Environmental Protection Agency July 26, 2005 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The EPA Administrator signed an order, dated June 29, 2005, denying a petition to object to State operating permits issued by the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ) for the Clean Air Commitment Project of ExxonMobil. The project consists of one Prevention of Significant Deterioration permit and ten title V permits affecting multiple fuel processing units at the ExxonMobil facilities located at the Baton Rouge Refinery in East Baton Rouge Parish and the Anchorage tank farm in West Baton Rouge Parish. Pursuant to section 505(b)(2) of the Clean Air Act (Act), the petitioners may seek judicial review of this petition response in the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Any petition must be filed within 60 days of the date this notice appears in the Federal Register, pursuant to seciton 307(d) of the Act.

In accordance with the Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation, and Liability Act, as amended (``CERCLA'', 42 U.S.C. 9601, et. seq., notice is hereby given of a proposed Agreement and Covenant Not to Sue between the United States, on behalf of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (``EPA'') and Phoenix International Terminal, LLC (``Purchaser''). The Purchaser plans to acquire approximately 140 acres of property known as the Tex Tin Corporation Superfund Site, Operable Unit Number One (``Site''), that is currently owned by the Tex Tin Site Custodial Trust. The Purchaser intends to use the property to construct support facilities for the Texas City deep- water terminal at Shoal Point, now under construction, approximately 1.5 miles from the Site. Under the Proposed Agreement, the United States grants a Covenant Not to Sue to the Purchaser with respect to existing contamination at the Site in exchange for the Purchaser's agreement to pay $1,000,000 to the Trustee of the Tex Tin Custodial Trust. The Trustee will pay any outstanding liens on the property and any other expenses required by the Custodial Trust Agreement, and pay the balance of the purchase price left after payment of Trust expenses to EPA. In addition, the Purchaser agrees to provide an irrevocable right of access to representatives of EPA. For thirty (30) days following the date of publication of this notice, the Agency will receive written comments relating to the settlement. The Agency will consider all comments received and may modify or withdraw its consent to the settlement if comments received disclose facts or considerations which indicate that the settlement is inappropriate, improper, or inadequate. The Agency's response to any comments received will be available for public inspection at 1445 Ross Avenue, Dallas, TX 75202.

The EPA, Region VII, is issuing a notice of intent to delete the Red Oak City Landfill Superfund site (site) located near Red Oak, Iowa, from the NPL and requests public comments on this notice of intent. The NPL, promulgated pursuant to section 105 of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) of 1980, as amended, is found in appendix B of 40 CFR part 300 of the National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan (NCP). The EPA and the state of Iowa through the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) have determined that all appropriate response actions under CERCLA have been completed. However, this deletion does not preclude future actions under Superfund. In the ``Rules and Regulations'' section of today's Federal Register, we are publishing a direct final notice of deletion of the Red Oak City Landfill Superfund site without prior notice of intent to delete because we view this as a noncontroversial revision and anticipate no adverse comment. We have explained our reasons for this deletion in the preamble to the direct final deletion. If we receive no adverse comment(s) on the direct final notice of deletion, we will not take further action on this notice of intent to delete. If we receive adverse comment(s), we will withdraw the direct final notice of deletion and it will not take effect. We will, as appropriate, address all public comments in a subsequent final deletion notice based on this notice of intent to delete. We will not institute a second comment period on this action. Any parties interested in commenting must do so at this time. For additional information, see the direct final notice of deletion which is located in the Rules section of this Federal Register.