[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 79 (Tuesday, April 23, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 30361-30363]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-08614]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[EPA-HQ-OGC-2024-0182; FRL-11897-01-OGC]


Proposed Consent Decree, Clean Air Act 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 Our Children's 
Earth Foundation v. Michael Regan, No. 1:23-cv-2848 (D.D.C.). On 
September 26, 2023, Plaintiff Our Children's Earth Foundation filed a 
complaint in the United States District Court for the District of 
Columbia. Plaintiff alleged that the Environmental Protection

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Agency (EPA or the Agency) failed to perform certain non-discretionary 
duties in accordance with the Act to timely respond to numerous state 
implementation plan (SIP) submissions from the States of Alabama, 
Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, South Carolina, and Texas. The proposed 
consent decree would establish deadlines for EPA to act on certain 
submissions.

DATES: Written comments on the proposed consent decree must be received 
by May 23, 2024.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-
OGC-2024-0182, 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.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kyle Durch, Air and Radiation Law 
Office, Office of General Counsel, U.S. Environmental Protection 
Agency; telephone (202) 564-1809; 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-2024-0182) 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.
    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 
by the States of Louisiana, South Carolina, and Texas. First, by June 
30, 2025, EPA would sign a final rule to approve, conditionally 
approve, or disapprove, in whole or in part, five SIP revisions related 
to minor New Source Review permitting regulations which South Carolina 
submitted to EPA between October 2007 and July 2016.\1\
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    \1\ The submissions identified from the States of Alabama, 
Florida, and Georgia, as well as certain submissions from the State 
of Texas, were acted upon by EPA, are part of other litigation, or 
withdrawn during the pendency of the suit and are thus no longer at 
issue. The remainder of this notice will focus only on the remaining 
submissions from the States of Louisiana, South Carolina, and Texas.
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    Second, EPA would sign a final rule to approve, conditionally 
approve, disapprove, in whole or in part, the following SIP submissions 
from Louisiana and Texas by September 30, 2025: LA 2010 SO2 
NAAQS transport prongs 1 and 2, submitted on or about June 7, 2013; TX 
Transport prongs 1 and 2 portion of the 2010 SO2 
Infrastructure & Transport SIP, submitted on or about May 9, 2013; six 
SIP revisions related to the 2008 Ozone Serious Area National Ambient 
Air Quality Standards for the Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston-Galveston-
Brazoria nonattainment areas, including the Attainment Demonstrations, 
RACT Analyses, and RACT NOX and VOC Rules for the Dallas-
Fort Worth area, submitted on or about May 13, 2020; TX 30 TAC 
101.118a2 and 101.118b from the Houston 1-hour ozone section 185 fee 
alternative program, submitted on or about November 30, 2018; and 
Revisions to Texas Chapter 116--Project Emissions Accounting, submitted 
on or about July 9, 2021.
    Third, EPA would sign a final rule to approve, conditionally 
approve, disapprove, in whole or in part, TX 5-Year Regional Haze 
Progress Report SIP Revision, Texas Project 2013-013-SIP-NR, submitted 
March 20, 2014, submitted on or about March 24, 2014, no later than 
December 15, 2026.
    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-2024-
0182, 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

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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. 2024-08614 Filed 4-22-24; 8:45 am]
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