Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 170 / Tuesday, September 2, 2008 / Proposed Rules 51259 

We do not plan to open a second 

comment period, so anyone interested 

in commenting should do so at this 

time. If we do not receive adverse 

comments, no further activity is 

planned. For further information, please 

see the direct final action. 

Dated: July 11, 2008. 

Laura Yoshii, 

Acting Regional Administrator, Region IX. 

[FR Doc. E8–20132 Filed 8–29–08; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6560–50–P 

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 

AGENCY 

40 CFR Part 81 

[EPA–HQ–OAR–2007–0562; FRL–8709–2] 

EPA Responses to State and Tribal 

2006 24-Hour PM2.5 Designation 

Recommendations: Notice of 

Availability and Public Comment 

Period 

AGENCY: Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA). 

ACTION: Notice of availability and public 

comment period. 

SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given that 

the EPA has posted its responses to state 

and tribal designation recommendations 

for the 2006 24-hour fine particles 

(PM2.5) National Ambient Air Quality 

Standards (NAAQS) on its Internet Web 

site at http://www.epa.gov/ 

pmdesignations/2006standards/ 

index.htm. EPA invites public 

comments on its responses during the 

30-day comment period specified 

below. EPA sent responses directly to 

the states on August 19 and tribes on or 

around August 20, 2008, and plans to 

make final designation determinations 

for the 2006 24-hour PM2.5 NAAQS by 

December 18, 2008. 

DATES: Comments must be received on 

or before October 2, 2008. Please refer 

to SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION for 

additional information on the comment 

period. 

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, 

identified by Docket ID No. OAR–2007–

0562, by one of the following methods: 

• http://www.regulations.gov. Follow 

the on-line instructions for submitting 

comments. 

• E-mail: a-and-r-docket@epa.gov. 

Attention Docket ID No. EPA–HQ–OAR–

2007–0562. 

• Fax: 202–566–9744. Attention 

Docket ID No. EPA–HQ–OAR–2007–

0562. 

• Mail: Air Docket, Attention Docket 

ID No. EPA–HQ–OAR–2007–0562, 

Environmental Protection Agency, Mail 

Code: 6102T, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., 

NW., Washington, DC 20460. 

• Hand Delivery: EPA Docket Center, 

1301 Constitution Avenue, NW., Room 

3334, Washington, DC. Such deliveries 

are only accepted during the Docket’s 

normal hours of operation, and special 

arrangements should be made for 

deliveries of boxed information. 

Instructions: Direct your comments to 

Docket ID No. EPA–HQ–OAR–2007–

0562. The EPA’s policy is that all 

comments received will be included in 

the public docket without change and 

may be made available online at 

http://www.regulations.gov, including 

any personal information provided, 

unless the comment includes 

information claimed to be Confidential 

Business Information (CBI) or other 

information whose disclosure is 

restricted by statute. Do not submit 

information that you consider to be CBI 

or otherwise protected through 

regulations.gov or e-mail. The http:// 

www.regulations.gov Web site is 

‘‘anonymous access’’ systems, which 

means EPA will not know your identity 

or contact information unless you 

provide it in the body of your comment. 

If you send an e-mail comment directly 

to EPA without going through http:// 

www.regulations.gov, your e-mail 

address will be automatically captured 

and included as part of the comment 

that is placed in the public docket and 

made available on the Internet. If you 

submit an electronic comment, EPA 

recommends that you include your 

name and other contact information in 

the body of your comment and with any 

disk or CD–ROM you submit. If EPA is 

unable to read your comment and 

contact you for clarification due to 

technical difficulties, EPA may not be 

able to consider your comment. 

Electronic files should avoid the use of 

special characters, any form of 

encryption, and be free of any defects or 

viruses. For additional information 

about EPA’s public docket, visit the EPA 

Docket Center home page at http:// 

www.epa.gov/epahome/dockets.htm. 

For additional instructions on 

submitting comments, go to Section II of 

the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section 

of this document. 

Docket: All documents in the docket 

are listed in the http:// 

www.regulations.gov index. Although 

listed in the index, some information is 

not publicly available, i.e., CBI or other 

information whose disclosure is 

restricted by statute. Certain other 

material, such as copyrighted material, 

is not placed on the Internet and will be 

publicly available only in hard copy 

form. Publicly available docket 

materials are available either 

electronically in http:// 

www.regulations.gov or in hard copy at 

the EPA Docket Center, EPA West, 

Room 3334, 1301 Constitution Avenue, 

NW., Washington, DC. The Public 

Reading Room is open from 8:30 a.m. to 

4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, 

excluding legal holidays. The telephone 

number for the Public Reading Room is 

(202) 566–1744, and the telephone 

number for the Air Docket is (202) 566–

1742. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For 

general questions concerning this 

action, please contact Ben Gibson, U.S. 

