Document ID: EPA-HQ-OGC-2012-0037-0001
Agency: epa
Document Type: Notice
Title: Proposed Consent Decree, Clean Air Act Citizen Suit
Posted Date: 2012-01-27T05:00Z

[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 18 (Friday, January 27, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 4320-4321]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-1808]

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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-9623-4]

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''), 42 U.S.C. 7413(g), notice is hereby 
given of a proposed consent decree to address a lawsuit filed by Sierra 
Club and Medical Advocates for Healthy Air (collectively 
``Plaintiffs'') in the United States District Court for the Northern 
District of California: Sierra Club, et al. v. Jackson, No. C11-cv-
03106-JSW (N.D. CA). On June 23, 2011, Plaintiffs filed a complaint 
alleging that EPA failed to perform a mandatory duty under section 
110(k)(2) of the CAA, 42 U.S.C. 7410(k)(2) to take timely final action 
on the RACT demonstration that was submitted to EPA on June 18, 2009 
(``2009 RACT SIP'') by the California Air Resources Board and the San 
Joaquin Valley Unified Air Pollution Control District (the 
``District''), and that EPA found complete on December 11, 2009. The 
proposed consent decree establishes deadlines for EPA to take action.

DATES: Written comments on the proposed consent decree must be received 
by February 27, 2012.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID number EPA-HQ-
OGC-2012-0037, online at www.regulations.gov (EPA's preferred method); 
by email to oei.docket@epa.gov; by mail to EPA Docket Center, 
Environmental Protection Agency, Mailcode: 2822T, 1200 Pennsylvania 
Ave. NW., Washington, DC 20460-0001; or by hand delivery or courier to 
EPA Docket Center, EPA West, Room 3334, 1301 Constitution Ave. NW., 
Washington, DC, between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, 
excluding legal holidays. Comments on a disk or CD-ROM should be 
formatted in Word or ASCII file, avoiding the use of special characters 
and any form of encryption, and may be mailed to the mailing address 
above.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jan Tierney, Air and Radiation Law 
Office (2344A), Office of General Counsel, U.S. Environmental 
Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave. NW., Washington, DC 20460; 
telephone: (202) 564-5598; fax number (202) 564-5603; email address: 
tierney.jan@epa.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Additional Information About the Proposed Consent Decree

    The proposed consent decree would resolve a lawsuit seeking to 
compel the Administrator to take timely final action under section 
110(k) of the CAA on the Valley's 2009 RACT SIP on a specific 
timetable, and to promulgate a substitute FIP providing for the 
implementation of RACT on existing sources of volatile organic 
compounds and oxides of nitrogen in the Valley on a specific timetable 
where EPA has not approved a SIP for a specific source category. On 
December 15, 2011, EPA signed a final rule approving in part and 
disapproving in part the 2009 RACT SIP. See 77 FR 1417 (January 10, 
2012). The proposed consent decree requires that for each source 
category for which EPA's final action on the 2009 RACT SIP identifies a 
RACT deficiency, EPA shall sign no later than September 15, 2012, a 
notice or notices approving a SIP rule in full, promulgating a FIP 
rule, or approving a SIP rule in part and promulgating a FIP as 
necessary to fully satisfy the RACT requirement in CAA section 
182(b)(2) and (f). In addition, the proposed consent decree requires 
that for each source category described above for which EPA has not 
approved a SIP rule but has signed for publication in the Federal 
Register a proposed FIP rule by September 15, 2012, EPA shall sign no 
later than April 15, 2013, a notice or notices approving a SIP rule in 
full, promulgating a FIP rule, or approving a SIP rule in part and 
promulgating a FIP as necessary to fully satisfy the RACT requirement 
in CAA section 182(b)(2) and (f). Following signature on each notice 
described above, EPA shall deliver such notices to the Office of the 
Federal Register for publication. After EPA fulfills its obligations 
under the decree, the parties shall file a joint request to the Court 
to dismiss this matter with prejudice.
    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 were 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 facts or considerations that indicate that 
such consent is inappropriate, improper, inadequate, or inconsistent 
with the requirements of the Act. Unless EPA or the Department of 
Justice determines that consent to this consent decree should be 
withdrawn, the terms of the decree will be affirmed.

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-2012-0037) 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 to 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,

[[Page 4321]]

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 these 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 Web site 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: January 19, 2012.
Patricia Embrey,
Acting Associate General Counsel.
[FR Doc. 2012-1808 Filed 1-26-12; 8:45 am]
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