Environmental Protection Agency 2017 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

Notice is hereby given that a reissuance of an exemption to the Land Disposal Restrictions, under the 1984 Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendments to the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, has been granted to TMDPS for two Class I hazardous waste injection wells located at their Deer Park, Texas facility. The company has adequately demonstrated to the satisfaction of the EPA by the petition reissuance application and supporting documentation that, to a reasonable degree of certainty, there will be no migration of hazardous constituents from the injection zone for as long as the waste remains hazardous. This final decision allows the underground injection by TMDPS of the specific restricted hazardous wastes identified in this exemption reissuance, into Class I hazardous waste injection wells WDW-169 and WDW-249 until December 31, 2030, unless the EPA moves to terminate this exemption or other petition condition limitations are reached. Additional conditions included in this final decision may be reviewed by contacting the EPA Region 6 Ground Water/UIC Section. A public notice was issued October 11, 2017, and the public comment period closed on November 27, 2017, and no comments were received. This decision constitutes final Agency action and there is no Administrative appeal. This decision may be reviewed/appealed in compliance with the Administrative Procedure Act.

In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA), this document announces that an Information Collection Request (ICR) for a voluntary surveyInformation Collection Request for the National Study of Nutrient Removal and Secondary Technologies: Publicly Owned Treatment Works (POTW) Screener Questionnaire, EPA ICR No. 2553.01, OMB Control No. 2040 NEWhas been forwarded to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval. This is a request for a new collection. The ICR, which is abstracted below, describes the nature of the information collection and its estimated burden and cost. An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Office of the Science Advisor announces two separate public meetings of the Human Studies Review Board (HSRB) to advise the Agency on the ethical and scientific review of research involving human subjects.

Today, the EPA Region 4 (the ``Region'') is reissuing the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) general permit for the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) of the Gulf of Mexico (General Permit No. GEG460000) for new and existing source discharges in the Offshore Subcategory of the Oil and Gas Extraction Point Source Category. This reissued general permit replaces the previous permit issued on March 15, 2010, and which became effective on April 1, 2010, and expired on March 31, 2015. The general permit authorizes discharges from exploration, development, and production facilities located in and discharging to all Federal waters of the eastern portion of the Gulf of Mexico seaward of the outer boundary of the territorial seas, and covers existing and new source facilities with operations located on Federal leases occurring in water depths seaward of 200 meters, occurring offshore the coasts of Alabama and Florida. The western boundary of the coverage area is demarcated by Mobile and Visoca Knoll lease blocks located seaward of the outer boundary of the territorial seas from the coasts of Mississippi and Alabama. The permit term will be no longer than five years from the effective date of the permit. Individual permits will be issued for operating facilities on lease blocks traversed by and shoreward of the 200-meter water depth. The draft NPDES general permit was publicly noticed from August 18, 2016 to September 17, 2016. This final permit reflects changes based on comments received during the public comments period, which are detailed in the Amendment to the Fact Sheet.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is taking final action to approve a revision to the California State Implementation Plan (SIP). This revision concerns emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), oxides of nitrogen (NOX) and particulate matter (PM) from the idling of diesel-powered trucks. We are approving portions of a state rule submitted by the California Air Resources Board (CARB) to regulate these emission sources under the Clean Air Act (CAA or the Act).

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA or Agency) proposes to establish federal nutrient criteria to protect designated uses for the State of Missouri's lakes and reservoirs. On August 16, 2011, EPA disapproved most of the numeric criteria for total nitrogen, total phosphorus, and chlorophyll a that the State submitted to EPA in 2009. EPA acknowledged the importance of Missouri's proactive efforts to address nutrient pollution by adopting numeric nutrient criteria. However, EPA concluded that the Missouri Department of Natural Resources (MDNR) had failed to demonstrate the criteria would protect the State's designated uses and were not based on a sound scientific rationale. The Clean Water Act (CWA) directs EPA to promptly propose water quality standards (WQS) that meet CWA requirements if a state does not adopt WQS addressing EPA's disapproval. On February 24, 2016, the Missouri Coalition for the Environment (MCE) filed a lawsuit alleging that EPA failed to satisfy its statutory obligation to act ``promptly.'' On December 1, 2016, EPA entered into a consent decree with MCE committing to sign a notice of proposed rulemaking by December 15, 2017 to address EPA's 2011 disapproval, unless the State submits and EPA approves criteria that address the disapproval on or before December 15, 2017. As of the date of this proposed rule, Missouri has not submitted new or revised standards to address EPA's 2011 disapproval and EPA has not approved such water quality standards. Therefore, under the terms of the consent decree, EPA is signing a notice of proposed rulemaking that proposes new water quality standards addressing EPA's August 16, 2011 disapproval. In this proposal, EPA seeks comment on two primary alternatives. Under the first alternative, EPA proposes nutrient protection values and eutrophication impact factors in a combined criterion approach. Under the second alternative, EPA proposes a similar combined criterion approach that would mirror the State of Missouri's October 2017 proposal for lake nutrient water quality standards. EPA will not proceed with final rulemaking (or will withdraw its final rule, if applicable) to address its 2011 disapproval if Missouri adopts and submits criteria to address EPA's 2011 disapproval and EPA approves them as meeting CWA requirements.

