Document ID: EPA-HQ-OGC-2019-0411-0001
Agency: epa
Document Type: Notice
Title: Proposed Consent Decree: Clean Air Act Citizen Suit: Center for Biological Diversity, et al., v. Wheeler, No. 4:18-cv-03544 (N.D. Cal.)
Posted Date: 2019-09-04T04:00Z

[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 171 (Wednesday, September 4, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 46519-46520]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-19100]

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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[EPA-HQ-OGC-2019-0411; 9999-30-OGC]

Proposed Consent Decree, Clean Air Act Citizen Suit

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

ACTION: Notice of proposed consent decree; request for public comment.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with section 113(g) of the Clean Air Act, as 
amended (``CAA'' or the ``Act''), notice is given of a proposed consent 
decree in Center for Biological Diversity, et al., v. Wheeler, No. 
4:18-cv-03544 (N.D. Cal.). On June 4, 2018, the Center for Biological 
Diversity, Center for Environmental Health, and Sierra Club filed a 
complaint in the United States District Court for the Northern District 
of California, and filed an amended complaint on December 17, 2018, 
alleging that the Administrator of the United States Environmental 
Protection Agency (``EPA'') failed to perform non-discretionary duties 
to take final action to approve or disapprove, in whole or in part, 
certain state implementation plans (``SIPs'') submitted to meet 
attainment requirements under the 2010 primary sulfur dioxide 
(``SO2'') national ambient air quality standard (``NAAQS''), 
and to make findings of failure to submit SIPs for certain areas for 
the 1971 or 2010 primary SO2 NAAQS. The proposed consent 
decree would establish deadlines for EPA to take specified actions.

DATES: Written comments on the proposed consent decree must be received 
by October 4, 2019.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID number EPA-HQ-
OGC-2019-0411, online at www.regulations.gov (EPA's preferred method). 
For comments submitted at www.regulations.gov, follow the online 
instructions for submitting comments. Once submitted, comments cannot 
be edited or removed from www.regulations.gov. 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. 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). 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 https://www.epa.gov/dockets/commenting-epa-dockets.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mike Thrift, Air and Radiation Law 
Office, Office of General Counsel, U.S. Environmental Protection 
Agency, c/o U.S. Environmental Protection Agency San Diego Border 
Office, 610 W Ash Street, Suite 905, San Diego, CA, 92101; telephone: 
(619) 321-1960; email address: thrift.mike@epa.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Additional Information About the Proposed Consent Decree

    The consent decree would resolve a lawsuit filed by the Center for 
Biological Diversity, Center for Environmental Health and Sierra Club 
seeking to compel the Administrator to take action under the Clean Air 
Act to approve or disapprove several submitted SO2 SIPs 
under CAA sections 110(k)(2)-(4), and to issue findings of failure to 
submit SO2 SIPs for several areas under CAA section 
110(k)(1)(B). Specifically, the lawsuit seeks to compel EPA action 
under CAA section 110(k)(2)-(4) on SO2 SIPs submitted for 
the Indianapolis, Indiana; Morgan County, Indiana; Southwest Indiana; 
Terre Haute, Indiana; Muscatine, Iowa; Detroit, Michigan; Jackson 
County, Missouri; Lake County, Ohio; Muskingum River, Ohio; 
Steubenville, Ohio-West Virginia; Rhinelander, Wisconsin; Hayden, 
Arizona; Miami, Arizona; Jefferson County, Kentucky; Allegheny, 
Pennsylvania; Beaver, Pennsylvania; Indiana, Pennsylvania; and 
Marshall, West Virginia SO2 nonattainment areas. The lawsuit 
also seeks to compel EPA action under CAA section 110(k)(1)(B) to find 
failure to submit SO2 SIPs for the New Jersey portion of the 
Northeast Pennsylvania-Upper Delaware Valley Interstate Air Quality 
Control Region; Alton Township, Illinois; Williamson County, Illinois; 
Anne Arundel County and Baltimore County, Maryland; and St. Clair, 
Michigan SO2 nonattainment areas.
    The EPA has already taken final action to approve the submitted 
SO2 SIPs or elements thereof for the Indianapolis, Indiana; 
Terre Haute, Indiana; Jackson County, Missouri; Lake County, Ohio; 
Miami, Arizona; Marshall, West Virginia; and Jefferson County, Kentucky 
SO2 nonattainment areas. See, 84 FR 10692 (March 22, 2019), 
84 FR 3703 (February 13, 2019); 84 FR 3986 (February 14, 2019); 84 FR 
8813 (March 12, 2019); 80 FR 45613 (July 31, 2015); and 84 FR 30920 
(June 28, 2019). EPA has also found that SO2 SIP submitted 
for the Alton Township, Illinois nonattainment area is complete. See, 
letter from EPA Region 5 Director of Air and Radiation Division to 
Director of Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (June 5, 2019). In 
addition, EPA previously approved some submitted elements for the New 
Jersey portion of the Northeast Pennsylvania-Upper Delaware Valley 
Interstate Air Quality Control Region. 61 FR 38591 (July 25, 1996), and 
82 FR 44099 (September 21, 2017); see also, letter from Director of New 
Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, Division of Air Quality 
to Chief, Air Programs Branch, EPA Region 2 (July 23, 2019). On August 
21, 2019, EPA published a final Clean Data Determination for the New 
Jersey portion of the Northeast Pennsylvania-Upper Delaware Valley 
Interstate Air Quality Control Region, concluding that the area had 
attained the 1971 SO2 NAAQS and thereby suspending the 
State's obligation to submit a nonattainment SIP for the area. 84 FR 
43504 (August 21, 2019). Therefore, the lawsuit's claims regarding 
these areas are moot.
    Under the terms of the proposed consent decree, EPA shall take 
actions regarding the remaining areas by the deadlines established in 
the proposed consent decree, unless EPA or the relevant state takes 
action that would automatically terminate EPA's obligations for 
individual areas under the proposed consent decree.
    For a period of thirty (30) days following the date of publication 
of this notice, the Agency will accept written comments relating to the 
proposed consent decree from persons who are not named as parties or 
intervenors to the litigation in question. EPA or the Department of 
Justice may withdraw or withhold consent to the proposed consent decree 
if the comments disclose

