[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 204 (Friday, October 21, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 72804-72805]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-25513]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[EPA-HQ-OGC-2016-0613; FRL-9954-39-OGC]
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''), notice is hereby given of a proposed
settlement agreement to address a lawsuit filed by the Center for
Biological Diversity, Association of Irritated Residents, and Sierra
Club (Plaintiffs), in the United States District Court for the Northern
District of California: Center For Biological Diversity et al. v.
United States Environmental Protection Agency et al. No. 4:16-cv-01946-
SBA (N.D. Cal.). On April 14, 2016, Plaintiffs filed a complaint
alleging that Gina McCarthy, in her official capacity as Administrator
of the United States Environmental Protection Agency, and Jared
Blumenfeld, in his official capacity as Regional Administrator of the
United States Environmental Protection Agency (collectively, ``EPA''),
failed to perform a nondiscretionary duty to grant or deny within 60
days a petition submitted by Plaintiffs on December 16, 2014,
requesting that EPA object to an Authority to Construct/Certificate of
Conformity issued by the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control
District to the Alon USA--Bakersfield, California Refinery Facility.
The proposed settlement agreement would establish two deadlines for EPA
to take specified action.
DATES: Written comments on the proposed settlement agreement must be
received by November 21, 2016.
ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID number EPA-HQ-
OGC-2016-0613, online at www.regulations.gov. For comments submitted at
www.regulations.gov, follow the online instructions for submitting
comments. Once submitted, comments cannot be edited or removed from
www.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
generally will not consider comments or comment contents located
outside of the primary submission (i.e. on the web, cloud, or other
file sharing system). For additional submission methods, please contact
the person identified 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: Dan Conrad, Air and Radiation Law
Office (2344A), Office of General Counsel, U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave. NW., Washington, DC 20460;
telephone: (202) 564-0903; email address: [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Additional Information About the Proposed Settlement Agreement
The proposed settlement agreement would resolve a lawsuit filed by
the Plaintiffs seeking to compel the Administrator to take actions
under CAA section 505(b)(2). Under the terms of the proposed settlement
agreement, EPA would agree to sign its response granting or denying one
specified section of the petition filed by Plaintiffs regarding the
Alon USA--Bakersfield, California Refinery Facility on or before
December 30, 2016. Additionally, EPA would agree to sign its response
granting or denying two other specified sections of the petition filed
by Plaintiffs regarding the Alon USA--Bakersfield, California Refinery
Facility on or before July 31, 2016.
Under the terms of the proposed settlement agreement, EPA would
expeditiously deliver notice of EPA's responses to the Office of the
Federal Register for review and publication following signature of each
response. In addition, the proposed settlement agreement sets out a
framework for resolving any request for costs of litigation, including
attorney fees.
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 are 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 settlement
agreement if the comments disclose facts or considerations that
indicate that such agreement 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 settlement 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-2016-0613) 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
[[Page 72805]]
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 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, confidential business
information (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 such 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: October 15, 2016.
Gautam Srinivasan,
Acting Associate General Counsel.
[FR Doc. 2016-25513 Filed 10-20-16; 8:45 am]
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