[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 109 (Thursday, June 6, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 34093-34095]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-13451]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-9821-7; 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 extension of public comment period.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is announcing 
an extension of the public comment period for 30 days 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 
original Federal Register notice announcing the public comment period 
was published on April 30, 2013. This extension is

[[Page 34094]]

being granted in response to requests from interested parties. The 
document was revised by 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. 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 began on April 26, 2013, and is being 
extended to end on June 30, 2013. Technical comments should be in 
writing and must be received by EPA by June 30, 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, to increase understanding of 
the potential impacts of large-scale mining on the region's fish 
resources, and to 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, Alaska, 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 released 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. Extension of Comment Period

    EPA is extending the deadline for submitting comments on the 
revised draft document titled, ``An Assessment of Potential Mining 
Impacts on Salmon Ecosystems of Bristol Bay, Alaska'' to June 30, 2013. 
An additional 30 days allows the public an opportunity to provide 
feedback on changes made to the assessment as a result of extensive 
input received in 2012. This extension is reasonable given the 
complexity and length of the revised draft assessment.

III. 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 Avenue 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 Avenue 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. 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

[[Page 34095]]

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: June 3, 2013.
Abdel Kadry,
Acting Deputy Director, National Center for Environmental Assessment.
[FR Doc. 2013-13451 Filed 6-5-13; 8:45 am]
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