EPA, Office of Air Quality Planning and 

Standards, Air Quality Planning 

Division, C504–01, Research Triangle 

Park, NC 27711, telephone (919) 541–

3065, e-mail at gibson.ben@epa.gov. For 

questions regarding EPA Region 1, 

please contact Alison Simcox, U.S. EPA, 

telephone (617) 918–1684, e-mail at 

simcox.alison@epa.gov. For questions 

regarding EPA Region 2, please contact 

Kenneth Fradkin, U.S. EPA, telephone 

(212) 637–3702, e-mail at 

fradkin.kenneth@epa.gov. For questions 

regarding EPA Region 3, please contact 

Maria Pino, U.S. EPA, telephone (215) 

814–2181, e-mail at 

pino.maria@epa.gov. For questions 

regarding EPA Region 4, please contact 

Steve Scofield, U.S. EPA, telephone 

(404) 562–9034, e-mail at 

scofield.steve@epa.gov. For questions 

regarding EPA Region 5, please contact 

John Summerhays, U.S. EPA, telephone 

(312) 886–6067, e-mail at 

summerhays.john@epa.gov. For 

questions regarding EPA Region 6, 

please contact Joe Kordzi, U.S. EPA, 

telephone (214) 665–7186, e-mail at 

kordzi.joe@epa.gov. For questions 

regarding EPA Region 7, please contact 

Amy Algoe-Eakin, U.S. EPA, telephone 

(913) 551–7942, e-mail at algoeeakin.amy@epa.gov. For questions 

regarding EPA Region 8, please contact 

Catherine Roberts, U.S. EPA, telephone 

(303) 312–6025, e-mail at 

roberts.catherine@epa.gov. For 

questions regarding EPA Region 9, 

please contact Eleanor Kaplan, U.S. 

EPA, telephone (415) 947–4147, e-mail 

at kaplan.eleanor@epa.gov. For 

questions regarding EPA Region 10, 

please contact Krishna Viswanathan, 

U.S. EPA, telephone (206) 553–2684, email at viswanathan.krishna@epa.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. General Information 

A. What Should I Consider as I Prepare 

My Comments for EPA? 

1. Submitting CBI. Do not submit this 

information to EPA through 

www.regulations.gov or e-mail. Clearly 


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51260 Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 170 / Tuesday, September 2, 2008 / Proposed Rules 

mark the part or all of the information 

that you claim to be CBI. For CBI 

information in a disk or CD ROM that 

you mail to EPA, mark the outside of the 

disk or CD ROM as CBI and then 

identify electronically within the disk or 

CD ROM the specific information that is 

claimed as CBI. In addition to one 

complete version of the comment that 

includes information claimed as CBI, a 

copy of the comment that does not 

contain the information claimed as CBI 

must be submitted for inclusion in the 

public docket. Information so marked 

will not be disclosed except in 

accordance with procedures set forth in 

40 CFR part 2. Send or deliver 

information identified as CBI only to the 

following address: Roberto Morales, 

U.S. EPA, Office of Air Quality Planning 

and Standards, Mail Code C404–02, 

Research Triangle Park, NC 27711, 

telephone (919) 541–0880, e-mail at 

morales.roberto@epa.gov, Attention: 

Docket ID No. OAR–2007–0562. 

2. Tips for Preparing Your Comments. 

When submitting comments, remember 

to: 

• Identify the rulemaking by docket 

number and other identifying 

information (subject heading, Federal 

Register date and page number). 

• Follow directions. The Agency may 

ask you to respond to specific questions 

or organize comments by referencing a 

Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) part 

or section number. 

• Explain why you agree or disagree; 

suggest alternatives and substitute 

language for your requested changes. 

II. Background 

The process for designating areas 

following promulgation of a new or 

revised NAAQS is contained in Clean 

Air Act (CAA) Section 107(d) (42 U.S.C. 

7407). Following the promulgation of a 

new or revised standard, each Governor 

or Tribal Leader has an opportunity to 

recommend air quality designations, 

including the appropriate boundaries 

for nonattainment areas, to EPA. EPA 

considers these recommendations as 

part of its duty to promulgate the formal 

area designations and boundaries for the 

new or revised standards. By no later 

than 120 days prior to promulgating 

designations, EPA is required to notify 

states or tribes of any intended 

modification to an area designation or 

boundary recommendation that EPA 

deems necessary. On or around August 

19 and 20, 2008, EPA notified states and 

tribes of its intended area designations 

for the 2006 24-hour PM2.5 NAAQS. 

