[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 5 (Monday, January 9, 2017)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 2294-2295]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-00050]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Parts 7 and 9

[EPA-HQ-OA-2013-0031; FRL-9958-03-OA]
RIN 2090-AA39


Nondiscrimination in Programs or Activities Receiving Federal 
Assistance From the Environmental Protection Agency

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Proposed rule; withdrawal.

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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is withdrawing a 
proposed rule for which the EPA no longer intends to issue a final 
rule. This document identifies the proposed rule and explains the EPA's 
decision to withdraw the proposal. The withdrawal of this proposed rule 
does not preclude the EPA from initiating the same or similar 
rulemaking at a future date. It does, however, close out the entry for 
this proposed rule in the EPA Semi-Annual Regulatory Agenda, published 
as part of the Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory 
Actions (Unified Agenda). Should the EPA decide at some future date to 
initiate the same or similar rulemaking, it will add an appropriate new 
entry to the EPA Semi-Annual Regulatory Agenda to reflect the 
initiation of the action.

DATES: The EPA is withdrawing the proposed rule as of January 9, 2017.

ADDRESSES: The EPA has established a docket for this action under 
Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OA-2013-0031. All documents in the docket are 
listed on the http://www.regulations.gov Web site. 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, is not placed on the 
Internet and will be publicly available only in hard copy form. 
Publicly available docket materials are available electronically 
through http://www.regulations.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kurt Temple, Environmental Protection 
Agency, Office of Civil Rights, (Mail

[[Page 2295]]

Code 1201A), 1200 Pennsylvania Ave. NW., Washington, DC 20460, 
telephone number: (202) 564-7272 or (202) 564-7299; email address: 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Does this action apply to me?

    This action is directed to the public in general, and may be of 
particular interest to those persons who follow proposed rules related 
to the EPA's regulations about Nondiscrimination in Programs or 
Activities Receiving Federal Assistance from the EPA. Since others may 
also be interested, the EPA has not attempted to describe all the 
specific entities potentially interested.

II. Why is the EPA issuing this withdrawal document?

    This document announces to the public that the EPA is withdrawing a 
certain proposed rule for which the EPA no longer intends to issue a 
final rule.
    For the reasons described in this document, the EPA has decided not 
to finalize this rulemaking at this time. By withdrawing the proposed 
rule, the EPA is eliminating the pending nature of the regulatory 
action. Should the EPA determine to pursue anything in these areas in 
the future, it will issue a new proposed rule and invite public comment 
through notice in the Federal Register.

III. Background

    1. What was proposed? On December 14, 2015, the EPA published a 
proposed rule in the Federal Register (80 FR 77284), to amend its 
nondiscrimination regulation regarding compliance information 
requirements for recipients of EPA financial assistance and Agency 
Compliance Procedures, as well as a technical correction to the 
reference to the Paperwork Reduction Act.
    2. Why is it being withdrawn? The agency proposed amending its 
regulation to bring it into conformance with more than 20 other federal 
agencies. In other words, this proposed regulatory amendment concerned 
the EPA's internal processes, including the investigation of complaints 
and compliance reviews, and not obligations imposed on external 
stakeholders.
    Nonetheless, the EPA received several adverse comments about this 
proposed amendment; especially regarding the proposal to remove numeric 
deadlines from the administrative complaint processing regulations. The 
EPA has considered all comments received. Although the EPA continues to 
believe that the proposed amendments, including the elimination of the 
numeric deadlines, are needed in order to better position the EPA to 
strategically manage and individually tailor resolution approaches to 
its administrative investigation of complaints and compliance reviews, 
the EPA has decided to withdraw the proposed amendments.
    Instead of continuing to pursue this rulemaking, the EPA will 
implement and evaluate the ability of its internal procedural guidance 
documents and accountability measures that were finalized in December 
2016 (including the Case Resolution Manual and the EPA's OCR External 
Compliance Program Strategic Plan) to achieve prompt effective, and 
efficient docket management. Based on its evaluation, the EPA may 
decide at some future date to initiate a new rulemaking to amend its 
non-discrimination regulation. The EPA is withdrawing the proposed 
amendments, as opposed to leaving them inactive, to promote 
transparency and certainty with regard to the status of its non-
discrimination regulation.
    3. Where can I get more information about this action? The EPA has 
established a docket for this action under Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OA-
2013-0031. See the ADDRESSES section above for more detail information 
about this docket.

List of Subjects

40 CFR Part 7

    Environmental protection, Administrative practice and procedure, 
Age discrimination, Civil rights, Equal employment opportunity, 
Individuals with disabilities, Reporting and recordkeeping 
requirements, Sex discrimination.

40 CFR Part 9

    Environmental protection, Control number, Office of Management and 
Budget, and Paperwork Reduction Act.

    Dated: December 29, 2016.
Gina McCarthy,
Administrator.
[FR Doc. 2017-00050 Filed 1-6-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6560-50-P