Environmental Protection Agency December 22, 2006 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

EPA is taking direct final action on amendments to the National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants: Surface Coating of Automobiles and Light-Duty Trucks (Automobiles and Light- Duty Trucks NESHAP) which were promulgated on April 26, 2004, under the authority of section 112(d) of the Clean Air Act. The direct final rule amendments provide the option of including surface coating of heavier motor vehicles under this rule. This action also makes direct final rule amendments to the National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants for Surface Coating of Miscellaneous Metal Parts and Products (Miscellaneous Metal Parts NESHAP) and the National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants for Surface Coating of Plastic Parts and Products (Plastic Parts NESHAP) to maintain consistency between these rules and the Automobiles and Light-Duty Trucks NESHAP.

The State of Colorado has submitted to EPA several statutory, regulatory, and programmatic amendments to its State Plan for Certification and Training of Applicators of Restricted Use Pesticides (RUPs). The amended State Plan provides details for the certification of both private and commercial pesticide applicators and subsequent enforcement of pesticide laws and regulations pursuant to the Colorado Pesticide Applicators' Act. EPA is currently responsible for certifying private applicators of RUPs in Colorado, while the Colorado Department of Agriculture is responsible for certifying commercial applicators of RUPs. EPA approval of Colorado's amended State Plan will allow Colorado to assume regulatory authority for certification of both private and commercial applicators of RUPs. In addition, the amended State Plan adds three new commercial pesticide applicator subcategories: Metam- sodium for sewer root control; wood preservation and wood products treatment; and interior plant pest control. Notice is hereby given of the intention of the Regional Administrator, Region VIII, to approve the revised Plan for the Certification of Applicators of Restricted Use Pesticides on a contingency basis, as provided at 40 CFR 171.7(b)(1)(ii). Approval of the amended State Plan is contingent upon the promulgation of revised State Rules and Regulations pertaining to the Administration and Enforcement of the Colorado Pesticide Applicators' Act on January 1, 2007. EPA is soliciting comments on the proposed amendments.

EPA expressed environmental concern about air quality, noise, and visual impacts, and requested additional mitigation measures to reduce the above impacts.

EPA is announcing that the Oak Ridge Institute of Science and Education (ORISE), under an Interagency agreement between the Department of Energy and EPA, will convene an independent panel of experts and organize and conduct an external peer-review workshop to review the external review draft documents titled, ``Toxicological Review of TetraBDE (BDE-47): In Support of Summary Information in the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS)'' (NCEA-S-2537); ``Toxicological Review of PentaBDE (BDE-99): In Support of Summary Information in the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS)'' (NCEA-S- 2538); ``Toxicological Review of HexaBDE (BDE-153): In Support of Summary Information in the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS)'' (NCEA-S-2539); and ``Toxicological Review of DecaBDE (BDE-209): In Support of Summary Information in the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS)'' (NCEA-S-2540). The EPA also is announcing a public comment period for the external review draft documents. 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 addition to consideration by EPA, all public comments submitted in accordance with this notice will also be forwarded to ORISE for consideration by the external peer- review panel prior to the workshop. EPA is releasing these draft documents solely for the purpose of pre-dissemination peer review under applicable information quality guidelines. These documents have not been formally disseminated by EPA. They do not represent and should not be construed to represent any Agency policy or determination. ORISE invites the public to register to attend this workshop as observers. In addition, ORISE invites the public to give brief oral comments at the workshop regarding the draft documents under review. The draft documents and EPA's peer-review charge are available via the Internet on NCEA's home page under the Recent Additions and the Publications menus at https://www.epa.gov/ncea. When finalizing the draft documents, EPA will consider ORISE's report of the comments and recommendations from the external peer-review workshop and any public comments that EPA receives in accordance with this notice.

This notice announces EPA's decision to maintain the annual reporting requirement for the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI). This announcement is being made in follow-up to an October 4, 2005, Federal Register notice that stated that EPA intended to explore potential approaches for modifying the TRI reporting frequency (70 FR 57871). The Agency has decided not to pursue any changes in the TRI reporting frequency.

EPA is approving a revision to the Ohio State Implementation Plan (SIP) submitted by Ohio on April 11, 2005 to rescind a rule which affected stationary combustion sources located within Priority I regions of the State and new sources regardless of location. The rule revision we are approving here also applies to nitric acid manufacture. We are taking this action at the request of the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (Ohio EPA) because this rule is no longer the limiting regulation for any oxides of nitrogen (NOX) emission units in the State. The rule was originally approved by EPA over 30 years ago and since then has been superseded by a number of more stringent State and Federal regulations. The Ohio NOX SIP call rules and Federal emission standards for utility and industrial units all have greater potential for reducing emissions of NOX and improving human health than does the State's rescinded rule.

In this action, EPA proposes a Federal Plan to implement Clean Air Act (CAA) section 111 mercury (Hg) standards of performance for new and existing coal-fired electric utility steam generating units (Utility Unit or EGU) located in States or Indian Country covered by the Clean Air Mercury Rule (CAMR) which do not have EPA approved and currently effective State plans. The EPA will not take final action on the proposed Federal Plan until EPA either finds that a State has failed to timely submit a plan or disapproves a submitted plan. Any final Federal Plan is expected to serve primarily to temporarily fill a regulatory gap in circumstances where either a State fails to timely submit a plan or EPA disapproves a submitted plan as, in either case, States will be free to submit an approvable plan after promulgation of the Federal Plan and upon approval of the State Plan by EPA, the Federal Plan will no longer apply to coal-fired Utility Units covered by the State Plan. This action also proposes certain revisions to both the CAMR State Plan model cap-and-trade rule (in order to make it compatible with the Federal Plan cap-and-trade rule and to make technical corrections) and the Acid Rain Program regulations (in order to simplify the provision concerning alternate designated representatives and to make the administrative appeals process applicable to the decisions of the Administrator under the State Plan and Federal Plan cap-and-trade rules).