[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 215 (Thursday, November 6, 2014)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 65910-65912]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-26318]
=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
40 CFR Part 22
[EPA-HQ-OECA-2014-0551; FRL-9914-33-OECA]
RIN 2020-AA50
Consolidated Rules of Practice Governing the Administrative
Assessment of Civil Penalties, Issuance of Compliance or Corrective
Action Orders, and the Revocation, Termination or Suspension of Permits
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Proposed rule.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: This proposed rule revises the scope of the Environmental
Protection Agency's (EPA) Consolidated Rules of Practice governing the
administrative assessment of civil penalties to encompass the
assessment of civil penalties under the air pollution control
provisions of the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships. The EPA has not
previously established adjudicatory procedures for the assessment of
civil penalties under that statute. Establishment of such procedures
will provide for the efficient and effective adjudication, including
administrative appeals, of such proceedings consistent with statutory
requirements. This proposed rule also revises the address for the
Environmental Appeals Board to reflect its relocation to the William
Jefferson Clinton East Building.
In the ``Rules and Regulations'' section of this Federal Register,
we are making this same amendment as a direct final rule. If we receive
no adverse comment, the direct final rule will go into effect and we
will not take further action on this proposed rule.
DATES: Written comments must be received by December 8, 2014.
ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-
OECA-2014-0551, by one of the following methods:
1. www.regulations.gov: Follow the on-line instructions for
submitting comments.
2. Email: [[email protected].]
3. Fax: (202) 566-9744.
4. Mail: Environmental Protection Agency, OECA Docket, Mail-Code
28221T, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave. NW., Washington, DC 20460.
5. Hand Delivery: EPA Docket Center (EPA/DC), EPA West, Room 3334,
1301 Constitution Ave. NW., Washington, DC 20004. Attention Docket No.
EPA-HQ-OECA-2014-0551. Such deliveries are only accepted during the
Docket's normal hours of operation, and special arrangements should be
made for deliveries of boxed information.
Instructions: Direct your comments to Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OECA-
2014-0551. The EPA's policy is that all comments received will be
included in the public docket without change and may be made available
online at www.regulations.gov, including any personal information
provided, unless the comment includes information claimed to be
Confidential Business Information (CBI) or other information whose
disclosure is restricted by statute. Do not submit information that you
consider to be CBI or otherwise protected through www.regulations.gov
or email. The www.regulations.gov Web site is an ``anonymous access''
system, which means the EPA will not know your identity or contact
information unless you provide it in the body of your comment. If you
send an email comment directly to the EPA without going through
www.regulations.gov your email address will be automatically captured
and included as part of the comment that is placed in the public docket
and made available on the Internet. If you submit an electronic
comment, the EPA recommends that you include your name and other
contact information in the body of your comment and with any disk or
CD-ROM you submit. If the EPA cannot read your comment due to technical
difficulties and cannot contact you for clarification, the EPA may not
be able to consider your comment. Electronic files should avoid the use
of special characters, any form of encryption, and be free of any
defects or viruses. For additional information about the EPA's public
docket visit the EPA Docket Center homepage at http://www.epa.gov/epahome/dockets.htm. For additional instructions on submitting
comments, go to the SUPPLMENTARY INFORMATION section of this document.
Docket: All documents in the docket are listed in the
www.regulations.gov index. Although listed in the index, some
information is not publicly available, e.g., CBI or other information
whose disclosure is restricted by statute. Certain other material, such
as copyrighted material, will be publicly available only in hard copy.
Publicly available docket materials are available either electronically
in www.regulations.gov or at the EPA Docket Center (EPA/DC), EPA West,
Room 3334, 1301 Constitution Ave. NW., Washington, DC 20004. The 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 OECA
Docket is (202) 566-1752.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Meetu Kaul, Office of Enforcement and
Compliance Assurance, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, William
Jefferson Clinton Building South, Room 1117B, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave.
NW., Mail Code 2242A, Washington, DC 20460, phone number (202) 564-5472
or by email at [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Why is the EPA issuing this proposed rule?
The EPA is proposing to revise the scope of the EPA's Consolidated
Rules of Practice governing the administrative assessment of civil
penalties to encompass the assessment of civil penalties under the air
pollution control provisions of the Act to Prevent Pollution from
Ships. Establishment of such procedures will provide for the
[[Page 65911]]
efficient and effective adjudication, including administrative appeals,
of such proceedings consistent with statutory requirements.
