Preliminary Listing of Additional Waters To Be Included on Illinois' 2008 List of Impaired Waters Under Section 303(d) of the Clean Water Act and Proposed Delisting of Boron Impairment for Segment E-26 of the Sangamon River, 79482-79483 [E8-30815]

Download as PDF 79482 Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 249 / Monday, December 29, 2008 / Notices ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY [FRL–8757–4] Preliminary Listing of Additional Waters To Be Included on Illinois’ 2008 List of Impaired Waters Under Section 303(d) of the Clean Water Act and Proposed Delisting of Boron Impairment for Segment E–26 of the Sangamon River dwashington3 on PROD1PC60 with NOTICES AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). ACTION: Notice and request for comments. SUMMARY: This notice announces the availability of EPA’s decision identifying water quality limited segments and associated pollutants in Illinois to be listed pursuant to the Clean Water Act Section 303(d)(2), and requests public comment. Section 303(d)(2) requires that states submit and EPA approve or disapprove lists of waters for which existing technologybased pollution controls are not stringent enough to attain or maintain state water quality standards and for which total maximum daily loads (TMDLs) must be prepared. On October 22, 2008, EPA partially approved and partially disapproved Illinois’ submittal. Specifically, EPA approved Illinois’ listing of waters, associated pollutants and associated priority rankings, but disapproved Illinois’ decision not to list certain water quality limited segments and associated pollutants. EPA identified these additional water bodies and pollutants for inclusion on the 2008 Section 303(d) list. EPA is providing the public the opportunity to review its decision to add waters and pollutants to Illinois’ 2008 Clean Water Act Section 303(d) list and its decision to delist the Boron impairment for the Sangamon waterbody. EPA will consider public comments in reaching its final decision on the additional water bodies and pollutants identified for inclusion on Illinois’ final 303(d) list and the deletion of the Boron impairment. DATES: Comments on this document must be received in writing by February 12, 2009. ADDRESSES: Written comments on today’s notice may be submitted to Timothy Henry, Acting Director, Water Division, Attn: Illinois 303(d) list, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 77 West Jackson Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois 60604. As an alternative, EPA will accept comments electronically. Comments should be sent to the following Internet e-mail address: keclik.donna@epa.gov. VerDate Aug<31>2005 13:19 Dec 24, 2008 Jkt 217001 FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Donna Keclik, Watersheds and Wetlands Branch, at the EPA address noted above or by telephone at (312) 886–6766. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Section 303(d) of the Clean Water Act (CWA) requires that each state identify those waters for which existing technologybased pollution controls are not stringent enough to attain or maintain state water quality standards. EPA’s regulations include requirements related to the implementation of Section 303(d) of the CWA (40 CFR 130.7). The regulations require states to identify water quality limited waters still requiring TMDLs every two years. The lists of waters still needing TMDLs must also include priority rankings and must identify the waters targeted for TMDL development during the next two years (40 CFR 130.7). Consistent with EPA’s regulations, Illinois submitted to EPA its listing decision under Section 303(d)(2) on June 30, 2008. On October 22, 2008, EPA approved Illinois’ listing of waters and associated priority rankings, and disapproved Illinois’ decision not to list 343 water quality limited segments and associated pollutants for inclusion on the 2008 Section 303(d) list. More specifically, EPA disapproved Illinois’ decision to delist total nitrogen as a cause of impairment for 191 water bodies and sedimentation as an impairment for 23 water bodies based on EPA’s determination that the state did not provide good cause for delisting these waterbody/impairment combinations. EPA disapproved Illinois’ decision to delist sulfates (nine), dissolved oxygen (DO) (15) and total dissolved solids (TDS) (105) impairments based on Illinois’ new water quality standards for sulfates and DO because these new water quality standards have not yet been approved by EPA and therefore under 40 CFR 131.21 cannot be used for listing or delisting purposes. As a result of EPA’s disapproval decision, EPA is placing all these water bodies with associated impairments back on Illinois section 303(d) list. The list of waterbody/ pollutants that EPA is adding to the Illinois’ 303(d) list and EPA’s decision document are available at https:// www.epa.gov/region5/water/wshednps/ notices.htm. EPA solicits public comment on its identification of the 343 waters and associated pollutants set out in Attachment 1 to EPA’s decision document, Tables 1–5, for inclusion on Illinois’ 2008 Section 303(d) list. The waterbody impairment combinations PO 00000 Frm 00046 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4703 when added to the final list will be given the priority ranking previously identified in the 2006 303(d) list approved on June 27, 2006 which can be found at https://www.epa.state.il.us/ water/tmdl/303d-list.html. Illinois recently submitted additional information to EPA on the proposed DO standard which should enable EPA to make a decision on the proposed standard soon. EPA is still waiting for information concerning Illinois’ proposed standard change for the sulfate standard which affects the listing of sulfate and TDS impairments. If a final approval action is taken by EPA on either of the newly proposed standards by the end of this public comment period these impairments will not be added to the final approved list because the specific waters at issue will be meeting the new standards for the pollutant or impairment. The specific waterbody impairment combinations for DO, sulfate, and TDS can be found in Attachment 1 Tables 1–3 to the Illinois’ (303) list decision document found at Region 5’s watershed Web site https:// www.epa.gov/region5/water/wshednps/ notices.htm above. Since EPA’s October 22, 2008 decision to partially approve and partially disapprove Illinois 2008 303(d) list, Illinois has submitted information concerning an error in listing a specific water for impairment due to boron. The specific water is segment number E–26 of the Sangamon River. In 1995, Illinois submitted to EPA an adjusted standard for this segment of the Sangamon River. Consistent with Federal regulations at 40 CFR 131.21, this adjusted standard is the effective boron water quality standard for this segment. However, in preparing its 2008 303(d) list, Illinois based its attainment determination on the statewide general use boron standard at Illinois Administrative Code Section 304.105. Illinois realized this error after EPA partially approved its 2008 303(d) list. Illinois has reviewed the data for Segment E–26 of the Sangamon River and determined that the segment attains the boron standard applicable to the segment. Illinois has provided a summary of the data to EPA. EPA reviewed