
addition, the Task Force considered several other significant reports, 
including the Gulf of Mexico Hypoxia: Land and Sea Interactions 
(Council for Agricultural Science and Technology, 1999), The Role of 
the Mississippi River in Gulf of Mexico Hypoxia (University of Alabama-
Carey et al. 1999; for the Fertilizer Institute), and Clean Coastal 
Waters: Understanding and Reducing the Effects of Nutrient Pollution 
(Committee on the Causes and Management of Eutrophication, National 
Research Council, 2000). The Task Force members also drew on their many 
years of experience in agricultural and environmental policy in 
formulating this Action Plan. The Task Force also listened carefully to 
dozens of statements by members of the public during its six public 
meetings.
    Improved coordination and, in most cases, expansion of the 
excellent private and government supported efforts to reduce losses of 
nutrients are central to the success of this strategy. Throughout the 
basin much work is underway to increase the efficiency of farming 
practices and restore wetlands and riparian buffers. In addition, 
industry and local governments are beginning to undertake additional 
efforts to reduce

[[Page 42691]]

nutrient loadings from point sources and urban runoff. Implementation, 
and expansion, of those efforts will continue to deliver improvements 
to water quality throughout the basin and in the Gulf.
    The work of the Task Force has provided a basin wide context for 
the continued pursuit of both incentive-based, voluntary efforts for 
nonpoint sources and regulatory controls for point sources. 
Furthermore, research and monitoring that supports the proposed 
remedies and goals in this plan, as well as resolution of uncertainties 
identified in the CENR Integrated Assessment and elsewhere, are 
identified as priorities for future action.
    The Action Plan proposes an implementation approach to carry out an 
initial set of ten priority actions and, subsequently, make adjustments 
to that initial approach as we evaluate results. This plan describes an 
adaptive approach, based on implementation, monitoring and research to 
address known problems, clarify scientific uncertainties, and evaluate 
the effectiveness of efforts to reduce hypoxia. Because of the 
importance of enhancing these efforts by increasing support for 
necessary incentives, monitoring and research, this plan also 
identifies additional resource needs.

Background on the Issue

    Scientific investigations document a zone on the Gulf of Mexico's 
Texas-Louisiana Shelf with seasonally low oxygen levels (2mg/l). 
Between 1993 and 1999 the zone of mid-summer bottom-water hypoxia in 
the northern Gulf of Mexico has been estimated to be larger than 4,000 
square miles. In 1999, it was 8,000 square miles, about the size of the 
State of New Jersey. The hypoxic zone is a result of complicated 
interactions involving excessive nutrients, primarily nitrogen, carried 
to the Gulf by the Mississippi and Atchafalaya Rivers; physical changes 
in the basin, such as channelization and loss of natural wetlands and 
vegetation along the banks as well as wetland conversions throughout 
the basin; and the stratification in the waters of the northern Gulf 
caused by the interaction of fresh river water and the saltwater of the 
Gulf.
    Nutrients, such as nitrogen and phosphorus, are essential for 
healthy marine and freshwater environments. However, an overabundance 
can trigger excessive algal growth (or eutrophication) which can result 
in several possible ecosystem responses. In the near shore Gulf, 
excessive algal growth, driven by excess nitrogen, results primarily in 
a decrease in dissolved oxygen in the bottom water, and the 
corresponding loss of aquatic (water column and benthic) habitat. 
Mobile organisms leave the hypoxic zone and those that cannot leave, 
die or are weakened depending on how low the oxygen level gets and for 
how long. In the Gulf, fish, shrimp, crabs, zooplankton, and other 
important fish prey are significantly less abundant in bottom waters in 
areas that experience bottom waters hypoxia.
    Additionally, water quality throughout the Mississippi and 
Atchafalaya River basin (the Basin) has been degraded by excess 
nutrients. Most States in the Basin have significant river miles 
impaired by high nutrient concentrations, primarily phosphorous, 
meaning that they are not fully supporting aquatic life uses. In some 
areas groundwater supplies are threatened by excess nitrate, which can 
be a human health hazard.
    A significant portion of the nutrients entering the Gulf from the 
Mississippi River come from human activities: discharges from sewage 
treatment and industrial wastewater treatment plants and stormwater 
runoff from city streets and farms. Nutrients from automobile exhaust 
and fossil fueled power plants also enter the waterways and the Gulf 
through air deposition to the vast land area drained by the Mississippi 
River and its tributaries. About 90% of the nitrate load to the Gulf 
comes from non-point sources. About 56% of the load enters the 
Mississippi River above the Ohio River. The Ohio basin adds 34%. High 
nitrogen loads come from basins receiving wastewater discharges and 
draining agricultural lands in Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, southern 
Minnesota, and Ohio.
    The primary approaches to reduce hypoxia in the Gulf of Mexico 
appear to be to: 1) reduce nitrogen loads from watersheds to streams 
and rivers in the Basin and 2) restore and enhance denitrification and 
nitrogen retention within the Basin. Current model simulations suggest 
that a 40% reduction in total nitrogen flux to the Gulf is necessary to 
return to average loads comparable to those during 1955-70. Model 
simulations further suggest that, short of the 40% reduction necessary 
to return to levels in the past mid-century, nutrient load reductions 
of about 20-30% would result in a 15-50% increase in bottom water 
dissolved oxygen concentrations. Because any oxygen increase above the 
2 mg/l threshold will have a significant positive effects on marine 
life, even small reductions in nitrogen loads are desirable. While the 
primary focus of this strategy is on reducing nitrogen loads to the 
northern Gulf, many of the actions proposed through this plan will also 
achieve basin-wide improvements in surface-water quality, by reducing 
phosphorous as well. Likewise, actions taken to address local water 
quality problems in the basin will frequently also contribute to 
reductions in nitrogen loadings to the Gulf.

