Environmental Protection Agency May 2006 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This notice announces the initial filing of a pesticide petition proposing the establishment of regulations for residues of cymoxanil in or on grapes and hops.

This notice announces the initial filing of a pesticide petition proposing the establishment of regulations for residues of pirimiphos-methyl in or on Sunflower Seeds.

This notice announces the initial filing of a pesticide petition proposing the establishment of regulations for residues of zeta cypermethrin in or on turnip greens and cilantro.

In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), this document announces that an Information Collection Request (ICF) 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. The ICR, which is abstracted below, describes the nature of the information collection and its estimated burden and cost.

Virginia has applied to EPA for final authorization of revisions to its hazardous waste program under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). EPA has determined that these revisions satisfy all requirements needed to qualify for final authorization and is authorizing Virginia's revisions through this immediate final action. EPA is publishing this rule to authorize the revisions without a prior proposal because we believe this action is not controversial and do not expect comments that oppose it. Unless we receive written comments that oppose this authorization during the comment period, the decision to authorize Virginia's revisions to its hazardous waste program will take effect. If we receive comments that oppose this action, we will publish a document in the Federal Register withdrawing the relevant amendments, section or paragraph of this rule before they take effect and a separate document in the proposed rules section of this Federal Register will serve as a proposal to authorize revisions to Virginia's program that were the subject of adverse comments.

EPA proposes to approve a revised attainment plan for the Las Vegas Valley carbon monoxide nonattainment area on the condition that Clark County and the State of Nevada withdraw the 2030 motor vehicle emission budget, or, in the alternative, to disapprove the plan. This plan has been submitted to the Agency by the State of Nevada as a revision to the Nevada state implementation plan. The revised attainment plan includes revised base year and future year emissions inventories and a revised demonstration of continued attainment of the carbon monoxide national ambient air quality standard in Las Vegas Valley through 2030 based on the most recent emissions models and planning assumptions and establishes new motor vehicle emissions budgets. EPA is proposing this action under section 110(k) of the Clean Air Act, which obligates the Agency to take action on State submittals of revisions to state implementation plans. The intended effect of this proposed approval action is to update the carbon monoxide motor vehicle emissions budgets in the Las Vegas area and thereby make them available for the purposes of transportation conformity, and the intended effect of this proposed disapproval action is to retain the previously- approved budgets.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to approve a State Implementation Plan (SIP) revision submitted by the State of New Jersey. This revision will establish an updated ten-year carbon monoxide (CO) maintenance plan for the Nine Not-Classified Areas in the State (the City of Atlantic City, the City of Burlington, the Borough of Freehold, the Town of Morristown, the Borough of Penns Grove, the City of Perth Amboy, the Borough of Somerville, the Toms River Area, and the City of Trenton) and Camden County. In addition, this document proposes to approve revisions to the CO, NOX, VOC, and PM2.5 motor vehicle emissions budgets for Northern New Jersey. Finally, this document also proposes to approve revisions to the general conformity budget for McGuire Air Force Base and the 2002 base year emissions inventory. The Nine Not Classified Areas and Camden County were redesignated to attainment of the CO National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) on February 5, 1996 and maintenance plans were also approved at that time. By this action, EPA is proposing to approve the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection's (New Jersey) second maintenance plans for these areas because they provide for continued attainment for an additional ten years of the CO NAAQS.

In the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (Energy Policy Act), Congress amended section 211(k) of the Clean Air Act (CAA) to remove the oxygen content requirement for reformulated gasoline (RFG). On February 22, 2006, EPA published a direct final rule to amend regulations to remove the oxygen content standard and associated compliance requirements from the RFG regulations. We stated in the direct final rule that if EPA received adverse comment, we would publish a timely withdrawal of the provisions on which we received adverse comment and address the adverse comments in a subsequent final rule based on a parallel notice of proposed rulemaking also published on February 22, 2006. We received adverse comment on the amendments to remove the oxygen content standard in the direct final rule. As a result, in a separate action we are withdrawing those amendments from the direct final rule. This final action addresses the adverse comments we received and finalizes the removal of the oxygen content standard and associated compliance requirements from the RFG regulations.

