Environmental Protection Agency June 8, 2005 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

EPA is updating generic provisions of its procedural regulations pertaining to pesticide chemical tolerances and exemptions from the requirement of a tolerance under section 408 of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. This update is necessary due to various changes made in the underlying statute by the Food Quality Protection Act of 1996. The amendments are primarily administrative in nature. EPA believes that these revisions will clarify the regulations and reduce confusion for users.

EPA is proposing to approve a request from the State of West Virginia to redesignate the New Manchester-Grant Magisterial District in Hancock County from nonattainment to attainment of the national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) for sulfur dioxide (SO2). EPA is also proposing to approve a maintenance plan for the area as a SIP revision which would put in place a plan for maintaining the NAAQS for SO2 for the next ten years. In the Final Rules section of this Federal Register, EPA is approving the State's SIP submittal as a direct final rule without prior proposal because the Agency views this as a noncontroversial submittal and anticipates no adverse comments. A more detailed description of the state submittal and EPA's evaluation are included in a Technical Support Document (TSD) prepared in support of this rulemaking action. A copy of the TSD is available, upon request, from the EPA Regional Office listed in the ADDRESSES section of this document. If no adverse comments are received in response to this action, no further activity is contemplated. If EPA receives adverse comments, the direct final rule will be withdrawn and all public comments received will be addressed in a subsequent final rule based on this proposed rule. EPA will not institute a second comment period. Any parties interested in commenting on this action should do so at this time.

The EPA is proposing to extend the deferral of the effective date of air quality designations for certain areas of the country that have entered into Early Action Compacts. Early Action Compact areas have agreed to reduce ground-level ozone pollution earlier than the Clean Air Act (CAA) requires. On April 30, 2004, EPA published a notice designating all areas of the country for the 8-hour ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS). In the designation rule, EPA deferred the effective date of the nonattainment designation for 14 areas that had entered into Early Action Compacts. The current effective date is September 30, 2005. The EPA is now proposing to extend the deferral of the effective date for all 14 Early Action compact areas until December 31, 2006.

On April 14, 2005 EPA published a direct final rule (71 FR 19702) approving revisions to the New Mexico State Implementation Plan (SIP) concerning the second ten-year carbon monoxide (CO) maintenance plan for the Albuquerque/Bernalillo County, New Mexico area. The revision was based on a request from the State submitted to EPA on September 7, 2004. In the proposed rules section of the April 14, 2005 Federal Register (71 FR 19723), we stated that written comment must be received by May 16, 2005. We received written adverse comments during the public comment period on our April 14, 2005 rulemaking action. The EPA is withdrawing this final rule due to the adverse comments received on this rulemaking action. In a subsequent final rule, we will summarize and respond to written comments received and take final rulemaking action on this requested New Mexico SIP revision.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 6 is publishing a direct final notice of deletion of the Delatte Metals Superfund Site (Site), located in Ponchatoula, Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana, 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 appendix B of 40 CFR part 300, which is the National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan (NCP). This direct final notice of deletion is being published by EPA with the concurrence of the State of Louisiana, through the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ), because EPA has determined that all appropriate response actions under CERCLA have been completed and, therefore, further remedial action pursuant to CERCLA is not appropriate.