Long-Term Goals

    The goals of this strategy are three-fold:
    (1) Coastal Goal--This goal will be re-evaluated every five years 
to take into account advances in information and the feasibility in 
attaining the goal based on progress in implementing this Action Plan.

    (Note to commentors: Three options for the coastal goal are 
listed to specifically solicit public comments on the choices 
between different quantitative and qualitative alternatives)

    1.A--to reduce, by 2010, annual discharges of nitrogen to the Gulf 
from the Mississippi/Atchafalaya Rivers by 350,000 to 650,000 metric 
tons--equivalent to a 20 to 40% reduction in the annual average loading 
during the period 1980-1996. This reduction should be pursued through a 
combination of actions to curb direct discharges of nitrogen bearing 
domestic and industrial wastewater, to reduce losses of excess 
nutrients from agricultural operations, and by intercepting and 
processing nutrients in riparian buffers and constructed or restored 
wetlands.
    1.B--to reduce the 5-year running average areal extent of Gulf of 
Mexico hypoxia to less than 5,000 square kilometers by the year 2010. 
The best current science says that to make significant progress toward 
that goal, average nitrogen loads to the Gulf should be reduced by 30% 
from the 1980-96 average. Identification of specific actions within the 
basin, to achieve that 30% nitrogen load reduction, should be developed 
through the implementation actions outlined in this Action Plan.
    1.C--to pursue practical, cost-effective efforts by all states and 
tribes within the basin and all categories of sources to protect the 
ecological and fisheries resources of the northern Gulf of Mexico by 
reducing nutrient over-enrichment.
    (2) Within Basin Goal--to restore and protect the waters of the 31 
States and tribal lands within the Mississippi/Atchafalaya River Basin 
and their aquatic ecosystems in order to protect public health and 
aquatic life, as well as reduce negative impacts on downstream waters.

[[Page 42692]]

    (3) Quality of Life Goal--to improve the communities and economic 
conditions across the Mississippi/Atchafalaya River Basin, in 
particular the agriculture, fisheries and recreation sectors, through 
improved public and private land management and a cooperative, 
incentive based approach.

