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

In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), this document announces that the Environmental Protection Agency (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.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is announcing the availability of the Tribal Drinking Water Operator Certification Program (Program) Final Guidelines. EPA established the Program to further protect public health by providing operators of drinking water systems in Indian country additional training and certification opportunities for community and non-transient non-community drinking water systems. The Program guidelines establish baseline standards for non-State organizations certifying operators of systems in Indian county and outline a consistent method of assessing, tracking, and addressing the certification and training needs of those operators.

EPA is proposing to approve a revision to the Maryland State Implementation Plan (SIP). The revision repeals Maryland's Nitrogen Oxides (NOX) Budget Program under COMAR 26.11.27 and 26.11.28. This program implemented Maryland's portion of the Ozone Transport Commission (OTC) regional cap and trade program to significantly reduce transport of ozone in 12 northeastern states and the District of Columbia (DC), an area known as the Ozone Transport Region (OTR). Maryland's OTC NOX Budget Program has been superseded by its more stringent, federally-approved NOX Reduction and Trading Program which satisfies the NOX SIP Call. This action is in accordance with the Clean Air Act.

EPA expressed environmental concerns about cumulative impacts to air and water quality as a result of prescribed fire, mechanical harvesting, and road construction, and requested the final EIS include additional information on monitoring and maintenance of the desired conditions. Rating EC2.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 2 is issuing this notice of intent to delete the North Sea Municipal Landfill Superfund Site (Site), located in Southampton, New York from the National Priorities List (NPL) and requests public comment on this action. The NPL is Appendix B of the National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan (NCP), 40 CFR part 300, which EPA promulgated pursuant to Section 105 of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) of 1980, as amended. The EPA and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, have determined that responsible parties have implemented all appropriate response actions required. In the ``Rules and Regulations'' Section of today's Federal Register, we are publishing a direct final deletion of the North Sea Municipal Landfill Superfund Site without prior notice of this action because we view this as a noncontroversial revision and anticipate no significant adverse comment. We have explained our reasons for this deletion in the preamble to the direct final deletion. If we receive no significant adverse comment(s) on this notice of intent to delete or the direct final notice of deletion, we will not take further action on this notice of intent to delete. If we receive significant 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. If, after evaluating public comments, EPA decides to proceed with deletion, we will do so in a subsequent final deletion notice based on this notice of intent to delete. We will not institute a second comment period on this notice of intent to delete. 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.

On July 30, 2004, EPA promulgated national emission standards for hazardous air pollutants (NESHAP) for the plywood and composite wood products (PCWP) source category. Stakeholders expressed concern with some of the final rule requirements, including definitions; the emissions testing procedures required for facilities demonstrating eligibility for the low-risk subcategory; stack height calculations to be used in low-risk subcategory eligibility demonstrations; and permitting and timing issues associated with the low-risk subcategory eligibility demonstrations. In this action, EPA proposes amendments to the final PCWP NESHAP to address these issues and to correct any other inconsistencies that were discovered during the review process. This action also clarifies some common applicability questions. We are seeking comment on the provisions of the final PCWP rule outlined in this action. We are not requesting comments addressing other provisions of the final PCWP rule.

On June 22, 2005 (70 FR 36167), EPA's Office of Environmental Justice announced a solicitation for public comment on the draft: (1) ``Framework for Integrating Environmental Justice;'' and (2) ``Environmental Justice Strategic Plan Outline,'' which includes proposed Environmental Justice Priorities (``EJ Priorities''). The Framework for Integrating Environmental Justice will be the foundation for the Environmental Justice Strategic Plan for FY2006-2011. The Environmental Justice Strategic Plan Outline identifies the anticipated structure of the EJ Strategic Plan. EPA is drafting the Environmental Justice Strategic Plan to integrate its environmental justice efforts more fully into the Agency's existing programs and operations, including its 5-year planning and budgeting processes. This supplemental notice announces an extension to the public comment period.

In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act, 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 August 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.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is announcing a 30-day public comment period for the external review draft document titled, ``Approaches for the Application of Physiologically-Based Pharmacokinetic (PBPK) Models and Supporting Data in Risk Assessment'' (EPA/600/R-05/043A). The draft document was prepared by the EPA's National Center for Environmental Assessment (NCEA) within EPA's Office of Research and Development (ORD). EPA also anticipates that Versar, Inc., an EPA contractor for external scientific peer review, will convene a panel of experts and organize and conduct an external peer-review workshop. This workshop will be announced in a separate Federal Register notice, once EPA is notified by Versar, Inc., of the date and location for the workshop. The public comment period and the external peer-review workshop are separate processes that provide opportunities for all interested parties to comment on the document.

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.