States and tribes now have an 

opportunity to demonstrate why they 

believe a modification proposed by EPA 

may be inappropriate. In these 

responses, EPA encourages states and 

tribes to provide comments and 

additional information for consideration 

by EPA in finalizing designations. EPA 

plans to make final designation 

determinations for the 2006 24-hour 

PM2.5 NAAQS by December 18, 2008. 

The purpose of this notice is to solicit 

public comments from interested parties 

other than states and tribes on EPA’s 

recent responses to the state and tribal 

designation recommendations for the 

2006 24-hour PM2.5 NAAQS. CAA 

Section 107(d) provides a process for 

designations that involves 

recommendations by states and tribes to 

EPA and responses from EPA to those 

parties, prior to EPA promulgating final 

designations and boundaries. EPA is not 

required under CAA Section 107(d) to 

seek public comment during the 

designation process, but is electing to do 

so for the 2006 24-hour PM2.5 NAAQS 

in order to gather additional information 

for EPA to consider before making final 

designations. EPA invites public 

comment on its responses to states and 

tribes during the 30-day comment 

period provided in this notice. Due to 

the statutory timeframe for 

promulgating designations set out in 

CAA Section 107(d), EPA will not be 

able to consider any comments 

submitted after October 2, 2008, 

notwithstanding what may have 

appeared in any state-specific 

announcements. This notice and 

opportunity for public comment does 

not affect any rights or obligations of 

any state, tribe or the EPA which might 

otherwise exist pursuant to CAA section 

107(d). 

Please refer to the ADDRESSES section 

above in this document for specific 

instructions on submitting comments 

and locating relevant public documents. 

• In providing comments to EPA 

please consider the agency’s charge 

under CAA section 107(d). Under this 

section, EPA is obligated to identify 

every area as attainment, nonattainment, 

or unclassifiable. Further, in 

establishing nonattainment area 

boundaries, the agency is required to 

identify the area that does not meet the 

2006 PM2.5 24-hour standard and any 

nearby area that is contributing to the 

area that does not meet that standard. If 

you believe that a specific geographic 

area that EPA is proposing to identify as 

a nonattainment area should not be 

categorized by the section 107(d) criteria 

as nonattainment, or if you believe that 

a specific area not proposed by EPA to 

be identified as a nonattainment area 

should in fact be categorized as 

nonattainment using the section 107(d) 

criteria, please be as specific as possible 

in supporting your belief. 

• Describe any assumptions and 

provide any technical information and/ 

or data that you used. 

• Provide specific examples to 

illustrate your concerns, and suggest 

alternatives. 

• Explain your views as clearly as 

possible, avoiding the use of profanity 

or personal threats. 

• Make sure to submit your 

comments by the comment period 

deadline identified. 

III. Internet Web Site for Rulemaking 

Information 

The EPA has also established a Web 

site for this rulemaking at http:// 

www.epa.gov/pmdesignations/ 

2006standards/index.htm. The Web site 

includes EPA’s state and tribal 

designation recommendations, as well 

as the rulemaking actions and other 

related information that the public may 

find useful. 

Dated: August 20, 2008. 

Jenny Noonan Edmonds, 

Acting Director, Office of Air Quality Planning 

and Standards. 

[FR Doc. E8–20241 Filed 8–29–08; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6560–50–P 

OFFICE OF PERSONNEL 

MANAGEMENT 

48 CFR Part 1652 

RIN 3206–AL66 

Federal Employees Health Benefits 

Program Acquisition Regulation: 

Miscellaneous Clarifications and 

Corrections 

AGENCY: Office of Personnel 

Management. 

ACTION: Proposed rule. 

SUMMARY: The Office of Personnel 

Management (OPM) is issuing a 

proposed rule to amend the Federal 

Employees Health Benefits Acquisition 

Regulations (FEHBAR). The rule 

clarifies the rate setting process for 

community rated carriers with respect 

to Similarly Sized Subscriber Groups 

(SSSG) and removes the ban on 

adjustments based on rate reconciliation 

for the final year of Federal Employees 

Health Benefits Program (FEHBP) 

contracts. 

DATES: Comments must be received on 

or before: October 2, 2008. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Edward M. DeHarde, Senior Policy 

Analyst at 202–606–0004, or e-mail 

Edward.DeHarde@opm.gov. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, 

identified by docket number and/or RIN 


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