Implementation Actions

    The guiding principle of this plan is that in establishing 
priorities for watershed restoration, States, Tribes, and Federal 
Agencies within the Mississippi and Atchafalaya River Basin consider 
the potential for benefits to the Gulf of Mexico, direct current and 
increased resources to cost-effective, practical, actions that will 
reduce discharges and run-off of nutrients in the Mississippi and 
Atchafalaya River Basin, and give priority to watersheds delivering the 
most nitrogen to the Gulf as well as being likely to have local 
benefits.
    This Action Plan assumes continuation of the Mississippi River/Gulf 
of Mexico Watershed Nutrient Task Force with invitations for 
participation by additional States and Tribes in the Basin. The Plan 
also assumes that Federal, State, and Tribal governments will provide 
involved agencies with any new authorities needed to implement proposed 
actions and with additional appropriations needed to accomplish tasks 
not presently funded within agency budgets. The Task Force will serve 
as the national forum to encourage and coordinate implementation, 
including assessments, research, monitoring and modeling, and also 
adaptive management, including evaluation of progress, updates of goals 
and strategies and solicitation of continued financial support, to 
achieve the goals described above.
    The following short term actions and time-frames are proposed to 
achieve long-term goals outlined above:
    #1 By Summer, 2001: the Task Force will establish sub-basin 
committees to coordinate implementation of the Action Plan by major 
sub-basin, including coordination among smaller watersheds and States 
in each of those sub-basins;
    #2 By Fall, 2001, States, Tribes and Federal Agencies within the 
Mississippi and Atchafalaya River Basin, using available data and 
tools, will develop strategies for nutrient reduction in the sub-basins 
with greatest contributions to Gulf hypoxia. These strategies will 
include setting reduction targets in metric tons of nitrogen, 
establishing a baseline of existing efforts for nutrient management, 
identifying opportunities to restore flood plain wetlands (including 
restoration of river inflows) along and adjacent to the Mississippi 
River, detailing needs for additional assistance to meet their goals, 
and promoting additional funding;
    #3 By Fall, 2001, Clean Water Act permitting authorities within the 
Mississippi and Atchafalaya River Basin will identify point source 
dischargers with significant discharges of nutrients and undertake 
steps to reduce those loadings, consistent with action 2, above;
    #4 By Spring 2002, States and Tribes within the Mississippi and 
Atchafalaya River Basin with support from Federal agencies, will 
increase assistance to landowners for voluntary actions to restore, 
enhance, or create wetlands and vegetative or forested buffers along 
rivers and streams within priority watersheds consistent with action 2, 
above;
    #5 By Fall 2002, States and Tribes within the Mississippi and 
Atchafalaya River Basin, with support from Federal agencies, will 
increase assistance to agricultural producers, other landowners, and 
businesses for the voluntary implementation of best management 
practices (BMPs), which are effective in addressing loss of nitrogen to 
waterbodies, consistent with action 2, above;
    #6 By Fall, 2001, The Task Force will propose an integrated Gulf of 
Mexico Hypoxia Research Strategy to coordinate and promoting funding 
for necessary research and modeling efforts to reduce uncertainties 
regarding the sources, effects (including economic effects in the Gulf 
as well as the basin), and geochemical processes for hypoxia in the 
Gulf;
    #7 By Spring, 2002, Coastal States, Tribes and relevant Federal 
Agencies will greatly expand the long-term monitoring program for the 
hypoxic zone, including greater temporal and spatial data collection, 
measurements of macro-nutrient and micro-nutrient concentrations and 
hypoxia as well as measures of the biochemical processes that regulate 
the inputs, fate, and distribution of nutrients and organic material;
    #8 By Spring 2002, States, Tribes and Federal Agencies within the 
Mississippi and Atchafalaya River Basin will expand the existing 
monitoring efforts within the Basin to provide both a coarse resolution 
assessment of the nutrient contribution of various sub-basins and a 
high resolution modeling technique in these smaller watersheds to 
identify additional management actions to help mitigate nitrogen losses 
to the Gulf, and phosphorous loadings to local waters, based on the 
interim guidance established by the National Water Quality Monitoring 
Council; and,
    #9 By Fall 2003, The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (COE), in 
cooperation with States, Tribes and other Federal Agencies, will, when 
authorized and funded by the Congress, complete a reconnaissance level 
assessment of potential nutrient reduction actions that could be 
achieved by modifying COE projects or project operations.
    #10 By Fall 2005 and every five years thereafter, the Task Force 
will assess the nutrient load reductions achieved and the response of 
the hypoxic zone, water quality throughout the Basin, and economic and 
social effects. Based on this assessment, the Task Force will determine 
appropriate actions to continue to implement this strategy or, if 
necessary, revise the strategy.

Key Roles and Responsibilities

    These implementation actions will require contributions and 
collaboration from many different individuals and organizations. 
Briefly, some of the most important roles and responsibilities include:

Private Citizens and Businesses

     Landowners (homeowners and renters, farmers, ranchers), 
businesses and business owners can significantly reduce the impacts of 
their activities on water quality when provided with information about 
environmental problems, practical and cost-effective solutions, 
technical assistance, and, where necessary, financial assistance. Under 
this strategy, Federal, State, Tribal and local agencies will use 
education, assistance and other incentives to encourage broader and 
more effective use of pollution prevention techniques, BMPs and 
participation in restoration programs by landowners, businesses and 
households.

States and Tribes

     States and Tribes have important water quality protection 
responsibilities under their own laws and as key implementors or 
partners in programs established pursuant to Federal legislation. 
Specifically, States and Tribes will assess the effectiveness of their 
nutrient reduction programs particularly to ensure that the goals for 
nitrogen reduction are met and that each State/Tribe is making 
appropriate contributions to the overall basin reduction goals.
     States and Tribes will develop Total Maximum Daily Loads 
(TMDLs) for those waters identified as priorities through their 
Continuing Planning Process and by listing on the 303(d) list in 
accordance with their respective

[[Page 42693]]

State priority lists. Where possible, States and Tribes are encouraged 
to give priority for developing TMDLs to those watersheds identified as 
significant sources of nitrogen to downstream waters that flow to the 
Basin.
     States and Tribes will develop numeric water quality 
standards for nutrients based on enhanced monitoring and research 
information linking nutrient loadings to water quality in the Basin.
     States and Tribes should assess water quality impairments 
in accordance with their watershed strategies based on the adopted 
standards for nutrients.

