Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 173 / Friday, September 8, 2023 / Notices 62079 

1Plaintiff filed an amended complaint on January 

24, 2020. 

Dated: September 5, 2023. 

Cindy S. Barger, 

Director, NEPA Compliance Division, Office 

of Federal Activities. 

[FR Doc. 2023–19397 Filed 9–7–23; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6560–50–P 

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 

AGENCY 

[EPA–HQ–OGC–2023–0452; FRL–11385–01– 

OGC] 

Proposed Interim Consent Decree and 

Proposed Interim Settlement 

Agreement, Clean Water Act and 

Administrative Procedure Act Claims 

AGENCY: Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA). 

ACTION: Notice of proposed interim 

consent decree and proposed interim 

settlement agreement; request for public 

comment. 

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 interim consent decree and 

proposed interim settlement agreement 

in Northwest Environmental Advocates 

v. EPA, No. 19–01537 (W.D. Wash.). On 

September 26, 2019, Plaintiff Northwest 

Environmental Advocates filed a 

complaint alleging that EPA failed to 

perform duties mandated by the Clean 

Water Act (CWA) regarding 

Washington’s obligation to develop 

Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs) to 

address waters identified on the state’s 

impaired waters list and that EPA’s 

inaction was arbitrary and capricious 

under the Administrative Procedure Act 

(APA), among other claims. EPA seeks 

public input on a proposed interim 

consent decree and proposed interim 

settlement agreement prior to its final 

decision-making regarding entering into 

the proposed documents. 

DATES: Written comments on the 

proposed interim consent decree and 

proposed interim settlement agreement 

must be received by October 10, 2023. 

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, 

identified by Docket ID No. EPA–HQ– 

OGC–2023–0452 online at 

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 

www.regulations.gov, including any 

personal information provided. For 

detailed instructions on sending 

comments, see the ‘‘Additional 

Information About Commenting on the 

Proposed Interim Consent Decree and 

Proposed Interim Settlement 

Agreement’’ heading under the 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of 

this document. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Elise O’Dea, Water Law Office, Office of 

General Counsel, U.S. Environmental 

Protection Agency; telephone: (202) 

564–4201; email address: odea.elise@

epa.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Additional Information About the 

Proposed Interim Consent Decree and 

Proposed Interim Settlement Agreement 

On September 26, 2019, Plaintiff filed 

a complaint 1 in the federal district court 

for the Western District of Washington 

alleging that EPA actions and inactions 

concerning the state of Washington’s 

water quality assessment and listing 

program and TMDL program violated 

the APA and section 303(d) of the CWA. 

Among other claims, Plaintiff asserted 

that EPA violated the CWA by failing to 

disapprove Washington’s alleged 

constructive submission of no TMDLs 

for waters on the state’s 1996 list of 

impaired waters needing TMDLs and to 

establish TMDLs for such waters. In 

August 2020, the district court granted 

Washington’s motion to intervene as a 

defendant in the litigation. The parties 

initiated settlement negotiations shortly 

thereafter, which led to the 

development of the proposed interim 

consent decree and proposed interim 

settlement agreement that are the 

subject of this notice. 

The proposed interim consent decree 

and proposed interim settlement 

agreement would constitute the first 

part of a potential two-phase settlement 

framework and thus completion of the 

commitments set forth in each 

document would not result in dismissal 

of the litigation. Specifically, the 

proposed interim consent decree would 

require Washington to submit three 

TMDLs to EPA by December 2025 (Soos 

Creek fine sediment, Drayton Harbor 

bacteria, and Whatcom Creek bacteria) 

and would prohibit the Plaintiff from 

filing any new TMDL constructive 

submission lawsuits in Washington for 

a period of 34 months. Under the 

proposed interim settlement agreement, 

while the litigation was held in 

abeyance, an EPA-funded contractor 

would review and evaluate 

Washington’s TMDL program to inform 

an EPA report providing 

recommendations for improving the 

program, particularly with respect to the 

timely development of TMDLs. Upon 

completion and consideration of the 

report, the parties would reengage in 

settlement discussions in an effort to 

reach a final agreement that would 

resolve the litigation. 

