[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]
 BILLING CODE 6560-50-P