States, Tribes, and Federal Agencies

     The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (COE), in conjunction 
with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the National 
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), U.S. Department of 
Interior, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the State of 
Louisiana, will target the Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection, and 
Restoration Act and other pertinent program resources for diversions 
and other related projects that further the goals of restoring coastal 
wetlands, removing nitrogen, and protecting near coastal water quality 
from excessive nutrient enrichment. The Corps, working with the Upper 
Mississippi River Basin States and Tribes through use of Navigation and 
Environmental Management or Restoration Programs, will promote pool 
management and other actions in the upper Mississippi River Basin 
targeted at enhancement of nitrogen removal during critical periods of 
the year.
     States, Tribes, USDA and EPA will target programs and 
State Revolving Loan Funds to improve municipal stormwater programs; 
promote the use, where appropriate, of centralized sewage treatment and 
Biological Nitrogen Removal in municipal sewage treatment plants; and 
improve the application, operation and maintenance of on-site systems.
     States, Tribes and EPA will target Clean Water Act Section 
319 funds to improve nitrogen management and wetland and riparian 
buffer restoration and creation for water quality benefits.
     States and Tribes, in conjunction with the U.S. Geological 
Survey (USGS), USDA, EPA, COE and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 
Administration (NOAA), will implement a coordinated monitoring program 
for the Basin. USDA, COE and EPA will have a leadership role in 
establishing the scope and plan for periodic inventory of programmatic 
and economic indicators. NOAA will have a leadership role in the 
monitoring and model development related to oceanographic processes and 
impacts of hypoxia. USGS will have a leadership role in monitoring of 
water-quality conditions and in development of models and related 
methods to evaluate water-quality trends and the effectiveness of 
management actions within the Basin. The States and Tribes will provide 
leadership in coordination of efforts within and along State and Tribal 
boundaries in order to insure that monitoring and model development are 
consistent among the various State and Federal programs.
     In cooperation with federal agencies, States will document 
and monitor land use changes to identify priority areas of likely 
nitrogen loss to streams. States will work with the USDA to complete 
soil maps for all agricultural areas in the basin and evaluate in more 
detail the soil nutrient loading and cycling in critical areas.
     NOAA, EPA, COE and the State of Louisiana, will develop 
and implement a comprehensive monitoring and assessment strategy for 
the northern Gulf hypoxic region based on the critical needs identified 
in the CENR assessment.
     EPA, in cooperation with other federal agencies, States, 
Tribes, and the National Water Quality Monitoring Council, will 
standardize monitoring and reporting of nutrient loading by point 
source dischargers within the Mississippi and Atchafalaya River Basin.
     USGS, USDA, EPA, COE and NOAA, in concert with other 
Federal and State agencies and non-government organizations, will 
pursue research to reduce the uncertainties in the scientific 
assessment, to improve monitoring and modeling capabilities, and to 
improve BMPs for reducing nutrient losses from nonpoint sources.
     State, Tribal and Federal agencies will increase the 
coordination of their activities as they affect the Basin using 
mechanisms such as the Clean Water Action Plan, State Technical 
Committees, and State/Tribe-led stakeholder input fora. Agencies will 
be responsive to locally-led conservation activities.
     EPA, NOAA, States and Tribes will develop water quality 
criteria for nutrients, including criteria for nitrogen that are 
tailored to the coastal ecoregions of the Northern Gulf of Mexico and 
near-coastal marine waters of the Gulf hypoxic region.

Federal Agencies

     The Federal agencies will direct the Environmental Quality 
Incentive Program (EQIP), the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), the 
Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP), Agricultural Extension Education 
Programs, Clean Water Act Section 319 resources, and other 
Environmental Restoration Programs into state-targeted watersheds to: 
establish stream-side buffers; increase producer participation and 
acres under the CRP and WRP in areas that will protect surface waters 
and restore natural nutrient cycling in aquatic systems; increase the 
number of acres in conservation tillage; increase the number of 
producers and acres under voluntary nutrient management plans; and 
improve animal waste management practices.
     EPA will provide technical, financial and institutional 
support to assist States and Tribes to upgrade their nonpoint source 
programs and will provide grants to be passed-through to landowners as 
incentives for improved practices. NOAA and EPA will support targeted 
implementation of Louisiana's Coastal Nonpoint Source program as 
provided in sec. 6217 of CZARA.
     EPA will approve prioritization and listing of impaired 
waters (Lists), including impaired coastal waters as appropriate, in 
accordance with Section 303(d) of the Clean Water Act. Where EPA 
determines that Lists or TMDLs do not satisfy requirements of the CWA, 
EPA is required to issue Lists and develop TMDLs.

