[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 12 (Thursday, January 19, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 6532-6533]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-01099]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[EPA-HQ-OGC-2017-0030; FRL-9958-55-OGC]
Proposed Settlement Agreement, Clean Air Act Petition for Review
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice of proposed settlement agreement; request for public
comment.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: In accordance with section 113(g) of the Clean Air Act, as
amended (``CAA''), notice is hereby given of a proposed settlement
agreement to address a lawsuit filed by Sierra Club in the United
States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit: Sierra
Club v. EPA, No. 16-1158 (D.C Cir.). On May 27, 2016, Sierra Club filed
a petition for judicial review of the final action taken by EPA under
the CAA titled ``Revisions to Ambient Monitoring Quality Assurance and
Other Requirements'' (``final action'') at 81 FR 17,248 (Mar. 28,
2016). The proposed settlement agreement would resolve Sierra Club's
lawsuit upon EPA's issuance of two nonbinding guidance documents
recommending public notification practices concerning the submission
and approval of ambient air monitoring network plans.
DATES: Written comments on the proposed settlement agreement must be
received by February 21, 2017.
ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID number EPA-HQ-
OGC-2017- 0030, online at www.regulations.gov. For comments submitted
at www.regulations.gov, follow the online instructions for submitting
comments. Once submitted, comments cannot be edited or removed from
www.regulations.gov. The EPA may publish any comment received to its
public docket. Do not submit electronically any information you
consider to be Confidential Business Information (``CBI'') or other
information whose disclosure is restricted by statute. Multimedia
submissions (audio, video, etc.) must be accompanied by a written
comment. The written comment is considered the official comment and
should include discussion of all points you wish to make. The EPA will
generally not consider comments or comment contents located outside of
the primary submission (i.e. on the web, cloud, or other file sharing
system). For additional submission methods, please contact the person
identified in the ``For Further Information Contact'' section. For the
full EPA public comment policy, information about CBI or multimedia
submissions, and general guidance on making effective comments, please
visit http://www2.epa.gov/dockets/commenting-epa-dockets.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jonathan Skinner-Thompson, Air and
Radiation Law Office (2344A), Office of General Counsel, U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave. NW.,
Washington, DC 20460; telephone: (202) 564-0291; fax number (202) 564-
5603; email address: [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Additional Information About the Proposed Settlement Agreement
Sierra Club filed a petition for review of EPA's final action
titled ``Revisions to Ambient Monitoring Quality Assurance and Other
Requirements'' (``final action'') at 81 FR 17,248 (Mar. 28, 2016). In
the final action, EPA revised requirements pertaining to public
inspection of proposed annual monitoring network plans under 40 CFR
58.10.
Under the terms of the proposed settlement agreement, Sierra Club
would agree to dismiss its case with prejudice upon EPA's issuance of
two nonbinding guidance documents. The first guidance document would be
issued to state and local monitoring agencies and would make public
inspection recommendations concerning proposed monitoring plans. The
second guidance document would be issued to EPA regional offices and
would make recommendations for stakeholder notification of submitted
monitoring plan approvals and disapprovals. The United States also
would agree to make a payment in settlement of Sierra Club's claim for
fees and costs. Please review the settlement agreement for additional
details, available in the public docket at EPA-HQ-OGC-2017-0030.
For a period of 30 days following the date of publication of this
notice, the Agency will receive written comments relating to the
proposed settlement agreement from persons who were not named as
parties or intervenors to the litigation in question. EPA or the
Department of Justice may withdraw or withhold consent to the proposed
settlement agreement if the comments disclose facts or considerations
that indicate that such consent is inappropriate, improper, inadequate,
or inconsistent with the requirements of the Act. Unless EPA or the
Department of Justice determines that consent to the agreement should
be withdrawn or withheld, the terms of the agreement will be affirmed.
II. Additional information about commenting on the proposed settlement
agreement.
A. How can I get a copy of the proposed settlement agreement?
The official public docket for this action under Docket ID No. EPA-
HQ-OGC-2017-0030 contains a copy of the proposed settlement agreement.
The official public docket is available for public viewing at the
Office of Environmental Information (OEI) Docket in the EPA Docket
Center, EPA West, Room 3334, 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, and the
telephone number for the OEI Docket is (202) 566-1752.
An electronic version of the public docket is available through
www.regulations.gov. You may use the www.regulations.gov to submit or
view public comments, access the index listing of the contents of the
official public docket, and to access those documents in the public
docket that are available electronically. Once in the system, key in
the appropriate docket identification number then select ``search''.
It is important to note that EPA's policy is that public comments,
whether submitted electronically or in paper, will be made available
for public viewing online at www.regulations.gov without change, unless
the comment contains copyrighted material, CBI, or other information
whose disclosure is restricted by statute. Information claimed as CBI
and other information whose disclosure is restricted by statute is not
included in the official public docket or in the electronic public
docket. EPA's policy is that copyrighted material, including
copyrighted material contained in a public comment, will not be placed
in EPA's electronic public docket but will be available only in
printed, paper form in the official public docket. Although not all
docket materials may be available electronically, you may still access
any of the publicly available docket materials through the EPA Docket
Center.
[[Page 6533]]
B. How and to whom do I submit comments?
You may submit comments as provided in the ADDRESSES section.
Please ensure that your comments are submitted within the specified
comment period. Comments received after the close of the comment period
will be marked ``late.'' EPA is not required to consider these late
comments.
If you submit an electronic comment, EPA recommends that you
include your name, mailing address, and an email address or other
contact information in the body of your comment and with any disk or CD
ROM you submit. This ensures that you can be identified as the
submitter of the comment and allows EPA to contact you in case EPA
cannot read your comment due to technical difficulties or needs further
information on the substance of your comment. Any identifying or
contact information provided in the body of a comment will be included
as part of the comment that is placed in the official public docket,
and made available in EPA's electronic public docket. 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.
Use of the www.regulations.gov Web site to submit comments to EPA
electronically is EPA's preferred method for receiving comments. The
electronic public docket system is an ``anonymous access'' system,
which means EPA will not know your identity, email address, or other
contact information unless you provide it in the body of your comment.
In contrast to EPA's electronic public docket, EPA's electronic mail
(email) system is not an ``anonymous access'' system. If you send an
email comment directly to the Docket without going through
www.regulations.gov, your email address is automatically captured and
included as part of the comment that is placed in the official public
docket, and made available in EPA's electronic public docket.
Dated: January 11, 2017.
Lorie J. Schmidt,
Associate General Counsel.
[FR Doc. 2017-01099 Filed 1-18-17; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P