EPA proposes to approve the State Implementation Plan (SIP) revision submitted by the State of Maryland for the purpose of amending the regulations pertaining to Stage II Vapor Recovery at Gasoline Dispensing Facilities. In the Final Rules section of this Federal Register, EPA is approving the State's SIP submittal 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 adverse comments are received in response to this action, 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 proposed rule. EPA will not institute a second comment period. Any parties interested in commenting on this action should do so at this time.

EPA supports the goals described in preferred alternative which strives to balance resource protection with active management of commodity resources. However, EPA expressed environmental concerns about water quality impacts, and requested more information about how source water could be protected and recommended including additional discussion on protecting air quality related to prescribed burning.

Pursuant to Clean Air Act Section 505(b)(2) and 40 CFR 70.8(d), the EPA Administrator signed an order, dated March 15, 2006, denying two (2) petitions to object to state operating permit amendments issued by the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (EPD) to Georgia Power Company for the following facilities: Bowen Steam-Electric Generating Plant located in Cartersville, Bartow County, Georgia; Branch Steam-Electric Generating Plant located in Milledgeville, Putnam County, Georgia; Hammond Steam-Electric Generating Plant located in Coosa, Floyd County, Georgia; McDonough/ Atkinson Steam-Electric Generating Plant located in Smyrna, Cobb County, Georgia; Scherer Steam-Electric Generating Plant located in Juliette, Monroe County, Georgia; Wansley Steam-Electric Generating Plant located in Roopville, Heard County, Georgia; and Yates Steam- Electric Generating Plant located in Newnan, Coweta County, Georgia. This order constitutes final action on two (2) petitions submitted by the Georgia Center for Law in the Public Interest (GCLPI) on behalf of the Sierra Club, Georgia Forest Watch, and Colleen Kiernan and the Sierra Club and Georgia Public Interest Research Group, respectively. Pursuant to section 505(b)(2) of the Clean Air Act (the Act) any person may seek judicial review in the United States Court of Appeals for the appropriate circuit within 60 days of this notice under section 307 of the Act.

In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) (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. The ICR which is abstracted below describes the nature of the information collection and its estimated burden and cost.

EPA is announcing that Eastern Research Group, Inc., an EPA contractor for external scientific peer review, plans to convene an independent panel of experts and organize and conduct an external peer- review workshop to review the external review draft document titled, ``Considerations for Developing Alternative Health Risk Assessment Approaches for Addressing Multiple Chemicals, Exposures and Effects; External Review Draft'' (EPA/600/R-06/013A). The draft document was prepared by the National Center for Environmental Assessment (NCEA) within EPA's Office of Research and Development. The external peer-review workshop provides an opportunity for all interested parties to comment on the document. EPA is releasing this draft document solely for the purpose of pre-dissemination peer review under applicable information quality guidelines. This document has not been formally disseminated by EPA. It does not represent and should not be construed to represent any Agency policy or determination. Eastern Research Group, Inc. invites the public to register to attend this workshop as observers. In addition, Eastern Research Group, Inc. invites the public to give oral and/or provide written comments at the workshop regarding the draft document under review. The draft document and EPA's peer-review charge are available primarily via the Internet on NCEA's home page under the Recent Additions and the Data and Publications menus at https://www.epa.gov/ncea. On March 31, 2006, EPA announced a 45-day public comment period on the draft document (71 FR 16306). In preparing a final report, EPA will consider public comments it received during the public comment period and will consider the Eastern Research Group, Inc. report of the comments and recommendations from the external peer-review workshop.

This document makes a minor correction to the regulatory language for the proposed rule entitled ``Treatment of Data Influenced by Exceptional Events.'' The proposed rule was initially published in the Federal Register on March 10, 2006.

