MASSWELL 30-day FR Notice

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Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 6 / Friday, January 9, 2009 / Notices

the levied river channels into the
Atchafalaya River Basin. The
Atchafalaya River Basin Floodway is 65
miles long, 15 miles wide, and lies on
either side of the Atchafalaya River from
Krotz Springs, Louisiana, to Morgan
City, Louisiana. This floodway is a
southern extension of the Morganza and
West Atchafalaya Floodways at the
lower end of the Atchafalaya River
Basin. Flow is discharged into the
Atchafalaya Bay and Gulf of Mexico
through the lower Atchafalaya River at
Morgan City and through an artificial
channel (known as the Wax Lake Outlet)
about 10 miles west of Morgan City.
The Atchafalaya River Basin has been
described as the greatest river swamp in
the United States. It encompasses more
than one-half million acres of wetlands
that may produce as much wildlife as
any area in the country. The basin
provides habitat for a diversity of
wildlife species. Its waters also support
a tremendous sport and commercial
fisheries’ resource.
For years there was dispute over the
conservation of the basin. Flood control,
agriculture, energy development,
recreation, and other interests in the
basin were difficult to reconcile. All
parties involved developed an
agreement to resolve the major disputes.
The agreement, which is incorporated in
a feasibility study developed by the
Corps for the basin, calls for specific
flood control measures, water flow rates,
and the purchase of flowage and
conservation easements designed to
keep the basin in a natural state, while
providing navigation and flood
protection for surrounding
communities.
The agreement also calls for the
acquisition and management of 90,000
acres within the basin for public access.
The Dow Chemical Company donated
40,000 acres. The acquisition of the
remaining 50,000 acres is to be split
between the State of Louisiana and the
Federal Government.
The Louisiana Department of Wildlife
and Fisheries (LDWF) purchased 11,780
acres on September 13, 1983, and
created the Sherburne Wildlife
Management Area. In the 1984
Supplemental Appropriations Act (Pub.
L. 98–396) passed by Congress and
signed into law by President Reagan, a
total of $10 million from the Land and
Water Conservation Fund was
appropriated to the Service to acquire
lands and waters in the Atchafalaya
River Basin in accordance with statutory
authority applicable to the Fish and
Wildlife Act of 1956. The land was
purchased from the Iberville Land
Company.

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Atchafalaya NWR was established in
1986, when 15,220 acres in the basin, as
directed by Public Law 98–548, were
purchased. Since 1989, the Corps has
purchased 37,000 acres of fee title land
adjacent to and within the Atchafalaya
NWR, which brought the current
acreage among all three agencies to
64,000. The Corps is in the process of
purchasing more land to add to the
system.
Under the Cooperative Agreement
(Contract No. 14–16–0004–86–946), all
of the public access lands are managed
by the LDWF. Since the Federal and
State lands share common boundaries,
LDWF technical and field personnel
manage the wildlife on both the wildlife
management area and the refuge.
Service personnel are responsible for all
forest management and issuance of
special use permits.
Approximately 12 percent of the
refuge is inundated open water, with
isolated cypress trees and willow
stands. Bottomland hardwood forest is
the primary habitat. Self-guided tours
can be accessed by auto, boat, or foot.
Traditional use of the area is hunting,
which follows the State’s annual season
dates and specific regulations. Camping
is allowed nearby on the State’s
Sherburne Wildlife Management Area.
Public Availability of Comments
Before including your address, phone
number, e-mail address, or other
personal identifying information in your
comment, you should be aware that
your entire comment, including your
personal identifying information, may
be made publicly available at any time.
While you can ask us in your comment
to withhold your personal identifying
information from public review, we
cannot guarantee that we will be able to
do so.
Authority: This notice is published under
the authority of the National Wildlife Refuge
System Improvement Act of 1997, Public
Law 105–57.
Dated: December 5, 2008.
Cynthia K. Dohner,
Acting Regional Director.
[FR Doc. E9–186 Filed 1–8–09; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310–55–P

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Geological Survey
Agency Information Collection
Activities: Submitted for Office of
Management and Budget (OMB)
Review; Comment Request
AGENCY: U.S. Geological Survey (USGS),
Interior.

