[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 229 (Friday, November 28, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 70866-70867]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-28154]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[EPA-HQ-ORD-2014-0850; FRL-9919-81-ORD]
Regional Monitoring Networks To Detect Climate Change Effects in
Stream Ecosystems
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice of public comment period and letter peer review.
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SUMMARY: EPA is announcing a 30-day public comment period for the draft
document titled, ``Regional Monitoring Networks to Detect Climate
Change Effects in Stream Ecosystems'' (EPA/600/R-14/341). The document
was prepared by the National Center for Environmental Assessment within
EPA's Office of Research and Development. The document describes the
development of the current regional monitoring networks (RMNs) for
small, freshwater wadeable streams.
EPA intends to forward the public comments that are submitted in
accordance with this document to the external peer reviewers for their
consideration during the letter review. When finalizing the draft
document, EPA intends to consider any public comments received in
accordance with this document. EPA is releasing this draft document
solely for the purposes of public comment and in connection with pre-
dissemination peer review. This draft document is not final as
described in EPA's information quality guidelines, has not been
publicly disseminated by the EPA, and does not represent and should not
be construed to represent Agency policy or views.
The draft document is available via the Internet on the NCEA home
page under the Recent Additions and the Data and Publications menus at
http://www.epa.gov/ncea.
DATES: The 30-day public comment period begins November 28, 2014, and
ends December 29, 2014. Comments should be in writing and must be
received by EPA by December 29, 2014.
ADDRESSES: The draft document, ``Regional Monitoring Networks to Detect
Climate Change Effects in Stream Ecosystems,'' 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, mailing address, and the document title.
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 document.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For information on the public comment
period, contact the ORD Docket at the EPA Headquarters Docket Center;
telephone: 202-566-1752; facsimile: 202-566-9744; or email:
[email protected].
For technical information, contact Britta Bierwagen, NCEA;
telephone: 703-347-8613; facsimile: 703-347-8694; or email:
[email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Information About the Project/Document
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is working with its
regional offices, states, tribes, and other organizations to establish
regional monitoring networks (RMNs) at which biological, thermal, and
hydrologic data will be collected from freshwater wadeable streams to
quantify and
[[Page 70867]]
monitor changes in baseline conditions, including climate change
effects. RMNs have been established in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, and
Southeast, and efforts are expanding into other regions. The need for
RMNs stems from the lack of long-term, contemporaneous biological,
thermal, and hydrologic data, particularly at minimally disturbed
sites. Data collected at RMNs will be used to detect temporal trends;
investigate relationships between biological, thermal, and hydrologic
data; explore ecosystem responses and recovery from extreme weather
events; test hypotheses and predictive models related to climate
change; and quantify natural variability. RMN surveys build on existing
bioassessment efforts, with the goal of collecting comparable data that
can be pooled efficiently at a regional level. This document describes
the development of the current RMNs for small, freshwater wadeable
streams. It contains information on selection of candidate sites,
expectations for data collection, the rationale for collecting these
data, and provides examples of how the RMN data will be used and
analyzed.
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-2014-
0850, by one of the following methods:
http://www.regulations.gov: Follow the on-line
instructions for submitting comments.
Email: [email protected].
Fax: 202-566-9744.
Mail: EPA Docket Center [ORD Docket] (Mail Code: 28221T),
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 ORD Docket is located in the EPA
Headquarters Docket Center, EPA West Building, Room 3334, 1301
Constitution Avenue 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. 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-
2014-0850. 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
email. 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 email comment directly to EPA without going through http://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 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 home page 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
at http://www.regulations.gov or in hard copy at the ORD Docket in the
EPA Headquarters Docket Center.
Dated: November 20, 2014.
Debra B. Walsh,
Acting Director, National Center for Environmental Assessment.
[FR Doc. 2014-28154 Filed 11-26-14; 8:45 am]
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