The Framework and Approach for Reducing Hypoxia in the Gulf of 
Mexico

    There are no simple solutions that will reduce hypoxia in the Gulf. 
An optimal approach would take advantage of the full range of possible 
actions to reduce nutrient loads and increase nitrogen retention and 
denitrification within a framework that encourages adaptive management 
and accomplishes this in a cost effective manner. While reduction of 
nitrogen is the principal focus of this framework, many of the actions 
needed to reduce nitrogen loads will complement and enhance existing 
efforts to restore water quality throughout the basin. With additional 
assistance, this national effort to reduce Gulf hypoxia will be 
implemented within the existing array of state and federal laws, 
programs and private initiatives.
    The tools provided by the Clean Water Act, and the programs 
established under the last several Farm Bills and Water Resources 
Development Acts, are

[[Page 42694]]

critical to implementing this plan. Because nutrient over-enrichment is 
a widespread problem, these existing national programs and initiatives 
incorporate specific elements intended to reduce nutrient loadings to 
surface waters and to foster restoration of natural habitats capable of 
removing nutrients from waters. They include:
     encouraging nonpoint source pollutant reductions under the 
Clean Water Act, the Farm Bill, and State cost-sharing programs;
     implementation of the Environmental Quality Incentives 
Program (EQIP) to assist grain and livestock producers in reducing 
excessive nutrients' movement to water resources;
     implementation of the Conservation Reserve Program, 
Wetlands Reserve Program, Corps of Engineers Environmental Restoration 
Programs, and Agricultural Extension Education Programs to promote 
restoration and enhancement of natural systems for nitrogen retention 
and denitrification;
     increasing emphasis on nutrient management through State 
and Tribal efforts to implement watershed based approaches to water 
quality management, including monitoring and assessing waters, adoption 
of water quality standards, including nutrient criteria, developing 
total maximum daily loads (TMDLs), and implementing point source 
controls through the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System 
(NPDES);
     promoting public-private partnerships to restore buffers;
     implementation of Louisiana's Coastal Nonpoint Pollution 
Control Programs under the Coastal Zone Act Reauthorization Act in the 
lower Mississippi and Atchafalaya Rivers;
     supporting actions by non-water quality State and Tribal 
agencies, private landowners, the agricultural and other industries to 
reduce nitrogen loadings to the basin; and,
     providing voluntary incentives for nitrogen reductions 
from point and nonpoint sources.
    This plan recognizes and builds upon these requirements, programs 
and initiatives. A successful strategy to restore water quality in the 
Gulf of Mexico will almost certainly benefit water quality throughout 
the Mississippi and Atchafalaya River Basin.

Adaptive Management: Action, Monitoring and Research

    The complex nature of nutrient cycling and transport within the 
Mississippi and Atchafalaya River basins and Gulf of Mexico make it 
difficult to predict specific improvements in water quality that will 
occur both in the Gulf as well as the entire Mississippi River basin 
for a given reduction in nutrient loads. Further, it is clear that 
environmental responses to management actions in the basin likely will 
be slow, possibly requiring decades to demonstrate that remedial 
actions have helped the recovery of oxygen concentrations in the Gulf 
and have improved water quality in the Basin. Finally, while the 
current understanding of the causes and consequences of Gulf of Mexico 
hypoxia is drawn from a massive amount of direct and indirect evidence 
collected and reported over many years of scientific inquiry, 
significant uncertainties remain. Further monitoring, modeling and 
research are needed to reduce those uncertainties in future assessments 
and to aid decision making in an adaptive management framework. A 
comprehensive program of planning, monitoring, interpretation, 
modeling, and research to facilitate improvement in scientific 
knowledge and adjustments in management practices should be coupled to 
the initial nutrient management strategies identified in this plan. 
This adaptive management scheme involves continual feedback between 
interpretation of new information and improved management actions and 
is the key to targeting BMPs within watersheds where they will actually 
be effective.
    This adaptive approach should consist of the following components:
     Action: implementing the actions identified in this plan 
including developing sub-basin strategies, initiating additional 
monitoring and research, and pursuing a national commitment to 
supporting actions to reduce and mitigate the impacts of hypoxia in the 
Gulf.
     Education: increasing the stakeholder awareness of the 
causes and effects of hypoxia, the actions underway or planned to 
reduce those effects, and the role of state, local and tribal 
governments as well as individual landowners, citizens and businesses 
to contribute to the solution. Make this information available through 
electronic media and sharing the latest news on successful approaches 
and reductions.
     Monitoring: increasing the scale and frequency of 
monitoring of both the extent of the hypoxic zone and the sources and 
conditions of waters throughout the basin.
     Research and Modeling: reducing the uncertainties of the 
effects of the hypoxic zone, the sources of contributing factors and 
the biochemical processes that underlie the causes and effects of the 
hypoxic zone, and the social and economic impacts of various control 
strategies;
     Evaluation and Adaptation: reviewing periodically the 
monitoring and research results to revise this plan, through the 
Mississippi River/Gulf of Mexico Watershed Nutrient Task Force.
    This plan seeks to take maximum advantage of water quality 
improvement efforts underway or planned nationally and proposes a 
mechanism to better focus those efforts. Water resources within the 
Basin--rivers, wetlands, lakes, and streams--and the Gulf of Mexico are 
expected to benefit from these efforts. Many specific water quality 
improvement actions can be undertaken by industries, municipalities, 
farmers, ranchers, and other citizens. These actions can raise property 
values, conserve soil, increase productivity, reduce input costs and 
provide habitat for game and fish and revenue from hunting, fishing and 
other recreation. Because of the economic benefits of these measures to 
the landowners and other stakeholders who undertake them, education and 
voluntary, incentive-based, approaches can be effective in promoting 
such actions, in particular best management practices (BMPs).

