[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 10 (Tuesday, January 17, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 4866-4867]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-00942]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[EPA-HQ-OGC-2016-0719; FRL-9958-39-OGC]


Proposed Consent Decree, Clean Air Act Citizen Suit

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of proposed consent decree; 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 
consent decree to address a lawsuit filed by the Center for Biological 
Diversity and the Center for Environmental Health (collectively 
``Plaintiffs'') in the United States District Court for the Northern 
District of California: Center for Biological Diversity, et al. v. 
McCarthy, No. 3:16-cv-03796-VC (N.D. Cal.). On July 7, 2016, Plaintiffs 
filed a complaint in this lawsuit alleging that Gina McCarthy, in her 
official capacity as Administrator of the United States Environmental 
Protection Agency (``EPA''), failed to perform nondiscretionary duties 
under the CAA to complete periodic reviews of the air quality criteria 
and the primary National Ambient Air Quality Standards (``NAAQS'') for 
sulfur oxides (``SOX'') and the primary NAAQS for oxides of 
nitrogen (``NOX''), to make such revisions to those air 
quality criteria and NAAQS as may be appropriate, and to promulgate 
such new NAAQS as may be appropriate. The proposed consent decree would 
establish deadlines for EPA to take certain, specified actions.

DATES: Written comments on the proposed consent decree must be received 
by February 16, 2017.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID number EPA-HQ-
OGC-2016-0719, online at www.regulations.gov. Once submitted, comments 
cannot be edited or removed from 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 
will generally not consider comments or comment contents located 
outside of the primary submission (i.e. on the web, cloud, or other 
file sharing system). If you would like to submit a comment using a 
different submission method, please contact the person listed 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: Melina Williams, Air and Radiation Law 
Office (2344A), Office of General Counsel, U.S. Environmental 
Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave. NW., Washington, DC 20460; 
telephone: (202) 564-3406; fax number: (202) 564-5603; email address: 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Additional Information About the Proposed Consent Decree

    Under section 109(d) of the CAA, EPA is required to periodically 
review air quality criteria and NAAQS and to make such revisions as may 
be appropriate. The proposed consent decree addresses a lawsuit filed 
by Plaintiffs alleging that EPA failed to timely complete certain 
periodic reviews for NOX and SOX by the deadline 
set forth in the CAA. The proposed consent decree would establish 
deadlines for EPA to take certain, specified actions in the periodic 
reviews, and if appropriate, revisions of the air quality criteria 
addressing human health effects of SOX, and the primary 
NAAQS for NOX and SOX. Under the terms of the 
proposed consent decree, EPA would: (1) Sign a notice setting forth its 
proposed decision concerning its review of the primary NAAQS for 
NOX no later than July 14, 2017; (2) sign a notice setting 
forth its final decision concerning its review of the primary NAAQS for 
NOX no later than April 6, 2018; (3) issue a final 
Integrated Science Assessment (a document containing air quality 
criteria) addressing human health effects of SOX no later 
than December 14, 2017; (4) sign a notice setting forth its proposed 
decision concerning its review of the primary NAAQS for SOX 
no later than May 25, 2018; and (5) sign a notice setting forth its 
final decision concerning its review of the primary NAAQS for 
SOX no later than January 28, 2019. See the proposed consent 
decree for additional 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 were 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 consent decree should be 
withdrawn, the terms of the 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 Docket ID 
No.

[[Page 4867]]

EPA-HQ-OGC-2016-0719) 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 to 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: January 6, 2017.
Lorie J. Schmidt,
Associate General Counsel.
[FR Doc. 2017-00942 Filed 1-13-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6560-50-P