[[Page 46520]]

facts or considerations that indicate that such consent is 
inappropriate, improper, inadequate, or inconsistent with the 
requirements of the Act.

II. Additional Information About Commenting on the Proposed Consent 
Decree

A. How can I get a copy of the consent decree?

    The official public docket for this action (identified by Docket ID 
No. EPA-HQ-OGC-2019-0411) contains a copy of the proposed consent 
decree. The official public docket is available for public viewing at 
the Office of Environmental Information (OEI) Docket in the EPA Docket 
Center, EPA West, Room 3334, 1301 Constitution Ave. NW, Washington, DC. 
The EPA Docket Center 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 OEI Docket is (202) 566-1752.
    An electronic version of the public docket is available through 
www.regulations.gov. You may use www.regulations.gov to submit or view 
public comments, access the index listing of the contents of the 
official public docket, and access those documents in the public docket 
that are available electronically. Once in the system, key in the 
appropriate docket identification number then select ``search.''
    It is important to note that EPA's policy is that public comments, 
whether submitted electronically or in paper, will be made available 
for public viewing online at www.regulations.gov without change, unless 
the comment contains copyrighted material, CBI, or other information 
whose disclosure is restricted by statute. Information claimed as CBI 
and other information whose disclosure is restricted by statute is not 
included in the official public docket or in the electronic public 
docket. EPA's policy is that copyrighted material, including 
copyrighted material contained in a public comment, will not be placed 
in EPA's electronic public docket but will be available only in 
printed, paper form in the official public docket. Although not all 
docket materials may be available electronically, you may still access 
any of the publicly available docket materials through the EPA Docket 
Center.
    B. How and to whom do I submit comments?
    You may submit comments as provided in the ADDRESSES section. 
Please ensure that your comments are submitted within the specified 
comment period. Comments received after the close of the comment period 
will be marked ``late.'' EPA is not required to consider late comments.
    If you submit an electronic comment, EPA recommends that you 
include your name, mailing address, and an email address or other 
contact information in the body of your comment and with any disk or CD 
ROM you submit. This ensures that you can be identified as the 
submitter of the comment and allows EPA to contact you in case EPA 
cannot read your comment due to technical difficulties or needs further 
information on the substance of your comment. Any identifying or 
contact information provided in the body of a comment will be included 
as part of the comment that is placed in the official public docket, 
and made available in EPA's electronic public docket. If EPA cannot 
read your comment due to technical difficulties and cannot contact you 
for clarification, EPA may not be able to consider your comment.
    Use of the www.regulations.gov website to submit comments to EPA 
electronically is EPA's preferred method for receiving comments. The 
electronic public docket system is an ``anonymous access'' system, 
which means EPA will not know your identity, email address, or other 
contact information unless you provide it in the body of your comment. 
In contrast to EPA's electronic public docket, EPA's electronic mail 
(email) system is not an ``anonymous access'' system. If you send an 
email comment directly to the Docket without going through 
www.regulations.gov, your email address is automatically captured and 
included as part of the comment that is placed in the official public 
docket, and made available in EPA's electronic public docket.

    Dated: August 26, 2019.
Gautam Srinivasan,
Acting Associate General Counsel.
[FR Doc. 2019-19100 Filed 9-3-19; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6560-50-P