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ACTION: Notice of a proposed new
information collection and request for
comments.
SUMMARY: To comply with the
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995
(PRA), we are notifying the public that
we have submitted to OMB a new
information collection request (ICR) for
approval of the paperwork requirements
for the Study on Arsenic and Uranium
in Bedrock Wells of East Central
Massachusetts (MASSWELL).
DATES: You must submit comments on
or before February 9, 2009.
ADDRESSES: Please submit comments on
this information collection directly to
the Office of Management and Budget
(OMB) Office of Information and
Regulatory Affairs, Attention: Desk
Officer for the Department of Interior via
e-mail [[email protected]];
or fax (202)395–6566; and identify your
submission as 1028–NEW. Please also
submit a copy of your comments to
Phadrea Ponds, USGS Information
Collection Clearance Officer, 2150–C
Center Avenue, Fort Collins, CO 80525
(mail); (970)226–9230 (fax); or
[email protected] (e-mail). Please
reference Information Collection 1028–
NEW, MASSWELL in the subject line.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE
CONTACT: John A. Colman, U.S.

Geological Survey, 10 Bearfoot Road,
Northborough, Massachusetts 01532
(mail); at 508–490–5027 (telephone); or
[email protected] (e-mail).
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Title:
Study on Arsenic and Uranium in
Bedrock Wells of East Central
Massachusetts.
OMB Control Number: 1028–NEW.
Abstract: The U.S. Geological Survey
(USGS) and the Massachusetts
Department of Environmental Protection
(MDEP) are conducting the study with
assistance of staff from the
Massachusetts Department of Public
Health, Bureau of Environmental Health
(MDPH/BEH) to assess: (1) The number
of private wells containing raw-water
concentrations of arsenic or uranium
that are greater than the current
drinking water standards and (2) the
degree to which bedrock units can be
associated with concentrations of
uranium and arsenic. This information
will help guide future water-supply
development and well-water testing. It
will tell local health officials where the
areas of concern are in their
communities, and provide background
concentrations by rock type for use in
identifying contamination from human
sources.
We will protect information from
respondents considered proprietary

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mstockstill on PROD1PC66 with NOTICES

Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 6 / Friday, January 9, 2009 / Notices
under the Freedom of Information Act
(5 U.S.C. 552) and implementing
regulations (43 CFR Part 2), and under
regulations at 30 CFR 250.197, ‘‘Data
and information to be made available to
the public or for limited inspection.’’
Responses are voluntary. No questions
of a ‘‘sensitive’’ nature are asked.
Affected Public: Individual and
household residents.
Respondent Obligation: Voluntary.
Frequency of Collection: One-time
collection.
Estimated Number and Description of
Respondents: 1000 private well owners
in East Central Massachusetts.
Estimated Number of Annual
Responses: 800.
Estimated Annual Burden Hours:
Approximately 133 hours.
Estimated Annual Reporting and
Recordkeeping ‘‘Hour’’ Burden: In the
August 27, 2008 FR Notice (73 FR
50641) we estimated that the time to
take the survey and collect the water
sample would be 30 minutes. Based on
peer-reviewer comments we have
revised the estimated burden for this
collection to be approximately 5
minutes to take the survey and 5
minutes to locate and collect the water
needed for the sample. The total
estimate is now 10 minutes per
response.
Estimated Reporting and
Recordkeeping ‘‘Non-Hour Cost’’
Burden: There are no ‘‘non-hour cost’’
burdens associated with this collection
of information.
Public Disclosure Statement: The PRA
(44 U.S.C. 3501, et seq.) provides that an
agency may not conduct or sponsor and
you are not required to respond to, a
collection of information unless it
displays a currently valid OMB control
number. Until OMB approves a
collection of information, you are not
obligated to respond.
Comments: We are soliciting
comments as to: (a) Whether the
proposed collection of information is
necessary for the agency to perform its
duties, including whether the
information is useful; (b) the accuracy of
the agency’s estimate of the burden of
the proposed collection of information;
(c) how to enhance the quality,
usefulness, and clarity of the
information to be collected; and (d) how
to minimize the burden on the
respondents, including the use of
automated collection techniques or
other forms of information technology.
USGS Information Collection
Clearance Officer: Phadrea D. Ponds
970–226–9445.