the data and agrees that segment E–26 of the Sangamon River should not have been included on the Section 303(d) list as impaired due to boron, and proposes to delist segment E–26 of the Sangamon River as impaired due to boron. EPA requests comments on this delisting. E:\FR\FM\29DEN1.SGM 29DEN1 Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 249 / Monday, December 29, 2008 / Notices Dated: December 16, 2008. Anthony Corollo, Acting Director, Water Division, EPA Region 5. [FR Doc. E8–30815 Filed 12–24–08; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 6560–50–P ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY [FRL–8758–1] Scientific Workshop To Inform EPA’s Response to National Academy of Science Comments on the Health Effects of Dioxin in EPA’s 2003 Dioxin Reassessment dwashington3 on PROD1PC60 with NOTICES AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). ACTION: Notice of scientific workshop and poster submissions. SUMMARY: The National Center for Environmental Assessment (NCEA), a part of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Office of Research and Development, is sponsoring a three-day public, scientific workshop, including a public review of the recent scientific literature on 2,3,7,8Tetrachlorodibenzo-p-Dioxin (TCDD) dose-response, to assist EPA in responding to the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) report, Health Risks from Dioxin and Related Compounds: Evaluation of the EPA Reassessment (NAS, 2006). (See 73 FR 70999 for information on the preliminary literature search results for TCDD doseresponse. The literature search was conducted in collaboration with the Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratories.) The Track Group, an EPA contractor, will organize and facilitate the workshop. Members of the public may attend the workshop as observers and may participate in open comment periods. Space is limited and registrations will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis. As part of the registration process, members of the public may choose to submit a poster citation and abstract limited to 250 words. Space for displaying posters is limited, and abstract submissions will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis. DATES: The workshop will be held February 18–20, 2009, from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. A poster session will be held on February 19, 2009, from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. During this time, workshop participants will view the posters, and poster authors should be available to answer questions. Posters may be installed and displayed between the hours of 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. on February 19, 2009, and must be taken down at the VerDate Aug<31>2005 13:19 Dec 24, 2008 Jkt 217001 79483 end of that time. To ensure presentation of a poster, poster abstracts must be submitted to EPA’s contractor, The Track Group, in advance of the workshop with a deadline of January 23, 2009. ADDRESSES: The workshop will be held at the Hilton Cincinnati Netherland Plaza, 35 West Fifth St., Cincinnati, Ohio 45202; telephone: (513) 421–9100. The Track Group, an EPA contractor, is organizing and facilitating the workshop. A special conference room rate is available by mentioning ‘‘the Dioxin Workshop.’’ Registration and poster abstract submission are available online at https:// dioxinworkshop.eventbrite.com or call the conference registration line at (703) 738–4633. To obtain copies of background information, please see the NCEA Web site: https://www.epa.gov/ ncea/; copies are not available from The Track Group. Special Accomodations: EPA welcomes the attendance of the public at this workshop and will make every effort to accommodate persons with disabilities. If you require special accommodations due to a disability, please contact The Track Group, 85 S. Bragg Street, Suite 301, Alexandria, VA 22312; telephone: (703) 738–4633, facsimile: (703) 997–0760, at least 7 days before the workshop. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For workshop information, registration, and logistics, contact The Track Group, 85 S. Bragg Street, Suite 301, Alexandria, VA 22312; telephone: (703) 738–4633; facsimile: (703) 997–0760. For technical information, contact Glenn E. Rice, National Center for Environmental Assessment, (Mail Code: MS A–110), Office of Research and Development, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Cincinnati, OH 45268; telephone: (513) 569–7813; facsimile: (513) 487–2539; or e-mail: rice.glenn@epa.gov. The three key findings of the NAS (2006) were for EPA to address: ‘‘(1) Justification of approaches to doseresponse modeling for cancer and noncancer endpoints, (2) transparency and clarity in selection of key data sets for analysis, and (3) transparency, thoroughness and clarity in quantitative uncertainty analysis.’’ EPA’s goal for this open, public workshop is to ensure that its technical response focuses on the key issues and considers the most meaningful science to inform its understanding of these issues, while maintaining transparency throughout the process and providing opportunity for outside comment and input. Participants in the workshop will consist of a wide range of invited scientific experts and EPA scientific staff, representing a variety of areas of expertise related to TCDD. Public participation opportunities include designated open comment periods and an evening scientific poster session. The purpose of the poster session is to provide a forum for scientists to present recent studies relevant to TCDD doseresponse assessment. Scientists with significant expertise and experience with TCDD or dioxin-related compound biology will be invited to serve on expert panels for discussions throughout the workshop. These expert panels will be asked to highlight significant and emerging TCDD research and make recommendations to EPA regarding the design and scope of the dose-response analyses for TCDD, including recommendations for evaluating associated uncertainties. Open comment periods will be included in the agenda following each expert panel discussion. Preliminary information on the program agenda is available on the NCEA Web page at https://www.epa.gov/ ncea/. Recommendations from the expert panels will be made available on the NCEA Web page after the workshop. This workshop is designed to inform EPA’s response to the NAS report, Health Risks from Dioxin and Related Compounds: Evaluation of the EPA Reassessment (NAS, 2006), by enlisting expert scientist and public comment and input. The main objectives of the workshop are to (1) identify the key significant comments offered by the NAS in their evaluation of the TCDD dose-response assessment in the EPA Reassessment (EPA, 2003), (2) discuss approaches for addressing these comments, and (3) identify the key published literature needed to support the EPA response. Dated: December 17, 2008. Peter W. Preuss, Director, National Center for Environmental Assessment. [FR Doc. E8–30811 Filed 12–24–08; 8:45 am] SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: PO 00000 Frm 00047 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4703 BILLING CODE 6560–50–P FEDERAL HOUSING FINANCE AGENCY Proposed Collection; Comment Request AGENCY: Federal Housing Finance Agency. E:\FR\FM\29DEN1.SGM 29DEN1