Funding the National Effort: Clean Rivers/Clean Gulf Budget 
Initiative

    This action plan proposes a Clean Rivers/Clean Gulf budget 
initiative to restore the waters of the Mississippi/Atchafalaya River 
Basins and the hypoxic zone in the Gulf of Mexico. This initiative 
would provide flexible funding to support implementation of the most 
practical, appropriate, and economical, mix of strategies as determined 
by implementation action #2 above, to address the linked problems of 
inland water quality in the Mississippi/Atchafalaya River Basins and 
Gulf of Mexico Hypoxic Zone.

Basin-wide Goal: State/Tribal-led Strategies Within a National 
Commitment

    There are multiple sources of nitrogen contributing to nutrient 
over-enrichment in the Gulf of Mexico, including about 11 percent from 
municipal and industrial point sources, 65 percent from agricultural 
nonpoint sources, and about 24 percent from other nonpoint sources; the 
mix of these sources varies considerably within the huge watershed of 
the Mississippi/Atchafalaya Rivers. Therefore, this initiative proposes 
an innovative Omnibus Mississippi-Gulf Restoration Fund, which would 
allow for resources to be allocated initially based on an

[[Page 42695]]

estimate of the relative proportion of the need and cost for remedial 
measures basin-wide to be determined by implementation action #2. The 
allocation would be re-visited periodically based on the actual 
distribution of actions taken under State strategies, and thus funds 
committed. The land area to be ``treated'' (\2/3\ of the 48 contiguous 
states), number of States involved (31), number of tribes involved 
(77), and resources damaged and at risk justify an investment in 
keeping with the scale of investments planned or undertaken in South 
Florida and the California Bay Delta, and greater than those pursued in 
the Chesapeake Bay and Great Lakes.
    States and Tribes, will, on a basin-by-basin basis select the most 
appropriate, readily implemented approaches, building on existing water 
quality and habitat improvement programs. State strategies will draw 
from a broad menu of reasonable and cost-effective responses to prevent 
nutrients from reaching rivers and streams to be carried to the Gulf 
and to restore the natural capacity of the ecosystem to process 
nutrients into harmless substances. Important improvements in water 
quality in the lakes and rivers used and enjoyed regionally, as well as 
significant reduction of Gulf of Mexico hypoxia will result. States 
currently contribute significant resources to match (and overmatch) 
many Federal programs and their contributions would increase along with 
further Federal investment.
    The Federal Government will provide resources to support pollution 
control and habitat restoration through several new and existing 
programs. The Federal interest in this effort is clear: interstate 
waters, producing economically valuable goods and services and 
representing a key component of our national patrimony, are damaged and 
at further risk. Large-scale, Federally-funded navigation and flood 
control projects throughout the basin contribute to the problem, as 
well as smaller scale state and local contributions from wastewater 
treatment systems and farming practices. Often these actions were taken 
without adequate consideration of local or down-river impacts. Many of 
the investments proposed will have the further national policy benefit 
of supporting the farm economy at a time of severe stress.

Mississippi-Gulf Omnibus Restoration Fund

    Elements of the Restoration Fund are:

Wetlands Restoration Fund: Restore Wetlands

    Restoration/creation of wetlands to intercept and bioremediate 
nutrients from agricultural run-off; acquisition of land and/or 
easements and construction and operation of wetland treatment systems. 
Action will also produce flood damage reduction benefits and habitat 
benefits.