The EPA Science Advisory Board (SAB) Staff Office announces two public teleconferences of the SAB Superfund Benefits Analysis Advisory Panel.

This regulation establishes a tolerance for combined residues of pinoxaden in or on barley and wheat. Syngenta Crop Protection, Inc., requested this tolerance under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA), as amended by the Food Quality Protection Act of 1996 (FQPA).

This regulation establishes a tolerance for residues of 2,4- dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) in or on hop, soybean, and wild rice . Interregional Research Project Number 4 (IR-4) and the Industry Task Force II on 2,4-D Research Data (Task Force) and its registrant members and affiliates on behalf of IR-4 requested this tolerance under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA), as amended by the Food Quality Protection Act of 1996 (FQPA).

This notice announces receipt of applications to register pesticide products containing new active ingredients not included in any previously registered products pursuant to the provisions of section 3(c)(4) of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), as amended.

This notice announces the initial filing of a pesticide petition proposing the establishment of regulations for residues of a certain pesticide chemical in or on various food commodities.

This document proposes to revoke, under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA) section 408(e)(1), all existing tolerances for residues of the insecticide/acaricide cyhexatin because they do not meet requirements of FFDCA section 408(b)(2). EPA canceled food use registrations for cyhexatin in 1989. Currently, EPA determined that acute dietary risks from use of cyhexatin on commodities for which import tolerances exist exceed the Agency's level of concern. However, EPA also determined that if the only cyhexatin tolerance is for orange juice, there is a reasonable certainty that no harm to any population subgroup will result from exposure to cyhexatin treated oranges. Because manufacturers support a cyhexatin tolerance on orange juice for purposes of importation and the Agency has made a determination of safety for such a tolerance, EPA is also proposing that, concurrent with the revocation of the citrus fruit group tolerance, an individual time-limited tolerance be established for orange juice. The regulatory actions proposed in this document contribute toward the Agency's tolerance reassessment requirements under FFDCA section 408(q), as amended by the Food Quality Protection Act (FQPA) of 1996. By law, EPA is required by August 2006 to reassess the tolerances that were in existence on August 2, 1996. The regulatory actions proposed in this document pertain to the proposed revocation of 41 tolerances which would be counted as tolerance reassessments toward the August 2006 review deadline.

This notice announces the initial filing of a pesticide petition proposing the establishment of regulations for residues of a certain pesticide chemical in or on various food commodities.

This regulation establishes time-limited tolerances for combined residues of propiconazole 1-[[2-2,4-dichlorophenyl)-4-propyl- 1,3-dioxolan-2-yl]methyl]-1H-1,2,4-triazole and its metabolites determined as 2,4-dichlorobenzoic acid and expressed as parent in or on soybean, soybean forage, and soybean hay. This action is in response to EPA's granting of an emergency exemption under section 18 of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) authorizing use of the pesticide on soybeans. This regulation establishes maximum permissible levels for residues of propiconazole in these food commodities. The tolerances will expire and are revoked on December 31, 2009.

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.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA or Agency) Science Advisory Board (SAB) Staff Office announces a public teleconference of the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC) Particulate Matter (PM) Review Panel (Panel) to review the EPA staff recommendations concerning a potential thoracic coarse PM standard in the final PM Staff Paper.

On July 9, 2002, the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) submitted a request that EPA approve a revision to its process weight rate rule into the Indiana State Implementation Plan (SIP). The revision clarifies rule applicability, corrects incorrect weights presented in the process weight rate table included in the rule, allows certain sources to demonstrate compliance with the rule by adopting and substituting work standard practices, clarifies the definitions of particulate and particulate matter, and reduces duplicative recordkeeping requirements contained in the rule. EPA is approving the State's request.

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is granting a petition submitted by Bayer Material Science LLC (Bayer) to exclude (or delist) a certain liquid waste generated by its Baytown, TX plant from the lists of hazardous wastes. This final rule responds to the petition submitted by Bayer to delist K027, K104, K111, and K112 treated effluent generated from the facility's waste water treatment plant. After careful analysis and use of the Delisting Risk Assessment Software (DRAS) EPA has concluded the petitioned waste is not hazardous waste. This exclusion applies to 18,071,150 cubic yards (5.745 billion gallons) per year of the Outfall 007 Treated Effluent. Accordingly, this final rule excludes the petitioned waste from the requirements of hazardous waste regulations under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) when discharged in accordance with the facility's TPDES permit.

EPA expressed environmental concerns with potential adverse impacts from increased access to the top of the plateau, to Colorado Cutthroat from sedimentation from new roads, fragmentation of critical winter habitat for mule deer, and reduction of areas with wilderness characteristics, and recommended that the Final EIS include mitigation measures identified in the analysis to reduce these impacts. Rating EC2.