In the Federal Register of August 17, 2017, EPA published both a direct final rule and a proposed rule to update the list of North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) codes subject to reporting under the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) to reflect the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) 2017 NAICS code revision. As noted in the direct final rule, if EPA received relevant adverse comment on the proposed update, the Agency would publish a timely withdrawal of the direct final rule in the Federal Register informing the public that the direct final action will not take effect, and instead proceed to issue a final rule based on the parallel proposed rule. The Agency did receive a relevant adverse comment on the proposed update, and withdrew the direct final rule. This final rule addresses the comment made on EPA's proposed rulemaking previously published for this action.

With this document, EPA is opening the public comment period for several registration reviews. Registration review is EPA's periodic review of pesticide registrations to ensure that each pesticide continues to satisfy the statutory standard for registration, that is, the pesticide can perform its intended function without unreasonable adverse effects on human health or the environment. Registration review dockets contain information that will assist the public in understanding the types of information and issues that the Agency may consider during the course of registration reviews. Through this program, EPA is ensuring that each pesticide's registration is based on current scientific and other knowledge, including its effects on human health and the environment.

EPA has received applications to register pesticide products containing active ingredients not included in any currently registered pesticide products. Pursuant to the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), EPA is hereby providing notice of receipt and opportunity to comment on these applications.

This regulation establishes an exemption from the requirement of a tolerance for residues of 2-propenoic acid, 2-methyl-, dodecyl ester, polymer with 1-ethenyl-2-pyrrolidinone and a-(2-methyl-1-oxo-2- propen-1-yl)-w-methoxypoly(oxy-1,2-ethanediyl); when used as an inert ingredient in a pesticide chemical formulation. Spring Trading Company on behalf of Ashland Specialty Ingredients, submitted a petition to EPA under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA), requesting an exemption from the requirement of a tolerance. This regulation eliminates the need to establish a maximum permissible level for residues of 2-propenoic acid, 2-methyl-, dodecyl ester, polymer with 1- ethenyl-2-pyrrolidinone and a-(2-methyl-1-oxo-2-propen-1-yl)-w- methoxypoly(oxy-1,2-ethanediyl) on food or feed commodities.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region III is publishing a direct final Notice of Deletion of the C&D Recycling Superfund Site (Site), located in Foster Township, Pennsylvania, from the National Priorities List (NPL). The NPL, promulgated pursuant to section 105 of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) of 1980, as amended, is an appendix of the National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan (NCP). This direct final deletion is being published by EPA with the concurrence of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (Commonwealth), through the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PADEP), because EPA has determined that all appropriate response actions under CERCLA have been completed. However, this deletion does not preclude EPA from taking future actions at the Site under Superfund.

This action completes the final residual risk and technology reviews (RTR) that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) conducted for the Wool Fiberglass Manufacturing source category regulated under the national emission standards for hazardous air pollutants (NESHAP). In this action, the EPA is readopting the existing emission limits for formaldehyde, establishing emission limits for methanol, and a work practice standard for phenol emissions from bonded rotary spin (RS) lines at wool fiberglass manufacturing facilities. In addition, the EPA is revising the emission standards promulgated on July 29, 2015, for flame attenuation (FA) lines at wool fiberglass manufacturing facilities by creating three subcategories of FA lines and establishing emission limits for formaldehyde and methanol emissions, and either emission limits or work practice standards for phenol emissions for each subcategory of FA lines.

Due to the receipt of an adverse comment, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is withdrawing the October 26, 2017 direct final rule (DFR) that approved a negative declaration submitted by the City of Philadelphia. The negative declaration certified that no existing sewage sludge incineration (SSI) units exist within the City of Philadelphia. EPA stated in the direct final rule that if EPA received adverse comments by November 27, 2017, the rule would be withdrawn and not take effect. EPA subsequently received an adverse comment. This withdrawal action is being taken under sections 129 and 111(d) of the Clean Air Act.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has submitted an information collection request (ICR)NSPS for Electric Utility Steam Generating Units, EPA ICR No. 1053.12, OMB Control No. 2060-0023to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act. This is a proposed extension of the ICR, which is currently approved through December 31, 2017. Public comments were requested previously via the Federal Register (82 FR 29552) on June 29, 2017, during a 60-day comment period. This notice allows for an additional 30 days for public comments. A fuller description of the ICR is given below, including its estimated burden and cost to the public. An agency may neither conduct nor sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to a collection of information, unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number.

