2016-22087. Water Quality Standards; Establishment of Revised Numeric Criteria for Selenium for the San Francisco Bay and Delta, State of California; Extension of Public Comment Period

AGENCY:

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION:

Proposed rule; extension of comment period.

SUMMARY:

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is extending the comment period for the proposed rule, “Water Quality Standards; Establishment of Revised Numeric Criteria for Selenium for the San Francisco Bay and Delta, State of California.” In response to stakeholder requests, EPA is extending the comment period for an additional 45 days, from September 13, 2016, to October 28, 2016.

DATES:

The comment period for the proposed rule that published on July 15, 2016 (81 FR 46030) has been extended. Comments must be received on or before October 28, 2016.

ADDRESSES:

Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OW-2015-0392, to the Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the online instructions for submitting comments. Once submitted, comments cannot be edited or removed from Regulations.gov. 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. 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 http://www2.epa.gov/​dockets/​commenting-epa-dockets.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Julianne McLaughlin, Office of Water, Standards and Health Protection Division (4305T), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20460; telephone number: [phone]; email address: [e-mail]; or Diane E. Fleck, P.E., Esq., Water Division (WTR-2-1), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 9, 75 Hawthorne Street, San Francisco, CA 94105; telephone number [phone]; email address: [e-mail].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

On July 15, 2016, EPA published the proposed rule, “Water Quality Standards; Establishment of Revised Numeric Criteria for Selenium for the San Francisco Bay and Delta, State of California” in the Federal Register (81 FR 46030). EPA proposes to revise the current federal Clean Water Act selenium water quality criteria applicable to the San Francisco Bay and Delta to ensure that the criteria are set at levels that protect aquatic life and aquatic-dependent wildlife, including federally listed threatened and endangered species.

The original deadline to submit comments on the proposed rule was September 13, 2016. This action extends the comment period for 45 days. Written comments must now be received on or before October 28, 2016.

For more information on this proposed rule, please visit https://epa.gov/​wqs-tech/​water-quality-standards-establishment-revised-numeric-criteria-selenium-san-francisco-bay.

Dated: September 7, 2016.

Michael H. Shapiro,

Deputy Assistant Administrator, Office of Water.