[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 83 (Tuesday, April 30, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 25266-25267]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-10157]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[FRL-9807-9; Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-ORD-2013-0189]
An Assessment of Potential Mining Impacts on Salmon Ecosystems of
Bristol Bay, Alaska
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice of public comment period.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is announcing a
public comment period for the revised draft document titled, ``An
Assessment of Potential Mining Impacts on Salmon Ecosystems of Bristol
Bay, Alaska'' (EPA-910-R-12-004Ba-c). The document was revised by the
EPA after reviewing comments received from the public between May 18
and July 23, 2012 and input from the peer review panel held in August
2012. The EPA conducted this assessment to determine the significance
of Bristol Bay's ecological resources and the potential impacts of
large-scale mining on these resources.
DATES: The public comment period will begin with the publication of
this notice and will end Friday, May 31, 2013. Technical comments
should be in writing and must be received by EPA by May 31, 2013.
ADDRESSES: The revised draft ``An Assessment of Potential Mining
Impacts on Salmon Ecosystems of Bristol Bay, Alaska'' is available
primarily via the Internet on the EPA Region 10 Bristol Bay Web site at
www.epa.gov/bristolbay as well as on the National Center for
Environmental Assessment's Web site under the Recent Additions and the
Data and Publications menus at www.epa.gov/ncea. A limited number of CD
copies are available from the Information Management Team, NCEA;
telephone: 703-347-8561; facsimile: 703-347-8691. If you are requesting
a CD copy, please provide your name, your mailing address, and the
document title, ``An Assessment of Potential Mining Impacts on Salmon
Ecosystems of Bristol Bay, Alaska.''
Comments on the report may be submitted electronically via
www.regulations.gov, by email, 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: 202-566-9744; or email: [email protected].
For technical information concerning the report, contact Judy
Smith; telephone: 503-326-6994; facsimile: 503-326-3399; or email:
[email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Information About the Project/Document
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) conducted this
assessment to provide a characterization of the biological and mineral
resources of the Bristol Bay watershed, increase understanding of the
potential impacts of large-scale mining on the region's fish resources,
and inform future governmental decisions.
A previous draft was released for public comment on May 18, 2012
(77 FR 31353, May 25, 2012). Peer review panel members were announced
June 5, 2012 (77 FR 33213, June 5, 2012), and the external peer review
meeting was announced July 6, 2012 (77 FR 40037, July 6, 2012). The
external peer review meeting was held in Anchorage, AK, August 7-9,
2012. This revised draft was completed by the agency to address public
and peer review comments provided on the May 2012 draft.
EPA is releasing this revised draft assessment for the purposes of
public comment. This draft assessment is not final as described in
EPA's information quality guidelines, and it does not represent and
should not be construed to represent Agency policy or views.
EPA is seeking comments from the public on all aspects of the
report, including the scientific and technical information presented in
the report, the realistic mining scenario used, the data and
information used to inform assumptions about mining activities and the
evaluations of risk to the fishery, and the potential mitigation
measures considered (and effectiveness of those measures). EPA is also
specifically seeking any additional data or scientific or technical
information about Bristol Bay resources or large-scale mining that
should be considered in our evaluation. EPA will consider any public
comments submitted in accordance with this notice when revising the
document.
II. How To Submit Technical Comments to the Docket at
www.regulations.gov
Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-ORD-2013-
0189, by one of the following methods:
www.regulations.gov: Follow the on-line instructions for
submitting comments.
Email: [email protected]. Include the docket number in
the subject line of the message.
Fax: 202-566-9744.
Mail: Office of Environmental Information (OEI) Docket
(Mail Code: 28221T), Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-ORD-2013-0189, U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave. NW.,
Washington, DC 20460. The phone number is 202-566-1752. If you provide
comments by mail, please submit one unbound original with pages
numbered consecutively, and three copies of the comments. For
attachments, provide an index, number pages consecutively with the
comments, and submit an unbound original and three copies.
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
[[Page 25267]]
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. 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 hand delivery, please
submit one unbound original with pages numbered consecutively, and
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-
2013-0189. 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 on-line at
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 www.regulations.gov or email. 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 email comment
directly to EPA without going through www.regulations.gov, your email
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
comments due to technical difficulties and cannot contact you for
clarification, EPA may not be able to consider your comments.
Electronic files should avoid the use of special characters and 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 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, 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
at www.regulations.gov or in hard copy at the OEI Docket in the EPA
Headquarters Docket Center.
Dated: April 10, 2013.
James K. Gallahan,
Acting Deputy Director, National Center for Environmental Assessment.
[FR Doc. 2013-10157 Filed 4-29-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P