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practice shall govern, in conjunction with the preceding Consolidated Rules of Practice (40 CFR Part 22), all proceedings to assess a civil penalty conducted under Section 3008 of the Solid Waste Disposal Act (42 U.S.C. 6928) (the "Act"). Where inconsistencies exist between these Supplemental rules and the Consolidated Rules, (§§ 22.01-22.32), these Supplemental rules shall apply.

(b) Issuance of notice. Whenever, on the basis of any information, the Administrator determines that any person is in violation of (1) any requirement of Subtitle C of the Act, (2) any regulation promulgated pursuant to Subtitle C of the Act, or (3) a term or condition of a permit issued pursuant to Subtitle C of the Act, the Administrator shall issue notice to the alleged violator of his failure to comply with such requirement, regulation or permit.

(c) Content of notice. Each notice of violation shall include:

(1) A specific reference to each provision of the Act, regulation, or permit term or condition which the alleged violator is alleged to have violated; and

(2) A concise statement of the factual basis for alleging such violation.

(d) Service of notice. Service of notice shall be made in accordance with § 22.05(b)(2) of the Consolidated Rules of Practice.

(e) Issuance of the complaint. (1) Except as provided in paragraph (e)(3) of this section, the complainant may issue a complaint whenever he has reason to believe that any violation extends beyond the thirtieth day after service of the notice of violation.

(2) The complaint shall include, in addition to the elements stated in § 22.14 of the Consolidated Rules, an order requiring compliance within a specified time period. The complaint shall be equivalent to the compliance order referred to in Section 3008 of the Act.

(3) Whenever a violation is of a noncontinuous or intermittent nature, the Administrator may issue a complaint, without any prior notice to the violator, pursuant to § 22.14 of the Consolidated Rules of Practice which may also require the violator to take any

and all measures necessary to offset all adverse effects to health and the environment created, directly or indirectly, as a result of the violation.

(4) Notwithstanding § 22.15(a), any answer to the complaint must be filed with the Regional Hearing Clerk within thirty (30) days after the filing of the complaint.

(f) Subpoenas. (1) The attendance of witnesses or the production of documentary evidence may be required by subpoena. The Presiding Officer may grant a request for a subpoena upon a showing of (i) the grounds and necessity therefor, and (ii) the materiality and relevancy of the evidence to be adduced. Requests for the production of documents shall describe with specificity the documents sought.

(2) Subpoenas shall be served in accordance with § 22.05(b)(1) of the Consolidated Rules of Practice.

(3) Witnesses summoned before the Presiding Officer shall be paid the same fees and mileage that are paid witnesses in the courts of the United States. Fees shall be paid by the party at whose instance the witness appears. Where a witness appears pursuant to a request initiated by the Presiding Officer, fees shall be paid by the Agency. (42 U.S.C. 6901, et seq.)

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This part sets forth minimum requirements and suggested program elements for public participation in activities under the Clean Water Act (Pub. L. 95-217), the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (Pub. L. 94580), and the Safe Drinking Water Act (Pub. L. 93-523). The applicability of the requirements of this part is as follows:

(a) Basic requirements and suggested program elements for public information, public notification, and public consultation are set forth in § 25.4. These requirements are intended to foster public awareness and open processes of government decisionmaking. They are applicable to all covered activities and programs described in § 25.2(a).

(b) Requirements and suggested program elements which govern the structure of particular public participation mechanisms (for example, advisory groups and responsiveness summaries) are set forth in §§ 25.5, 25.6, 25.7, and 25.8. This part does not mandate the use of these public participation mechanisms. It does, however, set requirements which those responsible for implementing the mechanisms must follow if the mechanisms are required elsewhere in this chapter.

(c) Requirements which apply to Federal financial assistance programs (grants and cooperative agreements) under the three acts are set forth in §§ 25.10 and 25.12(a).

(d) Requirements for public involvement which appl; to specific activities are set forth in § 25.9 (Permit enforcement), § 25.10 (Rulemaking), and § 25.12 (Assuring compliance with requirements).

§ 25.2 Scope.

