Environmental Protection Agency January 28, 2005 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Local Government Advisory Committee will meet on February 9-11, 2005 in Half Moon Bay, CA. The Committee will be discussing environmental indicators, water infrastructure needs and small community issues. The Committee will hear comments from the public between 10 a.m.- 10:15 a.m. on Thursday, February 10th. Each individual or organization wishing to address the LGAC meeting will be allowed a maximum of five minutes to present their point of view. Please contact the Designated Federal Officer (DFO) at the number listed below to schedule agenda time. Time will be allotted on a first come, first serve basis, and the total period for comments may be extended, if the number of requests for appearances require it. This is an open meeting and all interested persons are invited to attend. LGAC meeting minutes and Subcommittee summary notes will be available after the meeting and can be obtained by written request from the DFO. Members of the public are requested to call the DFO at the number listed below if planning to attend so that arrangements can be made to comfortably accommodate attendees as much as possible. Seating will be on a first come, first serve basis.

Section 5 of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) requires any person who intends to manufacture (defined by statute to include import) a new chemical (i.e., a chemical not on the TSCA Inventory) to notify EPA and comply with the statutory provisions pertaining to the manufacture of new chemicals. Under sections 5(d)(2) and 5(d)(3) of TSCA, EPA is required to publish a notice of receipt of a premanufacture notice (PMN) or an application for a test marketing exemption (TME), and to publish periodic status reports on the chemicals under review and the receipt of notices of commencement to manufacture those chemicals. This status report, which covers the period from December 1, 2004 to December 14, 2004, consists of the PMNs pending or expired, and the notices of commencement to manufacture a new chemical that the Agency has received under TSCA section 5 during this time period.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to approve a December 19, 2003 request from Michigan for a State Implementation Plan (SIP) revision of the Southeast Michigan carbon monoxide (CO) maintenance plan. The CO maintenance plan revision establishes a new on-road emissions inventory for the years 1996 and 2010. The revision also establishes a new transportation conformity motor vehicle emissions budget (MVEB) for the year 2010. The emission inventory and MVEB updates are designed to maintain the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for CO as required by the CAA. In the final rules section of this Federal Register, EPA is approving the SIP revision as a direct final rule without prior proposal, because EPA views this as a noncontroversial revision and anticipates no adverse comments. A detailed rationale for the approval is set forth in the direct final rule. If we do not receive any adverse comments in response to these direct final and proposed rules, we do not contemplate taking any further action in relation to this proposed rule. If EPA receives adverse comments, we will withdraw the direct final rule and will respond to all public comments in a subsequent final rule based on this proposed rule. EPA will not institute a second comment period on this action. Any parties interested in commenting on this action should do so at this time.

In this notice, EPA is notifying the public that we have found that the motor vehicle emissions budget contained in the submitted Spokane Carbon Monoxide Maintenance Plan and Redesignation Request is adequate for transportation conformity purposes. On March 2, 1999, the D.C. Circuit Court ruled that submitted State Implementation Plans (SIPs) cannot be used for conformity determinations until EPA has found them adequate. This affects future transportation conformity determinations prepared, reviewed and approved by the Spokane Regional Transportation Council, Washington State Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration and the Federal Transit Administration.

In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), this document announces that EPA is planning to submit a proposed Information Collection Request (ICR) to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). This is a request for a new collection. Before submitting the ICR to OMB for review and approval, EPA is soliciting comments on specific aspects of the proposed information collection as described below.

On September 27, 2003, Ohio requested revisions to the State Implementation Plan (SIP) for sulfur dioxide (SO2) for several counties in Ohio, along with a request for redesignation of Cuyahoga County to attainment for SO2. On July 8, 2004, at 69 FR 41344, EPA proposed to approve the requested revisions and to redesignate Cuyahoga County as requested. EPA also published a corresponding direct final rule on the same date, at 69 FR 41336, but EPA withdrew this direct final rule because it received an adverse comment. A citizen from New Jersey expressed concern about air pollution coming east from Ohio and urged EPA to require Ohio power plants to upgrade their pollution controls. EPA is satisfied that the SO2 emission limits submitted by Ohio suffice to assure attainment of the SO2 air quality standard. EPA notes further that a separate action proposed on January 30, 2004, at 69 FR 4566, known as the Clean Air Interstate Rule, would require significant reduction in the emissions of SO2 and nitrogen oxides (NOX) of power plants in Ohio and elsewhere for purposes of reducing their long-range transported contributions to fine particulate matter and ozone exposures. EPA also received a comment from an affected company clarifying the operational status of boilers affected by the relevant rule. EPA affirms this clarification. Thus, as proposed, EPA is approving the SO2 rules Ohio submitted, removing the Federal Implementation Plan rules that these State rules supersede, and redesignating Cuyahoga County to attainment for SO2.