Environmental Protection Agency 2005 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

EPA is reopening the comment period for a proposed rule published June 27, 2005 (70 FR 36901). On June 27, 2005, EPA proposed to disapprove revisions to Ohio rules that provide for use of continuous opacity monitoring data but allow more exceedances of the general opacity limit in cases where the owner of an eligible large coal fired boiler opts to use these data for determining compliance. EPA also proposed to approve other elements of Ohio's rule submittal that clarified Ohio's rules. In response to requests from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency and from the law firm of Shumaker, Loop & Kendrick, EPA is reopening the comment period through August 24, 2005. All comments received on or before August 24, 2005 will be entered into the public record and considered by EPA before taking final action on the proposed rule.

With this action, EPA is allocating essential use allowances for import and production of class I stratospheric ozone depleting substances (ODSs) for calendar year 2005. Essential use allowances enable a person to obtain controlled class I ODSs as an exemption to the regulatory ban of production and import of these chemicals, which became effective on January 1, 1996. EPA allocates essential use allowances for exempted production or import of a specific quantity of class I ODS solely for the designated essential purpose. The allocations total 1,820.48 metric tons of chlorofluorocarbons for use in metered dose inhalers.

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 a time-limited tolerance for residues of myclobutanil in or on soybeans. 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 a maximum permissible level for residues of myclobutanil in this food commodity. The tolerance will expire and is revoked on December 31, 2009.

The EPA is proposing to approve a revision to the State Implementation Plan (SIP) of the Commonwealth of Kentucky which incorporates Kentucky rule 401 KAR 52:080 into the Kentucky SIP. The Commonwealth submitted the revision on October 31, 2003. This rule affects sources whose actual emissions are less than 50 percent of the major source threshold whereas the sources' potential to emit (PTE) exceeds the major source threshold. The EPA is also notifying the public that the Agency's conditional approval of Kentucky rule 401 KAR 52:080, as submitted on March 15, 2001, and published on August 15, 2002, is disapproved as of October 15, 2003. In the Final Rules section of this Federal Register, the EPA is approving the Commonwealth's SIP revision as a direct final rule without prior proposal because the Agency views this as a noncontroversial submittal and anticipates no adverse comments. A detailed rationale for the approval is set forth in the direct final rule. If no significant, material, and adverse comments are received in response to this rule, 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 rule. The EPA will not institute a second comment period on this document. Any parties interested in commenting on this document should do so at this time.

Today, EPA is proposing actions to address the interstate transport of emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOX) and sulfur dioxide (SO2) that contribute significantly to nonattainment and maintenance problems with respect to the national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) for fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and 8-hour ozone. As one part of today's action, EPA is proposing its response to a petition submitted to EPA by the State of North Carolina under section 126 of the Clean Air Act (CAA). The petition requests that EPA find that SO2 and/or NOX emissions from electric generating units (EGUs) in 13 States are significantly contributing to PM2.5 and/or 8-hour ozone nonattainment and maintenance problems in North Carolina, and requests that EPA establish control requirements to prohibit such significant contribution. The EPA's proposed response is based on extensive analyses conducted for the recently issued Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR). The EPA is proposing to deny the petition for sources in States not shown to be linked to nonattainment and maintenance problems in North Carolina under the CAIR. For sources in States that are linked to North Carolina under the CAIR, EPA is proposing in the alternative to deny the petition if EPA promulgates Federal implementation plans (FIPs) to address the interstate transport no later than the final section 126 response or to grant the petition if EPA does not promulgate the FIPs prior to or concurrently with the section 126 response. The EPA's preferred option is to promulgate the FIP concurrently with the final section 126 response. In today's action, EPA is also proposing FIPs for all jurisdictions that are covered by the CAIR. The FIPs would regulate EGUs in the affected States and achieve the emissions reductions requirements established by the CAIR until States have approved State implementation plans (SIPs) to achieve the reductions. The EPA intends the FIP to satisfy the concerns cited in the section 126 petition and provide a Federal backstop for the CAIR. In no way should the FIP for CAIR be viewed as a sign of any concern about States meeting the SIP responsibilities under CAIR. As the control requirements for both the section 126 action and the FIP, EPA is proposing Federal NOX and SO2 trading programs that provide emissions reductions equal to those required under the CAIR in affected States. The Section 126 and FIP actions would not constrain States in their selection of control strategies to meet the CAIR. The EPA intends to withdraw section 126 or FIP requirements in a State if that State submits and EPA approves a SIP meeting the requirements of CAIR. Today's action also proposes revisions to the CAIR in order to address the interaction between the EPA-administered Federal CAIR trading programs proposed today and the EPA-administered State CAIR trading programs that will be created by any State that elects to submit a SIP establishing such a trading program to meet the requirements of the CAIR. In addition, EPA is proposing revisions to the CAIR to correct certain minor errors. Today's action also proposes revisions to the Acid Rain Program in order to make the administrative appeals procedures, which currently apply to final determinations by the Administrator under the EPA- administered State CAIR trading programs, also apply to the EPA- administered trading programs under the section 126 and FIP actions. In addition, we are proposing certain minor revisions to the Acid Rain Program that would apply to all affected units.

