Federal Register / Vol. 81, No. 9 / Thursday, January 14, 2016 / Proposed Rules 1935 

represent the interests of the general 

public pursuant to 39 U.S.C. 505 in the 

specific case or controversy at issue 

(regardless of normally assigned duties); 

and 

(4) Contractors, consultants, and 

others hired by the Commission to 

provide an independent analysis of 

issues before the Commission (and 

Commission employees assigned 

thereto). 

§ 3008.5 Prohibitions. 

(a) Ex parte communications between 

Commission decision-making 

personnel, and the Postal Service or 

public stakeholders is prohibited. 

(b) Commission decision-making 

personnel shall not rely upon any 

information obtained through ex parte 

communications. 

(c) Paragraph (a) of this section does 

not constitute authority to withhold 

information from Congress. 

§ 3008.6 Required action upon ex parte 

communications. 

(a) Commission decision-making 

personnel who receive ex parte 

communications relevant to the merits 

of the proceeding shall decline to listen 

to such communications and explain 

that the matter is pending for 

determination. Any recipient thereof 

shall advise the communicator that the 

communication will not be considered, 

and shall promptly and fully inform the 

Commission in writing of the substance 

of and the circumstances attending the 

communication, so that the Commission 

will be able to take appropriate action. 

(b) Commission decision-making 

personnel who receive, or who make or 

knowingly cause to be made, ex parte 

communications prohibited by this part 

shall promptly place, or cause to be 

placed, on the public record of the 

proceeding: 

(1) All such written communications; 

(2) Memoranda stating the substance 

of all such oral communications; and 

(3) All written responses, and 

memoranda stating the substance of all 

oral responses, to the materials 

described in (b)(1) and (2) of this 

section. 

(c) Requests for an opportunity to 

rebut, on the record, any facts or 

contentions contained in an ex parte 

communication which have been placed 

on the public record of the proceeding 

pursuant to paragraph (b) of this section 

may be filed in writing with the 

Commission. The Commission will 

grant such requests only where it 

determines that the dictates of fairness 

so require. In lieu of actually receiving 

rebuttal material, the Commission may 

in its discretion direct that the alleged 

factual assertion and the proposed 

rebuttal be disregarded in arriving at a 

decision. 

§ 3008.7 Penalty for violation of ex parte 

communication rules. 

(a) Upon notice of a communication 

knowingly made or knowingly caused to 

be made by a participant in violation of 

§ 3008.5(a), the Commission or 

presiding officer may, to the extent 

consistent with the interests of justice 

and the policy of the underlying 

statutes, require the participant to show 

cause why his/her claim or interest in 

the proceeding should not be dismissed, 

denied, disregarded, or otherwise 

adversely affected on account of such 

violation. 

(b) The Commission may, to the 

extent consistent with the interests of 

justice and the policy of the underlying 

statutes administered by the 

Commission, consider a violation of 

§ 3008.5(a) sufficient grounds for a 

decision adverse to a party who has 

knowingly committed such violation or 

knowingly caused such violation to 

occur. 

[FR Doc. 2016–00544 Filed 1–13–16; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 7710–FW–P 

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 

AGENCY 

40 CFR Part 52 

[EPA–R06–OAR–2015–0647; FRL–9941–20– 

Region 6] 

Approval and Promulgation of Air 

Quality Implementation Plans; 

Arkansas; Crittenden County Base 

Year Emission Inventory 

AGENCY: Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA). 

ACTION: Proposed rule. 

SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA) is proposing to approve a 

revision to the Arkansas State 

Implementation Plan (SIP) submitted to 

meet the Clean Air Act (CAA) emissions 

inventory (EI) requirement for the 

Crittenden County ozone nonattainment 

area. EPA is approving the SIP revision 

because it satisfies the CAA EI 

requirement for Crittenden County 

under the 2008 8-hour ozone National 

Ambient Air Quality Standards 

(NAAQS). The inventory includes 

emission data for Nitrogen Oxides 

(NOx) and Volatile Organic Compounds 

(VOCs). EPA is approving the revisions 

pursuant to section 110 and part D of 

the CAA and EPA’s regulations. 

DATES: Written comments should be 

received on or before February 16, 2016. 

ADDRESSES: Comments may be mailed to 

Ms. Mary Stanton, Chief, State 

Implementation B, Ozone and 

Infrastructure Section (6MM–AB), 

Environmental Protection Agency, 1445 

Ross Avenue, Suite 1200, Dallas, Texas 

75202–2733. Comments may also be 

submitted electronically or through 

hand delivery/courier by following the 

detailed instructions in the ADDRESSES

section of the direct final rule located in 

the rules section of this Federal 

Register. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Colin Schwartz, (214) 665–7262, 

Schwartz.Colin@epa.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In the 

final rules section of this Federal 

Register, the EPA is approving the 

State’s SIP submittal as a direct rule 

without prior proposal because the 

Agency views this as noncontroversial 

submittal and anticipates no adverse 

comments. A detailed rationale for the 

approval is set forth in the direct final 

rule. If no relevant adverse comments 

are received in response to this action 

no further activity is contemplated. If 

the EPA receives relevant adverse 

comments, the direct final rule will be 

withdrawn and all public comments 

received will be addressed in a 

subsequent final rule based on this 

proposed rule. The EPA will not 

institute a second comment period. Any 

parties interested in commenting on this 

action should do so at this time. 

