Environmental Protection Agency June 27, 2005 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

On June 28, 2004, Ohio submitted an oxides of nitrogen (NOX) State Implementation Plan (SIP) revision request to EPA which included amended rules in Ohio Administrative Code (OAC). The purpose of the SIP revision is to exclude from the NOX trading program carbon monoxide boilers associated with fluidized catalytic cracking units (FCCU). The revision also allocates additional NOX allowances to the overall budget and to the trading budget to correct a typographical error made in the original rule. Removal of the FCCU boilers from the NOX trading program is an option Ohio has elected to incorporate in its NOX SIP. The Ohio SIP revision addresses some minor corrections in the rules and also incorporates by reference specific elements of the NOX SIP Call. EPA is approving the Ohio request because the changes conform to EPA policy under the Clean Air Act. The collective emissions from these sources are small and the administrative burden, to the states and regulated entities, of controlling such sources is likely to be considerable. Inclusion of these small NOX sources in the NOX SIP Call control program would not be cost effective. EPA proposed approval of this SIP revision and published a direct final approval on January 19, 2005. We received adverse comments on the proposed rulemaking, and therefore withdrew the direct final rulemaking on March 14, 2005.

EPA is proposing action on various particulate matter rule revisions that Ohio submitted on June 4, 2003. EPA is proposing to approve numerous minor provisions that clarify a variety of elements of these rules. However, EPA is proposing to disapprove revisions that provide for use of continuous opacity monitoring data but allow more exceedances of the general opacity limit in cases where an eligible large coal fired boiler opts to use these data for determining compliance. EPA proposes to find that these revisions constitute a relaxation of the opacity rules, and that, contrary to section 110(l) of the Clean Air Act, these revisions may interfere with satisfaction of relevant state planning requirements.

The EPA published in the Federal Register on January 10, 2005, a document concerning approving a negative declaration submitted by the City of Albuquerque (Bernalillo County), New Mexico, which certified that there are no existing commercial and industrial solid waste incineration units in Bernalillo County. This document corrects an error which may prove to be misleading in the regulation.

In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), this document announces that an Information Collection Request (ICR) has been forwarded to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval. This is a request to renew an existing approved collection. This ICR is scheduled to expire on July 31, 2005. Under OMB regulations, the Agency may continue to conduct or sponsor the collection of information while this submission is pending at OMB. This ICR describes the nature of the information collection and its estimated burden and cost.

Due to adverse comments, EPA is withdrawing the direct final rule to approve clarifications to the exception provisions of the Maryland visible emissions regulations. In the direct final rule published on April 26, 2005 (70 FR 21337), we stated that if we received adverse comment by May 26, 2005, the rule would be withdrawn and not take effect. EPA subsequently received two adverse comments. EPA will address the comments received in a subsequent final action based upon the proposed action also published on April 26, 2005 (70 FR 21387). EPA will not institute a second comment period on this action.