[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 94 (Monday, May 17, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 27552-27553]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-11693]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[EPA-HQ-OW-2010-0164; FRL-9152-2]


Guidance for Federal Land Management in the Chesapeake Bay 
Watershed

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of availability.

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SUMMARY: This notice announces the availability of a final Guidance for 
Federal Land Management in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed which EPA is 
publishing pursuant to Section 502 of Executive Order (EO) 13508 
(``Chesapeake Bay Protection and Restoration'', published on May 12, 
2009). This guidance will allow the federal government to lead the way 
in protecting the Bay and its watershed with the most effective tools 
and practices available to reduce water pollution from a variety of 
nonpoint sources, including agricultural lands, urban and suburban 
areas, forestry, riparian areas, septic systems, and hydromodification. 
This guidance is the first product under the Chesapeake Bay Executive 
Order to provide technical tools that will be needed to restore the 
Bay. Section 501 of the Executive Order directs federal agencies with 
ten or more acres within the Chesapeake Bay watershed to implement the 
Section 502 guidance as expeditiously as practicable and to the extent 
permitted by law.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Katie Flahive, USEPA, Office of Water, 
Office of Wetlands, Oceans and Watersheds, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW., 
MC 4503T, Washington, DC; telephone number: (202) 566-1206; fax number: 
(202) 566-1437; e-mail: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. General Information

    Executive Order 13508, Chesapeake Bay Protection and Restoration, 
dated May 12, 2009 (74 FR 23099, May 15, 2009), directed EPA to prepare 
and publish a guidance for federal land management in the Chesapeake 
Bay watershed within one year. A draft of this guidance was released 
for public comment on March 24, 2010 (75 FR 91294, March 24). This 
final guidance incorporates revisions resulting from public comments, 
consideration by the federal agencies, and peer review comments.

Why was this guidance prepared?

    The purpose of this guidance is to describe ``proven cost-effective 
tools and practices that reduce water pollution'' that are appropriate 
to restore and protect the Chesapeake Bay. Assuming that all necessary 
point source reductions are achieved and other needed restoration 
actions are taken, these tools and practices, when implemented broadly, 
aim to enable the Chesapeake Bay to be restored. While the primary 
audience for this document is Federal land managers, nonfederal land 
managers, including states, local governments, conservation districts, 
watershed organizations, developers, farmers and citizens may also find 
this guidance to be helpful.
    In significant part, this guidance is being developed to offer 
solutions for implementation to meet specific Chesapeake Bay goals. 
EPA, in

[[Page 27553]]

conjunction with other agencies, is currently developing Bay-wide 
pollutant reduction goals that will ultimately be used to establish 
total maximum daily loads (TMDL) under Section 303(d) of the Clean 
Water Act for the Chesapeake Bay watershed. The TMDL will be followed 
by the development of watershed implementation plans in 92 Bay sub-
watersheds that will have had load and wasteload allocations assigned 
based on the TMDL and the Chesapeake Bay model. While the Section 502 
guidance is required to be published before the TMDL is finalized, we 
expect that the TMDL and sub-watershed allocations will clarify that 
the nonpoint sources in the Chesapeake Bay watershed will need to be 
controlled, and be controlled well, in order to restore the Bay. This 
guidance should help land managers identify and select practices that 
should provide the needed level of control.
    This guidance has chapters addressing the following categories of 
activity (excluding sources regulated as point sources): Agriculture; 
Urban and Suburban areas, including Turf; Decentralized Wastewater 
Treatment Systems; Forestry; Riparian Areas; and Hydromodification. 
Each chapter contains implementation measures that provide the 
framework for the chapter. These are intended to convey the essential 
actions that will need to be implemented in order to assure that the 
broad goals of the Chesapeake Bay Executive Order can be achieved. Each 
chapter also includes information on practices that can be used to 
achieve the goals; information on the effectiveness and costs of the 
practices; where relevant, cost savings or other economic/societal 
benefits (in addition to the pollutant reduction benefits) that derive 
from the implementation goals and/or practices; and copious references 
to other documents that provide additional information.
    EPA emphasizes that this is not a regulatory document. At the same 
time it is important to realize that Section 501 of the Executive Order 
directs federal agencies with ten or more acres within the Chesapeake 
Bay watershed to implement the Section 502 guidance as expeditiously as 
practicable and to the extent permitted by law. While this guidance may 
at times refer to existing statutory and regulatory provisions that 
contain legally binding requirements, this document does not substitute 
for those provisions or regulations, nor is it a regulation itself. 
Thus, it does not impose legally binding requirements on EPA, states, 
or the public and might not apply to a particular situation according 
to the circumstances. EPA and state decision makers retain the 
discretion to adopt approaches to control nonpoint source pollution 
that differ from this guidance where appropriate, and EPA may change 
this guidance in the future.

How can I get copies of this document and other related information?

    EPA Web site: EPA published the guidance on May 12, 2010, on our 
Web site at http://www.epa.gov/nps/chesbay502. On this Web site, the 
guidance can be downloaded in full or by chapter. Also available on 
this Web site are a summary of the suite of implementation measures 
described and a response to public and peer review comments.
    Docket: EPA has established a docket for this action under Docket 
ID No. EPA-HQ-OW-2009-0761. The final EO 13508 Section 502 guidance 
document is available in the docket at http://www.regulations.gov. 
Assistance and tips for accessing the docket can be found at http://executiveorder.chesapeakebay.net. For additional information about the 
public docket, visit the EPA Docket Center homepage at http://www.epa.gov/epahome/dockets.htm. Publicly available docket materials 
are available electronically either through http://www.regulations.gov 
or in hard copy at the EPA Docket Center (EPA/DC), EPA West, Room 3334, 
1301 Constitution Ave., NW., Washington, DC. The telephone number for 
this docket is 202-566-2426. 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. Certain material, such as copyrighted materials, will 
be publicly available only in hard copy at the Docket Center.

    Dated: May 11, 2010.
Peter S. Silva,
Assistant Administrator.
[FR Doc. 2010-11693 Filed 5-14-10; 8:45 am]
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