[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 78 (Monday, April 24, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 24792-24793]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-08606]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[EPA-HQ-OGC-2023-0247; FRL-10917-01-OGC]


Proposed Settlement Agreement, Clean Water Act and Administrative 
Procedure Act Claims

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of proposed settlement agreement; request for public 
comment.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) 
Administrator's March 18, 2022, memorandum regarding ``Consent Decrees 
and Settlement Agreements to resolve Environmental Claims Against the 
Agency,'' notice is hereby given of a proposed settlement agreement in 
Center for Biological Diversity v. EPA and FWS, No. 21-71306 (9th 
Cir.). In October 2021, Center for Biological Diversity (Plaintiff) 
filed a petition in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit 
challenging EPA's issuance of the 2021 Pesticide General Permit (PGP), 
a permit issued by EPA pursuant to the Clean Water Act (CWA). The 
petition alleged that EPA failed to comply with the CWA in issuing the 
2021 PGP, and that EPA and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) 
failed to comply with the Endangered Species Act (ESA) in issuing the 
2021 PGP. EPA seeks public input on a proposed settlement agreement 
prior to its final decision-making with regard to potential settlement 
of the litigation.

DATES: Written comments on the proposed settlement agreement must be 
received by May 24, 2023.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-
OGC-2023-0247 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 Settlement 
Agreement'' heading under the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this 
document.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Alec Mullee, Water Law Office, Office 
of General Counsel, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; telephone: 
(202) 564-9616; email address: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Additional Information About the Proposed Settlement Agreement

    The PGP covers discharges to waters of the United States from the 
following pesticide use patterns: mosquito and other flying insect pest 
control; weed and algae pest control; animal pest control; and forest 
canopy pest control. Shortly after EPA issued the 2021 PGP, Plaintiff 
filed a petition for review in the Ninth Circuit. The parties requested 
a stay before briefing commenced, which the court granted. During the 
stay, the Parties negotiated this proposed settlement agreement. Under 
the proposed agreement, EPA would take specified steps with respect to 
implementation of the 2021 PGP. EPA and FWS would complete ESA 
consultation on EPA's next issuance of the PGP (the 2026 PGP) by 
October 31, 2024. When EPA proposes the 2026 PGP, EPA would propose for 
public comment certain changes to its monitoring and recordkeeping 
provisions. EPA would issue the 2026 PGP by December 17, 2024, to be 
effective in October 2026.
    For a period of thirty (30) days following the date of publication 
of this notice, EPA will accept written comments relating to the 
proposed settlement agreement from persons who are not parties to the 
litigation. EPA or the Department of Justice may withdraw or withhold 
consent to the proposed settlement agreement if the comments received 
disclose facts or considerations that indicate that such consent is 
inappropriate, improper, inadequate, or inconsistent with the 
requirements of the CWA, ESA or APA.

II. Additional Information About Commenting on the Proposed Settlement 
Agreement

A. How can I get a copy of the proposed settlement agreement?

    The official public docket for this action (identified by Docket ID 
No. EPA-HQ-OGC-2023-0247 contains a

[[Page 24793]]

copy of the proposed settlement agreement. 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.
    The electronic version of the public docket for this action 
contains a copy of the proposed settlement agreement 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.''

B. How and to whom do I submit comments?

    Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OGC-2023-
0247 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.
    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. 
We strongly encourage you to send your comments electronically to 
ensure that they are received prior to the close of the comment period. 
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 does not plan to consider these late 
comments.

Steven M. Neugeboren,
Associate General Counsel.
[FR Doc. 2023-08606 Filed 4-21-23; 8:45 am]
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