[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 215 (Monday, November 6, 2000)]
[Notices]
[Pages 66541-66543]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-28418]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-6896-5]


Public Water System Supervision Program; Primary Enforcement 
Responsibility Approval for the Navajo Nation

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of decision and opportunity for hearing.

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    This public notice is issued pursuant to section 1413 of the Safe 
Drinking Water Act (``Act'') and section 142.10 of the National Primary 
Drinking Water Regulation (40 CFR part 142).
    An application has been received from the Navajo Nation, through 
the Director, Navajo Nation Environmental Protection Agency, requesting 
that the Navajo Nation Environmental Protection

[[Page 66542]]

Agency be granted primary enforcement responsibility for the public 
water systems within the Navajo Nation pursuant to section 1413 of the 
Act.
    Section 1451 of the Act and 40 CFR 142.72 authorize EPA to delegate 
to Indian tribes primary enforcement responsibility for public water 
systems, pursuant to section 1413 of the Act, if the Indian tribe meets 
the following criteria:
    (A) The Indian Tribe is recognized by the Secretary of the Interior 
and has a governing body carrying out substantial governmental duties 
and powers;
    (B) The functions to be exercised by the Indian Tribe are within 
the area of the Tribal Government's jurisdiction; and
    (C) The Indian Tribe is reasonably expected to be capable, in the 
Administrator's judgment, of carrying out the functions to be exercised 
in a manner consistent with the terms and purposes of (the Act) and of 
all applicable regulations.
    Section 1451(b)(1) of the Act, 42 U.S.C. 300j-11(b)(1), see also 40 
CFR 142.72.
    Pursuant to section 1451 of the Act and 40 CFR 142.72, EPA has 
determined that the Navajo Nation, through the Navajo Nation 
Environmental Protection Agency, is eligible to apply for primary 
enforcement responsibility for public water systems within the Navajo 
Nation. EPA has also determined that the Navajo Nation, through the 
Navajo Nation Environmental Protection Agency has met all conditions of 
the Act and regulations promulgated pursuant to the Act for the 
assumption of primary enforcement responsibility for public water 
systems within the Navajo Nation. Specifically the Navajo Nation:
    (1) Has adopted drinking water regulations which are no less 
stringent than the National Primary Drinking Water Regulations;
    (2) Has adopted and will implement adequate procedures for the 
enforcement of such regulations, including adequate monitoring, 
sanitary surveys, inspections, plan review, inventory of water systems, 
and adequate certified laboratory availability;
    (3) Will keep such records and make such reports as required;
    (4) If it permits variances or exemptions from the requirements of 
its regulations, will issue such variances and exemptions in accordance 
with the provisions of the National Primary Drinking Water Regulations; 
and
    (5) Has adopted and can implement an adequate plan for the 
provision of safe drinking water under emergency conditions.
    All interested parties are invited to submit written comments or to 
request a public hearing on EPA's determination. Written comments and/
or requests for a public hearing must be submitted by December 6, 2000 
to the Regional Administrator at the address shown below.
    Any request for a public hearing shall include the following 
information: (1) The name, address, and telephone number of the 
individual, organization, or other entity requesting a hearing; (2) a 
brief statement of the requesting person's interest in the Regional 
Administrator's determination and of information that the requesting 
person intends to submit at such hearing; and (3) the signature of the 
individual making the request, or, if the request is made on behalf of 
an organization or other entity, the signature of the responsible 
official of the organization or other entity.
    Frivolous or insubstantial requests for a hearing may be denied by 
the Regional Administrator. If a substantial request for public hearing 
is made by December 6, 2000, a public hearing will be held. The 
Regional Administrator will give further notice in the Federal Register 
and a newspaper or newspapers of general circulation within the Navajo 
Nation of any hearing to be held pursuant to a request submitted by an 
interested party, or on her own motion. Notice of the hearing shall be 
given not less than fifteen (15) days prior to the time scheduled for 
the hearing. Notice will be sent to the person requesting the hearing 
and to the Navajo Nation. Notice of the hearing will include a 
statement of the purpose of the hearing, information regarding the time 
and location for the hearing, and the address and telephone number of 
an office at which interested persons may obtain further information 
concerning the hearing.
    After receiving the record of the hearing, the Regional 
Administrator will issue an order affirming or rescinding the 
determination. If the determination is affirmed, it shall become 
effective as of the date of the order.
    If no timely and appropriate request for a hearing is received and 
the Regional Administrator does not elect to hold a hearing on her own 
motion, this determination shall become effective on December 6, 2000.
    Based on the language of section 1413 of the Act, EPA has long 
implemented the determination to approve a state, and now a tribal, 
application for primary enforcement responsibility for public water 
systems as an ``adjudication'' rather than a ``rulemaking'' under the 
Administrative Procedure Act (APA), 5 U.S.C. 551 et seq. The same is 
true of applications for state and tribal program revisions. For this 
reason, the statutes and Executive Orders that apply to rulemaking 
action are not applicable here. Among these are provisions of the 
Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA), 5 U.S.C. 601 et seq. Under the RFA, 
whenever a federal agency proposes or promulgates a rule under section 
553 of the APA, after being required by that section or any other law 
to publish a general notice of proposed rulemaking, the agency must 
prepare a regulatory flexibility analysis for the rule, unless the 
agency certifies that the rule will not have a significant economic 
impact on a substantial number of small entities. If the agency does 
not certify the rule, the regulatory flexibility analysis must describe 
and assess the impact of a rule on small entities affected by the rule.
    Even if a state or tribal primary enforcement responsibility 
application or revision were a ``rule'' subject to the RFA, EPA would 
certify that the approval or revision of the state's or the tribe's 
program would not have a significant economic impact on a substantial 
number of small entities. EPA's action to approve a primary enforcement 
responsibility application or revision merely recognizes a program that 
has already been enacted as a matter of state or tribal law. It would, 
therefore, impose no additional obligations upon those subject to the 
state's or tribe's program. Accordingly, the Regional Administrator 
would certify that the approval of primary enforcement responsibility 
of the Navajo Nation, if a ``rule,'' would not have a significant 
economic impact on a substantial number of small entities.

ADDRESSES: All documents relating to this determination are available 
for inspection between the hours of 8:30 a.m. and 4 p.m., Monday 
through Friday, at the following offices: Navajo Nation Environmental 
Protection Agency, Fairground Building No. W-008-042, Window Rock, 
Arizona 86515; and EPA, Region IX, Water Division, Drinking Water 
Office (WTR-6), 75 Hawthorne Street, San Francisco, California 94105.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: To submit comments or request further 
information, contact Danny Collier, Region IX, at the San Francisco 
address given above; telephone (415) 744-1856.

(Sections 1413 and 1451 of the Safe Drinking Water Act, as amended, 
42 U.S.C. 300g-2 and 311j-11; and 40 CFR 142.10 and 142.72)


[[Page 66543]]


    Dated: October 23, 2000.
Felicia Marcus,
Regional Administrator, Region 9.
[FR Doc. 00-28418 Filed 11-3-00; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P