Public Hearing
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UTAH REGIONAL HAZE PROPOSED RULE PUBLIC HEARING 01/26/2016 _______________________________________________________________________ Agren Blando Court Reporting & Video, Inc. 216 16th Street, Suite 600 Denver Colorado, 80202 303-296-0017 PUBLIC HEARING EPA's Proposed Rulemaking Action: Utah Regional Haze State Implementation Plan (SIP) and Federal Implementation Plan (FIP) for Regional Haze January 26, 2016 - 1:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. Location: Salt Lake City Public Library 4th Floor Conference Room 210 East 400 South Salt Lake City, Utah 8411 Reporter: Teri Hansen Cronenwett Certified Realtime Reporter, Registered Merit Reporter Notary Public in and for the State of Utah Agren Blando Court Reporting & Video, Inc. 1 A P P E A R A N C E S 2 Elyana Sutin, Administrative Hearing Officer 3 Monica Morales, EPA Region 8 4 Gail Fallon, EPA Region 8 5 Rich Mylott, EPA Region 8 6 Jaslyn Dobrahner, EPA Region 8 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 PUBLIC HEARING 1/26/2016 2 Agren Blando Court Reporting & Video, Inc. 1 January 26, 2016 1:02 p.m. 2 P R O C E E D I N G S 3 HEARING OFFICER SUTIN: Good afternoon 4 everyone. I think we're going to get started so if we 5 could quiet the room. We have a lot of people here 6 today, so thank you all for coming. 7 My name is Elyana Sutin. I'm with the EPA in 8 Denver, Colorado. I will be presiding over the hearing 9 this afternoon as well as this evening. This hearing is 10 now officially in session. 11 The subject of today's hearing is the 12 Environmental Protection Agency's co-proposal for Utah's 13 Regional Haze State Implementation Plan or SIP. Our 14 rulemaking action co-proposes two different approaches. 15 The first approach fully approves Utah's Regional Haze 16 SIP, addresses the requirements of the federal rules for 17 regional haze. 18 The second approach partially approves and 19 partially disapproves Utah's Regional Haze SIP, 20 proposing a Federal Implementation Plan or FIP for those 21 elements of the SIP for which we are proposing 22 disapproval. You will hear more detail regarding the 23 two approaches in the proposed action from Monica 24 Morales, who is sitting next to me, momentarily. 25 The fact sheet on the table in the back of the PUBLIC HEARING 1/26/2016 3 Agren Blando Court Reporting & Video, Inc. 1 room explains how you may submit written comments to 2 EPA's proposed action, and also gives the Federal 3 Register citation for the proposed action. 4 Jaslyn Dobrahner is seated at the back of the 5 room, although I think at the moment she might be out. 6 But she will be seated at the back of the room. She is 7 holding up her hand. Can you do that again, Jaslyn? 8 Thanks. 9 She can assist you with obtaining a fact sheet 10 or completing a registration card if you wish to speak. 11 I will explain a little bit more about the registration 12 card in a moment. 13 This hearing is a means for EPA to listen to 14 your comments on the proposed action that has been 15 published as a Federal Register proposed rule. Before I 16 turn it over to Monica, let me explain a bit about the 17 process and a few ground rules for the hearing. 18 When EPA takes action on a State 19 Implementation Plan or a Federal Implementation Plan, it 20 is required to do so through rulemaking. This 21 rulemaking is governed by laws passed by Congress. For 22 SIPs, it's the Administrative Procedures Act. For FIPs, 23 it's the Clean Air Act. 24 In either case EPA must publish a proposed 25 rule in the Federal Register, take public comment on the PUBLIC HEARING 1/26/2016 4 Agren Blando Court Reporting & Video, Inc. 1 proposed rule, and publish a final rule in the Federal 2 Register after considering comments. 3 In the case of FIPs, EPA is also required to 4 conduct a hearing which is what we're doing today. 5 After considering all the comments, EPA may decide to 6 make changes to the proposed rule or it may decide to 7 move forward and finalize one of the approaches in the 8 proposed rule. 9 We are here today to listen to your comments. 10 We will attempt to answer any clarifying questions about 11 the process or what's contained in the proposed action. 