In accordance with section 122(i)(1) of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act, as amended (CERCLA), 42 U.S.C. 9622(i)(1), and section 7003(d) of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), 42 U.S.C. 9673(d), notice is hereby given of a proposed agreement concerning the Garvey Elevator Site (Site) located in Hastings, Nebraska, with AGP Grain Marketing, LLC (AGP) and Garvey Elevators, Inc. (Garvey). The agreement was executed by the United States Environmental Protections Agency on July 11, 2005, and concurred upon by the United States Department of Justice on August 8, 2005. The agreement would resolve certain potential CERCLA and RCRA claims against AGP Grain Marketing, LLC, and is subject to final approval after the comment period. The Site is an active grain elevator facility. The proposed agreement requires AGP Grain Marketing, LLC to pay $2,050,000.00 into an escrow account following the sale of the Site property to AGP to be used by Garvey to implement response actions at the Site. In addition, AGP will be required to provide access to the Site, refrain from any activity that would interfere with the response actions or exacerbate the existing contamination at the Site, and comply with certain use restrictions. Appendix A to the Agreement is the Escrow Agreement that details the process for EPA to approve disbursements from the Escrow Fund. The Escrow Agreement also provides for a Security Agreement to be executed by Garvey and EPA. The proposed agreement grants AGP a covenant not to sue pursuant to sections 106 and 107(a) of CERCLA, 42 U.S.C. 9606 and 9607(a), subject to certain EPA reservations of rights. This notice is also given in accordance with section 7003(d) of RCRA. The proposed agreement also includes an EPA covenant not to sue AGP pursuant to section 7003 of RCRA, 42 U.S.C. 9673. Commenters may request an opportunity for a public meeting in the affected area in accordance with section 7003(d) of RCRA, 42 U.S.C. 9673(d). For thirty (30) days following the date of publication of this notice, EPA will receive written comments relating to the proposed agreement. EPA will consider all comments received, and may withdraw or withhold its consent to the proposed agreement if such comments disclose facts or considerations which indicate the proposed settlement is inappropriate, improper or inadequate. EPA's response to any written comments received will be available for public inspection at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region VII, 901 N. 5th Street, Kansas City, KS 66101, and at a local information repository near the Site.

Pursuant to the Federal Advisory Committee Act, Public Law 92- 463, the Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Research and Development (ORD), gives notice of an Executive Committee meeting of the Board of Scientific Counselors (BOSC).

We announce the Eighth Conference on Air Quality Modeling. Such a conference is required by section three hundred twenty of the Clean Air Act (CAA) to be held every three years. The purposes of the Eighth Conference are to provide an overview of the latest features of the new air quality models and to provide a forum for public review and comment on potential revisions to the way the Agency determines and applies the appropriate air quality models in the future.

The EPA is approving revisions to the State Implementation Plan (SIP) submitted by the State of North Carolina, through the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) on December 21, 2004, for the four Early Action Compact (EAC) areas in North Carolina: the Mountain, Unifour, Triad and Fayetteville areas (the North Carolina EAC Areas). The SIP revisions meet the requirements for the North Carolina EAC Areas to attain and maintain the 8-hour ozone national ambient air quality standard (the 8-hour ozone standard) as described in the EAC Protocol and related regulations. EPA is also now approving the photochemical modeling used by North Carolina to support the attainment and maintenance demonstration of the 8-hour ozone standard in the North Carolina EAC Areas. In this action, EPA is not finalizing its proposed rulemaking to defer the effective date of the nonattainment designations for EAC areas. In a separate action, published on June 8, 2005, EPA proposed to defer the effective date of the nonattainment deferred designation for EAC areas until December 31, 2006 (69 FR 23858). EPA final action on the deferral is expected to be published before September 30, 2005.

