[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 39 (Tuesday, February 28, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 10031-10032]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-2802]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[EPA-HQ-OEI-2006-0157; FRL-8038-6]


Office of Environmental Information; Announcement of Availability 
and Comment Period for Well Information Draft Data Standard

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency.

ACTION: Notice of data availability & request for comment.

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SUMMARY: Notice of availability for a 45 day review and comment period 
is hereby given for the Draft Well Information Data Standard.
    The Draft Well Information Data Standard describes data elements 
and data groupings that are used to exchange information about wells 
and is a supplement to the ESAR: Monitoring Location [EX000003.1] Data 
Standard when well information is being exchanged. It includes 
information about well ownership, location, use, construction, and 
where samples or measurements are made. The user may find that the 
information here can be very detailed, however, it should be noted that 
it provides structure for those data that are available and there is 
need to exchange. States and U.S. EPA completed a technical review of 
this standard in the Fall of 2005.

DATES: Comments must be submitted on or before April 13, 2006.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-
OEI-2006-0157 by one of the following methods:
     http://www.regulations.gov: Follow the on-line 
instructions for submitting comments.
     E-mail: [email protected]
     Fax: 202-566-1753
     Mail: Environmental Protection Agency, EPA Docket Center 
(EPA/DC), Announcement of Availability and Comment Period for Well, 
Information Draft Data Standard, Mailcode: 28221T, 1200 Pennsylvania 
Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20460.
     Hand Delivery: Public Reading Room, Room B102, EPA West 
Building, 1301 Constitution Avenue, NW., Washington, DC.
    Instructions: Direct your comments to Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OEI-
2006-0157. EPA's policy is that all comments received will be included 
in the public docket without change and may be made available online at 
www.regulations.gov, including any personal information provided, 
unless the 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 e-mail. 
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 e-
mail comment directly to EPA without going through www.regulations.gov 
your e-mail 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.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dawn Banks-Waller; Environmental 
Protection Agency; 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, MC 2822T; Washington, DC 
20460; Phone: 202 566-0625; Fax: 202 566 1624; E-mail: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This standard was developed by a group of 
professionals and submitted as a comment on the ESAR Suite of Data 
Standards published in an earlier Federal Register. The decision to put 
the Draft Well Information Data Standard out for review was made 
jointly by U.S. EPA, States, and Tribes (through the Exchange Network 
Leadership Council (ENLC)), an organization that represents the USE 
EPA, States and Tribal entities. The ENLC took over responsibility for 
Data Standards development, administration and management from the 
Environmental Data Standards Council (EDSC) in January 2006).
    The standards are intended for use in environmental data exchanges 
among

[[Page 10032]]

States, Tribal entities and the U.S. EPA. They are not meant to dictate 
or to limit data an agency chooses to collect for its own internal 
purposes. Adoption of a data standard should not be interpreted to mean 
that revisions to databases or information systems are required. What 
the adoption does mean is that formats for sharing data with Exchange 
Network (EN) partners will change because the Exchange Network has 
adopted Shared Schema Components (SSCs) based on the data standards. 
The SSCs are available on the Exchange Network Web site at http://www.exchangenetwork.net.
    The draft data standards documents can be found on EDSC's Web site 
at http://www.envdatastandards.net/ and are available through the 
Docket system as indicated above.

    Dated: February 21, 2006.
Oscar Morales,
Director, Collection Strategies Division.
 [FR Doc. E6-2802 Filed 2-27-06; 8:45 am]
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