12 But we are not here today to explain the basis for the 13 proposed action. The Federal Register notice does that. 14 We cannot engage in a back-and-forth discussion of the 15 proposed action or respond to your comments during this 16 hearing. The purpose of the hearing is to receive your 17 input. We will consider and then respond to all 18 comments received during this hearing, as well as any 19 written comments in a final Federal Register rule. 20 If you have already made comments, there is no 21 need to repeat them today. They will be included. We 22 are recording our proceedings here today. So be assured 23 that your comments will be considered. 24 The court reporter, sitting to my left, will 25 be preparing a transcript of today's proceeding. That PUBLIC HEARING 1/26/2016 5 Agren Blando Court Reporting & Video, Inc. 1 will be available for anyone who wants to see it. The 2 transcript is part of the record and will be included in 3 the rulemaking docket. The rulemaking docket is where 4 EPA collects materials it has considered in its 5 rulemaking action, including public comments. 6 The docket is available on the Internet for 7 review at regulations.gov, or you can view a hard copy 8 at EPA's Denver office. Specific instructions for 9 accessing the docket are described in the Federal 10 Register notice, the proposed rulemaking and on the fact 11 sheet that we've made available. The transcript of this 12 hearing will also be available in the rulemaking docket. 13 Before we begin taking your comments, first 14 allow me to take a moment to set the stage; that is, to 15 explain how the hearing will be run. After I speak, 16 Monica Morales will explain the details of the proposed 17 action. She will explain EPA's proposed action to 18 approve the state SIP, as well as what EPA is proposing 19 in its FIP, based on the federal Clean Air Act 20 requirements for regional haze. 21 I will then call people to speak based on the 22 registration card that was filled out when you arrived. 23 I will provide the registration card to the court 24 reporter to assist in the spelling of your name. Please 25 spell your name before beginning your remarks. If you PUBLIC HEARING 1/26/2016 6 Agren Blando Court Reporting & Video, Inc. 1 are reading from a written statement, it would be 2 helpful, though not required, if you could provide a 3 copy of your statement to the court reporter or our 4 staff at the registration table, after you make your 5 remarks. 6 Please speak slowly and clearly so the court 7 reporter can accurately capture your statement. Also, 8 there is space on the back of the registration card for 9 providing short written comments if anyone wishes to do 10 so. If you are only here to observe, there is no need 11 to fill out a registration card. 12 I would like to stress that we have quite a 13 few people here today. I don't know that everybody 14 wants to speak, but I want to ensure that everyone has 15 the opportunity to speak about the proposed action. To 16 that end, please consider, after you have made your 17 statement, leaving so that those -- if you look behind 18 you, all those people out there are trying to also come 19 in and make a statement. So if you could please allow 20 them the opportunity and the time to come in, it would 21 be greatly appreciated by everyone. 22 In order to have things move quickly, I need 23 to keep people's comments brief, three minutes or less 24 at least in the beginning. Please try to be as succinct 25 and on point as you can. If I find that we are straying PUBLIC HEARING 1/26/2016 7 Agren Blando Court Reporting & Video, Inc. 1 from the topic at hand, I will interrupt and ask that 2 you please return to the issue before us. 3 If we have time at the end and everyone has 4 had a chance to speak, you -- and you have more to say 5 then the time you were given, then I'll allow people to 6 get back up and finish their comments. 7 Also, please know that this first hearing ends 8 as five o'clock today. We'll take an hour break and 9 we're back here at 6:00. So if you do not have a chance 10 to speak and want to come back at six o'clock, you can 11 do so. 12 Gail Fallon, sitting on the other side of 13 Monica, will assist with monitoring speaker times by 14 raising a yellow card when 30 seconds of time remains 15 and raising a pink card when your time has expired.