[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 29 (Monday, February 14, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Page 7498]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-2794]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-7872-8]


Proposed Settlement Agreement, Clean Air Act Petition for Review

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency.

ACTION: Notice of Proposed Settlement Agreement; Request for Public 
Comment.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with section 113(g) of the Clean Air Act, as 
amended (``Act''), 42 U.S.C. 7413(g), notice is hereby given of a 
settlement agreement to address a claim raised by Alcoa, Inc. 
(``Alcoa'') in a petition for review filed in the United States Court 
of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Alcoa, Inc. v. United 
States Environmental Protection Agency, No. 04-1189 (D.C. Cir.) This 
lawsuit, which was filed pursuant to section 307(b) of the Act, 42 
U.S.C. 7607(b), challenged EPA's designation of the Evansville, Indiana 
area as nonattainment for the 8-hour ozone national ambient air quality 
standard (``NAAQS'') pursuant to section 107(d)(1) of the Act, 42 
U.S.C. 7407(d)(1). The proposed settlement agreement provides that if 
the State of Indiana submits a request to redesignate the Evansville 
area to attainment for the 8-hour ozone NAAQS, EPA shall determine 
whether the submission is complete and, if so, propose and take final 
action on the request within specified periods of time.

DATES: Written comments on the proposed settlement agreements must be 
received by March 16, 2005.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by docket ID number OGC-
2005-0001, online at http://www.epa.gov/edocket (EPA's preferred 
method); by e-mail to [email protected]; mailed to EPA Docket Center, 
Environmental Protection Agency, Mailcode: 2822T, 1200 Pennsylvania 
Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460-0001; or by hand delivery or courier to 
EPA Docket Center, EPA West, Room B102, 1301 Constitution Ave., NW., 
Washington, DC, between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, 
excluding legal holidays. Comments on a disk or CD-ROM should be 
formatted in Wordperfect or ASCII file, avoiding the use of special 
characters and any form of encryption, and may be mailed to the mailing 
address above.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Alcoa, Inc. (``Alcoa'') challenged EPA's 
designation of the Evansville, Indiana area as nonattainment for the 8-
hour ozone NAAQS. The nonattainment designation was based on air 
quality monitoring data from 2001, 2002 and 2003.
    Alcoa and EPA understand that the State of Indiana plans to submit 
shortly a request to redesignate the Evansville area from nonattainment 
to attainment for the 8-hour ozone NAAQS, based on air quality 
monitoring data from 2002, 2003 and 2004. The Settlement Agreement 
provides that within 30 days following an official submission by the 
State of Indiana, requesting redesignation of the Evansville area, EPA 
shall determine whether the submission is complete. If EPA determines 
that the official submission is complete, EPA shall, within 60 days of 
the completeness determination, sign a notice of proposed action 
soliciting comment on the redesignation request and shall forward that 
notice to the Federal Register for publication. Within 60 days after 
the close of the public comment period, EPA shall sign a notice taking 
final action on the redesignation request.
    If Indiana does not submit an official submission to EPA by July 1, 
2005, Alcoa has the right to move the Court to reactivate the 
litigation and the right to move to reactivate expires September 1, 
2005. If EPA does not comply with the deadlines under the Settlement 
Agreement, the sole remedy for Alcoa is the right to request the Court 
to reactivate the litigation.
    For a period of thirty (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 interveners 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 determine, following the comment period, that 
consent is inappropriate, the Settlement Agreement will be final.

    Dated: January 26, 2005.
Richard B. Ossias,
Acting Associate General Counsel.
[FR Doc. 05-2794 Filed 2-11-05; 8:45 am]
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