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[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 243 (Wednesday, December 18, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 102893-102894]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-29860]

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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[EPA-HQ-OW-2024-0158; FRL-11254-01-OW]
RIN 2040-ZA43

Preliminary Effluent Guidelines Program Plan 16

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of availability.

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SUMMARY: This notice announces the availability of the U.S. 
Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Preliminary Effluent Guidelines 
Program Plan 16 (Preliminary Plan 16) and solicits public comment. The 
Clean Water Act (CWA) requires the EPA to biennially publish a plan for 
new and revised effluent limitations guidelines and pretreatment 
standards, after public review and comment. Preliminary Plan 16 
discusses the EPA's 2022 and 2023 annual reviews of effluent guidelines 
and pretreatment standards, presents its preliminary review of specific 
industrial categories, and provides an update on the analyses and tools 
that the EPA is continuing to enhance to further improve its annual 
review and biennial planning process.

DATES: Comments must be received on or before January 17, 2025.

ADDRESSES: You may send comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-
OW-2024-0158, by any of the following methods:
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: https://www.regulations.gov/
(our preferred method). Follow the online instructions for submitting 
comments.
     Mail: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, EPA Docket 
Center, Office of Water 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. 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 and additional 
information on the process for this action, see the ``Public 
Participation'' heading of the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of 
this document.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Doruntin[euml] Rexhepi, Engineering 
and Analysis Division, Office of Water, 4303T, Environmental Protection 
Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20460; telephone 
number: (202) 566-2532; email address: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Public Participation

    Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OW-2024-
0158, 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. Supporting Documents

    A key document providing additional information is the Preliminary 
Effluent Guidelines Program Plan 16 document. Supporting documents 
providing further details are also available for review.

B. How can I get copies of these documents and other related 
information?

    1. Docket. The EPA has established an official public docket for 
this action under Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OW-2024-0158. The official 
public docket is the collection of materials that are available for 
public viewing at the Water Docket in the EPA Docket Center, (EPA/DC) 
EPA West, Room 3334, 1301 Constitution Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20004.
    2. Electronic Access. You can access this Federal Register document 
electronically through the United States Government online source for 
Federal regulations at https://www.regulations.gov.
    3. Internet access. Copies of the supporting documents are 
available at https://www.epa.gov/eg/effluent-guidelines-plan.

III. How Is This Document Organized

    The outline of this document follows.

A. Legal Authority.
B. Request for Public Comments and Information.

A. Legal Authority

    This notice is published under the authority of the CWA, 33 U.S.C. 
1251, et seq., and in particular sections 301(d), 304(b), 304(g), 
304(m), 306, 307(b), and 308 of the Act, 33 U.S.C. 1311(d), 1314(b), 
1314(g), 1314(m), 1316, 1317(b), and 1318.

B. Request for Public Comments and Information

    The EPA invites comment on the entirety of Preliminary Plan 16. In

[[Page 102894]]

particular, the EPA invites comment on the following topics (see 
Preliminary Plan 16 for more information on these topics):
    1. The order weighted average analysis including: the metrics used 
in the analysis to evaluate the industrial category rankings, the 
inclusion/exclusion of pollutant toxicity in annual review rankings, 
and results of the 2022 and 2023 annual rankings.
    2. The findings of the preliminary category reviews, specifically 
the findings for Battery Manufacturing, Centralized Waste Treatment, 
and Oil and Gas Extraction Categories.
    3. The preliminary category review schedule and tools described to 
support the EPA's review of effluent guidelines.
    4. The capabilities, performance, and costs of treatment 
technologies for industrial wastewater to support the Agency's 
technology reviews.
    5. The announcement made within Preliminary Plan 16 of the EPA's 
intent to prepare a generic ICR to support effluent guidelines planning 
and rulemakings.
    6. The announcement made within Preliminary Plan 16 of an online 
form on the CWA methods website to request new analytical methods for 
wastewater and surface waters.
    7. The announcements made within Preliminary Plan 16 regarding new 
studies.

Bruno Pigott,
Principal Deputy Assistant Administrator.
[FR Doc. 2024-29860 Filed 12-17-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P
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