[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 81 (Thursday, April 27, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 24852-24854]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-6363]


=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[EPA-HQ-OW-2005-0026; FRL-8162-4]


Tribal 106 Grant Guidance

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of availability.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: This document provides notice of availability for public 
comment of the draft Guidance on Awards of Grants to Indian Tribes 
under Section 106 of the Clean Water Act for Fiscal Year 2007 and 
Future Years. This draft Guidance provides the Environmental Protection 
Agency and Tribes with a consistent framework of procedures and 
guidelines for awarding and administering grants to federally 
recognized Tribes under the authority of Section 106 of the Clean Water 
Act. Specifically, the draft Guidance will assist Tribal water quality 
program managers, staff, and other Tribal environmental decision-makers 
in designing and implementing an effective and successful water quality 
program utilizing Section 106 funds. The draft 106 Tribal Guidance is 
for Tribal water quality programs at all levels of sophistication and 
development. For new programs, it explains how to successfully initiate 
and develop a water quality program. For Tribes with well-established 
programs, it contains information on expanding a water quality program. 
To meet the needs of Tribes at all levels of development, the draft 
Guidance presents the basic steps a Tribe would take to collect the 
information it will need to make effective decisions about its program, 
its goals, and its future direction. The final Guidance will take 
effect for grants issued by the Environmental Protection Agency's 
Regional offices in fiscal year 2007. A Notice of its Availability will 
be published in the Federal Register. This action affects all Tribal 
environmental programs that receive Section 106 Tribal grants.

DATES: Comments must be received on or before June 26, 2006.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OW-
2005-0026, by one of the following methods:
     www.regulations.gov: Follow the on-line instructions for 
submitting comments.
     E-mail: [email protected] Attention Docket ID No. OW-2005-
0026
     Fax: (202) 566-1749
     Mail: Water Docket, Environmental Protection Agency, 
Mailcode: 4101T, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460.
     Hand Delivery: EPA Docket Center, EPA West, Room B102, 
1301 Constitution Avenue, NW., Washington, DC, Attention Docket ID No. 
OW-2005-0026. 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-OW-2005-
0026. 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 additional 
instructions on submitting comments, go to Unit I.1 of the 
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this document.
    Docket: All documents in the docket are listed in the 
www.regulations.gov index. Although listed in the index,

[[Page 24853]]

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 in www.regulations.gov or in hard copy at the Water 
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 Water Docket is (202) 566-2426.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Lena Ferris, Office of Water, Office 
of Wastewater Management, 4201M, Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 
Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20460; telephone number: (202) 
564-8831; fax number: (202) 501-2399; e-mail address: 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. General Information

    Affected Entities: Tribes that are eligible to receive grants under 
Section 106 of the Clean Water Act.
    1. Submitting CBI. Do not submit this information to EPA through 
www.regulations.gov or e-mail. Clearly mark the part or all of the 
information that you claim to be CBI. For CBI information on a disk or 
CD ROM that you mail to EPA, mark the outside of the disk or CD ROM as 
CBI and then identify electronically within the disk or CD ROM the 
specific information that is claimed as CBI. In addition to one 
complete version of the comment that includes information claimed as 
CBI, a copy of the comment that does not contain the information 
claimed as CBI must be submitted for inclusion in the public docket. 
Information so marked will not be disclosed except in accordance with 
procedures set forth in 40 CFR part 2.
    2. Tips for Preparing Your Comments. When submitting comments, 
remember to:
     Identify the rulemaking by docket number and other 
identifying information (subject heading, Federal Register date, and 
page number).
     Follow directions--The agency may ask you to respond to 
specific questions or organize comments by referencing a Code of 
Federal Regulations (CFR) part or section number.
     Explain why you agree or disagree; suggest alternatives; 
and substitute language for your requested changes.
     Describe any assumptions and provide any technical 
information and/or data that you used.
     If you estimate potential costs or burdens, explain how 
you arrived at your estimate in sufficient detail to allow for it to be 
reproduced.
     Provide specific examples to illustrate your concerns, and 
suggest alternatives.
     Explain your views as clearly as possible.
     Make sure to submit your comments by the comment period 
deadline identified.
    3. Specific Questions EPA is Soliciting for Tribal Comment. In 
addition to overall general comments on any/all portions of the 
Guidance, EPA is specifically requesting Tribal comment on the 
following five questions:
    (1) Does the proposed Guidance structure, offering three paths 
(non-regulatory, tribal water quality standards, regulation-based water 
quality controls) and three program activity levels (fundamental, 
intermediate, and mature) provide Tribes appropriate direction and 
flexibility for developing and implementing surface water quality 
protection programs?
    (2) Does the title of Chapter 5, Non-Regulatory Approach, 
accurately portray the substantive programmatic elements found in the 
chapter?
    (3) Do the basic minimum nine reporting requirements for 
monitoring, listed in Chapter 8, seem reasonable/compatible with the 
various maturity levels of Tribal water quality programs?
    (4) What is the estimated Tribal cost to sample for the nine basic 
parameters?
    (5) What type of technical assistance, if any, would your Tribe 
need to receive from EPA in order to comply with the monitoring and 
reporting requirements associated with the Guidance (see Chapter 8)?

