[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 74 (Thursday, April 16, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 21230-21232]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-07980]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[EPA-HQ-OGC-2020-0140; FRL-10008-42-OGC]
Proposed Settlement Agreements, Safe Drinking Water Act Claims
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice; request for public comment.
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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
Administrator's October 16, 2017, Directive Promoting Transparency and
Public Participation in Consent Decrees and Settlement Agreements,
notice is hereby given of a proposed settlement agreement to address
several claims in a lawsuit filed by the Waterkeeper Alliance, Inc.,
Waterkeeper Chesapeake, Inc. and California Coastkeeper (d/b/a
California Coastkeeper Alliance)(``Plaintiffs'') in the United States
District Court for the Southern District of New York. On January 30,
2019, the Plaintiffs filed a complaint pursuant to the Safe Drinking
Water Act and the Administrative Procedure Act seeking declaratory and
injunctive relief to resolve the claims regarding EPA's obligations to
develop new and revised National Primary Drinking Water Regulations.
Under the proposed settlement agreement, the EPA would agree to
deadlines with respect to certain actions under the Safe Drinking Water
Act.
DATES: Written comments on the proposed settlement agreements must be
received by May 18, 2020.
ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID number EPA-HQ-
OGC-2020-0140, online at www.regulations.gov (EPA's preferred method).
For comments submitted at
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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
generally will not consider comments or comment contents located
outside of the primary submission (i.e. on the web, cloud, or other
file sharing system). The EPA encourages the public to submit comments
via www.Regulations.gov, as there will be a delay in processing mail
and no hand deliveries will be accepted. 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: Leslie Darman, Water Law Office,
Office of General Counsel, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 1200
Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20460; telephone: (202) 564-5452;
email address: [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Additional Information About the Proposed Settlement Agreement
On January 30, 2019, the Plaintiffs filed a complaint pursuant to
the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) and the Administrative Procedure Act
(APA) seeking declaratory and injunctive relief to resolve several
claims regarding EPA's obligations to develop new and revised National
Primary Drinking Water Regulations (NPDWRs). First, the Plaintiffs
allege that the deadlines in Section 1412(b)(1)(B)(i) of the SDWA for
publishing the Contaminant Candidate List (CCL) is based on fixed five-
year intervals and therefore, the EPA failed to perform a mandatory
duty to publish the fifth CCL by February 6, 2018, and the EPA has
unreasonably delayed publication of the CCL. Second, the Plaintiffs
allege that the deadlines in Section 1412(b)(1)(B)(ii) of the SDWA for
publishing regulatory determinations are based on fixed five-year
intervals and therefore, the EPA failed to perform a mandatory duty to
publish the fourth regulatory determination by August 6, 2016, and the
EPA has unreasonably delayed its publication.
Finally, the Plaintiffs' complaint also includes claims under the
SDWA and the APA with respect to EPA's treatment of certain
contaminants covered by the Six-Year Review process in Section
1412(b)(9) of the SDWA: Chromium, trichlorethylene (TCE),
tetrachloroethylene (PCE), and a group of microbial and disinfection
byproducts (MDBPs). The Plaintiffs allege that EPA unreasonably delayed
and failed to perform a mandatory duty to review the NPDWR for total
chromium and determine whether to revise it. The Plaintiffs also allege
the EPA violated the APA because the Agency has unreasonably delayed
completion of the health assessment of chromium. The Plaintiffs claim
that the EPA unreasonably delayed and failed to perform an alleged
mandatory duty to revise the NPDWRs for TCE, PCE, and the MDBPs within
the same six-year review period in which EPA identified the
contaminants as appropriate for revision, or to meet the deadlines for
proposal and promulgation of NPDWRs in Section 1412(b)(1)(E) of the
SDWA.
Under the proposed settlement agreement, the EPA would agree to
deadlines for (1) publishing a proposed regulatory determination for at
least five contaminants that are listed on the Fourth CCL; (2) signing
for publication in the Federal Register the Fifth and Sixth CCLs; (3)
making a determination as to whether the existing NPDWR for chromium is
appropriate for revision; (4) signing for publication in the Federal
Register a proposal to revise the NPDWRs for the MDBP contaminants
identified as candidates for revision in the EPA's Six-Year Review 3,
published on January 11, 2017; and (5) signing for publication in the
Federal Register a notice of final action on the proposal to revise the
NPDWRs for the MDBPs. If the EPA fails to meet any of these deadlines,
Plaintiffs' sole remedy under this Agreement shall be to reopen this
lawsuit after undertaking the informal dispute-resolution procedures.
For a period of thirty (30) days following the date of publication
of this document, the Agency will accept written comments relating to
the proposed settlement from persons who are not named as parties to
the litigation in question. If so requested, EPA will also consider
holding a public hearing on whether to enter into the proposed
settlement agreement. EPA or the Department of Justice 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 SDWA. Unless EPA or the Department of Justice
determines that consent to this proposed settlement agreement should be
withdrawn, the settlement agreement will be signed, and the parties
will notify the Court of the settlement agreement and seek a court
order dismissing with prejudice all claims in this action. If the Court
does not enter such an order, the settlement agreement will have no
force or effect.
II. Additional Information About Commenting on the Proposed Settlement
Agreement
A. How can I get a copy of the proposed settlement agreement?
The official public docket for this action (identified by EPA-HQ-
OGC-2020-0140) contains a copy of the proposed settlement agreement.
The official public docket is located at the Office of Environmental
Information (OEI) Docket in the EPA Docket Center, EPA West, Room 3334,
1301 Constitution Ave. NW, Washington, DC. The regular hours of the EPA
Docket Center Public Reading Room are from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.,
Monday through Friday, excluding legal holidays; however, due to the
COVID-19 pandemic, there may be limited or no opportunity to enter the
docket center. At the time of this printing, the docket center is
closed to public visitors out of an abundance of caution for members of
the public and EPA staff to reduce the risk of transmitting COVID-19.
During the closure, Docket Center staff will continue to provide remote
customer service via email, phone, and webform. For further information
on EPA Docket Center services, see https://www.epa.gov/dockets. 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 on EPA's
website at 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
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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. EPA has not included any
copyrighted material in the docket for this proposed settlement. If
commenters submit copyrighted material in a public comment, it will be
placed in the official public docket and made available for public
viewing when the EPA Docket Center is open.
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. The EPA encourages the public to submit comments via
www.Regulations.gov. There will be a delay in processing mail and no
hand deliveries will be accepted due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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 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: April 10, 2020.
Steven Neugeboren,
Associate General Counsel.
[FR Doc. 2020-07980 Filed 4-15-20; 8:45 am]
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