Department of Agriculture July 29, 2015 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

EPA is announcing the availability of draft guidance, Pesticide Cumulative Risk Assessment: Framework for Screening Analysis, for public comment. This document provides guidance on how the EPA will screen groups of pesticides for cumulative evaluation using a two-step approach beginning with the evaluation of available toxicological information and if necessary followed by a risk-based screening approach. This framework supplements the existing guidance documents for establishing common mechanism groups (CMGs) and conducting cumulative risk assessments (CRA). Additionally, EPA is also seeking comments on a draft copy of the human health risk assessment where the cumulative assessment was conducted in conjunction with pending actions for abamectin.

The National Environmental Education and Training Foundation (doing business as The National Environmental Education Foundation or NEEF) was created by Section 10 of Public Law 101-619, the National Environmental Education Act of 1990. It is a private 501(c)(3) non- profit organization established to promote and support education and training as necessary tools to further environmental protection and sustainable, environmentally sound development. It provides the common ground upon which leaders from business and industry, all levels of government, public interest groups, and others can work cooperatively to expand the reach of environmental education and training programs beyond the traditional classroom. The Foundation promotes innovative environmental education and training programs such as environmental education for medical healthcare providers and broadcast meteorologists; it also develops partnerships with government and other organizations to administer projects that promote the development of an environmentally literal public. The Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, as required by the terms of the Act, announces the following appointment to the National Environmental Education Foundation Board of Directors. The appointee is Dr. Martin Philbert, Dean, School of Public Health at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (UM).

This regulation establishes tolerances for residues of fluxapyroxad in or on cotton, gin byproducts and cotton, undelinted seed. BASF Corporation requested these tolerances under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA).

This notice announces the availability of The Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Responsiveness Summary Concerning EPA's March 10, 2015 Public Notice of Proposed Decisions to Add Waters and Pollutants to Louisiana's 2014 Section 303(d) List. On March 10, 2015 EPA published a notice in the Federal Register at Volume 80, Number 46, page 12628 providing the public the opportunity to review its decision to partially approve and proposal to partially disapprove Louisiana's 2014 Section 303(d) list. Specifically, EPA approved Louisiana's listing of 279 waterbody-pollutant combinations, and associated priority rankings. EPA proposed to disapprove Louisiana's decisions not to list 43 water quality limited segments and associated pollutants constituting 93 waterbody-pollutant combinations. EPA also proposed to add these waterbody-pollutant combinations to the 2014 Section 303(d) list because applicable numeric water quality standards were not attained in these segments for one of the following parameters: Dissolved oxygen (marine criterion); turbidity; and minerals (individually or a combination of sulfates, chlorides, and/or total dissolved solids). Based on the Responsiveness Summary, EPA finds no new information or persuasive arguments as to why the 43 water quality limited segments should not be added to the 2014 Louisiana Section 303(d) list as proposed. Therefore, EPA is taking Final Action on the addition of 43 water quality limited segments and associated 93 waterbody-pollutant combinations to the final Louisiana 2014 Section 303(d) list. The basis for these decisions is described in EPA's Decision Document for the Louisiana 2014 Section 303(d) list, available at https://www.epa.gov/ region6/water/npdes/tmdl/index.htm.

In this action, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposes to revise the Guideline on Air Quality Models (``Guideline''). The Guideline has been incorporated into EPA's regulations, satisfying a requirement under the Clean Air Act (CAA) section 165(e)(3) for the EPA to specify, with reasonable particularity models to be used in the Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) program. It provides EPA- preferred models and other recommended techniques, as well as guidance for their use in predicting ambient concentrations of air pollutants. The proposed revisions to the Guideline include enhancements to the formulation and application of the EPA's AERMOD near-field dispersion modeling system and the incorporation of a tiered demonstration approach to address the secondary chemical formation of ozone and fine particulate matter (PM2.5) associated with precursor emissions from single sources. Additionally, the EPA proposes various editorial changes to update and reorganize information throughout the Guideline to streamline the compliance assessment process. Within this action, the EPA is also announcing the Eleventh Conference on Air Quality Modeling and invites the public to participate in the conference. The conference will focus on the proposed revisions to the Guideline and part of the conference will also serve as the public hearing for these revisions.