We are publishing a direct final rule in the ``Rules and
Regulations'' section of this Federal Register because we view this as
a noncontroversial action and anticipate no adverse comment. We explain
our reasons for this action in the preamble to the direct final rule.
The regulatory text for the proposal is identical to that for the
direct final rule published in the ``Rules and Regulations'' section of
this Federal Register.
If we receive no adverse comment, we will not take further action
on this proposed rule. If we receive adverse comment, we will publish
timely notice in the Federal Register to withdraw the direct final
rule. We will address all public comments in any subsequent final rule
based on this proposed rule. We do not intend to provide a second
comment period on this action. Any parties interested in commenting
must do so at this time. For further information about commenting on
this rule see the ADDRESSES section of this document.
II. Does this action apply to me?
This action may affect parties involved in EPA administrative
adjudicatory proceedings for the assessment of civil penalties under
section 1908(b) of the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships (33 U.S.C.
1908(b)). You may direct questions regarding the applicability of this
action as noted in FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT
III. What should I consider as I prepare my comments for EPA?
A. Submitting CBI Do not submit this information to the EPA through
www.regulations.gov or email. Clearly mark the part or all of the
information that you claim to be CBI. For CBI information in a disk or
CD-ROM that you mail to EPA, mark the outside of the disk or CD-ROM as
CBI and then identify electronically within the disk or CD-ROM the
specific information that is claimed as CBI. In addition to one
complete version of the comment that includes information claimed as
CBI, a copy of the comment that does not contain the information
claimed as CBI must be submitted for inclusion in the public docket.
Information so marked will not be disclosed except in accordance with
procedures set forth in 40 CFR Part 2.
B. Tips for Preparing Your Comments
When submitting comments, remember to:
Identify the rulemaking by docket number and other
identifying information (subject heading, Federal Register date and
page number).
Follow directions--The agency may ask you to respond to
specific questions or organize comments by referencing a Code of
Federal Regulations (CFR) part or section number.
Explain why you agree or disagree; suggest alternatives
and substitute language for your requested changes.
Describe any assumptions and provide any technical
information and/or data that you used.
If you estimate potential costs or burdens, explain how
you arrived at your estimate in sufficient detail to allow for it to be
reproduced.
Provide specific examples to illustrate your concerns, and
suggest alternatives.
Explain your views as clearly as possible, avoiding the
use of profanity or personal threats.
Make sure to submit your comments by the comment period
deadline identified.
IV. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews
A. Executive Orders 12866: Regulatory Planning and Review and 13563:
Improving Regulation and Regulatory Review
This action is not a ``significant regulatory action'' under the
terms of Executive Order 12866 (58 FR 51735, October 4, 1993) and is
therefore not subject to review under Executive Orders 12866 and 13563
(76 FR 3821, January 21, 2011).
B. Paperwork Reduction Act
This action does not impose an information collection burden under
the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act, 44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.
Burden is defined at 5 CFR 1320.3(b). This action will apply the Rules
of Practice to adjudicatory proceedings for the assessment of civil
penalties by the EPA under its Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships
authority, and will revise the mailing and hand delivery address for
the EAB to reflect the Board's relocation.
C. Regulatory Flexibility Act
The Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA) generally requires an agency
to prepare a regulatory flexibility analysis of any rule subject to
notice and comment rulemaking requirements under the Administrative
Procedure Act or any other statute unless the agency certifies that the
rule will not have a significant economic impact on a substantial
number of small entities. Small entities include small businesses,
small organizations, and small governmental jurisdictions. For purposes
of assessing the impacts of this rule on small entities, small entity
is defined as: (1) A small business as defined by the Small Business
Administration's (SBA) regulations at 13 CFR 121.201; (2) a small
governmental jurisdiction that is a government of a city, county, town,
school district or special district with a population of less than
50,000; and (3) a small organization that is any not-for-profit
enterprise which is independently owned and operated and is not
dominant in its field.
After considering the economic impacts of this rule on small
entities, I certify that this rule will not have a significant economic
impact on a substantial number of small entities. This rule will not
impose any additional requirements on small entities. This rule will
apply the Rules of Practice to adjudicatory proceedings for the
assessment of civil penalties by the EPA under its Act to Prevent
Pollution from Ships authority, and will revise the mailing and hand
delivery address for the EAB to reflect the Board's relocation.
D. Unfunded Mandates Reform Act
This action contains no Federal mandates under the provisions of
Title II of the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995 (UMRA), 2 U.S.C.
