Document ID: EPA-HQ-OGC-2019-0519-0001
Agency: epa
Document Type: Notice
Title: Proposed Settlement Agreement, Challenge to Clean Air Act
Posted Date: 2019-09-11T04:00Z

[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 176 (Wednesday, September 11, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 47945-47947]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-19668]

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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[EPA-HQ-OGC-2019-0519; FRL 9999-62-OGC]

Proposed Settlement Agreement, Challenge to Clean Air Act

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of proposed settlement agreement; 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 hereby given of a proposed 
settlement agreement to resolve petitions for review filed by United 
States Steel Corporation (``U.S Steel'') with respect to U.S. Steel's 
Minntac taconite facility, involving several actions taken by EPA with 
regard to nitrogen oxide (NOX) emission limits for Minntac. 
On November 29, 2013, June 13, 2016, and February 1, 2018, U.S. Steel 
filed petitions in the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth 
Circuit challenging EPA's 2013 Regional Haze (RH) Federal 
Implementation Plan (FIP) for Minnesota and Michigan; 2013 RH State 
Implementation Plan (SIP) partial disapprovals for Michigan and 
Minnesota; 2016 revised RH FIP for Michigan and Minnesota; and EPA's 
denial of U.S. Steel's petitions for reconsideration of the 2013 FIP, 
2013 SIP partial disapprovals, and 2016 revised FIP. The Settlement 
Agreement would resolve U.S. Steel's challenges to these actions, with 
respect to Minntac. Under the proposed settlement agreement, the 
parties agree to take certain specified actions.

DATES: Written comments on the proposed settlement agreement must be 
received by October 11, 2019.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID number EPA-HQ-
OGC-2019-0519, 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

[[Page 47946]]

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: Stacey Simone Garfinkle, Air and 
Radiation Law Office (2344A), Office of General Counsel, U.S. 
Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, 
DC 20460; telephone: (202) 564-3103; email address: 
garfinkle.stacey@epa.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Additional Information About the Proposed Settlement Agreement

    The proposed Settlement Agreement would resolve U.S. Steel's 
challenges, with respect to Minntac, to the following actions: 2013 RH 
FIP Rule, 78 FR 8,706 (February 6, 2013); 2013 RH SIP partial 
disapprovals for Michigan and Minnesota, 78 FR 59,825 (September 30, 
2013); 2016 revised RH FIP for Michigan and Minnesota, 81 FR 21,672 
(April 12, 2016); and EPA's denial of U.S. Steel's petitions for 
reconsideration of the 2013 FIP, 2013 SIP partial disapprovals, and 
2016 revised FIP, 82 FR 57,125 (December 4, 2017). See United States 
Steel Corporation v. EPA, Case Nos. 13-3595 (8th Cir. filed November 
29, 2013), 16-2668 (8th Cir. filed June 13, 2016), and 18-1249 (8th 
Cir. filed February 1, 2018).
    The proposed Settlement Agreement would require EPA to propose a 
combined facility-wide NOX emission limit of 1.6 lbs 
NOX/MMBtu, based on a 30-day rolling average, for Minntac 
Lines 3 through 7. This limit would apply regardless of the fuel used. 
Under the terms of the proposed Settlement Agreement, EPA agrees to 
propose amendments to 40 CFR part 52 that, if finalized, would require 
U.S. Steel to begin complying with the new facility-wide limit for 
Minntac beginning with the 30-day period between September 1, 2019 and 
September 30, 2019, at the latest. The facility-wide NOX 
emission limit would replace the individual NOX emission 
limits currently required for each of Minntac's five lines pursuant to 
the 2013 RH FIP Rule. The proposed Settlement Agreement also provides 
that nothing in the terms of the proposed Settlement Agreement shall be 
construed to limit or modify the discretion accorded EPA by the Clean 
Air Act or by general principles of administrative law. See the 
proposed Settlement Agreement for specific details.
    For a period of thirty (30) days following the date of publication 
of this action, the Agency will accept written comments relating to the 
proposed Settlement Agreement from persons who are not named as parties 
or intervenors to the litigation in question. 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.

II. Additional Information About Commenting on the Proposed Settlement 
Agreement

A. How can I get a copy of the settlement agreement?

    The official public docket for this action (identified by Docket ID 
No. EPA-HQ-OGC-2019-0519) contains a copy of the proposed settlement 
agreement. 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)

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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: September 4, 2019.
Gautam Srinivasan,
Acting Associate General Counsel.
[FR Doc. 2019-19668 Filed 9-10-19; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P