Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 230 / Monday, November 30, 2020 / Notices 76565 

II. Additional Information About 

Commenting on the Proposed 

Stipulation and Stipulated Notice of 

Dismissal. 

A. How can I get a copy of the proposed 

stipulated partial settlement agreement? 

The official public docket for this 

action (identified by EPA–HQ–OGC– 

2020–0520) contains a copy of the 

proposed stipulated partial settlement 

agreement. 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. 

The electronic version of the public 

docket for this action contains a copy of 

the proposed stipulated partial 

settlement agreement, and is available 

through https://www.regulations.gov. 

You may use 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.’’ 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. Please refer to the information 

above about the current status of the 

EPA Docket Center. 

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. 

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 

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. 

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. 

Joseph E. Cole, 

Associate General Counsel. 

[FR Doc. 2020–26311 Filed 11–27–20; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6560–50–P 

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 

AGENCY 

[EPA–HQ–OGC–2020–0561; FRL–10016–63– 

OGC] 

Proposed Settlement Agreements, 

Clean Water Act and Endangered 

Species Act 

AGENCY: Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA). 

ACTION: Notice; request for public 

comment. 

SUMMARY: In accordance with the 

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) 

Administrator’s October 16, 2017, 

Directive Promoting Transparency and 

Public Participation in Consent Decrees 

and Settlement Agreements, notice is 

hereby given of a proposed stipulated 

order of partial dismissal to address 

several claims in a lawsuit filed by 

Northwest Environmental Advocates in 

the U.S. District Court for the District of 

Idaho. On September 24, 2013 the 

Northwest Environmental Advocates 

and the Idaho Conservation League 

(collectively ‘‘Plaintiffs’’) filed an 

amended complaint bringing claims 

against the EPA alleging, among other 

things, that it failed to perform duties 

mandated by the Endangered Species 

Act (ESA) to consult with the Fish & 

Wildlife Service and the National 

Marine Fisheries Service (collectively 

‘‘the Services’’) regarding its actions 

under the Clean Water Act (CWA) and 

that EPA failed to complete various 

mandatory duties under the CWA with 

respect to various new and revised 

water quality standards adopted by the 

Idaho Department of Environmental 

Quality. EPA seeks public input on the 

proposed stipulated order of partial 

dismissal prior to its final decisionmaking to settle the litigation. 

DATES: Written comments on the 

proposed settlement agreements must be 

received by December 30, 2020. 

ADDRESSES: You may send comments, 

identified by Docket ID No. EPA–HQ– 

OGC–2020–0561, by any of the 

following methods: 

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: 

https://www.regulations.gov/ (our 

preferred method). Follow the online 

instructions for submitting comments. 

• Mail: U.S. Environmental 

Protection Agency, EPA Docket Center, 

Office of the General Counsel Docket, 

Mail Code 28221T, 1200 Pennsylvania 

Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20460. 

• Hand Delivery/Courier: EPA Docket 

Center, WJC West Building, Room 3334, 

1301 Constitution Avenue NW, 

Washington, DC 20004. The Docket 

Center’s hours of operations are 8:30 


TKELLEY on DSKBCP9HB2PROD with NOTICES
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