[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 107 (Tuesday, June 4, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 25803-25804]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-11618]



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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[EPA-HQ-OGC-2019-0209; FRL-9994-89-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 given of a proposed consent 
decree in Citizens for Clean Air, et al. v. Andrew Wheeler, et al., No. 
2:18-cv-01803-TSZ (W.D. Wa.). On December 18, 2018, Citizens for Clean 
Air, a project of Alaska Community Action on Toxics, and Sierra Club 
(``Plaintiffs'') filed a complaint in the United States District Court 
for the Western District of Washington, alleging that the Administrator 
of the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the Regional 
Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency Region 10 
(``EPA'') failed to perform a non-discretionary duty to determine 
whether the State of Alaska has made an administratively complete state 
implementation plan (``SIP'') submission. The SIP submission at issue 
is required to meet the Serious nonattainment area plan requirements 
for the 2006 24-hour PM2.5 NAAQS for the Fairbanks North 
Star Borough area. The proposed consent decree would establish a 
deadline for EPA to determine whether the State of Alaska has made the 
required SIP submission.

DATES: Written comments on the proposed consent decree must be received 
by July 5, 2019.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID number EPA-HQ-
OGC-2019-0209, online at www.regulations.gov (EPA's preferred method). 
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 
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). 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: Geoffrey L. Wilcox, Air and Radiation 
Law Office (2344A), Office of General Counsel, U.S. Environmental 
Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20460; 
telephone: (202) 564-5601; email address: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Additional Information About the Proposed Consent Decree

    EPA designated the Fairbanks North Star Borough area as 
nonattainment for the 2006 24-hour PM2.5 NAAQS on December 
14, 2009. EPA initially classified the area as a ``Moderate'' 
nonattainment area, but later reclassified the area to ``Serious,'' 
effective June 9, 2017. Accordingly, the State of Alaska is required to 
make a new SIP submission to meet applicable statutory and regulatory 
requirements for a Serious area nonattainment area plan for this area.
    The proposed consent decree would resolve a lawsuit filed by the 
Plaintiffs seeking to compel the EPA to take action under Clean Air Act 
section 110(k)(1)(B) to determine whether the State of Alaska has made 
an administratively complete SIP submission intended to meet the 
Serious nonattainment area plan requirements for the 2006 24-hour 
PM2.5 NAAQS for the Fairbanks North Star Borough area.
    Under the terms of the proposed consent decree, EPA shall sign a 
notice of final rulemaking making the required completeness 
determination no later than July 8, 2019. Thereafter, the EPA shall, 
within 15 business days, send the signed notice of final rulemaking 
making the completeness determination to the Office of Federal Register 
for review and publication.
    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.

II. Additional Information About Commenting on the Proposed Consent 
Decree

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

    The official public docket for this action (identified by Docket ID 
No. EPA-HQ-OGC-2019-0209) 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.

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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 website 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: May 23, 2019.
Gautam Srinivasan,
Acting Associate General Counsel.
[FR Doc. 2019-11618 Filed 6-3-19; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6560-50-P