In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) (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. The ICR, which is abstracted below, describes the nature of the information collection and its estimated burden and cost.

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 April 30, 2006. 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's (EPA) Science Advisory Board (SAB) Staff Office is soliciting nominations for consideration of membership on EPA's Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC), the Advisory Council on Clean Air Compliance Analysis (Council), the chartered Science Advisory Board (SAB or Board), and SAB Standing Committees.

This notice announces EPA's order for the cancellations voluntarily requested by the registrant and accepted by the Agency, of products containing the pesticide amitraz, pursuant to section 6(f)(1) of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), as amended. This cancellation order follows a March 17, 2004 Federal Register Notice of Receipt of Requests from the amitraz registrant to voluntarily cancel all uses of its Ovasyn Insecticide/Miticide and Mitac W Insecticide product registrations. These are not the last amitraz products registered for use in the United States, but are the last amitraz products for the use sites of cotton and pears. In the March 17, 2004 Notice, EPA indicated that it would issue an order implementing the cancellations, unless the Agency received substantive comments within the 30 day comment period that would merit its further review of these requests, or unless the registrant withdrew its requests within this period. The Agency received no comments regarding the cancellation of Ovasyn Insecticide/Miticide and Mitac W Insecticide. Further, the registrant did not withdraw its requests. Accordingly, EPA hereby issues in this notice a cancellation order granting the requested cancellations. Any distribution, sale, or use of the amitraz products subject to this cancellation order is permitted only in accordance with the terms of this order, including any existing stocks provisions.

This notice announces the initial filing of pesticide petitions proposing the establishment of regulations for the residues of bifenazate (1-methylethyl 2-(4-methoxy [1,1'-biphenyl]-3- yl)hydrazinecarboxylate) and diazinecarboxylic acid, 2-(4-methoxy- [1,1'-biphenyl]-3-yl), 1-methylethyl ester (expressed as bifenazate) in or on fruit , stone (Group 12); pea (garden and edible podded); and vegetable, tuberous and corm (Subgroup 1C); and .proposes to amend 40 CFR 180.572 by deleting the existing peach and nectarine tolerances since they are included in the fruit, stone (Group 12) tolerance.

This notice announces that pesticide related information submitted to EPA's Office of Pesticide Programs (OPP) pursuant to the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) and the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA), including information that may have been claimed as Confidential Business Information (CBI) by the submitter, will be tranferred to Geologics in accordance with 40 CFR 2.307(h)(3) and 2.308(i)(2). Geologics has been awarded multiple contracts to perform work for OPP, and access to this information will enable Geologics to fulfill the obligations of the contract.

This regulation establishes tolerances for indirect or inadvertent residues of glufosinate ammonium and its metabolite in or on raw agricultural commodities. Bayer CropScience 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 tolerances for residues of fomesafen in or on dry bean, snap bean and cotton. Interregional Research Project No. 4 (IR-4), and Syngenta Crop Protection 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 increases the tolerance for residues of boscalid, 3-pyridinecarboxamide, 2-chloro-N-(4'-chloro [1,1'-biphenyl]- 2-yl) in or on strawberry; and decreases indirect or inadvertant tolerances on beet, garden, roots; beet, sugar, roots; radish, roots; turnip, roots; and vegetable, root and tuber, leaves, Group 2. BASF requested these revised tolerances under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA), as amended by the Food Quality Protection Act (FQPA) of 1996.

This document proposes under section 408(e)(1) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA) to revoke the existing exemptions from the requirement of a tolerance for residues of certain inert ingredients because there are insufficient data to make the determination of safety required by FFDCA section 408(b)(2), or because they are redundant and, therefore, are not necessary. In addition, EPA has identified substances within certain of these tolerance exemptions that meet the definition of low-risk polymers and is proposing to establish new tolerance exemptions for them. The revocation actions proposed in this document contribute towards 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 129 tolerance exemptions which would be counted as tolerance reassessment toward the August 2006 review deadline.