Agencies

[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 249 (Monday, December 29, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 79482-79483]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-30815]



[[Page 79482]]

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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-8757-4]


Preliminary Listing of Additional Waters To Be Included on 
Illinois' 2008 List of Impaired Waters Under Section 303(d) of the 
Clean Water Act and Proposed Delisting of Boron Impairment for Segment 
E-26 of the Sangamon River

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice and request for comments.

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

SUMMARY: This notice announces the availability of EPA's decision 
identifying water quality limited segments and associated pollutants in 
Illinois to be listed pursuant to the Clean Water Act Section 
303(d)(2), and requests public comment. Section 303(d)(2) requires that 
states submit and EPA approve or disapprove lists of waters for which 
existing technology-based pollution controls are not stringent enough 
to attain or maintain state water quality standards and for which total 
maximum daily loads (TMDLs) must be prepared.
    On October 22, 2008, EPA partially approved and partially 
disapproved Illinois' submittal. Specifically, EPA approved Illinois' 
listing of waters, associated pollutants and associated priority 
rankings, but disapproved Illinois' decision not to list certain water 
quality limited segments and associated pollutants. EPA identified 
these additional water bodies and pollutants for inclusion on the 2008 
Section 303(d) list. EPA is providing the public the opportunity to 
review its decision to add waters and pollutants to Illinois' 2008 
Clean Water Act Section 303(d) list and its decision to delist the 
Boron impairment for the Sangamon waterbody. EPA will consider public 
comments in reaching its final decision on the additional water bodies 
and pollutants identified for inclusion on Illinois' final 303(d) list 
and the deletion of the Boron impairment.

DATES: Comments on this document must be received in writing by 
February 12, 2009.

