[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 143 (Thursday, July 29, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 40825-40826]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-16155]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[EPA-HQ-OGC-2021-0444; FRL-8780-01-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 the Clean Air Act, as amended (CAA or the 
Act), notice is given of a proposed consent decree in State of New 
York, et al. v. Regan et al., No. 21 Civ. 252 (ALC) (S.D.N.Y.). On 
January 12, 2021, the States of New York, Connecticut, Delaware, 
Massachusetts, and New Jersey, and the City of New York (Plaintiffs) 
filed a complaint in the United States District Court for the Southern 
District of New York. Plaintiffs alleged that the Environmental 
Protection Agency (EPA or the Agency) failed to perform certain non-
discretionary duties in accordance with the Act to take final action to 
approve or disapprove, in whole or in part, certain 2015 ozone national 
ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) infrastructure state 
implementation plan (SIP) submissions addressing the good neighbor 
provision from the States of Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, Texas, 
and West Virginia. The proposed consent decree would establish 
deadlines for EPA to act on these six SIP submissions.

DATES: Written comments on the proposed consent decree must be received 
by August 30, 2021.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-
OGC-2021-0444, online at https://www.regulations.gov (EPA's preferred 
method). Follow the online instructions for submitting comments.
    Instructions: All submissions received must include the Docket ID 
number for this action. Comments received may be posted without change 
to https://www.regulations.gov, including any personal information 
provided. For detailed instructions on sending comments and additional 
information on the rulemaking process, see the ``Additional Information 
about Commenting on the Proposed Consent Decree'' heading under the 
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this document. Out of an abundance 
of caution for members of the public and our staff, the EPA Docket 
Center and Reading Room are closed to the public, with limited 
exceptions, to reduce the risk of transmitting COVID-19. Our Docket 
Center staff will continue to provide remote customer service via 
email, phone, and webform. We encourage the public to submit comments 
via https://www.regulations.gov, as there may be a delay in processing 
mail and faxes. Hand-deliveries and couriers may be received by 
scheduled appointment only. For further information on EPA Docket 
Center services and the current status, please visit us online at 
https://www.epa.gov/dockets.
    EPA continues to carefully and continuously monitor information 
from the CDC, local area health departments, and our federal partners 
so that we can respond rapidly as conditions change regarding COVID-19.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Rosemary E. Hambright, Air and 
Radiation Law Office (2344A), Office of General Counsel, U.S. 
Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, 
DC 20460; telephone (202) 564-8829; email address 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Obtaining a Copy of the Proposed Consent Decree

    The official public docket for this action (identified by Docket ID 
No. EPA-HQ-OGC-2021-0444) contains a copy of the proposed consent 
decree.
    The electronic version of the public docket for this action 
contains a copy of the proposed consent decree and is available through 
https://www.regulations.gov. You may use https://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.''

II. Additional Information About the Proposed Consent Decree

    The proposed consent decree would establish deadlines for EPA to 
take action pursuant to CAA section 110(k) on certain SIP submissions 
addressing the requirements of CAA section 110(a)(2)(D)(i)(I), 42 
U.S.C. 7410(a)(2)(D)(i)(I) (the good neighbor provision), to resolve a 
lawsuit filed by the States of New York, Connecticut, Delaware, 
Massachusetts, and New Jersey, and the City of New York. Pursuant to 
CAA section 110(k), 42 U.S.C. 7410(k), SIP submission are deemed 
complete by operation of law 6 months after receipt by EPA. EPA must 
approve or disapprove, in whole or in a part, SIP submissions within 12 
months of being deemed complete.
    The proposed consent decree would require the EPA, pursuant to CAA 
sections 110(k)(2)-(4), 42 U.S.C. 7410(k)(2)-(4), to take final action 
to approve or disapprove, in whole or in part, the portion of six 2015 
ozone NAAQS infrastructure SIP submissions addressing the good neighbor 
provision from the States of Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, Texas, 
and West Virginia. EPA received the good neighbor SIP submissions at 
issue on the following dates: Indiana on November 2, 2018, Kentucky on 
January 9, 2019, Michigan on March 8, 2019,

[[Page 40826]]

Ohio on September 28, 2018, Texas on September 12, 2018, and West 
Virginia on February 4, 2019.
    Under the terms of the proposed consent decree, no later than April 
30, 2022, EPA shall sign a final rule to approve, disapprove, 
conditionally approve, or approve in part and conditionally approve or 
disapprove in part, the 2015 ozone NAAQS good neighbor SIP submissions 
from Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, Texas, and West Virginia. 
However, under the proposed consent decree, if, by February 28, 2022, 
EPA signs a proposal of full or partial disapproval of any of the six 
good neighbor SIP submissions and signs a proposal for a federal 
implementation plan to implement any such fully or partially 
disapproved SIP submission, EPA shall have until December 15, 2022, to 
sign a final action to approve, disapprove, conditionally approve, or 
approve in part and conditionally approve or disapprove in part, each 
such good neighbor SIP submission.
    In accordance with section 113(g) of the CAA, for a period of 
thirty (30) days following the date of publication of this document, 
the Agency will accept written comments relating to the proposed 
consent decree. 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.

III. Additional Information About Commenting on the Proposed Consent 
Decree

    Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OGC-2021-
0444, via https://www.regulations.gov. Once submitted, comments cannot 
be edited or removed from this docket. EPA may publish any comment 
received to its public docket. Do not submit to EPA's docket at https://www.regulations.gov 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. 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, 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. For additional information about submitting information 
identified as CBI, please contact the person listed in the FOR FURTHER 
INFORMATION CONTACT section of this document. Note that written 
comments containing CBI and submitted by mail may be delayed and 
deliveries or couriers will be received by scheduled appointment only.
    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. 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 https://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.
    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.

Gautam Srinivasan,
Associate General Counsel.
[FR Doc. 2021-16155 Filed 7-28-21; 8:45 am]
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