[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 10 (Tuesday, January 17, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 4866-4867]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-00942]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[EPA-HQ-OGC-2016-0719; FRL-9958-39-OGC]
Proposed Consent Decree, Clean Air Act Citizen Suit
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice of proposed consent decree; request for public comment.
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SUMMARY: In accordance with section 113(g) of the Clean Air Act, as
amended (``CAA'' or the ``Act''), notice is hereby given of a proposed
consent decree to address a lawsuit filed by the Center for Biological
Diversity and the Center for Environmental Health (collectively
``Plaintiffs'') in the United States District Court for the Northern
District of California: Center for Biological Diversity, et al. v.
McCarthy, No. 3:16-cv-03796-VC (N.D. Cal.). On July 7, 2016, Plaintiffs
filed a complaint in this lawsuit alleging that Gina McCarthy, in her
official capacity as Administrator of the United States Environmental
Protection Agency (``EPA''), failed to perform nondiscretionary duties
under the CAA to complete periodic reviews of the air quality criteria
and the primary National Ambient Air Quality Standards (``NAAQS'') for
sulfur oxides (``SOX'') and the primary NAAQS for oxides of
nitrogen (``NOX''), to make such revisions to those air
quality criteria and NAAQS as may be appropriate, and to promulgate
such new NAAQS as may be appropriate. The proposed consent decree would
establish deadlines for EPA to take certain, specified actions.
DATES: Written comments on the proposed consent decree must be received
by February 16, 2017.
ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID number EPA-HQ-
OGC-2016-0719, online at www.regulations.gov. Once submitted, comments
cannot be edited or removed from 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). If you would like to submit a comment using a
different submission method, please contact the person listed 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: Melina Williams, Air and Radiation Law
Office (2344A), Office of General Counsel, U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave. NW., Washington, DC 20460;
telephone: (202) 564-3406; fax number: (202) 564-5603; email address:
[email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Additional Information About the Proposed Consent Decree
Under section 109(d) of the CAA, EPA is required to periodically
review air quality criteria and NAAQS and to make such revisions as may
be appropriate. The proposed consent decree addresses a lawsuit filed
by Plaintiffs alleging that EPA failed to timely complete certain
periodic reviews for NOX and SOX by the deadline
set forth in the CAA. The proposed consent decree would establish
deadlines for EPA to take certain, specified actions in the periodic
reviews, and if appropriate, revisions of the air quality criteria
addressing human health effects of SOX, and the primary
NAAQS for NOX and SOX. Under the terms of the
proposed consent decree, EPA would: (1) Sign a notice setting forth its
proposed decision concerning its review of the primary NAAQS for
NOX no later than July 14, 2017; (2) sign a notice setting
forth its final decision concerning its review of the primary NAAQS for
NOX no later than April 6, 2018; (3) issue a final
Integrated Science Assessment (a document containing air quality
criteria) addressing human health effects of SOX no later
than December 14, 2017; (4) sign a notice setting forth its proposed
decision concerning its review of the primary NAAQS for SOX
no later than May 25, 2018; and (5) sign a notice setting forth its
final decision concerning its review of the primary NAAQS for
SOX no later than January 28, 2019. See the proposed consent
decree for additional details.
For a period of thirty (30) days following the date of publication
of this notice, the Agency will accept written comments relating to the
proposed consent decree 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 consent decree
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 this consent decree should be
withdrawn, the terms of the decree will be affirmed.
II. Additional Information About Commenting on the Proposed Consent
Decree
A. How can I get a copy of the proposed consent decree?
The official public docket for this action (identified by Docket ID
No.
[[Page 4867]]
EPA-HQ-OGC-2016-0719) contains a copy of the proposed consent decree.
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 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.
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 6, 2017.
Lorie J. Schmidt,
Associate General Counsel.
[FR Doc. 2017-00942 Filed 1-13-17; 8:45 am]
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