76566 Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 230 / Monday, November 30, 2020 / Notices 

a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through 

Friday (except Federal Holidays). 

Instructions: All submissions received 

must include the Docket ID No. for this 

rulemaking. 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 

‘‘Public Participation’’ heading of the 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of 

this document. 

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/commentingepa-dockets 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Thomas Glazer, Water Law Office 

(2355A), Office of General Counsel, U.S. 

Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 

Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, DC 

20460; telephone: (202) 564–0908; email 

address: glazer.thomas@epa.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Additional Information About the 

Proposed Stipulated Partial Dismissal 

On June 15, 2013, Plaintiffs filed suit 

in the federal district court for the 

District of Idaho against the Services. 

The original complaint alleged that the 

Services unreasonably delayed or 

unlawfully withheld completion of ESA 

consultation with EPA regarding new 

and revised water quality standards that 

were submitted in 1996 and/or 1997. On 

September 24, 2013, Plaintiffs filed an 

amended complaint adding various 

CWA and ESA claims against EPA 

regarding dozens of Idaho water quality 

standard submissions dating back to 

1994. Broadly speaking, Plaintiffs’ 

claims fell into two categories: claims 

that EPA failed to consult with the 

Services on various water quality 

standard approval actions and claims 

that EPA failed to complete its 

mandatory duties under the CWA with 

respect to various new and revised 

water quality standards adopted by the 

State. In April 2015, the Services 

entered a stipulated dismissal with 

Plaintiffs, by which they agreed to 

complete certain ESA obligations. This 

left EPA as the sole defendant in the 

case. 

On February 28, 2019, the court 

partially granted EPA’s motion to 

dismiss a number of claims on statute of 

limitations grounds, dismissing all ESA 

failure-to-consult claims regarding EPA 

actions that predated September 24, 

2007—6 years prior to filing the 

amended complaint. The court declined 

to dismiss any CWA mandatory duty 

claims, finding that the statute of 

limitations did not require dismissal 

because Plaintiffs had alleged an 

ongoing failure to act by EPA. This left 

seven discrete claims against EPA 

alleging a failure to undertake various 

duties pursuant to the ESA and CWA 

with regard to Idaho water quality 

standards. 

The parties have negotiated a 

settlement framework in the form of a 

stipulated order of partial dismissal. 

The court would enter the order and 

retain jurisdiction to construe, carry out, 

enforce, modify, or resolve any dispute 

regarding the terms and conditions of 

the order. EPA and Plaintiffs negotiated 

a three-year timeline for EPA to 

complete an effects determination 

pursuant to 50 CFR 402.14(a) for its May 

22, 2008 approval of Idaho’s revisions to 

its salmonid spawning timing procedure 

and, as appropriate, to request initiation 

of any necessary ESA section 7 

consultation with the Services. The 

State has been informed of the timeline 

and will be an applicant in any ESA 

consultation. The Order would also 

resolve Plaintiffs’ claim for attorney’s 

fees with an agreement to pay $37,000. 

For a period of thirty (30) days 

following the date of publication of this 

notice, the Agency will accept written 

comments relating to the obligations of 

EPA for resolution of the claims 

contained in the proposed stipulated 

order of partial dismissal from persons 

who are not named as original parties or 

intervenors to the litigation in question. 

EPA or the Department of Justice may 

withdraw or withhold consent to the 

proposed stipulated order of partial 

dismissal if the comments disclose facts 

or considerations that indicate that such 

consent is inappropriate, improper, 

inadequate, or inconsistent with the 

requirements of the CWA or ESA. 

Unless EPA or the Department of Justice 

determines that consent to this 

proposed stipulated order of partial 

dismissal should be withdrawn, the 

terms of the proposed stipulated order 

of partial dismissal will be affirmed and 

entered with the court. 