Principal Programs

    USDA: Wetlands Reserve Program, Conservation Reserve Program, NRCS 
Technical Assistance, Extension Education
    USFWS: North American Waterfowl and Wetlands Program, Partners for 
Fish and Wildlife Program, National Wildlife Refuge System
    USEPA: Sec. 319 Grant program, Clean Water State Revolving Loan 
Fund (CWSRF)
    NOAA: Coastal Wetland Restoration Projects
    USACE: Section 206 WRDA '96, Aquatic Ecosystem Restoration; Section 
204 WRDA '92 Use of dredged material to protect, restore, and create 
aquatic and ecologically related habitats; Section 1135, WRDA '86, 
Project Modifications for Improvement of the Environment; Specific 
General Investigations to address wetland restoration

Offset: Reductions in Crop Insurance Payments for Farming in Flood 
Prone Areas

Agricultural Nutrient Efficiency Fund: Use Management Practices for 
Nutrient Loading Reductions

    Incentive payments and technical assistance to increase agronomic 
efficiency and improve management practices; could potentially provide 
payments in lieu of insurance fertilizer use. Action will also provide 
farm income security to participants.

Principal Programs

    USDA: CRP, EQIP, Extension Education
    USEPA: 319 Grants, CWSRF
    NOAA: 306 Grant Program, CZMA
    Clean Rivers-Clean Gulf Fund: Improve Stormwater and Wastewater 
Nutrient Removal Efficiency of new and existing wastewater treatment 
infrastructure. Also can finance agricultural practice improvements and 
wetland restoration.

Principal Programs

    USEPA: CWSRF, Sec. 319 Grant program
    USACE: Section 206 WRDA '96, Aquatic Ecosystem Restoration; Section 
204 WRDA '92 Use of dredged material to protect, restore, and create 
aquatic and ecologically related habitats; Section 1135, WRDA '86, 
Project Modifications for Improvement of the Environment; Specific 
General Investigations to address wetland restoration.
    River Remediation Fund: A. Operate and Retrofit Corps Projects for 
Water Quality Improvements; and, B. Creation and Restoration of 
Riparian Buffers. Action will also provide habitat for waterfowl, fish, 
and wildlife.
    To waive local cost share for retrofit to Corps projects since 
benefits of re-engineering are primarily realized basin-wide and in the 
Gulf. In appropriate areas Corps and USDA work with agriculture owners 
to create and restore buffers. In coastal wetlands Corps works with 
States, Tribes and local governments to implement river diversions to 
coastal wetlands.

Principal Programs

    USACE: Section 212 WRDA '99 Flood Mitigation and Riverine 
Restoration Program; Section 206
    WRDA '96, Aquatic Ecosystem Restoration; Section 204 WRDA '92 Use 
of dredged material to protect, restore, and create aquatic and 
ecologically related habitats; Section 1135, WRDA '86, Project 
Modifications for Improvement of the Environment; Specific General 
Investigations to address wetland restoration
    USDA: CRP, EQIP, Extension Education
    Watershed Partnership Investment Fund: Assessment & Targeting, 
State Strategy Formulation, Stakeholder Involvement, program 
management. Will strengthen state-level and tribal capacity to address 
Hypoxia and in-basin water quality problems.

Principal Programs

    USEPA: Clean Water Grants to States and Tribes (sec. 106) for 
assessment, monitoring, TMDLs, Watershed Assistance Grants to Basin 
Associations, large Scale Demonstration program for innovative 
approaches
    USACE: Section 729, WRDA '86, Study of Water Resources Needs of 
River Basins and Regions; Section 4, WRDA '00, Watershed and River 
Basin Assessments; Specific General Investigations at the watershed 
level
    USDA: CSREES Water Quality Program
    Hypoxia Adaptive Management Fund: Research, Monitoring and 
Modeling.
    To refine targeting, improve efficiency of response actions, 
evaluate progress.

[[Page 42696]]

Principal Programs

    NOAA: Research, assessment and monitoring in the Gulf of Mexico
    USGS: Research, assessment and monitoring in the MS Basin
    USEPA: Support for adaptive management process in collaboration 
with States, Tribes and Federal Agencies
    USDA: Research on Improved Agricultural Practices
    USACE: Modeling capabilities within existing research and 
development programs, and research on nutrient fate and nutrient 
cycling.
    Hypoxia Remediation Innovation Fund: To fund large scale innovative 
projects.

Principal Programs

    USEPA, USDA, and USACE: Research, development and demonstration 
projects
    NOAA: Coastal research, development, and demonstration projects