This notice announces EPA's approval of the State of New Mexico's request to revise/modify certain of its EPA-authorized programs to allow electronic reporting.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has submitted an information collection request (ICR), NSPS for Asphalt Processing and Roofing Manufacture (40 CFR part 60, subpart UU) (Renewal), EPA ICR Number 0661.12, OMB Control Number. 2060-0002, to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act. This is a proposed extension of the ICR, which is currently approved through April 30, 2018. Public comments were previously requested via the Federal Register (82 FR 29552) on June 29, 2017 during a 60-day comment period. This notice allows for an additional 30 days for public comments. A fuller description of the ICR is given below, including its estimated burden and cost to the public. An agency may neither conduct nor sponsor and a person is not required to respond to, any collection of information unless it displays a currently-valid OMB control number.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is taking final action finding that Massachusetts failed to submit an infrastructure State Implementation Plan (SIP) to satisfy certain interstate transport requirements of the Clean Air Act (CAA) with respect to the 2012 annual fine particles (PM2.5) national ambient air quality standard (NAAQS). Specifically, these requirements pertain to significant contribution to nonattainment, or interference with maintenance, of the 2012 annual PM2.5 NAAQS in other states. This finding of failure to submit establishes a 2-year deadline for the EPA to promulgate a Federal Implementation Plan (FIP) to address the interstate transport SIP requirements pertaining to significant contribution to nonattainment, interference with maintenance, interference with Prevention of Significant Deterioration, and interference with visibility protection, unless, prior to the EPA promulgating a FIP, the state submits, and the EPA approves, a SIP that meets these requirements.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA or the Agency) is amending existing regulations regarding the export and import of hazardous wastes from and into the United States. Specifically, this rule applies a confidentiality determination such that no person can assert confidential business information (CBI) claims for documents related to the export, import, and transit of hazardous waste and export of excluded cathode ray tubes (CRTs). EPA is making these changes to apply a consistent approach in addressing confidentiality claims for export and import documentation. The rule will result in cost-savings and greater efficiency for EPA and the regulated community as well as facilitate transparency with respect to the documents that are within the scope of this rulemaking. However, EPA is not finalizing the proposed internet posting requirement in the proposed rule.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) invites nominations from a diverse range of qualified candidates to be considered for appointment to the National Advisory Committee (NAC) and the Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC), to advise the U.S. Representative to the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC). Vacancies on these two committees are expected to be selected by the spring of 2018. Please submit nominations by no later than February 16, 2018. Additional sources may be utilized in the solicitation of nominees.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is approving a State Implementation Plan (SIP) revision submitted by the state of Ohio on March 11, 2016. Ohio's SIP revision addresses requirements of the Clean Air Act (CAA) and EPA's rules that require states to submit periodic reports describing progress toward reasonable progress goals (RPGs) established for regional haze and a determination of the adequacy of the state's existing regional haze SIP. Ohio's progress report notes that Ohio has implemented the measures in the regional haze SIP due to be in place by the date of the progress report and that Federal Class I areas affected by emissions from Ohio are meeting or exceeding the RPGs for 2018. Ohio also determined that the state's regional haze SIP is adequate to meet these reasonable progress goals for the first implementation period and requires no substantive revision at this time.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to approve a portion of the revision to the Arkansas State Implementation Plan (SIP) submitted by Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) on March 24, 2017. The revision modifies the definition of volatile organic compounds (VOC). Specifically, the submitted revision will incorporate the EPA's latest definition of VOC on the basis that these compounds make negligible contribution to tropospheric ozone formation. This action is being taken pursuant to the Clean Air Act.

Pursuant to the Federal Clean Air Act (CAA or the Act), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is approving revisions to the State Implementation Plan (SIP) submitted by the State of Texas. The Texas SIP submission revises rules for control of volatile organic compounds (VOC) to assist the Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) moderate nonattainment area (NAA) in attaining the 2008 8-hour ozone (O3) National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) and demonstrates that Reasonably Available Control Technology (RACT) requirements are met for the DFW NAA. The submission includes Wise County, a county added as part of the DFW moderate NAA. We are approving the submitted rules and RACT demonstration as part of the DFW moderate NAA SIP and as meeting RACT requirements.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to take action under the Clean Air Act (CAA) on an Ohio State Implementation Plan (SIP) submittal addressing regional haze. This proposed action is based on a final determination by EPA that a state's participation in the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR) program continues to meet the Regional Haze Rule (RHR)'s criteria to qualify as an alternative to the application of Best Available Retrofit Technology (BART). EPA is proposing the following five actions: Approve the portion of Ohio's November 30, 2016 SIP submittal seeking to change reliance from the Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR) to CSAPR for certain regional haze requirements; convert EPA's limited approval/limited disapproval of Ohio's March 11, 2011 regional haze SIP to a full approval; withdraw the Federal Implementation Plan (FIP) provisions that address the limited disapproval; approve the visibility prong of Ohio's infrastructure SIP submittals for the 2012 annual and 2006 24-hour fine particulate matter (PM2.5), 2010 nitrogen dioxide (NO2), and 2010 sulfur dioxide (SO2) National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS); and convert EPA's disapproval of the visibility portion of Ohio's infrastructure SIP submittal for the 2008 ozone NAAQS to an approval.

Due to the receipt of an adverse comment, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is withdrawing the November 7, 2017, direct final rule approving a revision to the Wisconsin State Implementation Plan (SIP). The revision replaces the definition of ``emergency electric generator'' with a broader definition of ``restricted internal combustion engine'', makes amendments to procedures for revoking construction permits as well as language changes and other administrative updates, and lastly, removing from the SIP two Wisconsin Administrative Code provisions that affect eligibility of coverage under general and construction permits.