[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 250 (Thursday, December 30, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 82392-82393]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-32935]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-9246-1]


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 (``CAA'' or the ``Act''), 42 U.S.C. 7413(g), notice is hereby 
given of a proposed settlement agreement between the following groups 
of Petitioners: (1) The States of New York, California, Connecticut, 
Delaware, Maine, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and 
Washington, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the District of 
Columbia, and the City of New York (collectively ``State 
Petitioners''); and (2) Natural Resources Defense Council, Sierra Club, 
and Environmental Defense Fund (collectively ``Environmental 
Petitioners''), and Respondent, the U.S. Environmental Protection 
Agency (``EPA'') (collectively ``the Parties''). This proposed 
settlement is intended to resolve threatened litigation over the EPA's 
failure to respond to United States Court of Appeals for the District 
of Columbia Circuit's remand in State of New York, et al. v. EPA, No. 
06-1322. Under the terms of the proposed settlement agreement deadlines 
have been established for EPA to take action.

DATES: Written comments on the proposed settlement agreements must be 
received by January 31, 2011.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID number EPA-HQ-
OGC-2010-1057, online at http://www.regulations.gov (EPA's preferred 
method); by e-mail to [email protected]; by mail 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 3334, 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 Word 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: Elliott Zenick, Air and Radiation Law 
Office (2344A), Office of General Counsel, U.S. Environmental 
Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460; 
telephone: (202) 564-1822; fax number (202) 564-5603; e-mail address: 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Additional Information About the Proposed Settlement Agreements

    EPA published a final action entitled ``Standards of Performance 
for Electric Utility Steam Generating Units, Industrial-Commercial-
Institutional Steam Generating Units, and Small Industrial-Commercial-
Institutional Steam Generating Units,'' 71 FR 9866 (Feb. 27, 2006) (the 
``Final Rule''), which included amendments to the standards of 
performance for electric utility steam generating units subject to 40 
CFR part 60, subpart Da (``EGUs'') but did not establish standards of 
performance for greenhouse gas (``GHG'') emissions. The State and 
Environmental Petitioners filed petitions for judicial review of the 
Final Rule under the CAA Section 111, 42 U.S.C. 7411, contending, inter 
alia, that the Final Rule was required to include standards of 
performance for GHG emissions from EGUs. The portions of State and 
Environmental Petitioners' petitions for review of the Final Rule that 
related to GHG emissions were severed from other petitions for review 
of the Final Rule, and were formerly pending before the United States 
Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (the ``Court'') 
under the caption State of New York, et al. v. EPA, No. 06-1322. 
Following the Supreme Court's decision in Massachusetts v. EPA, 549 
U.S. 497 (2007), EPA requested remand of the Final Rule to EPA for 
further consideration of the issues related to GHG emissions in light 
of that decision and the Court remanded the Final Rule to EPA for 
further proceedings. The State Petitioners submitted letters to EPA 
dated June 16, 2008 and August 4, 2009 inquiring as to the status of 
EPA's action on the remand and stating their position that EPA had a 
legal obligation to act promptly to comply with the requirements of 
Section 111. The Environmental Petitioners submitted a letter to EPA on 
August 20, 2010 seeking commitments to rulemaking on GHG emissions from 
EGUs as a means of avoiding further litigation. These letters are 
included in the docket for this notice.
    Under the proposed settlement agreement, EPA will sign by July 26, 
2011, and will transmit to the Office of the Federal Register within 
five business days, a proposed rule under section 111(b) that includes 
standards of performance for GHGs for new and modified EGUs that are 
subject to 40 CFR part 60, subpart Da. EPA will also sign by July 26, 
2011, and will transmit to the Office of the Federal Register within 
five business days, a proposed rule under section 111(d) that includes 
emissions guidelines for GHGs from existing EGUs that would have been 
subject to 40 CFR part 60, subpart Da if they were new sources. Under 
the proposed settlement agreement EPA will take final action with 
respect to the proposed rule no later than May 26, 2012. The proposed 
settlement agreement provides that EPA's fulfillment of its obligations 
under the agreement shall result in a full and final release of any 
claims that State and Environmental Petitioners may have under any 
provision of law to compel EPA to respond to the Court's Remand Order 
with respect to GHG emissions from EGUs.
    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 settlement agreement from persons who were not named as 
parties or intervenors to the litigation in question. EPA or the 
Department of Justice may

[[Page 82393]]

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 this 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?

    The official public docket for this action (identified by Docket ID 
No. EPA-HQ-OGC-2010-1057) 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 
http://www.regulations.gov. You may use http://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 on 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: December 23, 2010.
Patricia A. Embrey,
Acting Associate General Counsel.
[FR Doc. 2010-32935 Filed 12-29-10; 8:45 am]
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