[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 192 (Thursday, October 2, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 57354-57355]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-23247]


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

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-8717-5; Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-ORD-2008-0700]


BASINS 4.0 Climate Assessment Tool (CAT): Supporting 
Documentation and Users Manual

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of public comment period.

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

SUMMARY: EPA is announcing a 30-day public comment period for the draft 
document titled, ``BASINS 4.0 Climate Assessment Tool (CAT): Supporting 
Documentation and Users Manual'' (EPA/600/R-08/088). The document was 
prepared by the National Center for Environmental Assessment within 
EPA's Office of Research and Development.
    The Office of Research and Development, in partnership with EPA's 
Office of Water, recently developed a Climate Assessment Tool (CAT) for 
the Office of Water's BASINS 4.0 watershed modeling system. BASINS CAT 
provides a flexible set of capabilities for creating user-defined 
climate change scenarios for assessing the influence of climate 
variability and change on water quantity and quality using the 
Hydrologic Simulation Program--FORTRAN (HSPF) watershed model. This 
report provides documentation and technical user support including a 
discussion of tool capabilities with hands-on tutorials demonstrating 
the application of BASINS CAT to a range of problems. BASINS 4.0 (with 
the BASINS CAT) can be downloaded from EPA's BASINS Web site at http://www.epa.gov/waterscience/basins/b3webdwn.htm.
    EPA is releasing this draft document solely for the purpose of pre-
dissemination peer review under applicable information quality

[[Page 57355]]

guidelines. This document has not been formally disseminated by EPA. It 
does not represent, and should not be construed to represent, any 
Agency policy or determination. EPA will consider any public comments 
submitted in accordance with this notice when revising the document.

DATES: The 30-day public comment period begins on the October 2, 2008, 
and ends November 3, 2008. Technical comments should be in writing and 
must be received by EPA by November 3, 2008.

ADDRESSES: The draft ``BASINS 4.0 Climate Assessment Tool (CAT): 
Supporting Documentation and Users Manual'' is available primarily via 
the Internet on the National Center for Environmental Assessment's home 
page under the Recent Additions and the Data and Publications menus at 
http://www.epa.gov/ncea. A limited number of paper copies are available 
from the Information Management Team, NCEA; telephone: 703-347-8561; 
facsimile: 703-347-8691. If you are requesting a paper copy, please 
provide your name, your mailing address, and the document title, 
``BASINS 4.0 Climate Assessment Tool (CAT): Supporting Documentation 
and Users Manual.''
    Comments may be submitted electronically via http://www.regulations.gov, by mail, by facsimile, or by hand delivery/
courier. Please follow the detailed instructions provided in the 
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this notice.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For information on the public comment 
period, contact the Office of Environmental Information Docket; 
telephone: 202-566-1752; facsimile: 202-566-1753; or e-mail: 
[email protected].
    For technical information, contact Thomas Johnson, NCEA; telephone: 
703-347-8618; facsimile: 703-347-8694; or e-mail: 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

How to Submit Technical Comments to the Docket at http://www.regulations.gov

    Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-ORD 2008-
0700, 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: Office of Environmental Information (OEI) Docket 
(Mail Code: 2822T), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 
Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460. The phone number is 202-
566-1752.
     Hand Delivery: The OEI Docket is located in the EPA 
Headquarters Docket Center, Room 3334 EPA West Building, 1301 
Constitution Ave., NW., Washington, DC. The EPA Docket Center 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. Such deliveries are only accepted during 
the docket's normal hours of operation, and special arrangements should 
be made for deliveries of boxed information.
    If you provide comments by mail or hand delivery, please submit 
three copies of the comments. For attachments, provide an index, number 
pages consecutively with the comments, and submit an unbound original 
and three copies.
    Instructions: Direct your comments to Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-ORD-
2008-0700. Please ensure that your comments are submitted within the 
specified comment period. Comments received after the closing date will 
be marked ``late,'' and may only be considered if time permits. It is 
EPA's policy to include all comments it receives in the public docket 
without change and to make the comments available online at http://www.regulations.gov, including any personal information provided, 
unless a 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 http://www.regulations.gov or e-
mail. The http://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 http://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.
    Docket: Documents in the docket are listed in the http://www.regulations.gov index. Although listed in the index, some 
information is not publicly available, e.g., CBI or other information 
whose disclosure is restricted by statute. Certain other materials, 
such as copyrighted material, are publicly available only in hard copy. 
Publicly available docket materials are available either electronically 
in http://www.regulations.gov or in hard copy at the OEI Docket in the 
EPA Headquarters Docket Center.

    Dated: September 11, 2008.
Rebecca Clark,
Director, National Center for Environmental Assessment.
[FR Doc. E8-23247 Filed 10-1-08; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P