[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 29 (Tuesday, February 12, 2019)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 3395-3396]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-02072]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 131

[EPA-HQ-OW-2018-0056; FRL-9989-46-OW]


Extension of Public Comment Period for Water Quality Standards; 
Establishment of a Numeric Criterion for Selenium for the State of 
California

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice; extension of comment period.

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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is extending the 
comment period for the proposed rule ``Water Quality Standards; 
Establishment of a Numeric Criterion for Selenium for the State of 
California'' for an additional 45 days, from February 11, 2019, to 
March 28, 2019. The EPA will offer virtual public hearings on the 
proposed rule via the internet on March 19, 2019, and March 20, 2019. 
The EPA is taking this action in order to ensure the public comment 
period remains open to accommodate the public hearings, originally 
scheduled for January 29, 2019, and January 30, 2019, and rescheduled 
due to the recent federal government shutdown. This extension is 
necessary to comply with public notice requirements.

DATES: Comments must be received on or before March 28, 2019.

ADDRESSES: Comments: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. 
EPA-HQ-OW-2018-0056, at https://www.regulations.gov (our preferred 
method), or the other methods identified at https://www.epa.gov/dockets/commenting-epa-dockets. Once submitted, comments cannot be 
edited or removed from the docket. 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, the full EPA 
public comment policy, information about CBI or multimedia submissions, 
and general guidance on making effective comments, please visit https://www.epa.gov/dockets/commenting-epa-dockets.
    Docket: All documents in the docket are listed in the 
www.regulations.gov index. 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, will be publicly available only in hard copy. 
Publicly available docket materials are available either electronically 
in www.regulations.gov or in hard copy at two Docket Facilities. The 
Office of Water (OW) Docket Center is open from 8:30 a.m. until 4:30 
p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding legal holidays. The Docket 
telephone number is (202) 566-2426 and the Docket address is OW Docket 
Center, WJC West Building, Room 3334, 1301 Constitution Ave. NW, 
Washington, DC 20004. The 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.
    Public Hearings: The EPA is offering two online public hearings so 
that interested parties may provide oral comments on this proposed 
rulemaking. For more details on the public hearings and a link to 
register, please visit https://www.epa.gov/wqs-tech/water-quality-standards-establishment-numeric-criterion-selenium-fresh-waters-california.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Danielle Anderson, Office of Water, 
Standards and Health Protection Division (4305T), U.S. Environmental 
Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20460; 
telephone number: (202) 564-1631; email address: 
[email protected]; or Diane E. Fleck, P.E., Esq., Water 
Division (WTR-2-1), U.S.

[[Page 3396]]

Environmental Protection Agency Region 9, 75 Hawthorne Street, San 
Francisco, CA 94105; telephone number: (415) 972-3527; email address: 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On December 13, 2018, the Environmental 
Protection Agency (EPA) published the proposed rule, ``Water Quality 
Standards; Establishment of a Numeric Criterion for Selenium for the 
State of California'' in the Federal Register (83 FR 64059). The EPA is 
proposing to establish a federal Clean Water Act (CWA) selenium water 
quality criterion applicable to California that protects aquatic life 
and aquatic-dependent wildlife in the fresh waters of California.
    The original deadline to submit comments on the proposed rule was 
February 11, 2019, and the public hearings were originally scheduled 
for January 29, 2019, and January 30, 2019. This action extends the 
comment period for 45 days. Due to the recent federal government 
shutdown, the public hearings have been rescheduled for March 19, 2019, 
and March 20, 2019, and written comments must now be received by March 
28, 2019. Under CWA section 303(c)(1) and the EPA's regulation at 40 
CFR 131.20, states and authorized tribes are required to hold public 
hearings when revising water quality standards. When preparing for or 
conducting such public hearings, states and authorized tribes must 
comply with the EPA's public hearing requirements at 40 CFR 25.5. Under 
40 CFR 131.22(c), when the EPA promulgates a federal water quality 
standard for a state, it must comply with the same procedures 
established for states and authorized tribes. These provisions include 
requirements for providing at least 45 days advance notice of a public 
hearing. This public comment period is extended in order to accommodate 
complying with the public hearing requirements and to ensure the public 
comment period remains open to accommodate the rescheduled public 
hearings. Notice of the rescheduled public hearings was posted on the 
EPA's website on January 30, 2019 at https://www.epa.gov/wqs-tech/water-quality-standards-establishment-numeric-criterion-selenium-fresh-waters-california.
    The EPA will offer virtual public hearings on the proposed rule via 
the internet on Tuesday, March 19, 2019, from 9:00 a.m.-11:00 a.m. 
Pacific Time and Wednesday, March 20, 2019, from 4:00 p.m.-6:00 p.m. 
Pacific Time. For details on these public hearings, as well as 
registration information, please visit https://www.epa.gov/wqs-tech/water-quality-standards-establishment-numeric-criterion-selenium-fresh-waters-california.

    Dated: February 6, 2019.
David P. Ross,
Assistant Administrator, Office of Water.
[FR Doc. 2019-02072 Filed 2-11-19; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6560-50-P