[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 234 (Tuesday, December 8, 2009)]
[Notices]
[Pages 64687-64689]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-29218]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-9086-5; Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-ORD-2009-0857]


ICLUS SERGoM v3 User's Manual: ArcGIS Tools and Datasets for 
Modeling U.S. Housing Density Growth

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of public comment period.

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SUMMARY: EPA is announcing a 30-day public comment period for the draft 
tool and its documentation titled, ``ICLUS

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SERGoM v3 User's Manual: ArcGIS Tools and Datasets for Modeling US 
Housing Density Growth'' (EPA/600/R-09/143). The tool and its 
documentation were prepared by the National Center for Environmental 
Assessment within EPA's Office of Research and Development. This draft 
tool and its documentation can be used to vary housing density and 
other allocation assumptions used to run land use scenarios for the 
conterminous US. ICLUS stands for Integrated Climate and Land Use 
Scenarios, a project which is described in the 2009 EPA Report, ``Land-
Use Scenarios: Nation-Scale Housing-Density Scenarios Consistent with 
Climate Change Storylines.'' These scenarios are broadly consistent 
with global-scale, peer-reviewed storylines of population growth and 
economic development, which are used by climate change modelers to 
develop projections of future climate. SERGoM is the Spatially Explicit 
Growth Model used to allocate housing on the landscape in the GIS 
environment. This tool and User's Guide enable users to run SERGoM with 
the population projections developed for the ICLUS project and allow 
users to modify the spatial allocation of housing density across the 
landscape.
    The public comment period and the external peer usability review, 
which will occur after the public comment period, are separate 
processes that provide opportunities for all interested parties to 
comment on the document. EPA intends to forward the public comments 
that are submitted in accordance with this notice to the external peer 
reviewers prior to their review for their consideration. When 
finalizing the draft document, EPA intends to consider any public 
comments that EPA receives in accordance with this notice.
    EPA is releasing this draft tool and its documentation solely for 
the purpose of pre-dissemination peer review under applicable 
information quality guidelines. This tool and its documentation have 
not been formally disseminated by EPA. It does not represent and should 
not be construed to represent any Agency policy or determination.

DATES: The 30-day public comment period begins December 8, 2009, and 
ends January 7, 2010. Technical comments should be in writing and must 
be received by EPA by January 7, 2010.

ADDRESSES: The draft Geographic Information System (GIS) tool and its 
documentation, ``ICLUS SERGoM v3 User's Manual: ArcGIS Tools and 
Datasets for Modeling US Housing Density Growth'' are available 
primarily via the Internet on the National Center for Environmental 
Assessment's home page under the Recent Additions menu at http://www.epa.gov/ncea. A limited number of paper copies of the User's Guide 
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, ``ICLUS SERGoM v3 User's Manual: ArcGIS Tools and Datasets for 
Modeling US Housing Density Growth.''
    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 Britta Bierwagen, NCEA; 
telephone: 703-347-8613; facsimile: 703-347-8694; or e-mail: 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Information About the Project/Document

    The GIS tool and its documentation, ``ICLUS SERGoM v3 User's 
Manual: ArcGIS Tools and Datasets for Modeling US Housing Density 
Growth,'' enable users to run SERGoM with the population projections 
developed for the ICLUS project and allow users to modify the spatial 
allocation of housing density across the landscape. The data provided 
from the ICLUS project consist of five population scenarios by county 
for the conterminous US and are available in 5-year increments from 
2000 to 2100. The population projections for each US county drive the 
production of new housing units, which are allocated in response to the 
spatial pattern of previous growth (e.g., 1990 to 2000), transportation 
infrastructure, and other basic assumptions. The housing allocation 
model recomputes housing density in 10-year time steps.
    The GIS tool allows users to:
     Replace the ICLUS projected population values to reflect 
different growth rate assumptions;
     customize housing density patterns by altering household 
size and travel time assumptions;
     summarize patterns by region, watershed, county, or NLCD 
2001 land cover classes;
     reclassify housing density into classes different than 
those already provided; and
     generate a map of estimated impervious surface based on a 
housing density map.

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

    Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-ORD 2009-
0857, by one of the following methods:
     http://www.regulations.gov: Follow the online 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's 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-
2009-0857. 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://

[[Page 64689]]

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 
www.regulations.gov index. Although listed in the index, some 
information is not publicly available, such as 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: November 19, 2009.
Rebecca Clark,
Acting Director, National Center for Environmental Assessment.
[FR Doc. E9-29218 Filed 12-7-09; 8:45 am]
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