Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 248 / Thursday, December 28, 2023 / Notices 89687 

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 

AGENCY 

[EPA–HQ–OA–2013–0320; FRL–11531–02– 

OA] 

Revised Technical Guidance for 

Assessing Environmental Justice in 

Regulatory Analysis: Extension of 

Public Comment Period 

AGENCY: Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA). 

ACTION: Notice; extension of comment 

period. 

SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA) is announcing a 15-day 

extension of the public comment period 

on the draft revision of the Technical 

Guidance for Assessing Environmental 

Justice in Regulatory Analysis (EJ 

Technical Guidance). The original 

Federal Register document announcing 

the public comment period was 

published on November 15, 2023. The 

EPA is extending the deadline of the 

comment period from January 15, 2024 

to January 30, 2024. 

DATES: The public comment period for 

the notice published on November 15, 

2023 (88 FR 78358) is being extended by 

15 days. The EPA must receive 

comments on or before January 30, 

2024. 

ADDRESSES: To review the EJ Technical 

Guidance, please visit https://

www.epa.gov/environmentaleconomics/epa-draft-revision-technicalguidance-assessing-environmentaljustice. You may send comments, 

identified by Docket ID No. EPA–HQ– 

OA–2013–0320, by any of the following 

methods: 

• Federal eRulemaking Portal:

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

preferred method). Follow the online 

instructions for submitting comments. 

• U.S. Environmental Protection

Agency, EPA Docket Center, Office of 

Policy, Docket, Mail Code 28221T, 1200 

Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, 

DC 20460. 

• Hand Delivery or 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 

a.m.–4:30 p.m., Monday–Friday (except

Federal Holidays).

Instructions: All submissions received 

must include the Docket ID No. EPA– 

HQ–OA–2013–0320. 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 ‘‘Public 

Participation’’ heading of the 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of 

this document. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr. 

Ann Wolverton, National Center for 

Environmental Economics, Office of 

Policy (Mail Code 1809A), 

Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 

Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, 

DC 20460; telephone number: 202–566– 

2278; email address: Wolverton.ann@

epa.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Public Participation

A. Written Comments

Submit your comments, identified by

Docket ID No EPA–HQ–OA–2013–0320, 

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 to 

EPA’s docket at https://

www.regulations.gov any information 

you consider to be Confidential 

Business Information (CBI), Proprietary 

Business Information (PBI), 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). Please visit 

https://www.epa.gov/dockets/ 

commenting-epa-dockets for additional 

submission methods; the full EPA 

public comment policy; information 

about CBI, PBI, or multimedia 

submissions; and general guidance on 

making effective comments. 

II. General Information

A. Where can I find the document?

The draft revision of the Technical

Guidance for Assessing Environmental 

Justice in Regulatory Analysis is 

available at https://www.epa.gov/ 

environmental-economics/epa-draftrevision-technical-guidance-assessingenvironmental-justice. 

B. What is the purpose of the document?

The Technical Guidance for Assessing

Environmental Justice in Regulatory 

Analysis (Guidance) addresses the issue 

of how to analytically consider 

environmental justice in regulatory 

analyses. It directs EPA analysts to 

assess whether environmental justice 

concerns exist prior to the rulemaking 

and whether such concerns are likely to 

be exacerbated or mitigated for each 

regulatory option under consideration. 

The technical guidance makes 

recommendations designed to ensure 

greater consistency across EPA 

assessments of EJ concerns for 

regulatory actions. The 

recommendations encourage analysts to 

conduct the highest quality analysis 

feasible, recognizing that data 

limitations, time and resource 

constraints, and analytic challenges will 

vary by media and circumstance. They 

are not designed to be prescriptive and 

do not mandate the use of a specific 

approach. Updates to the technical 

guidance reflect advancements in the 

state of the science; other new peerreviewed Agency guidance documents; 

and new priorities and direction related 

to the conduct of environmental justice 

analysis, including Executive Order 

14096. The technical guidance builds on 

the EPA’s experience in evaluating 

environmental justice as part of the 

rulemaking analytic process and 

underscores the EPA’s ongoing 

commitment to ensuring the just 

treatment and meaningful involvement 

of all people with respect to the 

development, implementation, and 

enforcement of environmental laws, 

regulations, and policies. The technical 

guidance will enable the EPA to 

conduct better analysis of regulations 

which will ultimately enable the EPA to 

make better decisions. 

C. How will my comments be used?

Public comment received on the draft

revision of the Technical Guidance for 

Assessing Environmental Justice in 

Regulatory Analysis will be reviewed 

and considered for incorporation into or 

modification of text in the final revised 

draft of the Guidance. The final draft 

Guidance will then undergo internal 

EPA review and revision, and then be 

finalized for publication following peer 

review by the EPA’s Science Advisory 

Board. An EPA Science Advisory Board 

(SAB) review of this document will be 

announced in December 2023. 

Information on the SAB review can be 

found here: https://sab.epa.gov/ords/ 

sab/r/sab_apex/sab/home. 

Victoria Arroyo, 

Associate Administrator, Office of Policy. 

[FR Doc. 2023–28598 Filed 12–27–23; 8:45 am] 

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