[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 86 (Wednesday, May 4, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 26351-26352]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-09542]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[EPA-HQ-OGC-2022-0406; FRL-9811-01-OGC]


Proposed Consent Decree, Unreasonable Delay Claim Regarding 
Discarded Polyvinyl Chloride Listing

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of proposed consent decree; request for public comment.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) 
Administrator's March 18, 2022, Memorandum entitled Consent Decrees and 
Settlement Agreements to Resolve Environmental Claims Against the 
Agency, notice is hereby given of a proposed consent decree that 
resolves Center for Biological Diversity v. U.S. Environmental 
Protection Agency, et al., a case in the United States District Court 
for the District of Columbia (1:21-cv-2210-JDB) that alleges EPA 
unreasonably delayed taking action on a petition to list discarded 
polyvinyl chloride (PVC) as hazardous waste under the Resource 
Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA).

[[Page 26352]]


DATES: Written comments on the proposed consent decree must be received 
by June 3, 2022.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-
OGC-2022-0406 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, 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 is open to visitors 
by appointment only. Our Docket Center staff continues 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 latest status information, please 
visit us online at https://www.epa.gov/dockets.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Clayton Cope, Solid Waste and 
Emergency Response Law Office, Office of General Counsel, U.S. 
Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, 
DC 20460; telephone number: (202) 564-2647; 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-2022-0406) 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

    Prior to this lawsuit being filed EPA received a petition from 
Plaintiff, dated July 24, 2014, to list discarded PVC as hazardous 
waste under RCRA. Plaintiff alleges EPA has failed to take action with 
respect to the petition within a reasonable time.
    This proposed consent decree states that no later than January 20, 
2023, pursuant to 40 CFR 260.20(c), EPA shall sign a tentative decision 
on Plaintiff's petition to classify discarded PVC as hazardous waste 
under RCRA. Furthermore, it states that no later than two years after 
the signature of the consent decree by CBD, April 12, 2024, EPA shall 
sign a final decision on Plaintiff's petition. Court approval of this 
proposed consent decree would resolve all claims in this case except 
for any claim for the costs of litigation, including attorneys' fees.
    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 from persons who are not named as parties 
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 APA or RCRA. Unless EPA or the Department of 
Justice determines that consent should be withdrawn, the terms of the 
proposed consent decree will be affirmed.

III. Additional Information About Commenting on the Proposed Consent 
Decree

    Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OGC-2022-
0406 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.

    Dated: April 26, 2022 .
Lorie Schmidt,
Associate General Counsel.
[FR Doc. 2022-09542 Filed 5-3-22; 8:45 am]
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