40742 Federal Register / Vol. 82, No. 165 / Monday, August 28, 2017 / Proposed Rules 

1The Clean Water Rule was promulgated on June 

29, 2015 (80 FR 37054). It was in effect in most of 

the country for a two-month period before the Sixth 

Circuit Court of Appeals issued a nation-wide stay. 

The agencies are currently implementing the 

previous regulatory definition of ‘‘waters of the 

United States’’ in light of the stay. 

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE 

Department of the Army, Corps of 

Engineers 

33 CFR Part 328 

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 

AGENCY 

40 CFR Parts 110, 112, 116, 117, 122, 

232, 300, 302, and 401 

[EPA–HQ–OW–2017–0480; FRL–9966–99– 

OW] 

Definition of ‘‘Waters of the United 

States’’—Schedule of Public Meetings 

AGENCY: Department of the Army; and 

Environmental Protection Agency 

(EPA). 

ACTION: Announcement of public 

meeting dates. 

SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department 

of the Army (the agencies) will hold ten 

teleconferences to hear from 

stakeholders their recommendations to 

revise the definition of ‘‘Waters of the 

United States’’ under the Clean Water 

Act (CWA). Nine of the teleconferences 

will be tailored to a specific sector, i.e., 

agriculture (row crop, livestock, 

silviculture); conservation (hunters and 

anglers); small entities (small 

businesses, small organizations, small 

jurisdictions); construction and 

transportation; environment and public 

advocacy (including health and 

environmental justice); mining; industry 

(energy, chemical, oil/gas); scientific 

organizations and academia; and 

stormwater, wastewater management, 

and drinking water agencies. One of the 

teleconferences will be open to the 

public at large. The teleconferences will 

run throughout the fall on Tuesdays 

from 1:00 p.m.–3:00 p.m. eastern time, 

beginning on September 19, 2017. In 

addition, the agencies will hold an inperson meeting with small entities on 

October 23, 2017 from 9:00 a.m.–11 

a.m., and will accept written 

recommendations from any member of 

the public. 

DATES: Written recommendation must 

be received on or before November 28, 

2017. 

ADDRESSES: Submit your 

recommendations, identified by Docket 

ID No. EPA–HQ–OW–2017–0480, at 

http://www.regulations.gov. This 

docket, established as a courtesy to the 

stakeholder community, will be 

included in the administrative record of 

the regulation revising the definition of 

‘‘Waters of the United States’’ under the 

Clean Water Act (CWA). The agencies 

will not be formally responding to the 

recommendations. Follow the online 

instructions for submitting 

recommendations. Once submitted, 

your submission cannot be edited or 

removed from Regulations.gov. The 

agencies may publish any submission 

received to the 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. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms. 

Damaris Christensen, Office of Water 

(4504–T), Environmental Protection 

Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue 

NW., Washington, DC 20460; telephone 

number: (202) 566–2428; email address: 

CWAwotus@epa.gov; or Ms. Stacey 

Jensen, Regulatory Community of 

Practice (CECW–CO–R), U.S. Army 

Corps of Engineers, 441 G Street NW., 

Washington, DC 20314; telephone 

number: (202) 761–5903; email address: 

USACE_CWA_Rule@usace.army.mil. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On 

February 28, 2017, the President issued 

an Executive Order (E.O.) entitled 

‘‘Restoring the Rule of Law, Federalism, 

and Economic Growth by Reviewing the 

‘‘Waters of the United States’’ Rule’’. 

This E.O. states that it is in the national 

interest to ensure that the Nation’s 

navigable waters are kept free from 

pollution, while at the same time 

promoting economic growth, 

minimizing regulatory uncertainty, and 

showing due regard for the roles of the 

Congress and the States under the 

Constitution. The E.O. directs the 

agencies to review the Clean Water Rule 

for consistency with these priorities and 

publish for notice and comment a 

proposed rule rescinding or revising the 

rule, as appropriate and consistent with 

law. Further, the E.O. directs that the 

agencies shall consider interpreting the 

term ‘‘navigable waters,’’ as defined in 

33 U.S.C. 1362(7), in a manner 

consistent with the opinion of Justice 

Antonin Scalia in Rapanos v. United 

States, 547 U.S. 715 (2006). Justice 

Scalia’s opinion considers CWA 

jurisdiction as including relatively 

permanent waters and wetlands with a 

continuous surface connection to 

relatively permanent waters. 

The agencies are implementing the 

E.O. in two steps to provide as much 

certainty as possible as quickly as 

possible to the regulated community 

and the public during the development 

of the ultimate replacement rule. For the 

first step, the agencies proposed on July 

27, 2017, a rule to re-codify the 

regulation that was in place prior to 

issuance of the Clean Water Rule and 

that is being implemented now under 

the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth 

Circuit’s stay of that rule.1 The comment 

period for this first step proposed rule 

is open until September 27, 2017. 

For the second step, the agencies plan 

to propose a new definition that would 

replace the approach in the 2015 Clean 

Water Rule with one that is consistent 

with the approach outlined in the E.O. 

