Environmental Protection Agency April 11, 2006 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

EPA is proposing to allocate essential use allowances for import and production of class I stratospheric ozone depleting substances (ODSs) for calendar year 2006. Essential use allowances enable a person to obtain controlled class I ODSs as part of an exemption to the regulatory ban on the production and import of these chemicals which became effective as of 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 proposed allocations total 1,002.40 metric tons of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) for use in metered dose inhalers for 2006.

In the Federal Register of October 28, 2005, EPA issued a notice of intent to approve amended Pennsylvania and Virginia Plans for the certification of applicators of restricted use pesticides. In this notice EPA solicited comments from the public on the proposed action to approve the amended Pennsylvania and Virginia Plans. The amended Certification Plans Pennsylvania and Virginia submitted to EPA contained several statutory, regulatory, and programmatic changes to their current Certification Plans. The proposed amendments establish new commercial categories for vertebrate pest control. One public comment was received that had no specific information relevant to the issues presented; therefore, no changes were made based on this comment. EPA hereby approves the amended Pennsylvania and Virginia Plans.

The EPA Science Advisory Board (SAB) Staff Office announces a public teleconference meeting of the chartered SAB to discuss a draft SAB report, Review of Agency ``Draft Guidance on the Development, Evaluation, and Application of Regulatory Environmental Models'' and ``Models Knowledge Base'' by the Regulatory Environmental Modeling Guidance Review Panel of the EPA Science Advisory Board.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to exempt entities that import aircraft fire extinguishing spherical pressure vessels containing halon-1301 (``aircraft halon bottles'') for hydrostatic testing from the import petitioning requirements for used controlled substances. The petitioning requirements compel importers to submit detailed information to the Administrator concerning the origin of the substance at least forty working days before a shipment is to leave a foreign port of export. This action proposes to reduce the administrative burden on entities that are importing aircraft halon- 1301 bottles for the purpose of maintaining these bottles to commercial safety specifications and standards set forth in Federal Aviation Authority airworthiness directives. This action does not propose to exempt entities importing bulk quantities of halon-1301 in containers that are not being imported for purposes of hydrostatic testing. In the ``Rules and Regulations'' section of today's Federal Register, we are creating this exemption as a direct final rule without prior proposal because we view this as a noncontroversial action and anticipate no adverse comment. We have explained our reasons for this exemption in the preamble to the direct final rule. If we receive no adverse comment, we will not take further action on this proposed rule. If we receive adverse comment, we will withdraw the direct final rule and it will not take effect. We will address all public comments in a subsequent final rule based on this proposed rule. We will not institute a second comment period on this action. Any persons interested in commenting must do so at this time.

On February 1, 2006 (71 FR 5172), EPA published a direct final approval of a revision to the California State Implementation Plan (SIP). This revision concerned Yolo-Solano Air Quality Management District (YSAQMD) Rule 2.21, Organic Liquid Storage and Transfer. The direct final action was published without prior proposal because EPA anticipated no adverse comment. The direct final rule stated that if adverse comments were received by March 3, 2006, EPA would publish a timely withdrawal in the Federal Register. EPA received timely adverse comments. Consequently, with this action we are removing the direct final approval of YSAQMD rule 2.21. EPA will either address the comments in a subsequent final action based on the parallel proposal also published on February 1, 2006 (71 FR 5211), or propose an alternative action. As stated in the parallel proposal, EPA will not institute a second comment period on a subsequent final action. On February 1, 2006 (71 FR 5174), EPA also published an interim final determination to stay CAA section 179 sanctions associated with YSAQMD Rule 2.21 based on our concurrent proposal to approve the State's SIP revision as correcting deficiencies that initiated sanctions. This interim final determination and its stay of sanctions is not affected by this partial removal of the direct final action. Ventura County Air Pollution Control District Rule 74.14, the other rule approved in the February 1, 2006 direct final action, is not affected by this partial removal and is incorporated into the SIP as of the effective date of the February 1, 2006 direct final action.

EPA is taking direct final action to approve revisions to the San Joaquin Valley Unified Air Pollution Control District (SJVUAPCD) and South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) portions of the California State Implementation Plan (SIP). These revisions concern particulate matter (PM-10) emissions from open burning and volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions from gasoline storage and transfer. We are approving local rules that regulate these emission sources under the Clean Air Act as amended in 1990 (CAA or the Act).