II. Background

    Over the past 10 years, funding available for Section 106 grants to 
Indian Tribes has increased from $3 million to $25 million per year. 
The draft Guidance provides a framework for evaluating national program 
results and more clearly defines expectations and requirements for 
Tribal Section 106 grant recipients. This document is an effort to 
provide unified guidance that helps Tribes develop and implement water 
quality programs and defines what EPA expects from Tribal programs. It 
provides an overview of all programmatic and technical requirements, 
discusses some common considerations across programs, and links to 
technical resources available to develop Tribal programs. The draft 
Guidance outlines new reporting requirements and data management 
expectations for all Tribal programs receiving Section 106 funds. Data 
collected as a result of the new reporting requirements will help EPA 
measure environmental results of the Section 106 Tribal Program and 
comply with the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) and other 
federal mandates. The draft Guidance can be found at the Environmental 
Protection Agency's Web site at http://www.epa.gov/owm/cwfinance/106tgg07.htm, or by contacting the point of contact listed under the 
section entitled FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.

III. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews

    Under Executive Order 12866 (58 FR 51735, October 4, 1993), this 
action is not a ``significant regulatory action'' and is therefore not 
subject to OMB review. Because this grant action is not subject to 
notice and comment requirements under the Administrative Procedures Act 
or any other statute, it is not subject to the Regulatory Flexibility 
Act (5 U.S.C. 601 et seq.) or sections 202 and 205 of the Unfunded 
Mandates Reform Act of 1999 (UMRA) (Pub. L. 104-4). In addition, this 
action does not significantly or uniquely affect small governments. 
Although this action does not generally create new binding legal 
requirements, where it does, such requirements do not substantially and 
directly affect Tribes under Executive Order 13175 (63 FR 67249, 
November 9, 2000). Informal consultation has been ongoing with Tribes, 
and a formal comment period will be initiated with the release of this 
notice. This action will not have federalism implications, as specified 
in Executive Order 13132 (64 FR 43255, August 10, 1999). This action is 
not subject to Executive Order 13211, ``Actions Concerning Regulations 
that Significantly Affect Energy Supply, Distribution, or Use'' (66 FR 
28355, May 22, 2001), because it is not a significant regulatory action 
under Executive Order 12866. This action does not involve technical 
standards; thus, the requirements of section 12(d) of the National 
Technology Transfer and Advancement Act of 1995 (15 U.S.C. 272 note) do 
not apply. This action does not impose an information collection burden 
under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 
3501 et seq.). The Congressional Review Act, 5 U.S.C. 801 et seq., 
generally provides that before certain

[[Page 24854]]

actions may take effect, the agency promulgating the action must submit 
a report, which includes a copy of the action, to each House of the 
Congress and to the Comptroller General of the United States. Since 
this grant action contains legally binding requirements, it is subject 
to the Congressional Review Act, and EPA will submit its final action 
in its report to Congress under the Act.

    Dated: April 20, 2006.
Benjamin H. Grumbles,
Assistant Administrator, Office of Water.
 [FR Doc. E6-6363 Filed 4-26-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P