In June 2017, the agencies completed 

consultation processes with tribes as 

well as state and local governments on 

the step 2 rulemaking. The meetings 

described below will provide other 

interested stakeholders opportunity to 

provide pre-proposal feedback on this 

second step rule to revise the definition 

of ‘‘waters of the U.S.’’ 

Both EPA and the Corps are aware 

that the scope of CWA jurisdiction is of 

intense interest to a broad array of 

stakeholders and therefore want to 

provide time for broad pre-proposal 

input. The teleconferences in this notice 

are intended to solicit recommendations 

for Step 2 and potential approaches to 

defining ‘‘waters of the United States.’’ 

During the upcoming teleconferences, 

EPA will provide brief background 

information on the step 2 rulemaking, 

and progress to date. Stakeholders will 

have the opportunity to provide input, 

particularly with regard to the charge in 

the E.O. and opinion of Justice Scalia. 

The teleconferences will be held on a 

weekly basis beginning September 19 

and will continue each Tuesday 

thereafter for ten weeks. Each will run 

from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. eastern time. 

Information on how to register for each 

of these meetings is available on the 

EPA Web site at https://www.epa.gov/ 

wotus-rule/outreach-meetings. 

Registration for each webinar will close 

a week prior. Persons or organizations 

wishing to provide verbal 

recommendations during the 

teleconference will be selected on a 

first-come, first-serve basis. Due to the 

expected volume of participants, 

individuals will be asked to limit their 

oral presentation to three minutes. 

Supporting materials and comments 

from those who did not have an 

opportunity to speak can be submitted 

to the docket as discussed above. The 

schedule for the Waters of the US 

webinars is as follows: 

• Tuesday, September 19, 2017— 

small entities (small businesses, small 


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Federal Register / Vol. 82, No. 165 / Monday, August 28, 2017 / Proposed Rules 40743 

organizations and small governmental 

jurisdictions); 

• Tuesday, September 26, 2017— 

environment and public advocacy; 

• Tuesday, October 3, 2017— 

conservation, e.g., hunters and anglers; 

• Tuesday, October 10, 2017— 

construction and transportation; 

• Tuesday, October 17, 2017— 

agriculture; 

• Tuesday, October 24, 2017— 

industry; 

• Tuesday, October 31, 2017— 

mining; 

• Tuesday, November 7, 2017— 

scientific organizations and academia; 

• Tuesday, November 14, 2017— 

stormwater, wastewater management 

and drinking water agencies; and 

• Tuesday, November 21, 2017—open 

to general public. 

The agencies are also planning an inperson meeting with small entities, 

which will be held on Monday, October 

23, 2017, from 9:00 to 11:00 a.m. Eastern 

Time at the U.S. EPA’s Headquarters 

located at 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue 

NW., Washington, DC 20003. To 

facilitate the building security process, 

and to request reasonable 

accommodation, those who wish to 

attend must contact Joan B. Rogers 

(202–564–6568 or rogers.joanb@

epa.gov), no later than Friday, October 

13, 2017. RSVPs will be accepted until 

October 13, or until room capacity has 

been reached (100 max), whichever 

occurs first. 

Dated: August 18, 2017. 

John Goodin, 

Acting Director, Office of Wetlands, Oceans 

and Watersheds, Office of Water, 

Environmental Protection Agency. 

Dated: August 18, 2017. 

Douglas W. Lamont, 

Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army 

(Project Planning and Review), performing 

the duties of the Assistant Secretary of the 

Army for Civil Works. 

[FR Doc. 2017–18214 Filed 8–25–17; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6560–50–P 

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 

AGENCY 

40 CFR Part 52 

[EPA–R03–OAR–2017–0394; FRL–9966–95– 

Region 3] 

Approval and Promulgation of Air 

Quality Implementation Plans; 

Maryland; Approval of an Alternative 

Volatile Organic Compound Emission 

Standard 

AGENCY: Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA). 

ACTION: Proposed rule. 

SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA) proposes to approve the 

state implementation plan (SIP) revision 

submitted by the State of Maryland. 

This revision incorporates by reference 

a Maryland Department of the 

Environment (MDE) order that 

establishes an alternative volatile 

organic compound (VOC) emission 

standard for National Gypsum Company 

(NGC) to ensure that it remains a minor 

VOC source. In the Final Rules section 

of this issue of the Federal Register, 

EPA is approving Maryland’s SIP 

submittal as a direct final rule without 

prior proposal because the Agency 

views this as a noncontroversial 

submittal and anticipates no adverse 

comments. If no adverse comments are 

received in response to this action, 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. 

DATES: Comments must be received in 

writing by September 27, 2017. 

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, 

identified by Docket ID No. EPA–R03– 

OAR–2017–0394 at http://

www.regulations.gov, or via email to 

stahl.cynthia@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, 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. 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: 

Gregory A. Becoat, (215) 814–2036, or 

by email at becoat.gregory@epa.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: For 

further information, please see the 

information provided in the direct final 

action, with the same title, that is 

located in the ‘‘Rules and Regulations’’ 

section of this issue of the Federal 

Register publication. 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. 

Dated: August 12, 2017. 

Cecil Rodrigues, 

Acting Regional Administrator, Region III. 

[FR Doc. 2017–18085 Filed 8–25–17; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6560–50–P 


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