
[Federal Register: July 25, 2008 (Volume 73, Number 144)]
[Notices]               
[Page 43442-43443]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr25jy08-67]                         

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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-8697-4; Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-ORD-2008-0543]

 
The Development of Land-Use Scenarios Consistent With Climate 
Change Emissions Storylines

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of public comment period.

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SUMMARY: EPA is announcing a 30-day public comment period for the draft 
document entitled, ``The Development of Land-Use Scenarios Consistent 
with Climate Change Emissions Storylines'' (EPA/600/R-08/076). The 
document was prepared by the National Center for Environmental 
Assessment within EPA's Office of Research and Development.
    EPA is releasing this draft document solely for the purpose of pre-
dissemination peer review under applicable information-quality 
guidelines. This document has not been formally disseminated by EPA. It 
does not represent, and should not be construed to represent, any 
Agency policy or determination. EPA will consider any public comments 
submitted in accordance with this notice when revising the document.

DATES: The 30-day public comment period begins July 25, 2008, and ends 
August 25, 2008. Technical comments should be in writing and must be 
received by EPA by August 25, 2008.

ADDRESSES: The draft 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, your mailing address, and the document title, ``The 
Development of Land-Use Scenarios Consistent with Climate Change 
Emissions Storylines.''
    Comments may be submitted electronically via http://
www.regulations.gov, by mail, by facsimile, or by hand delivery/
courier. Please follow the detailed instructions

[[Page 43443]]

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: 202-566-1753; or e-mail: 
ORD.Docket@epa.gov.
    For technical information, contact Britta Bierwagen, NCEA; 
telephone: 703-347-8613; facsimile: 703-347-8694; or e-mail: 
bierwagen.britta@epa.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Information About the Project/Document

    This draft report describes the modeling methodology used to create 
scenarios of housing density changes across the contiguous United 
States for each decade from the year 2000 to 2100 that are consistent 
with socio-economic storylines used by climate change modelers. The 
method consists of adapting the four main storylines used in the 
reports by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to the 
United States, then running a demographic model for the United States 
at the county level that is consistent with these storylines, and 
distributing new housing at a 100-meter scale using a spatial 
allocation model that translates the population projections to housing.
    The scenarios not only reflect different assumptions about 
fertility rates and domestic and international migration, but also 
assumptions about the allocation of housing on the landscape from more 
compact to less compact forms of growth. The draft report also 
describes the methods used to convert housing density into impervious 
surface cover--an output that will facilitate future assessments of 
changes in water quality, aquatic ecosystems, air quality, and human 
health. The draft report concludes with recommendations for future 
modifications to the model to integrate climate change variables and 
for further analyses using the present results.

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 2008-
0543, by one of the following methods:
     http://www.regulations.gov: Follow the on-line 
instructions for submitting comments.
     E-mail: ORD.Docket@epa.gov.
     Fax: 202-566-1753.
     Mail: Office of Environmental Information (OEI) Docket 
(Mail Code: 2822T), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 
Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460. The phone number is 202-
566-1752.
     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 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. Such 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 mail or hand delivery, please submit 
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-
2008-0543. 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 e-
mail. 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 e-mail comment directly to EPA without going through http://
www.regulations.gov, your e-mail 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 homepage 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 
in http://www.regulations.gov or in hard copy at the OEI Docket in the 
EPA Headquarters Docket Center.

    Dated: July 16, 2008.
Rebecca Clark,
Deputy Director, National Center for Environmental Assessment.
[FR Doc. E8-17086 Filed 7-24-08; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6560-50-P