II. Public Participation 

Written Comments 

Submit your comments, identified by 

Docket ID No. EPA–HQ–OGC–2020– 

0561, at https://www.regulations.gov 

(our preferred method), or the other 

methods identified in the ADDRESSES

section. Once submitted, comments 

cannot be edited or removed from the 

docket. 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, 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. 

The EPA is temporarily suspending 

its Docket Center and Reading Room for 

public visitors, 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 or couriers will be 

received by scheduled appointment 

only. For further information and 

updates on EPA Docket Center services, 

please visit us online at https://

www.epa.gov/dockets. 

The EPA continues to carefully and 

continuously monitor information from 

the Centers for Disease Control and 

Prevention (CDC), local area health 

departments, and our Federal partners 

so that we can respond rapidly as 

conditions change regarding COVID–19. 

Dated: November 17, 2020. 

Steven Neugeboren, 

Associate General Counsel. 

[FR Doc. 2020–26310 Filed 11–27–20; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6560–50–P 

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 

AGENCY 

[EPA–HQ–ORD–2018–0654; FRL–10016–99– 

ORD] 

Availability of the ORD Staff Handbook 

for Developing IRIS Assessments 

AGENCY: Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA). 

ACTION: Notice of public comment 

period. 


TKELLEY on DSKBCP9HB2PROD with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 230 / Monday, November 30, 2020 / Notices 76567 

SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA) is announcing a 90-day 

public comment period associated with 

release of the ORD Staff Handbook for 

Developing Integrated Risk Information 

System (IRIS) Assessments, or IRIS 

Handbook. The IRIS Handbook provides 

operating procedures for developing 

assessments including problem 

formulation approaches and methods 

for conducting systematic review, dose 

response analysis, and developing 

toxicity values. EPA is releasing this 

document and the charge questions for 

public comment in advance of a 

National Academy of Sciences, 

Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) 

peer review. Comments received will be 

summarized and provided to the 

committee conducting the peer review. 

This document was prepared by the 

Center for Public Health and 

Environmental Assessment (CPHEA) 

within EPA’s Office of Research and 

Development (ORD). 

DATES: The 90-day public comment 

period begins November 30, 2020, and 

ends March 1, 2021. 

ADDRESSES: The IRIS Handbook will be 

available via the internet on the IRIS 

website at https://www.epa.gov/iris and 

in the public docket at https://

www.regulations.gov, Docket ID: EPA– 

HQ–ORD–2018–0654. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For 

information on the public comment 

period, contact the ORD Docket at the 

EPA Headquarters Docket Center; 

telephone: 202–566–1752; facsimile: 

202–566–9744; or email: Docket_ORD@

epa.gov. 

For technical information on the IRIS 

Handbook, contact Dr. James Avery, 

CPHEA; telephone: 202–564–1494; or 

email: avery.james@epa.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Background Information on the IRIS 

Handbook 

The ‘‘ORD Staff Handbook for 

Developing IRIS Assessments,’’ or ‘‘IRIS 

Handbook,’’ provides operating 

procedures for developing assessments 

to the scientists in the IRIS Program. 

The IRIS Handbook implements 

recommendations and input from the 

National Academy of Sciences, 

Engineering and Medicine (NASEM), 

EPA Agency reviewers, other Federal 

Agencies, EPA’s Science Advisory 

Board, and workshops involving input 

from experts in systematic review. The 

steps in the overall IRIS process have 

not changed (https://www.epa.gov/iris/ 

basic-information-about-integrated-riskinformation-system#process). The IRIS 

Handbook is designed so that it can be 

updated, as needed, to allow for 

incorporation of method refinements, 

advances in assessment science, and 

any updates in EPA guidance (see 

https://yosemite.epa.gov/sab/

sabproduct.nsf/02ad90b136fc21

ef85256eba00436459/df0f42c346454486

85258570005adfff!OpenDocument&

TableRow=2.3#2). 

