Document ID: EPA-HQ-OGC-2021-0583-0001
Agency: epa
Document Type: Notice
Title: Proposed Settlement Agreement: Enforcement Action Alleging Air Pollution Violations
Posted Date: 2021-09-03T04:00Z

[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 169 (Friday, September 3, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 49530-49531]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-19047]

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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[EPA-HQ-OGC-2021-0583; FRL-8937-01-OGC]

Proposed Settlement Agreement, Enforcement Action Alleging Air 
Pollution Violations

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of proposed settlement agreement; request for public 
comment.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Clean Air Act, as amended (CAA or the 
Act), notice is given of a proposed settlement agreement in the 
administrative enforcement action brought by the State of New Jersey, 
Department of Environmental Protection, Division of Air Enforcement 
(New Jersey), against the Edison facility owned and operated by the 
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 2. In November 2019, New 
Jersey conducted an inspection of EPA's Edison facility and found 
several state law violations related to its boilers and emergency 
generators. EPA worked with New Jersey to bring the boilers and 
generators back into full compliance by the end of 2020. A draft 
administrative settlement agreement between EPA and New Jersey that 
would fully resolve the matter through EPA paying a $8,600 penalty is 
here proposed and is ready for public notice and comment.

DATES: Written comments on the proposed settlement agreement must be 
received by October 4, 2021.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-
OGC-2021-0583, online at https://www.regulations.gov (EPA's preferred 
method). Follow the online instructions for submitting comments.
    Instructions: All submissions received must include the Docket ID 
number 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 rulemaking process, see the ``Additional Information 
about Commenting on the Proposed Settlement Agreement'' heading under 
the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this document. Out of an 
abundance of caution for members of the public and our staff, the EPA 
Docket Center and Reading Room are closed to the public, with limited 
exceptions, to reduce the risk of transmitting COVID-19. Our Docket 
Center staff will continue to provide remote customer service via 
email, phone, and webform. We encourage the public to submit comments 
via https://www.regulations.gov, as there may be a delay in processing 
mail and faxes. Hand-deliveries and couriers may be received by 
scheduled appointment only. For further information on EPA Docket 
Center services and the current status, please visit us online at 
https://www.epa.gov/dockets.
    EPA continues to carefully and continuously monitor information 
from the CDC, local area health departments, and our federal partners 
so that we can respond rapidly as conditions change regarding COVID-19.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Susan Stahle, Air and Radiation Law 
Office MC-2344A, Office of General Counsel, U.S. Environmental 
Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20460; 
telephone (202) 564-1272; email address stahle.susan@epa.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Obtaining a Copy of the Proposed Settlement Agreement

    The official public docket for this action (identified by Docket ID 
No. EPA-HQ-OGC-2021-0583) contains a copy of the proposed settlement 
agreement.
    The electronic version of the public docket for this action 
contains a copy of the proposed settlement agreement and is available 
through https://www.regulations.gov. You may use https://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.''

II. Additional Information About the Proposed Settlement Agreement

    In November 2019, New Jersey conducted an inspection of EPA's 
Edison facility and found several state law violations regarding EPA's 
boilers and emergency generators.\1\ Based on this inspection, and 
further information provided by EPA, New Jersey alleged the following 
types of violations:
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    \1\ While the proposed settlement agreement cites to state law 
violations, current or prior versions of the cited provisions were 
also approved into New Jersey's federally enforceable State 
Implementation Plan under the relevant provisions of the Clean Air 
Act, 42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.
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     Failure to seek new general permits when the boilers and 
emergency generators were replaced;
     Operating the boilers and emergency generators with 
expired general permits;
     Operating one emergency generator on five bad air days;
     Operating one boiler on one bad air day; and
     Improper tune-ups and/or tune-up report submission for two 
boilers.

    EPA worked with New Jersey to bring the boilers and generators back 
into full compliance by the end of 2020. These steps included: (1) 
Obtaining new general permits, and setting up an internal calendar to 
better track when to seek permit renewals; (2) changing a generator 
setting to require that generator testing be started manually, to avoid 
automatic startup on bad air days; (3) creating and revising a log 
sheet to ensure that staff check on ``bad air day'' status prior to 
testing the emergency generators; (4) conducting the 2020 tune-up using 
an outside contractor, with EPA staff attending for training purposes; 
and (5) submitting the 2020 tune-up reports via a New Jersey online 
reporting system.

[[Page 49531]]

    EPA and New Jersey have now tentatively agreed on a proposed 
settlement agreement that would fully resolve the identified state law 
violations through payment of a $8,600 penalty, a penalty which would 
rise to a full penalty of $17,200 if EPA failed to pay that penalty on 
time. To the extent the alleged violations may have constituted 
violations of the CAA, EPA and New Jersey agree this proposed agreement 
would also constitute settlement of any claims New Jersey could have 
made under the CAA.
    In accordance with section 113(g) of the CAA, for a period of 30 
days following the date of publication of this document, the Agency 
will accept written comments relating to the proposed settlement 
agreement. EPA may withdraw or withhold consent to the proposed 
settlement agreement if the comments disclose facts or considerations 
that indicate that such consent is inappropriate, improper, inadequate, 
or inconsistent with the requirements of the Act.

III. Additional Information About Commenting on the Proposed Settlement 
Agreement

    Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OGC-2021-
0583, via https://www.regulations.gov. Once submitted, comments cannot 
be edited or removed from this docket. 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) 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, 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 additional information about submitting information 
identified as CBI, please contact the person listed in the FOR FURTHER 
INFORMATION CONTACT section of this document. Note that written 
comments containing CBI and submitted by mail may be delayed and 
deliveries or couriers will be received by scheduled appointment only.
    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. 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 https://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.
    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 these late 
comments.

Gautam Srinivasan,
Associate General Counsel.
[FR Doc. 2021-19047 Filed 9-2-21; 8:45 am]
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