(a) The activities under the three Acts which are covered by this part

are:

(1) EPA rulemaking, except nonpolicy rulemaking (for example publication of funding allotments under statutory formulas); and State rulemaking under the Clean Water Act and Resource Conservation and Recovery Act;

(2) EPA issuance and modification of permits, and enforcement of permits as delineated by § 25.9;

(3) Development by EPA of major informational materials, such as citizen guides or handbooks, which are expected to be used over several years and which are intended to be widely distributed to the public;

(4) Development by EPA of strategy and policy guidance memoranda when a Deputy Assistant Administrator determines it to be appropriate;

(5) Development and implementation of plans, programs, standards, construction, and other activities supported with EPA financial assistance (grants and cooperative agreements) to State, interstate, regional and local agencies (herein after referred to as "State, interstate, and substate agencies");

(6) The process by which EPA makes a determination regarding approval of State administration of the Construction Grants program in lieu of Federal administration; and the administration of the Construction Grants Program by the State after EPA approval;

(7) The process by which EPA makes a determination regarding approval of State administration of the following programs in lieu of Federal administration: The State Hazardous Waste Program; the NPDES Permit Program; the Dredge and Fill Permit Program; and the Underground Injection Control Program;

(8) Other activities which the Assistant Administrator for Water and Waste Management, the Assistant Administrator for Enforcement, or any EPA Regional Administrator deems appropriate in view of the Agency's responsibility to involve the public in significant decisions.

(b) Activities which are not covered by this part, except as otherwise provided under (a)(8) or (c) of this section, are activities under Parts 33 (Subagreements), 39 (Loan Guarantees for Construction of Treatment Works), 40 (Research and Development Grants), 45 (Training Grants and Manpower Forecasting) and 46 (Fellowships) of this chapter.

(c) Some programs covered by these regulations contain further provisions concerning public participation. These are found elsewhere in this chapter in provisions which apply to the program of interest. Regulations which govern the use and release of public information are set forth in Part 2 of this chapter.

(d) Specific provisions of court orders which conflict with requirements of this part, such as court-established timetables, shall take precedence over the provisions in this part. (e) Where the State undertakes functions in the construction grants program, the State shall be responsible for meeting these requirements for public participation, and any applicable public participation requirements found elsewhere in this chapter, to the same extent as EPA.

(f) Where the State undertakes functions in those programs specifically cited in § 25.2(a)(7), the State shall

be responsible for meeting the requirements for public participation included in the applicable regulations governing those State programs. The requirements for public participation in State Hazardous Waste Programs, Dredge and Fill Permit programs, Underground Injection Control programs and NPDES permit programs are found in Part 123 of this chapter. These regulations embody the substantive requirements of this part.

(g) These regulations apply to the activities of all agencies receiving EPA financial assistance which is awarded after [the effective date of final regulations], and to all other covered activities of EPA, State, interstate, and substate agencies which occur after that date. These regulations will apply to ongoing grants or other covered activities upon any significant change in the activity (for example, upon a significant proposed increase in project scope of a construction grant). Parts 105 (Public Participation in Water Pollution Control) and 249 (Public Participation in Solid Waste Management) will no longer appear in the Code of Federal Regulations; however, they will remain applicable, in uncodified form, to grants awarded prior to the effective date of this part and to all other ongoing activities.

$ 25.3 Policy and objectives.

(a) EPA, State, interstate, and substate agencies carrying out activities described in § 25.2(a) shall provide for, encourage, and assist the participation of the public. The term, "the public" in the broadest sense means the people as a whole, the general populace. There are a number of identifiable "segments of the public" which may have a particular interest in a given program or decision. Interested and affected segments of the public may be affected directly by a decision, either beneficially or adversely; they may be affected indirectly; or they may have some other concern about the decision. In addition to private citizens, the public may include, among others, representatives of consumer, environmental, and minority associations; trade, industrial, agricultural, and labor organizations; public

health, scientific, and professional societies; civic associations; public officials; and governmental and educational associations.

(b) Public participation is that part of the decision-making process through which responsible officials become aware of public attitudes by providing ample opportunity for interested and affected parties to communicate their views. Public participation includes providing access to the decision-making

process, seeking input from and conducting dialogue with the public, assimilating public viewpoints and preferences, and demonstrating that those viewpoints and preferences have been considered by the decisionmaking official. Disagreement on significant issues is to be expected among government agencies and the diverse groups interested in and affected by public policy decisions. Public agencies should encourage full presentation of issues at an early stage so that they can be resolved and timely decisions can be made. In the course of this process, responsible officials should make special efforts to encourage and assist participation by citizens representing themselves and by others whose resources and access to decision-making may be relatively limited.

(c) The following are the objectives of EPA, State, interstate, and substate agencies in carrying out activities covered by this part:

(1) To assure that the public has the opportunity to understand official programs and proposed actions, and that the government fully considers the public's concerns;

(2) To assure that the government does not make any significant decision on any activity covered by this part without consulting interested and affected segments of the public;

(3) To assure that government action is as responsive as possible to public concerns;

(4) To encourage public involvement in implementing environmental laws; (5) To keep the public informed about significant issues and proposed project or program changes as they arise;

(6) To foster a spirit of openness and mutual trust among EPA, States, substate agencies and the public; and

(7) To use all feasible means to create opportunities for public participation, and to stimulate and support participation.