II. Information Regarding the Peer 

Review 

EPA is announcing that NASEM will 

conduct an external peer review of the 

IRIS Handbook. Information regarding 

this peer review will be provided 

through the IRIS website (https://

www.epa.gov/iris) and via EPA’s IRIS 

listserv. To register for the IRIS listserv, 

visit the IRIS website (https://

www.epa.gov/iris) or https://

www.epa.gov/iris/forms/stayingconnected-integrated-risk-informationsystem#connect. 

III. How To Submit Technical 

Comments to the Docket at http://

www.regulations.gov 

Submit your comments, identified by 

Docket ID No. EPA–HQ–ORD–2018– 

0654 for the IRIS Handbook, by one of 

the following methods: 

• https://www.regulations.gov: 

Follow the on-line instructions for 

submitting comments. 

• Email: Docket_ORD@epa.gov. 

• Fax: 202–566–9744. Due to COVID– 

19, there may be a delay in processing 

comments submitted by fax. 

• Mail: U.S. Environmental 

Protection Agency, EPA Docket Center 

(ORD Docket), Mail Code: 28221T, 1200 

Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, 

DC 20460. The phone number is 202– 

566–1752. Due to COVID–19, there may 

be a delay in processing comments 

submitted by mail. 

Note: The EPA Docket Center and 

Reading Room is currently closed to 

public visitors to reduce the risk of 

transmitting COVID–19. Docket Center 

staff will continue to provide remote 

customer service via email, phone, and 

webform. The public can submit 

comments via www.regulations.gov or 

email. No hand deliveries are currently 

being accepted. 

Instructions: Direct your comments to 

docket number EPA–HQ–ORD–2018– 

0654 for the IRIS Handbook. Please 

ensure that your comments are 

submitted within the specified comment 

period. Comments received after the 

closing date will be marked ‘‘late,’’ and 

may only be considered if time permits. 

It is EPA’s policy to include all 

comments it receives in the public 

docket without change and to make the 

comments available online at 

www.regulations.gov, including any 

personal information provided, unless a 

comment includes information claimed 

to be Confidential Business Information 

(CBI) or other information for which 

disclosure is restricted by statute. Do 

not submit information through 

www.regulations.gov or email that you 

consider to be CBI or otherwise 

protected. The www.regulations.gov 

website is an ‘‘anonymous access’’ 

system, which means EPA will not 

know your identity or contact 

information unless you provide it in the 

body of your comment. If you send an 

email comment directly to EPA without 

going through www.regulations.gov, 

your email address will be 

automatically captured and included as 

part of the comment that is placed in the 

public docket and made available on the 

internet. If you submit an electronic 

comment, EPA recommends that you 

include your name and other contact 

information in the body of your 

comment and with any disk or CD–ROM 

you submit. 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. Electronic files should avoid 

the use of special characters, any form 

of encryption, and be free of any defects 

or viruses. For additional information 

about EPA’s public docket visit the EPA 

Docket Center homepage at 

www.epa.gov/epahome/dockets.htm. 

Docket: Documents in the docket are 

listed in the www.regulations.gov index. 

Although listed in the index, some 

information is not publicly available, 

e.g., CBI or other information whose 

disclosure is restricted by statute. 

Certain other materials, such as 

copyrighted material, are publicly 

available only in hard copy. Publicly 

available docket materials are available 

either electronically in 

www.regulations.gov or in hard copy at 

the ORD Docket in the EPA 

Headquarters Docket Center. 

Wayne Cascio, 

Director, Center for Public Health & 

Environmental Assessment. 

[FR Doc. 2020–26314 Filed 11–27–20; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6560–50–P 

EXPORT-IMPORT BANK 

Sunshine Act Meetings; Notice of an 

Open Meeting of the Board of Directors 

of the Export-Import Bank of the 

United States 

TIME AND DATE: Thursday, December 10, 

2020 at 10:00 a.m. 

PLACE: The meeting will be held via 

teleconference. 


TKELLEY on DSKBCP9HB2PROD with NOTICES