Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Request for Public Comment.
This notice solicits public comment on the effects of Ocean Acidification (OA) as it relates to the listing of impaired waters under Section 303(d) of the Clean Water Act (CWA). Under Section 303(d) of the CWA, States, Territories, and authorized Tribes are required to develop lists of impaired waters and develop Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs) for the pollutant(s) causing the impairment. By this notice, EPA is soliciting input from the public on what considerations EPA should take into account when deciding how to address listing of waters as threatened or impaired for ocean acidification under the 303(d) program. Should EPA decide to issue guidance regarding the listing of waters as threatened or impaired for ocean acidification under the 303(d) program, EPA is using this opportunity to seek public comment on the specific assessment, monitoring and other elements under CWA that EPA should consider, as well as input on how EPA can take into account other Federal ocean acidification programs and initiatives when deciding how to approach ocean acidification under the 303(d) program.
Comments must be received on or before May 21, 2010.
Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA–HQ–OW–2010–0175 by one of the following methods:
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Christine Ruf, Ecologist, Assessment and Watershed Protection Division, Watershed Branch (4503–T) Environmental Protection Agency, 1301 Constitution Ave, NW. (MC 4503–T) Washington, DC; telephone number: (202) 566–1220; fax number: (202) 566–1437; e-mail address:
1. This information may be useful to Federal, State, Tribal, and Territorial managers of water quality programs, including the Total Maximum Daily Load [Clean Water Act 303(d)] program, and assessment and monitoring programs.
2. This information may be useful to scientists and researchers involved in measuring and studying ocean acidification impacts.
3. This information may be useful to ocean and coastal managers who are identifying effective strategies for Federal, State, and local officials to use to address the potential impacts of ocean acidification.
Information submitted in response to this FR Notice should address the issue of ocean acidification and the CWA Section 303(d) program, including whether EPA should issue guidance regarding the listing of waters as threatened or impaired for ocean acidification, and what that potential guidance might entail. Commenters should also address any other implications that ocean acidification may have for the 303(d) program. Detailed information about the 303(d)
1. What considerations should EPA take into account when deciding how to address the listing of waters as threatened or impaired for ocean acidification under the 303(d) program?
2. If EPA issues guidance regarding the listing of waters as threatened or impaired for ocean acidification under the 303(d) Program, what are the specific elements that EPA should consider? Should the Agency specifically consider the following:
a. What surface water monitoring methods and programs are available to States to measure ocean acidification impacts?
i. Are there emerging remote sensing technologies that might be particularly suited to gathering information about acidification of ocean waters?
ii. Are there new programs for collecting information about acidification of marine waters off the U.S. coasts that could provide information useful to EPA or States in the next few years?
b. What assessment methodologies are available for States to make attainment determinations consistent with water quality standards related to ocean acidification?
c. How can States incorporate additional information on ocean acidification beyond site-specific measurements? (
d. What other data and information is available for States to use in making decisions regarding whether waters are threatened or impaired for ocean acidification?
3. How can States or EPA otherwise aid in monitoring ocean acidification and its impacts on marine life and ecosystems?
4. If waters were determined to be threatened or impaired for ocean acidification under 303(d), what issues should EPA and States take into account when considering how to address TMDL development for such waters?
5. What other Federal ocean acidification programs and initiatives (
CWA Section 303(d) and supporting regulations (40 CFR 130.2 and 130.7) establish the Impaired Waters Listing and TMDL Program. The Impaired Waters Listing and TMDL Program is primarily a State-driven process with EPA oversight. Key stakeholders include the States, the NPDES regulated community, agricultural community, environmental organizations, watershed groups, municipalities, local government, Tribal agencies, and Federal land management agencies. Under this program, States, Territories, and authorized Tribes (collectively referred to in the CWA as “States”) are required to develop lists every two years of water quality-limited waters needing a TMDL (
In developing these lists, regulations at 40 CFR 130.7(b)(5) specify that each State shall assemble and evaluate all existing and readily available water quality related data and information to develop the list. At a minimum, “all existing and readily available water quality-related data and information” includes but is not limited to all of the following categories:
(i) Waters identified in the most recent CWA Section 305(b) report as “partially meeting” or “not meeting” designated uses, or as threatened;
(ii) Waters for which dilution calculations or predictive models indicate nonattainment of applicable water quality standards;
(iii) Waters for which water quality problems have been reported by local, State, or Federal agencies; members of the public; or academic institutions; and
(iv) Waters identified by the State as impaired or threatened in a nonpoint assessment submitted to EPA under Section 319 of the CWA.
EPA is required to approve or disapprove a State's impaired waters list. If EPA disapproves a list, EPA must identify the impaired waters that should be listed. States are also required to establish priority rankings for waters on the lists and develop TMDLs for these waters. To date, about 44,000 waters are listed nationwide as impaired (
A TMDL is a calculation of the maximum amount of a pollutant that a water body can receive and still meet applicable water quality standards, and an allocation of that amount to the pollutant's point (wasteload allocation) and nonpoint (load allocation) sources. States develop TMDLs for each waterbody/pollutant combination identified on the impaired waters list and submit the TMDLs to EPA. CWA Section 303(d) and supporting regulations do not specify a timeframe for States to develop TMDLs. However, EPA recommends that States develop TMDLs within 8 to 13 years from the time the waterbody/pollutant combination was initially listed on the State's impaired waters list. EPA is required to approve or disapprove the State's TMDLs. If EPA disapproves a TMDL, EPA must establish its own TMDL. To date, about 41,000 TMDLs have been developed nationwide (
Under the TMDL Program, approved wasteload allocations for point sources must be implemented in applicable National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits. Load allocations for nonpoint sources are implemented through a wide variety of State, local, and Federal programs, which are primarily voluntary or incentive-based.
Ocean acidification refers to the decrease in the pH of the Earth's oceans caused by the uptake of carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere. Ocean acidification is not a climate process, but instead directly affects ocean chemistry as seawater absorbs carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Oceans have been absorbing about one-third of the anthropogenic CO2 emitted into the atmosphere since pre-industrial times (Sabine
Ocean acidification has emerged as a top priority within various Federal and international programs. Examples of a few key actions are described below. President Obama created an Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force on June 12, 2009, to better meet our Nation's stewardship responsibilities for the oceans, coasts and Great Lakes (White House Memo, June 12, 2009, online at
The group is planning to release a final report that will recommend a new national ocean policy and will address nine “action” categories, including ocean acidification. On December 14, 2009, the Task Force released its
Second, on April 15, 2009, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published a Notice of Data Availability (NODA) in the
Fourth, the National Research Council is scheduled to release a report in 2010, that will address research, monitoring and assessment of ocean acidification (
EPA is also directly involved in a number of other studies and partnerships to address ocean acidification, including:
• EPA released “Stony Coral Rapid Bioassessment Protocol” (RBP) on July 2007 (
• EPA is developing a technical guidance framework to aid States and Territories in their development, adoption, and implementation of coral reef biocriteria in their respective water quality standards.
• EPA supported the development of the Coral Mortality and Bleaching Output (COMBO) model to project the effects of climate change on coral reefs by calculating impacts from changing sea surface temperature and CO2 concentration, and from episodic high temperature bleaching events (R.W. Buddemeier, 2008).
• EPA's National Coastal Research and Monitoring Strategy (
• EPA's National Coastal Condition Report (NCCR III) (
The Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) filed a complaint against EPA on May 14th, 2009 challenging EPA's approval of Washington State's 2008 303(d) list citing failure to include coastal waters as impaired for marine pH [