October 22, 2021 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to approve, under the Clean Air Act (CAA), revisions to the Arizona State Implementation Plan (SIP) concerning the base year emissions inventory requirements for the Phoenix-Mesa ozone nonattainment area (``Phoenix- Mesa'') and Yuma ozone nonattainment area (``Yuma'') for the 2015 ozone national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS or ``standard'').

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is approving the State Implementation Plan (SIP) revision submitted by Wisconsin on March 29, 2021, which amends a SIP submission previously submitted to EPA on January 22, 2016, and supplemented on July 18, 2016 and November 29, 2016, for attaining the 1-hour sulfur dioxide (SO2) primary national ambient air quality standard (NAAQS) for the Rhinelander SO2 nonattainment area. This plan (herein referred to as Wisconsin's Rhinelander SO2 plan or plan) includes Wisconsin's attainment demonstration and other elements required under the Clean Air Act (CAA). In addition to an attainment demonstration, the plan addresses the requirement for meeting reasonable further progress (RFP) toward attainment of the NAAQS, reasonably available control measures and reasonably available control technology (RACM/RACT), and contingency measures. This action supplements a prior action which found that Wisconsin had satisfied emission inventory and new source review (NSR) requirements for this area, but had not met requirements for the elements approved here. In this action, EPA concludes that Wisconsin has appropriately demonstrated that the plan provisions provide for attainment of the 2010 1-hour primary SO2 NAAQS in the Rhinelander SO2 nonattainment area and that the plan meets the other applicable requirements under the CAA. EPA proposed to approve this action on July 22, 2021, and received no adverse comments.

This action proposes to revoke Colored Federal airway, B-25. The revocation is necessary due to the planned decommissioning of the Glenallen Non-Directional Beacon (NDB) Gulkana, AK, which provides navigation guidance for the affected route. The Glenallen NDB is to be decommissioned effective September 8, 2022 due to the high cost of maintenance.

This action proposes to establish United States Area Navigation (RNAV) route T-308 in the vicinity of Anvik, AK in support of a large and comprehensive T-route modernization project for the state of Alaska.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) is required to publish a notice of requests to modify permits issued to conduct activities regulated under the Antarctic Conservation Act of 1978. NSF has published regulations under the Antarctic Conservation Act in the Code of Federal Regulations. This is the required notice of a requested permit modification issued.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA or the Agency) proposes to expand the available options for extraction and determinative methods used to characterize and verify the cleanup of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) waste under the federal Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) regulations (also referred to as the PCB regulations). These proposed changes are expected to greatly reduce the amount of solvent used in PCB extraction processes, thereby conserving resources and reducing waste. In addition, the proposed changes are expected to result in quicker, more efficient, and less costly cleanups, due to greater flexibility in the cleanup and disposal of PCB waste, while still being equally protective of human health and the environment. EPA also proposes several other amendments to the PCB regulations, including the amendment of performance-based disposal option for PCB remediation waste; the removal of the provision allowing PCB bulk product waste to be disposed as roadbed material; the addition of more flexible provisions for cleanup and disposal of waste generated by spills that occur during emergency situations (e.g., hurricanes or floods); harmonizing the general disposal requirements for PCB remediation waste; and making other amendments to improve the implementation of the regulations, clarify ambiguity and correct technical errors.