81 FR 40302 - Evaluating Urban Resilience to Climate Change: A Multi-Sector Approach

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

Federal Register Volume 81, Issue 119 (June 21, 2016)

EPA is announcing a 30-day public comment period for the draft document titled ``Evaluating Urban Resilience to Climate Change: A Multi-Sector Approach'' (EPA/600/R-15/312). EPA is also announcing that Versar, Inc., an EPA contractor for external scientific peer review, will select four independent experts from a pool of eight to conduct a letter peer review of the same draft document. The document was prepared by the National Center for Environmental Assessment (NCEA) within EPA's Office of Research and Development (ORD). This document describes an assessment tool that uses quantitative and qualitative indicators to help cities identify areas of resilience and vulnerability to climate change impacts and introduces example case studies from Washington, DC and Worcester, Massachusetts. 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 peer review. When finalizing the draft document, EPA intends to consider any public comments received in response to this notice. EPA is releasing this draft document for the purposes of public comment and peer review. This draft document is not final as described in EPA's information quality guidelines and it does not represent and should not be construed to represent Agency policy or views. The draft document is available via the internet on EPA's Global Change Research Program Products and Publications Web page at https:// www.epa.gov/risk/global-change-research-program-products-and- publications.

[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 119 (Tuesday, June 21, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 40302-40303]
From the Federal Register Online  [www.thefederalregister.org]
[FR Doc No: 2016-14666]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-ORD-2013-0357; FRL 9947-98-ORD]


Evaluating Urban Resilience to Climate Change: A Multi-Sector 
Approach

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 titled ``Evaluating Urban Resilience to Climate Change: A 
Multi-Sector Approach'' (EPA/600/R-15/312). EPA is also announcing that 
Versar, Inc., an EPA contractor for external scientific peer review, 
will select four independent experts from a pool of eight to conduct a 
letter peer review of the same draft document. The document was 
prepared by the National Center for Environmental Assessment (NCEA) 
within EPA's Office of Research and Development (ORD). This document 
describes an assessment tool that uses quantitative and qualitative 
indicators to help cities identify areas of resilience and 
vulnerability to climate change impacts and introduces example case 
studies from Washington, DC and Worcester, Massachusetts.
    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 peer review. When finalizing the draft 
document, EPA intends to consider any public comments received in 
response to this notice. EPA is releasing this draft document for the 
purposes of public comment and peer review. This draft document is not 
final as described in EPA's information quality guidelines and it does 
not represent and should not be construed to represent Agency policy or 
views. The draft document is available via the internet on EPA's Global 
Change Research Program Products and Publications Web page at https://www.epa.gov/risk/global-change-research-program-products-and-publications.

DATES: The 30-day public comment period begins June 21, 2016, and ends 
July 21, 2016. Technical comments should be in writing and must be 
received by EPA by July 21, 2016. The document will be available on or 
around June 22, 2016.

ADDRESSES: The external peer review draft, ``Evaluating Urban 
Resilience to Climate Change: A Multi-Sector Approach,'' is available 
primarily via the internet on the EPA's Global Change Research Program 
Products and Publications Web page at https://www.epa.gov/risk/global-change-research-program-products-and-publications. 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 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 notice.

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 Susan Julius, NCEA; telephone: 
703-347-8619; facsimile: 703-347-8694; or email: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Information About the Document

    Climate change impacts are diverse, long-term, and not easily 
predictable. Adapting to climate change requires making context 
specific and forward-looking decisions regarding a variety of climate 
change impacts and vulnerabilities when the future is highly uncertain. 
EPA scientists and their collaborators created an assessment tool to 
help cities identify climate change risks in eight different municipal 
sectors. The report identifies and tests indicators of traits that may 
enhance or inhibit communities' resilience to climate change, allowing 
decision-makers to focus planning efforts on those areas that are least 
resilient to anticipated impacts. The results yielded an approach that 
provides a way for cities to explore threats to and measures

[[Page 40303]]

of resilience. It also demonstrates the utility of this systematic and 
flexible method in providing useful information for future adaptation 
planning for different types of cities.

II. How To Submit Technical Comments to the Docket at 
www.regulations.gov

    Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-ORD-2013-
0357, by one of the following methods:
     www.regulations.gov: Follow the on-line instructions for 
submitting comments.
     Email: [email protected].
     Fax: 202-566-9744.
     Mail: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, EPA Docket 
Center (ORD Docket), Mail Code: 28221T, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue NW., 
Washington, DC 20460. The phone number is 202-566-1752.
     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 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-
2013-0357. 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 
the EPA's policy to include all comments it receives in the public 
docket without change and to make the comments available online at 
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 through 
www.regulations.gov or email that you consider to be CBI or otherwise 
protected. The www.regulations.gov Web site is an ``anonymous access'' 
system, which means the 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 the EPA without going through 
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, the 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 the EPA cannot read your comment due to technical 
difficulties and cannot contact you for clarification, the 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 the EPA's public 
docket visit the EPA Docket Center homepage at http://www2.epa.gov/dockets.
    Docket: Documents in the docket are listed in the 
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 www.regulations.gov or in hard copy at the ORD Docket in the EPA 
Headquarters Docket Center.

    Dated: June 9, 2016.
Mary A. Ross,
Deputy Director, National Center for Environmental Assessment.
[FR Doc. 2016-14666 Filed 6-20-16; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6560-50-P