§ 25.4 Information, notification, and consultation responsibilities.

(a) General. EPA, State, interstate, and substate agencies shall conduct a continuing program for public information and participation in the development and implementation of activities covered by this part. This program shall meet the following requirements:

(b) Information and assistance requirements. (1) Providing information to the public is a necessary prerequisite to meaningful, active public involvement. Agencies shall design informational activities to encourage and facilitate the public's participation in all significant decisions covered by § 25.2(a), particularly where alternative courses of action are proposed.

(2) Each agency shall provide the public with continuing policy, program, and technical information and assistance beginning at the earliest practicable time. Informational materials shall highlight significant issues that will be the subject of decisionmaking. Whenever possible, consistent with applicable statutory requirements, the social, economic, and environmental consequences of proposed decisions shall be clearly stated in such material. Each agency shall identify segments of the public likely to be affected by agency decisions and should consider targeting informational materials toward them (in addition to the materials directed toward the general public). Lengthy documents and complex technical materials that relate to significant decisions should be summarized for public and media uses. Fact sheets, news releases, newsletters, and other similar publications may be used to provide notice that materials are available and to facilitate public understanding of more complex documents, but shall not be a substitute for public access to the full documents.

(3) Each agency shall provide one or more central collections of reports, studies, plans, and other documents relating to controversial issues or sig

nificant decisions in a convenient location or locations, for example, in public libraries. Examples of such documents are catalogs of documents available from the agency, grant applications, fact sheets on permits and permit applications, permits, effluent discharge information, and compliance schedule reports. Copying facilities at reasonable cost should be available at the depositories.

(4) Whenever possible, agencies shall provide copies of documents of interest to the public free of charge. Charges for copies should not exceed prevailing commercial copying costs. EPA requirements governing charges for information and documents provided to the public in response to requests made under the Freedom of Information Act are set forth in Part 2 of this chapter. Consistent with the objectives of § 25.3(b), agencies may reserve their supply of free copies for private citizens and others whose resources are limited.

(5) Each agency shall develop and maintain a list of persons and organizations who have expressed an interest in or may, by the nature of their purposes, activities or members, be affected by or have an interest in any covered activity. Generally, this list will be most useful where subdivided by area of interest or geographic area. Whenever possible, the list should include representatives of the several categories of interests listed under § 25.3(a). Those on the list, or relevant portions if the list is subdivided, shall receive timely and periodic notification of the availability of materials under § 25.4(b)(2).

(c) Public notification. Each agency shall notify interested and affected parties, including appropriate portions of the list required by paragraph (b)(5) of this section, and the media in advance of times at which major decisions not covered by notice requirements for public meetings or public hearings are being considered. Generally, notices should include the timetable in which a decision will be reached, the issues under consideration, any alternative courses of action or tentative determinations which the agency has made, a brief listing of the applicable laws or regulations, the location where

relevant documents may be reviewed or obtained, identification of any associated public participation opportunities such as workshops or meetings, the name of an individual to contact for additional information, and any other appropriate information. All advance notifications under this paragraph must be provided far enough in advance of agency action to permit time for public response; generally this should not be less than 30 days.

(d) Public consultation. For the purposes of this part, "public consultation" means an exchange of veiws between governmental agencies and interested or affected persons and organizations in order to meet the objectives set forth in § 25.3. Requirements for three common forms of public consultation (public hearings, public meetings, and advisory groups) are set forth in §§ 25.5, 25.6, and 25.7. Other less formal consultation mechanisms may include but are not limited to review groups, ad hoc committees, task forces, workshops, seminars and informal personal communications with individuals and groups. Public consultation must be preceded by timely distribution of information and must occur sufficiently in advance of decisionmaking to allow the agency to assimilate public views into agency action. EPA, State, interstate, and substate agencies shall provide for early and continuing public consultation in any siginificant action covered by this part. Merely conferring with the public after an agency decision does not meet this requirement. In addition to holding hearings and meetings as specifically required in this chapter, a hearing or meeting shall be held if EPA, the State, interstate, or substate agency determines that there is significant public interest or that a hearing or meeting would be useful.

(e) Public information concerning legal proceedings. EPA, State, interstate, and substate agencies shall provide full and open information on legal proceedings to the extent not inconsistent with court requirements, and where such disclosure would not prejudice the conduct of the litigation. EPA actions with regard to affording opportunities for public comment before the Department of Justice con

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