For a period of thirty (30) days 

following the date of publication of this 

notice, EPA will accept written 

comments relating to the proposed 

interim consent decree and proposed 

interim settlement agreement from 

persons who are not parties to the 

litigation. EPA also may hold a public 

hearing on whether to enter into the 

proposed interim consent decree and 

proposed interim settlement agreement. 

EPA or the Department of Justice may 

withdraw or withhold consent to the 

proposed interim consent decree and 

proposed interim 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 or APA. 

II. Additional Information About 

Commenting on the Proposed Interim 

Consent Decree and Proposed Interim 

Settlement Agreement 

A. How can I get a copy of the proposed 

interim consent decree and proposed 

interim settlement agreement? 

The official public docket for this 

action (identified by Docket ID No. 

EPA–HQ–OGC–2023–0452) contains a 

copy of the proposed interim consent 

decree and proposed interim 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 interim consent decree 

and proposed interim 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 


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62080 Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 173 / Friday, September 8, 2023 / Notices 

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– 

0452 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-epadockets. 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. 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 Neugeboren, 

Associate General Counsel. 

[FR Doc. 2023–19431 Filed 9–7–23; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6560–50–P 

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 

AGENCY 

[EPA–HQ–OGC–2023–0453; FRL–11386–01– 

OGC] 

Proposed Consent Decree, Clean 

Water Act Claim 

AGENCY: Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA). 

ACTION: Notice of proposed consent 

decree; request for public comment. 

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 consent decree in Center for 

Biological Diversity, et al., v. Regan, et 

al., No. 3:23–cv–535 (N.D. Cal. 2023). 

On February 6, 2023, the Center for 

Biological Diversity, the Friends of the 

Earth, and Marcelin Keever 

(collectively, ‘‘Plaintiffs’’) filed a 

complaint in the United States District 

Court for the Northern District of 

California against the EPA alleging that 

the Agency had failed to perform its 

non-discretionary duty to promulgate 

national standards of performance for 

discharges incidental to the normal 

operation of large commercial vessels 

(and ballast water from certain other 

types of vessels) pursuant to the Clean 

Water Act (CWA) as amended by the 

Vessel Incidental Discharge Act of 2018 

(VIDA). EPA seeks public input on a 

proposed consent decree setting a date 

for final action on the national 

standards of performance prior to its 

final decision-making regarding 

potential settlement of the litigation. 

DATES: Written comments on the 

proposed consent decree must be 

received by October 10, 2023. 

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, 

identified by Docket ID No. EPA–HQ– 

OGC–2023–0453 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 Consent Decree’’ heading 

under the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION

section of this document. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Thomas Glazer, Water Law Office, 

Office of General Counsel, U.S. 

Environmental Protection Agency; 

telephone: (202) 564–0908; email 

address: glazer.thomas@epa.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Additional Information About the 

Proposed Consent Decree 

The president signed VIDA into law 

on December 4, 2018. Among other 

things, VIDA directed EPA to 

‘‘promulgate Federal standards of 

performance for marine pollution 

control devices for each type of 

discharge incidental to the normal 

operation of a vessel’’ by December 4, 

2020. 33 U.S.C. 1322(p)(4)(A)(i). EPA 

published a proposed rulemaking on 

October 26, 2020, 85 FR. 67818, but did 

not take final action in time to meet the 

statutory deadline. 

On September 13, 2022, Plaintiffs sent 

EPA a notice of intent (NOI) to sue 

alleging that EPA had failed to satisfy its 

mandatory duty under VIDA to 

promulgate Federal standards of 

performance. The Plaintiffs filed a 

complaint on February 6, 2023, seeking 

a declaratory judgment that EPA 

violated the statutory deadline and 

ordering the Agency to promulgate 

expeditiously. 

The parties initiated settlement 

discussions, which produced the 

proposed consent decree. Under the 

consent decree, EPA would be obligated 

to sign a decision taking final action by 

September 23, 2024. The consent 

decree’s schedule is based on EPA’s 

projected timeline for completing the 

rulemaking. This deadline may be 

extended by written agreement of the 

parties or by the court pursuant to 

Federal Rule 60(b). 

For a period of thirty (30) days 

following the date of publication of this 

notice, EPA will accept written 

comments relating to the proposed 

consent decree from persons who are 

not parties to the litigation. EPA or the 

Department of Justice may withdraw or 

withhold consent to the proposed 

consent decree if the comments received 

disclose facts or considerations that 


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