2017-06311. Partial Approval and Partial Disapproval of Attainment Plan for the Idaho Portion of the Logan, Utah/Idaho PM2.5

AGENCY:

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION:

Proposed rule; further delay of effective date.

SUMMARY:

In accordance with the Presidential directive as expressed in the memorandum of January 20, 2017, from the Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff, entitled “Regulatory Freeze Pending Review,” and the Federal Register document published by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA or Agency) on January 26, 2017, the EPA is proposing to further delay the effective date for Partial Approval and Partial Disapproval of Attainment Plan for the Idaho Portion of the Logan, Utah/Idaho PM_2.5 Nonattainment Area for up to 90 days.

DATES:

Written comments on the proposed rule must be received by April 6, 2017.

ADDRESSES:

Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID EPA-R10-OAR-2015-0067, online at www.regulations.gov. 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 http://www2.epa.gov/​dockets/​commenting-epa-dockets.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Jeff Hunt, Air Planning Unit, Office of Air and Waste (OAW-150), Environmental Protection Agency, Region 10, 1200 Sixth Ave, Suite 900, Seattle, WA 98101; telephone number: [phone]; email address: [e-mail].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

On January 26, 2017, the EPA published a document in the Federal Register entitled “Delay of Effective Date for 30 Final Regulations Published by the Environmental Protection Agency Between October 28, 2016 and January 17, 2017” (82 FR 8499). In that document, the EPA delayed the effective date of Partial Approval and Partial Disapproval of Attainment Plan for the Idaho Portion of the Logan, Utah/Idaho PM_2.5 Nonattainment Area to March 21, 2017, as requested in the memorandum of January 20, 2017, from the Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff, entitled “Regulatory Freeze Pending Review” (January 20 Memo). That memo directed the heads of Executive Departments and Agencies to temporarily postpone for 60 days from the date of the January 20 Memo the effective dates of all regulations that had been published in the Federal Register but had not yet taken effect.

The January 20 Memo also states: “Where appropriate and as permitted by applicable law, [agencies] should consider proposing for notice and comment a rule to delay the effective date for regulations beyond that 60-day period.” The EPA subsequently proposed (82 FR 11517) and then finalized (82 FR 14463) an action on March 21, 2017 to further delay the effective date for Partial Approval and Partial Disapproval of Attainment Plan for the Idaho Portion of the Logan, Utah/Idaho PM_2.5 Nonattainment Area until April 20, 2017. The EPA is proposing this additional delay of up to 90 days to give Agency officials the opportunity to decide whether they would like to conduct a substantive review of this rule. If Agency officials decide to conduct a substantive review of Partial Approval and Partial Disapproval of Attainment Plan for the Idaho Portion of the Logan, Utah/Idaho PM_2.5 Nonattainment Area, the EPA will take appropriate actions to conduct such a review, including, but not limited to, issuing a document in the Federal Register addressing any further delays of the effective date of Partial Approval and Partial Disapproval of Attainment Plan for the Idaho Portion of the Logan, Utah/Idaho PM_2.5 Nonattainment Area or extensions of compliances dates in the rule. If Agency officials decide not to conduct a substantive review of Partial Approval and Partial Disapproval of Attainment Plan for the Idaho Portion of the Logan, Utah/Idaho PM_2.5 Nonattainment Area, it will become effective no later than July 19, 2017.

The EPA solicits comment only on its proposal to further delay the effective date and the length of the delay of Partial Approval and Partial Disapproval of Attainment Plan for the Idaho Portion of the Logan, Utah/Idaho PM_2.5 Nonattainment Area. The EPA is not soliciting and will not consider comments on any other aspect of the rule itself.

Dated: March 24, 2017.

Michelle L. Pirzadeh,

Acting Regional Administrator, Region 10.