ADDRESSES: Written comments on today's notice may be submitted to 
Timothy Henry, Acting Director, Water Division, Attn: Illinois 303(d) 
list, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 77 West Jackson Boulevard, 
Chicago, Illinois 60604. As an alternative, EPA will accept comments 
electronically. Comments should be sent to the following Internet e-
mail address: keclik.donna@epa.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Donna Keclik, Watersheds and Wetlands 
Branch, at the EPA address noted above or by telephone at (312) 886-
6766.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Section 303(d) of the Clean Water Act (CWA) 
requires that each state identify those waters for which existing 
technology-based pollution controls are not stringent enough to attain 
or maintain state water quality standards. EPA's regulations include 
requirements related to the implementation of Section 303(d) of the CWA 
(40 CFR 130.7). The regulations require states to identify water 
quality limited waters still requiring TMDLs every two years. The lists 
of waters still needing TMDLs must also include priority rankings and 
must identify the waters targeted for TMDL development during the next 
two years (40 CFR 130.7).
    Consistent with EPA's regulations, Illinois submitted to EPA its 
listing decision under Section 303(d)(2) on June 30, 2008. On October 
22, 2008, EPA approved Illinois' listing of waters and associated 
priority rankings, and disapproved Illinois' decision not to list 343 
water quality limited segments and associated pollutants for inclusion 
on the 2008 Section 303(d) list. More specifically, EPA disapproved 
Illinois' decision to delist total nitrogen as a cause of impairment 
for 191 water bodies and sedimentation as an impairment for 23 water 
bodies based on EPA's determination that the state did not provide good 
cause for delisting these waterbody/impairment combinations. EPA 
disapproved Illinois' decision to delist sulfates (nine), dissolved 
oxygen (DO) (15) and total dissolved solids (TDS) (105) impairments 
based on Illinois' new water quality standards for sulfates and DO 
because these new water quality standards have not yet been approved by 
EPA and therefore under 40 CFR 131.21 cannot be used for listing or 
delisting purposes. As a result of EPA's disapproval decision, EPA is 
placing all these water bodies with associated impairments back on 
Illinois section 303(d) list. The list of waterbody/pollutants that EPA 
is adding to the Illinois' 303(d) list and EPA's decision document are 
available at https://www.epa.gov/region5/water/wshednps/notices.htm.
    EPA solicits public comment on its identification of the 343 waters 
and associated pollutants set out in Attachment 1 to EPA's decision 
document, Tables 1-5, for inclusion on Illinois' 2008 Section 303(d) 
list. The waterbody impairment combinations when added to the final 
list will be given the priority ranking previously identified in the 
2006 303(d) list approved on June 27, 2006 which can be found at http:/
/www.epa.state.il.us/water/tmdl/303d-list.html.
    Illinois recently submitted additional information to EPA on the 
proposed DO standard which should enable EPA to make a decision on the 
proposed standard soon. EPA is still waiting for information concerning 
Illinois' proposed standard change for the sulfate standard which 
affects the listing of sulfate and TDS impairments. If a final approval 
action is taken by EPA on either of the newly proposed standards by the 
end of this public comment period these impairments will not be added 
to the final approved list because the specific waters at issue will be 
meeting the new standards for the pollutant or impairment. The specific 
waterbody impairment combinations for DO, sulfate, and TDS can be found 
in Attachment 1 Tables 1-3 to the Illinois' (303) list decision 
document found at Region 5's watershed Web site https://www.epa.gov/
region5/water/wshednps/notices.htm above.
    Since EPA's October 22, 2008 decision to partially approve and 
partially disapprove Illinois 2008 303(d) list, Illinois has submitted 
information concerning an error in listing a specific water for 
impairment due to boron. The specific water is segment number E-26 of 
the Sangamon River. In 1995, Illinois submitted to EPA an adjusted 
standard for this segment of the Sangamon River. Consistent with 
Federal regulations at 40 CFR 131.21, this adjusted standard is the 
effective boron water quality standard for this segment. However, in 
preparing its 2008 303(d) list, Illinois based its attainment 
determination on the statewide general use boron standard at Illinois 
Administrative Code Section 304.105. Illinois realized this error after 
EPA partially approved its 2008 303(d) list. Illinois has reviewed the 
data for Segment E-26 of the Sangamon River and determined that the 
segment attains the boron standard applicable to the segment. Illinois 
has provided a summary of the data to EPA. EPA reviewed the data and 
agrees that segment E-26 of the Sangamon River should not have been 
included on the Section 303(d) list as impaired due to boron, and 
proposes to delist segment E-26 of the Sangamon River as impaired due 
to boron. EPA requests comments on this delisting.


[[Page 79483]]


    Dated: December 16, 2008.
Anthony Corollo,
Acting Director, Water Division, EPA Region 5.
 [FR Doc. E8-30815 Filed 12-24-08; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P
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