The EPA is approving revisions to the State Implementation Plan (SIP) submitted by the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ) on December 28, 2004. The revisions will incorporate the Shreveport-Bossier City Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) Early Action Compact (EAC) Air Quality Improvement Plan (AQIP) into the Louisiana SIP. EPA is approving the photochemical modeling in support of the attainment and maintenance demonstration for the 8-hour ozone standard within the Shreveport-Bossier City EAC area and is approving the associated control measures. These actions strengthen the SIP in accordance with the requirements of sections 110 and 116 of the Federal Clean Air Act (the Act) and will result in emission reductions needed to ensure continued attainment and maintenance of the 8-hour National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) for ozone.

The Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA), as amended in 1996, requires the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to establish criteria for a program to monitor unregulated contaminants and to publish a list of contaminants to be monitored every five years. EPA published such a list for the first Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Regulation cycle (i.e., UCMR 1) and a revised approach for UCMR implementation in the Federal Register dated September 17, 1999. UCMR 1 established a three-tiered approach for monitoring contaminants based on the availability of analytical methods and laboratory capacity considerations. Today's proposed regulation meets the SDWA requirement to publish a listing of unregulated contaminants every five years. Today's action proposes the design for the second UCMR cycle. EPA is proposing to require monitoring of 26 chemicals using nine different analytical methods. UCMR 2 monitoring is proposed to occur during 2007- 2011.This proposed action builds on the established structure of UCMR 1 and proposes some changes to the rule design. The primary changes to UCMR 1 include: Redesign of the Screening Survey for List 2 contaminants to increase the statistical strength of the sampling results by incorporating additional PWSs; updates to the lists of contaminants to be monitored and the analytical methods approved to conduct that monitoring; revisions to the ``data elements'' required to be reported; and some revisions to the implementation of the monitoring program to reflect ``lessons learned'' during UCMR 1. A systematic procedure for the determination of a Minimum Reporting Level (MRL) is also being proposed. Implementation of today's proposed action would benefit the environment by providing EPA and other interested parties with scientifically valid data on the occurrence of these contaminants in drinking water, permitting the assessment of the population potentially being exposed and the levels of that exposure. These data are the primary source of occurrence and exposure data for the Agency to determine whether to regulate these contaminants.

The EPA Science Advisory Board (SAB) Staff Office announces a public teleconference of an SAB Quality Review Committee (QRC) to review and discuss the SAB Draft Advisory Report on EPA's Regional Vulnerability Assessment (ReVA) Program.

EPA is approving revisions to the Texas State Implementation Plan (SIP) submitted on July 18, 2002 and December 6, 2004. Approval will incorporate the following changes into the SIP: the Clean Air Action Plan (CAAP), a demonstration of attainment and maintenance for the 8-hour ozone national ambient air quality standard (NAAQS) in the Northeast Texas Early Action Compact (EAC) area, and the associated control measures. EPA is approving the photochemical modeling in support of the attainment demonstration for the 8-hour ozone standard within the Northeast Texas EAC area. These actions strengthen the SIP in accordance with sections 110 and 116 of the Federal Clean Air Act (CAA) and will result in emission reductions needed to help ensure attainment and maintenance of the 8-hour ozone NAAQS in Northeast Texas.

The EPA is approving a revision to the Texas State Implementation Plan (SIP) to incorporate the Texas Emission Reduction Plan (TERP) into the Texas SIP. The TERP is utilized in each of the nonattainment areas and near nonattainment areas in the State to achieve reductions in the emissions of oxides of nitrogen from on-road and non-road mobile sources. This action will allow the State to capture credit from those reductions and use them in attainment demonstrations for these areas.

On May 17, 2005, EPA published a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPR) to propose approval of Colorado's Early Action Compact (EAC) ozone plan for the Denver metropolitan area (hereafter, Denver area) for the 8-hour ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS). In that NPR, EPA proposed to approve the Denver area's EAC ozone plan, an attainment demonstration for the 8-hour ozone NAAQS, revisions to Colorado's Common Provisions Regulation, revisions to Colorado's Regulation No. 7 ``Emissions of Volatile Organic Compounds'' (hereafter, Regulation No. 7), and revisions to Colorado's Regulation No. 11 ``Motor Vehicle Emissions Inspection Program'' (hereafter Regulation No. 11). In this action, EPA is approving the Denver EAC ozone plan, the associated attainment demonstration, and the revisions to the Common Provisions Regulation, Regulation No. 7, and Regulation No. 11. This action is being taken under section 110 of the Clean Air Act.

EPA proposes to approve the sections 111(d) and 129 negative declaration submitted by the Maine Department of Environmental Protection (MEDEP) on May 2, 2005. This negative declaration adequately certifies that there are no existing hospital/medical/infectious waste incinerators (HMIWIs) located within the boundaries of the state of Maine.