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Dated: December 3, 2008.
Peter K. Weiskel,
Associate Director, USGS MassachusettsRhode Island Water Science Center.
[FR Doc. E9–180 Filed 1–8–09; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4311–AM–P

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Indian Affairs
Notice of Renewal of Information
Collection for Tribal Self-Governance,
25 CFR Part 1000
AGENCY: Bureau of Indian Affairs,
Interior.
ACTION: Notice of proposed renewal of
information collection.
SUMMARY: The Bureau of Indian Affairs
(BIA) is seeking comments from the
public on a renewal of an information
collection from Indian tribes
participating in and Indian tribes
seeking to participate in the Tribal SelfGovernance, as required by the
Paperwork Reduction Act. The
information collected under OMB
Clearance Number, 1076–0143, will be
used to meet reporting requirements of
the Tribal Self-Governance Act and
implement requirements for entry into a
pool of qualified applicants to be
selected to begin participation in Tribal
Self-Governance. The information
collection requirements are periodically
reviewed because the number of Indian
tribes participating in Tribal SelfGovernance increases over time and the
number of Indian tribes requesting to be
selected to begin participation in Tribal
Self-Governance may vary over time.
This action is being taken to make sure
that the requirements are not
burdensome.
DATE: Submit comments on or before
March 10, 2009.
ADDRESSES: Send comments to Sharee
M. Freeman, Director, Office of SelfGovernance, Department of the Interior,
Mail Stop 355–G–SIB, 1951 Constitution
Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20240.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: You
may request further information or
obtain copies of the proposed
information collection request from Dr.
Kenneth D. Reinfeld, Office of SelfGovernance, Telephone 202–208–5734.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The
collection is required by 25 U.S.C.
458dd, which requires the Secretary of
the Interior to submit a written report to
Congress regarding the administration of
Title IV, Tribal Self-Governance, under
Public Law 93–638, as amended. The
report is required to: (1) Identify the
relative costs and benefits of Self-

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Governance; (2) identify, with
particularity, all funds that are
specifically or functionally related to
the provision by the Secretary of
services and benefits to Self-Governance
tribes and their members; (3) identify
the funds transferred to each SelfGovernance tribe and the corresponding
reduction in the Federal bureaucracy;
(4) include the separate views of the
tribes; and (5) include the funding
formula for individual tribal shares of
Central Office funds, together with the
comments of affected Indian tribes.
Respondents are asked to respond to the
annual request for information in 90
days.
In addition, the collection is required
for tribes who request to be placed in a
pool of qualified applicants and selected
to participate in Tribal Self-Governance
under 25 U.S.C. 458bb. The Act
authorizes the Director, Office of SelfGovernance to select up to 50 new tribes
per year from an applicant pool to
participate in Tribal Self-Governance.
The qualified applicant pool consists of
each tribe that: (1) Successfully
completes a planning phase; (2) has
requested participation in Tribal SelfGovernance by resolution or other
official action by the tribal governing
body; and (3) has demonstrated, for the
previous three fiscal years, financial
stability and financial management
capability as evidenced by the tribe
having no material audit exceptions in
the required annual audit of the selfdetermination contracts of the tribe.
Request for Comments: The Bureau of
Indian Affairs requests your comments
on this collection concerning: (a) The
necessity of this information collection
for the proper performance of the
functions of the agency, including
whether the information will have
practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the
agency’s estimate of the burden (hours
and cost) of the collection of
information, including the validity of
the methodology and assumptions used;
(c) ways we could enhance the quality,
utility and clarity of the information to
be collected; and (d) ways we could
minimize the burden of the collection of
the information on the respondents,
such as through the use of automated
collection techniques or other forms of
information technology.
Please note that an agency may not
sponsor or request, and an individual
need not respond to, a collection of
information unless it has a valid OMB
Control Number.
It is our policy to make all comments
available to the public for review at the
location listed in the ADDRESSES section,
room 355–G, during the hours of 9 a.m.–
5 p.m., EST Monday through Friday

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