82 FR 6532 - Proposed Settlement Agreement, Clean Air Act Petition for Review

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

Federal Register Volume 82, Issue 12 (January 19, 2017)

In accordance with section 113(g) of the Clean Air Act, as amended (``CAA''), notice is hereby given of a proposed settlement agreement to address a lawsuit filed by Sierra Club in the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit: Sierra Club v. EPA, No. 16-1158 (D.C Cir.). On May 27, 2016, Sierra Club filed a petition for judicial review of the final action taken by EPA under the CAA titled ``Revisions to Ambient Monitoring Quality Assurance and Other Requirements'' (``final action'') at 81 FR 17,248 (Mar. 28, 2016). The proposed settlement agreement would resolve Sierra Club's lawsuit upon EPA's issuance of two nonbinding guidance documents recommending public notification practices concerning the submission and approval of ambient air monitoring network plans.

[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 12 (Thursday, January 19, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 6532-6533]
From the Federal Register Online  [www.thefederalregister.org]
[FR Doc No: 2017-01099]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[EPA-HQ-OGC-2017-0030; FRL-9958-55-OGC]


Proposed Settlement Agreement, Clean Air Act Petition for Review

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

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

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SUMMARY: In accordance with section 113(g) of the Clean Air Act, as 
amended (``CAA''), notice is hereby given of a proposed settlement 
agreement to address a lawsuit filed by Sierra Club in the United 
States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit: Sierra 
Club v. EPA, No. 16-1158 (D.C Cir.). On May 27, 2016, Sierra Club filed 
a petition for judicial review of the final action taken by EPA under 
the CAA titled ``Revisions to Ambient Monitoring Quality Assurance and 
Other Requirements'' (``final action'') at 81 FR 17,248 (Mar. 28, 
2016). The proposed settlement agreement would resolve Sierra Club's 
lawsuit upon EPA's issuance of two nonbinding guidance documents 
recommending public notification practices concerning the submission 
and approval of ambient air monitoring network plans.

DATES: Written comments on the proposed settlement agreement must be 
received by February 21, 2017.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID number EPA-HQ-
OGC-2017- 0030, online at www.regulations.gov. 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: Jonathan Skinner-Thompson, Air and 
Radiation Law Office (2344A), Office of General Counsel, U.S. 
Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave. NW., 
Washington, DC 20460; telephone: (202) 564-0291; fax number (202) 564-
5603; email address: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Additional Information About the Proposed Settlement Agreement

    Sierra Club filed a petition for review of EPA's final action 
titled ``Revisions to Ambient Monitoring Quality Assurance and Other 
Requirements'' (``final action'') at 81 FR 17,248 (Mar. 28, 2016). In 
the final action, EPA revised requirements pertaining to public 
inspection of proposed annual monitoring network plans under 40 CFR 
58.10.
    Under the terms of the proposed settlement agreement, Sierra Club 
would agree to dismiss its case with prejudice upon EPA's issuance of 
two nonbinding guidance documents. The first guidance document would be 
issued to state and local monitoring agencies and would make public 
inspection recommendations concerning proposed monitoring plans. The 
second guidance document would be issued to EPA regional offices and 
would make recommendations for stakeholder notification of submitted 
monitoring plan approvals and disapprovals. The United States also 
would agree to make a payment in settlement of Sierra Club's claim for 
fees and costs. Please review the settlement agreement for additional 
details, available in the public docket at EPA-HQ-OGC-2017-0030.
    For a period of 30 days following the date of publication of this 
notice, the Agency will receive written comments relating to the 
proposed settlement agreement from persons who were 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 
settlement agreement if the comments disclose facts or considerations 
that indicate that such consent is inappropriate, improper, inadequate, 
or inconsistent with the requirements of the Act. Unless EPA or the 
Department of Justice determines that consent to the agreement should 
be withdrawn or withheld, the terms of the agreement will be affirmed.

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 under Docket ID No. EPA-
HQ-OGC-2017-0030 contains a 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.
    An electronic version of the public docket is available through 
www.regulations.gov. You may use the www.regulations.gov to submit or 
view public comments, access the index listing of the contents of the 
official public docket, and to 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.

[[Page 6533]]

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 Web site 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: January 11, 2017.
Lorie J. Schmidt,
Associate General Counsel.
[FR Doc. 2017-01099 Filed 1-18-17; 8:45 am]
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