For additional information, see the 

direct final rule which is located in the 

rules section of this Federal Register. 

Dated: December 30, 2015. 

Samuel Coleman, 

Acting Regional Administrator, Region 6. 

[FR Doc. 2016–00560 Filed 1–13–16; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6560–50–P 

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 

AGENCY 

40 CFR Part 52 

[EPA–R07–OAR–2015–0587; FRL 9940–98– 

Region 7] 

Approval of Missouri’s Air Quality 

Implementation Plans; Early Progress 

Plan of the St. Louis Nonattainment 

Area for the 2008 Ozone National 

Ambient Air Quality Standard 

AGENCY: Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA). 

ACTION: Proposed rule. 

SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA) is proposing to approve 

revisions to the State Implementation 

Plan (SIP) submitted by the State of 

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1936 Federal Register / Vol. 81, No. 9 / Thursday, January 14, 2016 / Proposed Rules 

Missouri consisting of the Early Progress 

Plan and motor vehicle emissions 

budgets (MVEBs) for volatile organic 

compounds (VOCs) and oxides of 

nitrogen (NOX) for the St. Louis 

Nonattainment area under the 2008 8- 

hour National Ambient Air Quality 

Standard (NAAQS). On August 26, 

2013, EPA received from the Missouri 

Department of Natural Resources 

(MDNR) an Early Progress Plan for the 

St. Louis area showing progress toward 

attainment under the 2008 Ozone 

NAAQS. This submittal was developed 

to establish MVEBs for the St. Louis 8- 

hour ozone nonattainment area. This 

approval of the Early Progress Plan for 

the St. Louis 8-hour ozone 

nonattainment area fulfills EPA’s 

requirement to act on the MDNR SIP 

submission and to formalize that the 

MVEB is approved, and when 

considered with the emissions from all 

sources, demonstrates progress toward 

attainment from the 2008 base year 

through a 2015 target year. EPA found 

these MVEBs adequate for 

transportation conformity purposes in 

an earlier action on March 5, 2014. 

DATES: Comments on this proposed 

action must be received in writing by 

February 16, 2016. 

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, 

identified by Docket ID No. EPA–R07– 

OAR–2015–0587, to http://

www.regulations.gov. Follow the online 

instructions for submitting comments. 

Once submitted, comments cannot be 

edited or removed from 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, the full 

EPA public comment policy, 

information about CBI or multimedia 

submissions, and general guidance on 

making effective comments, please visit. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Steven Brown, Environmental 

Protection Agency, Air Planning and 

Development Branch, 11201 Renner 

Boulevard, Lenexa, Kansas 66219 at 

913–551–7718, or by email at 

brown.steven@epa.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In the 

final rules section of this Federal 

Register, EPA is approving the state’s 

SIP revision as a direct final rule 

without prior proposal because the 

Agency views this as a noncontroversial 

revision amendment and anticipates no 

relevant adverse comments to this 

action. A detailed rationale for the 

approval is set forth in the direct final 

rule. If no relevant adverse comments 

are received in response to this action, 

no further activity is contemplated in 

relation to this action. If EPA receives 

relevant adverse comments, the direct 

final rule will be withdrawn and all 

public comments received will be 

addressed in a subsequent final rule 

based on this proposed action. EPA will 

not institute a second comment period 

on this action. Any parties interested in 

commenting on this action should do so 

at this time. Please note that if EPA 

receives adverse comment on part of 

this rule and if that part can be severed 

from the remainder of the rule, EPA may 

adopt as final those parts of the rule that 

are not the subject of an adverse 

comment. For additional information, 

see the direct final rule which is located 

in the rules section of this Federal 

Register. Again, please note that EPA 

found these MVEBs adequate for 

transportation conformity purposes in 

an earlier action (March 5, 2014, 79 FR 

12504). 

List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 52 

Environmental protection, Air 

pollution control, Carbon monoxide, 

Incorporation by reference, 

Intergovernmental relations, Lead, 

Nitrogen dioxide, Ozone, Particulate 

matter, Reporting and recordkeeping 

requirements, Sulfur oxides, Volatile 

organic compounds. 

Dated: December 23, 2015. 

Mark Hague, 

Regional Administrator, Region 7. 

[FR Doc. 2016–00426 Filed 1–13–16; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6560–50–P 

mstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with PROPOSALS