In accordance with section 122(i) of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act, as amended (``CERCLA''), 42 U.S.C. 9622(i), notice is hereby given of a proposed administrative settlement for recovery of past response costs concerning the U.S. Cap and Jacket Superfund Site in Prospect, Connecticut with the following settling party: Axsys Technologies, Inc. The settlement requires the settling party to pay $175,000.00 to the Hazardous Substance Superfund. The settlement includes a covenant not to sue the settling party pursuant to section 107(a) of CERCLA, 42 U.S.C. 9607(a). 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 One Congress Street, Boston, MA 022142023.

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 October 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.

EPA expressed environmental concerns about impacts to water quality and forest habitat as well as on the loss of dedicated old growth and net loss of Late and Old Structure habitat. EPA supports the identified prioritization of road restoration efforts proposed for acquired lands, but is concerned about uncertain funding to implement restoration efforts. Rating EC2.

Notice of availability for a 40 day review and comment period is hereby given for two revised data standards(1) Chemical Identification Data Standard, and (2) Latitude/Longitude Data Standard. The Chemical Identification Data Standard provides for the use of common identifiers for chemical substances regulated or monitored by environmental programs. The major revision to this standard is the inclusion of optional data element 2.15 ``Chemical Preferred Acronym Name.'' Use of the data element is not mandatory. The Latitude/Longitude Data Standard is a set of data elements that can be used for recording horizontal and vertical coordinates and associated metadata that define a point on the earth. The major revision to this standard is a reformatting which includes all permitted value lists in appendices and the addition of more specific permitted values to data element 1.7 ``Reference Point Code'' and 1.8 ``Reference Point Name.'' The use of the more specific permitted values is not mandatory.

This notice announces that EPA and the State Department are hosting a meeting for stakeholders to inform the development of the U.S. Government's viewpoints for the upcoming 3\rd\ Preparatory Committee (PrepComm 3) meeting on the Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management (SAICM) and a number of updates to the inter-sessional working documents. Comments are being sought to help provide guidance to U.S. Government Agencies as to how they should work with other countries to develop a SAICM that promotes the sound management of chemicals while facilitating the movement of chemicals and their products across borders without compromising human health or the environment. There are several updates to the inter-sessional working documents that will serve as a basis for the structural development of a SAICM. This meeting will serve as an opportunity for stakeholders to share their views on these documents before they are finalized at the third and final session of the PrepComm on SAICM in the third week of September 2005.

Under section 4 of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), EPA issued a testing consent order that incorporates an enforceable consent agreement (ECA) regarding dimethyl succinate (DMS, Chemical Abstract Service (CAS) No. 106-65-0), dimethyl glutarate (DMG, CAS No. 1119-40-0), and dimethyl adipate (DMA, CAS No. 627-93-0) known collectively as Dibasic Esters (DBEs). The companies subject to this ECA agreed to conduct toxicity testing that was intended to satisfy certain toxicological data needs identified by EPA and the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). The results of this testing can be used to develop a more complete toxicological profile of DBEs and to assess certain potential human health risks posed by DBEs present in certain industrial and consumer products, including paint stripper formulations. This notice announces that EPA has initiated the program review component of the DBEs ECA testing program and solicits public comment on the need for a third, and final, phase of testing involving in vivo dermal penetration rate testing. Comments will be considered in EPA's decision on whether or not to proceed with the third phase of testing under the ECA.

In accordance with section 6(f)(1) of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), as amended, EPA is issuing a notice of receipt of requests by registrants to amend their registrations to terminate certain uses of end-use products containing the pesticide azinphos-methyl. The requests would terminate azinphos- methyl use in or on caneberries, cotton, cranberries, peaches/ nectarines, potatoes, and Southern pine seed orchards. EPA intends to grant these requests at the close of the comment period for this notice unless, based on substantive comments received during the comment period or other relevant information, the Agency determines that the requests merit further review. Upon granting these requests, any sale, distribution, or use of products listed in this notice will be permitted only if such sale, distribution, or use is consistent with the terms as described in the final order. A companion notice, announcing the order to amend registrations of azinphos-methyl manufacturing-use products to terminate these same uses, is published elsewhere in this Federal Register. The existing stocks provision proposed in this notice for end-use products reflects and is compatible with the modified schedule for terminating uses on the manufacturing- use products.

EPA is taking final action to approve a revision to the Commonwealth of Virginia State Implementation Plan (SIP). This revision consists of an Early Action Compact (EAC) Plan that will enable the Northern Shenandoah Valley Ozone EAC Area to demonstrate attainment and maintenance of the 8-hour ozone national ambient air quality (NAAQS) standard. This action is being taken under the Clean Air Act (CAA or Act).