[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 64 (Tuesday, April 4, 2006)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 16728-16729]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 06-3205]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 18

[FRL-8053-4]
RIN 2030-AA91


Environmental Protection Research Fellowships and Special 
Research Consultants for Environmental Protection

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Proposed rule.

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SUMMARY: The EPA is taking direct final action on the implementation of 
the EPA's statutory authority in Title II of the Interior, Environment, 
and Related Agencies Appropriations Act of 2006 (Pub. L. 109-54) that 
will allow the EPA to establish fellowships in environmental protection 
research, appoint fellows to conduct this research, and appoint special 
research consultants to advise on environmental protection research. 
Under an administrative provision of Public Law 109-54, the 
Administrator may, after consultation with the Office of Personnel 
Management, make up to five (5) appointments in any fiscal year from 
2006 to 2011 for the Office of Research and Development. Appointees 
under this authority shall be employees of the EPA and will engage in 
activities related to scientific and engineering research that support 
EPA's mission to protect the environment and human health.
    In the ``Rules and Regulations'' section of the Federal Register, 
we are approving implementation of the EPA's statutory authority (to 
establish fellowships in environmental protection research and appoint 
fellows to conduct this research and appoint special research 
consultants to advise on environmental protection research) in Title II 
of the Interior, Environmental and Related Agencies Appropriations Act 
of 2006 (Pub. L. 109-54) with 42 U.S.C. 209 as a direct final rule 
without prior proposal because we view this as a non-controversial 
revision and anticipate no adverse comment. We have explained our 
reasons for this approval in the preamble to the direct final rule. If 
we receive no adverse comment, no further action on this proposed rule 
will be taken. If we receive adverse comment, we will withdraw the 
direct final rule and it will not take effect. We will address all 
public comments in a subsequent final rule based on this proposed rule. 
We will not institute a second comment period on this action. Any 
parties interested in commenting must do so at this time.

DATES: Comments on this proposed rule must be received by May 4, 2006.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-

[[Page 16729]]

OARM-2006-0249, by one of the following methods:
     Federal Docket Management System (FDMS): http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the on-line instructions for submitting 
comments.
     Mail: John O'Brien, Office of Human Resources/Office of 
Administration and Resources Management, Mail Code: 3631M, Room 1136-
EPA-East, United States Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 
Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460; e-mail address: 
[email protected].
     Hand Delivery: Office of Environmental Information Docket, 
Environmental Protection Agency, EPA West Building, Room B102, 1301 
Constitution Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460. Such deliveries are only 
accepted during the Docket's normal hours of operation, and special 
arrangements should be made for deliveries of boxed information.
    Instructions: Direct your comments to Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OARM-
2006-0249. The EPA's policy is that all comments received will be 
included in the public docket without change and may be made available 
online at http://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 FDMS or e-
mail. FDMS is an ``anonymous access'' system. This means that the 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 the EPA without going through FDMS, 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. The EPA 
recommends that you include your name and other contact information in 
the body of your electronic comment with any disk or CD-ROM you submit. 
If the EPA cannot read your comment due to technical difficulties and 
cannot contact you for clarification, the 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.
    Docket: All documents in the docket are listed in FDMS at http://www.regulations.gov. Although listed in the index, some information is 
not publicly available, i.e., CBI or other information whose disclosure 
is restricted by statute. Certain other material, such as copyrighted 
material, is not placed on the Internet and will be publicly available 
only in hard copy form. Publicly available docket materials are 
available either electronically in FDMS or in hard copy at the Office 
of Environmental Information Docket, EPA/DC, EPA West, Room B102, 1301 
Constitution Ave., NW., Washington, DC. The 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, and the telephone number for the Office of Environmental 
Information Docket is (202) 566-1752.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information, please 
contact John O'Brien at (202) 564-7876, Office of Human Resources/
Office of Administration and Resources Management, Mail Code 3631M, 
Room 1136 EPA-East, United States Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 
Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460; e-mail address: 
[email protected]. You may also contact William Ocampo at (202) 564-
0987 or Robert Stevens at (202) 564-5703, Office of Research and 
Development, Mail Code 8102R, United States Environmental Protection 
Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460; e-mail 
addresses: [email protected] and [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This document concerns the EPA's authority 
under 42 U.S.C. 209 to (1) establish fellowships in environmental 
protection research and appoint fellows to conduct this research and 
(2) appoint environmental protection special consultants to advise on 
environmental protection research. The provisions proposed here are 
identical to those contained in the Direct Final Rule located in the 
``Rules and Regulations'' section of this Federal Register publication. 
Please refer to the preamble and regulatory text of the direct final 
action for further information and the actual text of the revisions. 
Additionally, all information regarding Statutory and Executive Orders 
for this proposed rule can be found in the Statutory and Executive 
Order Review section of the direct final action.

    Dated: March 27, 2006.
Stephen L. Johnson,
Administrator.
[FR Doc. 06-3205 Filed 4-3-06; 8:45 am]
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