§766 Administrative provisions

Summary

The Administrator can make rules and procedures needed to do the job, but must follow some steps. Before proposing rules that affect the quality of the environment, the Administrator must give the EPA Administrator at least five working days to send written comments, and those comments must be published with the proposal notice. That five-day review can be waived for up to fourteen days in an emergency if the Administrator thinks action must happen sooner; the Administrator must tell the EPA Administrator, file notice in the Federal Register, and explain the reasons with supporting data and facts. Any officer or agency that issues rules or orders must provide ways to adjust rules to avoid special hardship, unfairness, or unequal burdens, and must have procedures people can use to ask for an interpretation, change, rescission, exception, or exemption. Each such agency had to set criteria and guidelines within ninety days after August 14, 1976, and decisions on requests must say what standards were used and how they applied to the facts. If a request is denied, the person can ask the agency to review the denial and can seek court review when the denial is final. For broad national rules, court challenges must be filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia within thirty days; for general rules that apply to part of the country, challenges go to the Court of Appeals for the circuit covering that area, also within thirty days. Starting July 1, 1977, money authorized under this law or any other Act cannot pay salaries or expenses for any regional counsel office unless that office is under the direct supervision and control of the Administration’s General Counsel.