12626 Federal Register / Vol. 81, No. 47 / Thursday, March 10, 2016 / Proposed Rules 

Dated: March 4, 2016. 

Lynn B. Mahaffie, 

Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy, 

Planning and Innovation, Delegated the 

Duties of Assistant Secretary for 

Postsecondary Education. 

[FR Doc. 2016–05412 Filed 3–9–16; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4000–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS 

AFFAIRS 

38 CFR Part 14 

Recognition of Tribal Organizations for 

Representation of VA Claimants 

AGENCY: Department of Veterans Affairs. 

ACTION: Notice of Tribal consultation. 

SUMMARY: The Department of Veterans 

Affairs (VA) is considering issuing a 

proposed rulemaking to amend its 

regulations concerning recognition of 

certain national, State, and regional or 

local organizations for purposes of VA 

claims representation. Specifically, the 

proposed rulemaking would amend 

VA’s regulations to expressly provide 

for the VA recognition of Tribal 

organizations so that representatives of 

Tribal organizations may assist Native 

American claimants in the preparation, 

presentation, and prosecution of their 

VA benefit claims. In addition, the 

proposed rule would allow an employee 

of a Tribal government to become 

accredited through a recognized State 

organization. 

DATES: Comments must be received by 

VA on or before April 11, 2016. 

ADDRESSES: Written comments should 

be submitted by email at 

Tribalgovernmentconsultation@va.gov, 

by fax at 202–273–5716, or by mail at 

U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, 

Suite 915E, 810 Vermont Avenue NW., 

Washington, DC 20420. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Clay 

Ward, VA Office of Tribal Government 

Relations at (202) 461–7445 (this is not 

a toll-free number), or by email at 

Tribalgovernmentconsultation@va.gov, 

or by mail at Suite 915B, 810 Vermont 

Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20420. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: VA is 

considering issuing a proposed 

rulemaking that would amend part 14 of 

title 38, Code of Federal Regulations, to 

provide for the recognition of Tribal 

organizations so that representatives of 

the organizations may assist Native 

American claimants in the preparation, 

presentation, and prosecution of their 

VA benefit claims. The purpose of the 

proposed rulemaking would be to 

address the needs of Native American 

populations who are geographically 

isolated from existing recognized 

Veterans Service Organizations or who 

may not be utilizing other recognized 

Veterans Service Organizations due to 

cultural barriers or lack of familiarity 

with those organizations. 

First, the proposed rulemaking would 

allow the Secretary of Veterans Affairs 

to recognize Tribal organizations in a 

similar manner as the Secretary 

recognizes State organizations. 

Specifically, the proposed rulemaking 

would consider applications from a 

Tribal organization that is established 

and funded by one or more Tribal 

governments to be recognized for the 

purpose of providing assistance on VA 

benefit claims. In addition, the proposed 

rulemaking would allow an employee of 

a Tribal government to become 

accredited through a recognized State 

organization in a similar manner as a 

county veterans’ service officer may 

become accredited through a recognized 

State organization. Finally, the proposed 

rulemaking would extend office space 

opportunities already granted to 

employees of State organizations who 

are accredited to national organizations 

to similar employees of Tribal 

organizations. The intended effect of 

this proposed rule would be to improve 

access of Native American veterans to 

VA-recognized organizations and VAaccredited individuals who may assist 

them on their benefit claims. The 

proposed rulemaking would not 

preempt Tribal law. This Tribal 

consultation is seeking input from 

Tribal governments regarding VA’s 

consideration of the issuance of such 

proposed rulemaking. VA is also 

seeking comment on the potential 

compliance costs. 

In order to become accredited as a 

Tribal organization, the organization 

must show that it meets the 

requirements in 38 CFR 14.628(d). 

Pursuant to § 14.628(d), an organization 

requesting recognition must have as a 

primary purpose serving veterans; 

demonstrate a substantial service 

commitment to veterans either by 

showing a sizable organizational 

membership or by showing performance 

of veterans’ services to a sizable number 

of veterans; commit a significant portion 

of its assets to veterans’ services and 

have adequate funding to properly 

perform those services; maintain a 

policy and capability of providing 

complete claims service to each 

claimant requesting representation or 

give written notice of any limitation in 

its claims service with advice 

concerning the availability of alternative 

sources of claims service; and take 

affirmative action, including training 

and monitoring of accredited 

representatives, to ensure proper 

handling of claims. VA is seeking 

comment on the amount of time and the 

costs of persons’ time to show that the 

organization meets these requirements. 

VA’s Office of the General Counsel 

accepts recognition requests via mail, 

fax, or email. 

Signing Authority: The Secretary of 

Veterans Affairs, or designee, approved 

this document and authorized the 

undersigned to sign and submit the 

document to the Office of the Federal 

Register for publication electronically as 

an official document of the Department 

of Veterans Affairs. Robert D. Snyder, 

Interim Chief of Staff, approved this 

document on March 3, 2016, for 

publication. 

Approved: March 3, 2016. 

William F. Russo, 

Director, Office of Regulation Policy & 

Management, Department of Veterans Affairs. 

[FR Doc. 2016–05163 Filed 3–9–16; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 8320–01–P 

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 

AGENCY 

40 CFR Part 52 

[EPA–R05–OAR–2014–0658; FRL–9943–45– 

Region 5] 

Air Plan Approval; Ohio; Base Year 

Emission Inventories for the 2008 8- 

Hour Ozone Standard 

AGENCY: Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA). 

ACTION: Proposed rule. 

SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA) is proposing to approve, 

under the Clean Air Act (CAA), a State 

Implementation Plan (SIP) revision 

submitted by the Ohio Environmental 

Protection Agency (OEPA) on July 18, 

2014, to address emission inventory 

requirements for the Cleveland-AkronLoraine, Ohio (OH) and Columbus, OH 

ozone nonattainment areas and for the 

Ohio portion of the Cincinnati, OhioKentucky-Indiana ozone nonattainment 

area under the 2008 ozone national 

ambient air quality standard. The CAA 

requires emission inventories for all 

ozone nonattainment areas. The 

emission inventories contained in 

Ohio’s July 18, 2014, submission meet 

this CAA requirement. EPA is also 

proposing to confirm that the state of 

Ohio has acceptable stationary source 

annual emission statement regulations, 

which have been previously approved 

by the EPA. 

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Federal Register / Vol. 81, No. 47 / Thursday, March 10, 2016 / Proposed Rules 12627 

DATES: Comments must be received on 

or before April 11, 2016. 

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, 

identified by Docket ID No. EPA–R05– 

OAR–2014–0658 at http:// 

www.regulations.gov or via email to 

Aburano.Douglas@epa.gov. For 

comments submitted at Regulations.gov, 

follow the online instructions for 

submitting comments. Once submitted, 

comments cannot be edited or removed 

from Regulations.gov. For either manner 

of submission, 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. 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: 

Edward Doty, Air Programs Branch 

(AR–18J), Environmental Protection 

Agency, 77 West Jackson Boulevard, 

Chicago, Illinois 60604, (312) 886–6057, 

Doty.Edward@epa.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In the 

Rules and Regulations section of this 

Federal Register, EPA is approving 

Ohio’s SIP revision submittal as a direct 

final rule without prior proposal 

because the Agency views this as a 

noncontroversial submittal and 

anticipates no adverse comments. A 

detailed rationale for the approval is set 

forth in the direct final rule. If no 

adverse comments are received in 

response to this rule, no further activity 

is contemplated. If EPA receives 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. EPA will not institute a 

second comment period. Any parties 

interested in commenting on this action 

should do so at this time. Please note 

that, if EPA receives adverse comment 

on an amendment, paragraph, or section 

of this rule and if that provision may be 

severed from the remainder of the rule, 

EPA may adopt as final those provisions 

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. 

Dated: February 26, 2016. 

Robert A. Kaplan, 

Acting Regional Administrator, Region 5. 

[FR Doc. 2016–05272 Filed 3–9–16; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6560–50–P 

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 

AGENCY 

40 CFR Part 52 

[EPA–R04–OAR–2015–0154; FRL–9943–44– 

Region 4] 

Air Quality Plans; Tennessee; 

Infrastructure Requirements for the 

2010 Sulfur Dioxide National Ambient 

Air Quality Standard 

AGENCY: Environmental Protection 

Agency. 

ACTION: Proposed rule. 

SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA) is proposing to approve 

the State Implementation Plan (SIP) 

submission, submitted by the State of 

Tennessee, through the Tennessee 

Department of Environment and 

Conservation (TDEC), on March 13, 

2014, for inclusion into the Tennessee 

SIP. This proposal pertains to the 

infrastructure requirements of the Clean 

Air Act (CAA or Act) for the 2010 1- 

hour sulfur dioxide (SO2) national 

ambient air quality standard (NAAQS). 

The CAA requires that each state adopt 

and submit a SIP for the 

implementation, maintenance and 

enforcement of each NAAQS 

promulgated by EPA, which is 

commonly referred to as an 

‘‘infrastructure SIP submission.’’ TDEC 

certified that the Tennessee SIP contains 

provisions that ensure the 2010 1-hour 

SO2 NAAQS is implemented, enforced, 

and maintained in Tennessee. EPA is 

proposing to determine that portions of 

Tennessee’s infrastructure SIP 

submission, provided to EPA on March 

13, 2014, satisfy certain required 

infrastructure elements for the 2010 1- 

hour SO2 NAAQS. 

DATES: Written comments must be 

received on or before April 11, 2016. 

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, 

identified by Docket ID No. EPA–R04– 

OAR–2015–0154 at 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 

http://www2.epa.gov/dockets/

commenting-epa-dockets. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Michele Notarianni, Air Regulatory 

Management Section, Air Planning and 

Implementation Branch, Air, Pesticides 

and Toxics Management Division, U.S. 

Environmental Protection Agency, 

Region 4, 61 Forsyth Street SW., 

Atlanta, Georgia 30303–8960. Ms. 

Notarianni can be reached via electronic 

mail at notarianni.michele@epa.gov or 

via telephone at (404) 562–9031. 

Table of Contents 

I. Background and Overview 

II. What elements are required under sections 

110(a)(1) and (2)? 

III. What is EPA’s approach to the review of 

infrastructure SIP submissions? 

IV. What is EPA’s analysis of how Tennessee 

addressed the elements of the sections 

110(a)(1) and (2) ‘‘Infrastructure’’ 

provisions? 

V. Proposed Action 

VI. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews 

I. Background and Overview 

On June 22, 2010 (75 FR 35520), EPA 

promulgated a revised primary SO2

NAAQS to an hourly standard of 75 

parts per billion (ppb) based on a 3-year 

average of the annual 99th percentile of 

1-hour daily maximum concentrations. 

Pursuant to section 110(a)(1) of the 

CAA, states are required to submit SIPs 

meeting the applicable requirements of 

section 110(a)(2) within three years after 

promulgation of a new or revised 

NAAQS or within such shorter period 

as EPA may prescribe. Section 110(a)(2) 

requires states to address basic SIP 

elements such as requirements for 

monitoring, basic program requirements 

and legal authority that are designed to 

assure attainment and maintenance of 

the NAAQS. States were required to 

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