1531-1538 for State, local, or tribal governments or the private
sector. The action imposes no enforceable duty on any State, local or
tribal governments or the private sector. Therefore, this action is not
subject to the requirements of sections 202 or 205 of the UMRA.
This action is also not subject to the requirements of section 203
of UMRA because it contains no regulatory requirements that might
significantly or uniquely affect small governments. The purpose of this
action is to apply the Rules of Practice to adjudicatory proceedings
for the assessment of civil penalties by the EPA under its Act to
Prevent Pollution from Ships authority, and to revise the mailing and
hand delivery address for the EAB to reflect the Board's relocation.
E. Executive Order 13132: Federalism
This action does not have federalism implications. It will not have
substantial direct effects on the States, on the relationship between
the national government and the States, or on the distribution of power
and responsibilities among the various levels of government, as
specified in Executive Order 13132. This action will
[[Page 65912]]
apply the Rules of Practice to adjudicatory proceedings for the
assessment of civil penalties by the EPA under its Act to Prevent
Pollution from Ships authority, and will revise the mailing and hand
delivery address for the EAB to reflect the Board's relocation. Thus,
Executive Order 13132 does not apply to this action.
F. Executive Order 13175 Consultation and Coordination With Indian
Tribal Governments
This action does not have tribal implications, as specified in
Executive Order 13175 (65 FR 67249, November 9, 2000). This action will
apply the Rules of Practice to adjudicatory proceedings for the
assessment of civil penalties by the EPA under its Act to Prevent
Pollution from Ships authority, and will revise the mailing and hand
delivery address for the EAB to reflect the Board's relocation. Thus,
Executive Order 13175 does not apply to this action.
G. Executive Order 13045: Protection of Children From Environmental
Health and Safety Risks
The EPA interprets EO 13045 (62 FR 19885, April 23, 1997) as
applying only to those regulatory actions that concern health or safety
risks, such that the analysis required under section 5-501 of the EO
has the potential to influence the regulation. This action is not
subject to EO 13045 because it does not establish an environmental
standard intended to mitigate health or safety risks.
H. Executive Order 13211: Actions That Significantly Affect Energy
Supply, Distribution, or Use
This action is not subject to Executive Order 13211 (66 FR 28355
(May 22, 2001)), because it is not a significant regulatory action
under Executive Order 12866.
I. National Technology Transfer Advancement Act
Section 12(d) of the National Technology Transfer and Advancement
Act of 1995 (``NTTAA''), Public Law 104-113, 12(d) (15 U.S.C. 272 note)
directs the EPA to use voluntary consensus standards in its regulatory
activities unless to do so would be inconsistent with applicable law or
otherwise impractical. Voluntary consensus standards are technical
standards (e.g., materials specifications, test methods, sampling
procedures, and business practices) that are developed or adopted by
voluntary consensus standards bodies. NTTAA directs the EPA to provide
Congress, through OMB, explanations when the Agency decides not to use
available and applicable voluntary consensus standards.
This action does not involve technical standards. Therefore, the
EPA did not consider the use of any voluntary consensus standards.
J. Executive Order 12898: Federal Actions To Address Environmental
Justice in Minority Populations and Low-Income Populations
Executive Order (EO) 12898 (59 FR 7629 (Feb. 16, 1994)) establishes
federal executive policy on environmental justice. Its main provision
directs Federal agencies, to the greatest extent practicable and
permitted by law, to make environmental justice part of their mission
by identifying and addressing, as appropriate, disproportionately high
and adverse human health or environmental effects of their programs,
policies, and activities on minority populations and low-income
populations in the United States.
The EPA has determined that this rule will not have
disproportionately high and adverse human health or environmental
effects on minority or low-income populations because it does not
affect the level of protection provided to human health or the
environment. This action will apply the Rules of Practice to
adjudicatory proceedings for the assessment of civil penalties by the
EPA under its Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships authority, and will
revise the mailing and hand delivery address for the EAB to reflect the
Board's relocation.
V. Statutory Authority
Statutory authority for this proposed action comes from sections
1903 and 1908 of the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships (APPS) (33
U.S.C. 1901 et seq.).
List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 22
Environmental protection, Administrative practice and procedures,
Air pollution control, Hazardous substances, Hazardous waste,
Penalties, Pesticides and pests, Poison prevention, Water pollution
control.
Dated: October 23, 2014.
Gina McCarthy,
Administrator.
[FR Doc. 2014-26318 Filed 11-5-14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P