[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 28 (Friday, February 10, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 7036-7037]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-1851]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-8030-9]


Proposed Settlement Agreement, Clean Air Act Citizen Suit

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

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 
proposed settlement agreement, to address a petition for writ of 
mandamus filed by Sierra Club in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 
District of Columbia Circuit: In re Sierra Club, No. 05-1045 (DC Cir.). 
On February 15, 2005, Petitioner filed a petition asking the Court to 
issue a writ of mandamus directing EPA to complete remand proceedings 
ordered by the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in 
Sierra Club v. EPA, 167 F.3d 658 (DC Cir. 1999) for EPA's maximum 
achievable control technology (``MACT'') determinations for new and 
existing hospital, medical and infectious waste incinerators 
(``HMIWI''). Under the terms of the proposed settlement agreement, no 
later than one year after this agreement is executed, the Administrator 
shall sign a notice of proposed rulemaking which responds to the remand 
order and no later than two years after this agreement is executed, the 
Administrator shall sign a notice of final rulemaking which responds to 
the remand order.

DATES: Written comments on the proposed settlement agree must be 
received by March 13, 2006.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID number EPA-HQ-
OGC-2006-0104, online at http://www.regulations.gov (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.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Michael Thrift, Air and Radiation Law 
Office (2344A), Office of General Counsel, U.S. Environmental 
Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460; 
telephone: (202) 564-5596; fax number (202) 564-5603; e-mail address: 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Additional Information About the Proposed Settlement Agreement

    EPA promulgated regulations on September 15, 1997 to establish MACT 
standards for HMIWI. 62 FR 48347. These regulations were challenged, 
and on April 12, 1999, the United States Court of Appeals for the 
District of Columbia Circuit remanded EPA's MACT determinations for new 
and existing HMIWI regulations to EPA. Sierra Club v. EPA, 167 F.3d 658 
(DC Cir 1999).
    The settlement agreement provides, among other things, that: (1) 
One year after the execution of this settlement agreement, EPA shall 
sign for publication in the Federal Register a notice of proposed 
rulemaking setting forth its proposed response to the Court's remand 
order in Sierra Club v. EPA; (2) following a period of at least 30 days 
for public comment on the proposed rulemaking, two years after the 
execution of this settlement agreement, EPA shall sign for publication 
in the Federal Register a notice of final rulemaking; and (3) no later 
than 15 days after the Administrator signs the final rulemaking and 
transmits it to the Office of the Federal Register for publication the 
petitioner will dismiss the petition for writ of mandamus.
    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

[[Page 7037]]

inappropriate, improper, inadequate, or inconsistent with the 
requirements of the Act. Unless EPA or the Department of Justice 
determines, based on any comment which may be submitted, that consent 
to the settlement agreement should be withdrawn, 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 Settlement Agreement?

    Direct your comments to the official public docket for this action 
under Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OGC-2006-0104 which contains a copy of the 
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 B102, 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 
http://www.regulations.gov. You may use the http://www.regulations.gov 
Web site to submit or view public comments, to 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, select ``search,'' then key in the appropriate docket 
identification number.
    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 http://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 e-mail 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 http://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, e-mail 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 
(e-mail) system is not an ``anonymous access'' system. If you send an 
e-mail comment directly to the Docket without going through http://www.regulations.gov, your e-mail 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: February 2, 2006.
Richard B. Ossias,
Associate General Counsel.
[FR Doc. E6-1851 Filed 2-9-06; 8:45 am]
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