Indicators of Success/Progress

    Effective implementation of a management action plan to reduce the 
size and effect of the hypoxic zone in the Northern Gulf of Mexico and 
to improve water quality within the Mississippi and Atchafalaya River 
Basin will require a monitoring strategy that measures progress toward 
achieving both long-term and short-term goals. Feedback from such a 
monitoring strategy will facilitate an adaptive management framework 
that enables continual improvement of the action plan with increasing 
knowledge of the factors and processes controlling nutrient losses, 
their effects on water quality, and the effectiveness of management 
actions.
    A multi-scale, multidisciplinary, and long-term monitoring strategy 
one of the key implementation actions above. The strategy must include 
measurement of indicators of progress in implementing management or 
programmatic actions, indicators of environmental response of water 
quality in the Mississippi and Atchafalaya River Basin and hypoxia in 
the Gulf of Mexico, and indicators of economic conditions that can be 
used to gauge the significance and implications of management actions. 
It must quantify environmental trends and differentiate among trends 
caused by changes in climate, streamflow, nutrient and landscape 
management measures, Gulf hydrodynamics, and other concurrent factors. 
Variables should be measured to quantify the physical, chemical, and 
biological processes that affect the cause-and-effect relationships 
between nutrient inputs and resulting environmental quality. The 
strategy must include periodic data analysis, interpretation, and 
reporting to all stakeholders that are involved with design and 
implementation of management, remediation, and restoration actions. 
Analysis and interpretations must use models that integrate knowledge 
across scales and hydrologic compartments from the smallest watershed 
to the Mississippi and Atchafalaya River Basin and the Gulf of Mexico.
    A coordinated and supporting research strategy is integral to 
maintenance of an effective monitoring strategy and an adaptive 
management framework for action. Research efforts can be targeted on 
improving monitoring designs, improving the interpretation of 
monitoring output, and increasing the predictive power of models and 
other assessment tools used to design and evaluate management actions.
    A baseline condition needs to be established for all indicators and 
the monitoring strategy in general to quantify the improvements 
associated with management action. The expected delay in the response 
of indicators to management actions, indicates that additional 
improvements in water quality will continue to be realized from actions 
that have already been implemented, as well as from future management 
actions. The CENR science assessment has provided a large-scale (Basin 
and Gulf scale) estimates of baseline conditions in the Mississippi and 
Atchafalaya River Basin (generally for the period 1980-96) and the Gulf 
of Mexico (generally for the period 1993-97). Additional information 
available from other sources at more local scales should be included in 
these definitions of baseline conditions. In addition, more recent 
information may be available to improve these baseline definitions. The 
1997 Hypoxia Response Interagency Activity Report provides an initial 
listing of programs that could be evaluated for participation through 
programmatic indicators. Baseline conditions will need to be defined 
for these indicators.
    Indicators that have been considered for the monitoring strategy 
are listed below. A more detailed and comprehensive evaluation of 
indicators will be conducted under Implementation Action #2.

Environmental Indicators

     Dissolved oxygen concentrations within the current hypoxic 
zone increase (above 2 mg/l) resulting in a reduction in the duration 
and spatial extent of the hypoxic zone. Data should provide resolution 
of the spatial extent and duration of the hypoxic zone.
     Seasonal/annual average nitrogen and phosphorus 
concentrations and mass loadings are reduced at key river and tributary 
stations. Measurement stations should represent watershed scales 
ranging from the local scales at which specific management actions are 
tested to the scale of the Mississippi and Atchafalaya River Basin as 
it discharges to the Gulf.
     Bottom-dwelling communities in the current hypoxic zone in 
the northern Gulf return to a diversity and abundance characteristic of 
non-hypoxic conditions and normal migratory patterns of key species are 
restored.

Programmatic Indicators

    The following indicators will be tracked at various scales. In 
general, nonpoint sources will be tracked at 8 digit Hydrologic Unit 
Code (HUC) basins and point sources by discharge location or 8-digit 
HUC basin:
     Vegetative or forested buffers established along rivers 
and streams of priority watersheds
     Producer/acres enrolled in CRP and WRP
     Acres in conservation tillage
     Producers implementing nutrient management plans and the 
number of acres affected
     States with fully approved Coastal Nonpoint Pollution 
Control Programs. Percent population served by secondary treatment
     Percent population served by Advanced Waste Treatment/
Biological Nutrient Removal
     Reduction in discharges of nitrogen and phosphorus for 
municipalities
     Number of municipal stormwater programs approved
     Estimated/monitored reductions in nitrogen and phosphorus 
(or surrogate indicators) for industrial point sources.
     Number of 303(d) water segments listed because of nutrient 
impairment
     Number and percent of wetland acres restored, enhanced or 
created
     Completion of TMDLs for nutrient impaired waters
     Number of States and Tribes within the Mississippi and 
Atchafalaya River Basin achieving Enhanced Benefits status under the 
319 Program. Number of projects and amount of dollars directed through 
EQIP, CRP, WRP, and section 319 to target sub-basins within the 
Mississippi and Atchafalaya River Basin.

Economic Indicators

     Population

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     Gross Domestic Product
     Industrial Output
     Land Area in Crop Production
     Agricultural Output in numbers of animals and bushels of 
commodity crop

    Dated: July 5, 2000.
Robert Wayland,
Director, Office of Wetlands, Oceans, and Watersheds.
[FR Doc. 00-17354 Filed 7-10-00; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P