[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 224 (Monday, November 21, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 83235-83236]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-27983]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[EPA-HQ-OGC-2016-0643; FRL 9955-41-OGC]


Proposed Consent Decree, Clean Air Act Citizen Suit

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of proposed consent decree; request for public comment.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

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 
consent decree to address a lawsuit filed by Donald van der Vaart, in 
his official capacity as Secretary of North Carolina Department of 
Environmental Quality (``NCDEQ''), and by NCDEQ (collectively 
``Plaintiffs'') in the United States District Court for the Eastern 
District of North Carolina: Donald van der Vaart, et al. v. McCarthy, 
et al., No. 4:16-cv-01946-SBA (E.D. N.C.). On June 24, 2016, Plaintiffs 
filed an amended complaint alleging that Gina McCarthy, in her official 
capacity as Administrator of the United States Environmental Protection 
Agency (``EPA'') failed to perform duties mandated by CAA to take final 
action to approve or disapprove the December 9, 2013 Petition submitted 
by several states within the Ozone Transport Region (``OTR'') 
requesting EPA to expand the OTR to include North Carolina, among other 
states. The proposed consent decree would establish deadlines for EPA 
to take certain specified actions with respect to the December 9, 2013 
Petition related to North Carolina.

DATES: Written comments on the proposed consent decree must be received 
by December 21, 2016.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID number EPA-HQ-
OGC-2016-0643, 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: Alexander Bond, Air and Radiation Law 
Office (2344A), Office of General Counsel, U.S. Environmental 
Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave. NW., Washington, DC 20460; 
telephone: (202) 564-3822; fax number: (202) 564-5603; email address: 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Additional Information About the Proposed Consent Decree

    On June 24, 2016, Plaintiffs filed an amended complaint alleging 
that EPA failed to perform duties mandated by CAA to take final action 
to approve or disapprove the December 9, 2013 Petition submitted by 
several states within the OTR requesting EPA to expand the OTR pursuant 
to 42 U.S.C 7506a(a) to include North Carolina and several other 
states. Under the terms of the proposed consent decree, EPA must sign a 
notice for public comment that proposes certain actions regarding the 
December 9, 2013 Petition as to the State of North Carolina, no later 
than January 18, 2017, and must sign a final

[[Page 83236]]

notice of final action regarding the petition as to North Carolina 
thereon no later than October 27, 2017. See the proposed consent decree 
for the specific details.
    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 consent decree 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 consent decree 
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 proposed consent decree should 
be withdrawn, the terms of the consent decree will be affirmed.

II. Additional Information About Commenting on the Proposed Consent 
Decree.

A. How can I get a copy of the proposed consent decree?

    The official public docket for this action (identified by EPA-HQ-
OGC-2016-0643) contains a copy of the proposed consent decree. 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 
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, 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 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: November 7, 2016.
Lorie J. Schmidt,
Associate General Counsel.
[FR Doc. 2016-27983 Filed 11-18-16; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6560-50-P