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

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[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

 
 


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