[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 43 (Wednesday, March 4, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 12760-12761]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-04385]


 ========================================================================
 Notices
                                                 Federal Register
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
 This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains documents other than rules 
 or proposed rules that are applicable to the public. Notices of hearings 
 and investigations, committee meetings, agency decisions and rulings, 
 delegations of authority, filing of petitions and applications and agency 
 statements of organization and functions are examples of documents 
 appearing in this section.
 
 ========================================================================
 

  Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 43 / Wednesday, March 4, 2020 / 
Notices  

[[Page 12760]]



DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

[Docket Number: USDA-2020-0002]


Notice of Request for Public Comment on Updates to Technical 
Guidelines for Quantifying Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions and Carbon 
Sequestration at the Entity-Scale for Agriculture and Forestry

AGENCY: Office of the Chief Economist, U.S. Department of Agriculture.

ACTION: Request for public comment.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: In accordance with Section 2709 of the 2008 Farm Bill, the 
United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) developed technical 
guidelines and science-based methods to quantify greenhouse gas sources 
and sinks from the agriculture and forest sectors at the entity-scale. 
In the report, Quantifying Greenhouse Gas Fluxes in Agriculture and 
Forestry: Methods for Entity[hyphen]Scale Inventory, USDA stated it 
intends to periodically update the technical guidelines based on newly 
available data and methodologies, and an update is planned for 
completion within the next 3 years. As we prepare the updated report, 
USDA is seeking input from the public to ensure that relevant 
information and data are considered, improve the rigor of the 
guidelines, and enhance the usability of the methods in the updated 
technical guidelines. USDA is interested in your comments in response 
to the numbered topics, categories, and questions shown in the 
Supplementary Information section of this notice.

DATES: Interested persons are invited to submit comments on or before 
11:59 p.m. Eastern Time by April 20, 2020. Comments received after the 
posted deadline may not be considered, regardless of postmark.

ADDRESSES: Comments submitted in response to this notice may be 
submitted online Via the Federal eRulemaking Portal. Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for the Docket number USDA-2020-0002. 
Follow the online instructions for submitting comments.
    All comments received will be posted without change and publicly 
available on www.regulations.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:  William Hohenstein, Director, USDA 
Office of Energy and Environmental Policy, telephone: 202-720-6698 
Email: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:  The report Quantifying Greenhouse Gas 
Fluxes in Agriculture and Forestry: Methods for Entity[hyphen]Scale 
Inventory was developed in response to the 2008 Farm Bill, Section 
2709, which states that the United States Department of Agriculture 
(USDA) shall prepare technical guidelines that outline science-based 
methods to measure the carbon benefits from conservation and land 
management activities. The guidelines were intended for use with 
landowners, nongovernmental organizations, and other groups assessing 
increases and decreases in greenhouse gas emissions and carbon 
sequestration associated with changes in land management.
    Notice of the project was announced in the Federal Register in 
February 2011 (76 FR 9534, February 18, 2011). The resulting report was 
published in 2014 as Quantifying Greenhouse Gas Fluxes in Agriculture 
and Forestry: Methods for Entity[hyphen]Scale Inventory, Technical 
Bulletin Number 1939, Office of the Chief Economist, USDA, Washington, 
DC. The report and associated materials, including an erratum published 
in 2019, are available at: https://www.usda.gov/oce/climate_change/estimation.htm. The methods have also been implemented in the online 
tool COMET-Farm (http://cometfarm.nrel.colostate .edu/), a joint 
project of USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service and Colorado 
State University.
    As outlined in the report, USDA intends to periodically update the 
technical guidelines based on newly available data and methodologies. 
An update of Quantifying Greenhouse Gas Fluxes in Agriculture and 
Forestry: Methods for Entity[hyphen]Scale Inventory is planned for 
completion within the next 3 years. The updated report is expected to 
undergo both expert review and public comment.
    Updates to the technical guidelines will be focused on croplands, 
grazing lands, and animal production systems. Comments on managed 
wetland systems, forest systems, and land use change are also welcome. 
In addition to these sectors, USDA is considering adding a section on 
specialty crop systems.
    USDA is currently seeking input from the public to ensure that 
relevant information and data are considered, improve the rigor of the 
guidelines, and enhance the usability of the methods in the updated 
technical guidelines. USDA is interested in your comments in response 
to the following:
    1. Information on methods, practices, and technologies for 
quantification of greenhouse gas emissions and carbon sequestration at 
the entity-scale for agriculture.
    1a. Information on methods, practices, and technologies currently 
included in the report, including new information on emission factors 
and default values. Please indicate the relevant chapter and page 
number(s) of the technical guidelines.
    1b. Information on practices and technologies currently not 
included in the report. Are there additional practices and technologies 
for which the science and data are clear, and which should be addressed 
in the technical guidelines? Are estimation methods available for these 
technologies and practices? Please provide details.
    1c. Information on promising technologies and practices for 
greenhouse gas mitigation and/or quantification which may become viable 
in the future.
    2. Information to improve the rigor of the guidelines.
    2a. Are there datasets that could be used to test and validate 
current and future methods?
    2b. Are there findings that could reduce the uncertainty of current 
and future methods?
    3. Information to improve the usability of the methods.
    3a. How can USDA improve the usability of the technical guidelines 
for its customers?
    3b. What specific changes or improvements could be made to the 
COMET-Farm online tool to improve the implementation of the USDA 
technical guidelines?
    Please provide information including citations and/or contact 
details for the

[[Page 12761]]

correspondent to the address listed above.

Robert Johansson,
Chief Economist.
[FR Doc. 2020-04385 Filed 3-3-20; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3410-GL-P