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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 248 / Thursday, December 30, 2021 / Rules and Regulations
B. What is the Agencys authority for taking this action?
EPAs policies and requirements surrounding inspection procedures are matters of agency organization, procedure, or practice that lack the force and effect of law. Accordingly, the EPA
is not required to engage in a notice and comment process to issue or revise internal procedures under the Administrative Procedure Act APA.
See 5 U.S.C. 553b3A, which provides that an agency may issue interpretive rules, general statements of policy, or rules of agency organization, procedure, or practice without providing notice and an opportunity for public comment. The EPA is providing an immediate effective date for this rulemaking because it is procedural rather than substantive. The APAs requirement, 5 U.S.C. 553d, that substantive rules not be effective until at least 30 days after publication in the Federal Register is inapplicable because this rulemaking is procedural.

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II. Background On October 9, 2019, President Trump issued E.O. 13892, Promoting the Rule of Law Through Transparency and Fairness in Civil Administrative Enforcement and Adjudication.
Section 7 of the now revoked E.O., entitled Ensuring Reasonable Administrative Inspections, provided that: Within 120 days of the date of this order, each agency that conducts civil administrative inspections shall publish a rule of agency procedure governing such inspections, if such a rule does not already exist. Section 1, Policy, of E.O. 13892 implied that there was a need for a rule of Agency procedure, due to a perceived lack of transparency on how EPA conducts onsite civil administrative inspections. On March 2, 2020, the EPA published a final rule consistent with E.O. 13892.
The final rule, codified at 40 CFR part 31, described certain EPA procedures for governing agency personnel on how to conduct EPA on-site civil inspections 85 FR 12224.
On January 20, 2021, President Biden issued E.O. 13992, Revocation of Certain Executive Orders Concerning Federal Regulation, which revoked E.O. 13892. E.O. 13992 states that it is the policy of the Administration to use available tools to confront the urgent challenges facing the Nation, including the coronavirus disease 2019 COVID
19 pandemic, economic recovery, racial justice, and climate change. To tackle these challenges effectively, executive departments and agencies agencies must be equipped with the flexibility to
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use robust regulatory action to address national priorities. This order revokes harmful policies and directives that threaten to frustrate the Federal Governments ability to confront these problems, and empowers agencies to use appropriate regulatory tools to achieve these goals. Section 3 of E.O.
13992 directs agencies to take steps to rescind any orders, rules, regulations, guidelines or policies, or portions thereof, implementing or enforcing the revoked Executive orders.
III. Discussion The inspection rule being rescinded today converted a subset of what had been long-standing civil inspection practices, guided by applicable agency policies, into rules of Agency procedure by which all civil inspections shall be conducted. 40 CFR Part 31.1a.
Although not altering the rights of parties outside of EPA, the change from an Agency practice to a rule of procedure reduces the flexibility that is inherent in implementing agency policies in a case-by-case manner. The procedures for inspections must be adaptable to the site-specific conditions that the Agency faces in conducting its investigations. By rescinding the 2020
inspection rule, EPA is restoring the flexibility needed when carrying out civil inspections under a myriad of circumstances.
Further, the EPA has concluded that the 2020 rule on civil inspections is unnecessary, since procedures described in this rule already exist in inspection guidances and manuals, which are accessible to the public through EPAs website.
Therefore, in accordance with E.O.
13992, the EPA is issuing this final rule to rescind the part 31 regulations.
Section 1, Policy, of E.O. 13892
implied that there was a need for a rule of Agency procedure, due to a perceived lack of transparency on how EPA
conducts on-site civil administrative inspections. The EPA notes, however, that the Agency has historically employed methods for public transparency of Agency procedures for conducting on-site civil inspections and will continue these transparency practices under current policies. These Agency guidances and manuals on the procedures for on-site civil inspections are available to the public on the Agencys website at https
www.epa.gov. In addition, the EPA has met and will meet all statutory obligations pertaining to posting documents for public accessibility. To the extent that concerns arise regarding Agency guidance, a person may consistent with the APApetition the
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EPA, including a request to issue, amend, or repeal EPA guidance, by contacting the EPA program office or regional office that is responsible for administering the area of stakeholder interest.
EPA believes that rescinding the part 31 regulations will restore the flexibilities needed to meet the Agencys statutory duties. Therefore, in accordance with E.O. 13992 and for the reasons stated above, the EPA is rescinding its internal agency procedures for conducting on-site civil inspections codified at 40 CFR part 31.
IV. Statutory and Executive Orders Reviews Additional information about these statutes and Executive orders can be found at https www.epa.gov/lawsregulations/laws-and-executive-orders.
A. Executive Order 12866: Regulatory Planning and Review and Executive Order 13563: Improving Regulation and Regulatory Review This action is exempt from review by the Office of Management and Budget OMB because it is a rule of agency procedure and practice and is limited to agency management.
B. Paperwork Reduction Act PRA
This action does not contain any information collection activities and therefore does not impose an information collection burden under the PRA.
C. Regulatory Flexibility Act RFA
This action is not subject to the RFA.
The RFA applies only to rules subject to notice and comment rulemaking requirements under the Administrative Procedure Act APA, 5 U.S.C. 553, or any other statute. This rule pertains to agency management or personnel, which the APA expressly exempts from notice and comment rulemaking requirements under 5 U.S.C. 553a2.
D. Unfunded Mandates Reform Act UMRA
This action does not contain any unfunded mandate as described in UMRA, 2 U.S.C. 15311538, and does not significantly or uniquely affect small governments. The action imposes no enforceable duty on any state, local, or tribal governments or the private sector.
E. Executive Order 13132: Federalism This action does not have federalism implications. It will not have substantial direct effects on the states, on the relationship between the National Government and the states, or on the distribution of power and
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