Environmental Protection Agency 2006 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

EPA proposes to approve an amendment to the State of Delaware's operating permit program to correct the definition of ``a major source.'' This amendment would change the definition of ``a major source'' by removing the phrase ``but only with respect to those air pollutants that have been regulated for that category'' from the Regulation No. 30 (Title V) definition of a major source, as it applies to these Federal standards. This would require all fugitive emissions to be included in major source determination for sources subject to Federal New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) or the National Emissions Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants standards (NESHAPs), not just the pollutants regulated by the particular NSPS or NESHAP. This amendment is necessary to make the current definition as stringent as the corresponding provision of the Title V regulations, which went into effect on November 27, 2001. This change will make this aspect of Regulation No. 30 consistent with Federal rule. In the Final Rules section of this Federal Register, EPA is approving the State's amendment to its operating permit program 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 If EPA receives adverse comments, the direct final rule will be withdrawn and all public comments received will be addressed in a subsequent final rule based on this proposed rule. The EPA will not institute a second comment period. Any parties interested in commenting on this action should do so at this time.

EPA issued a final rule in the Federal Register of September 6, 2006, concerning establishing tolerances for residues of paraquat dichloride in or on various food and feed commodities. This document is being issued to correct typographical errors.

EPA is promulgating amendments to the National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) for Industrial, Commercial, and Institutional Boilers and Process Heaters. After promulgation of this final rule, the Administrator received petitions for reconsideration of certain provisions in the final rule. Subsequently, EPA published a notice of the reconsideration and requested public comment on proposed amendments to the NESHAP. After evaluating public comments, we are adopting each of the amendments that we proposed.

This rule excepts from the definitions of ``pesticide chemical'' and ``pesticide chemical residue'' under FFDCA section 201(q), food packaging (e.g. paper and paperboard, coatings, adhesives, and polymers) that is treated with a pesticide as defined in the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) section 2(u). As a result, such ingredients in food packaging treated with a pesticide are exempt from regulation under FFDCA section 408 as pesticide chemical residues. Further, a food that bears or contains such ingredients are not subject to enforcement by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) under section 402(a)(2) (B) of the FFDCA since the ingredients are not pesticide chemical residues. Instead, such ingredients are subject to regulation by the FDA as food additives under FFDCA section 409. FDA generally regulates such food additives in food packaging as food contact substances under FFDCA, section 409(h). This rule expands the scope of the provision in 40 CFR 180.4 which currently applies only to food packaging impregnated with an insect repellent - one type of pesticide. This rule, as with the rule it amends, only applies to the food packaging materials themselves; it does not otherwise limit EPA's FFDCA jurisdiction over pesticides or limit FDA's jurisdiction over substances subject to FDA regulation as food additives. EPA, in consultation with FDA, believes this rule will eliminate the duplicative FFDCA jurisdiction and economize Federal government resources while continuing to protect human health and the environment. Under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), EPA still regulates the food packaging as an inert ingredient of the pesticide product and still regulates the pesticide active ingredient in the treated food packaging under both FIFRA and the FFDCA.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is requesting applications for essential use allowances for calendar years 2008 and 2009. Essential use allowances provide exemptions from the production and import phaseout of ozone-depleting substances (ODSs) and must be authorized by the Parties to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer (the Protocol). The U.S. Government will use the applications received in response to this notice as the basis for its nomination of essential use allowances at the Nineteenth Meeting of the Parties to the Protocol, to be held in 2007.

EPA proposes to approve the State Implementation Plan (SIP) and operating permits program revision submitted by the State of Missouri to update the ambient air quality standards, sampling methods, definitions, and common reference methods and tables. The update also includes references to implement the 8-hour ozone and PM2.5 National Ambient Air Quality Standards that were finalized on July 18, 1997.

EPA is approving a State Implementation Plan (SIP) revision submitted by the state of Missouri for the inclusion of revisions to the Construction Permit Exemptions rule. The Construction Permit Exemptions rule lists specific construction or modification projects that are not required to obtain permits under the Construction Permits Required rule. Revisions to this rule include updating the insignificance levels, adding a new exemption for manufacturing operations (which produce insignificant emissions), clarifying the grain handling facilities exemption, and restructuring of the record keeping portion of the rule. Missouri developed the revisions to this rule under two separate state rulemaking processes.

EPA is approving a State Implementation Plan (SIP) revision submitted by the State of Missouri. This revision pertains to Grossman Iron and Steel Company's Source Registration Permit, number SR00.045A. This permit, issued by the City of St. Louis, will control particulate matter (PM10) emissions from Grossman Iron and Steel Company. This approval will make the permit Federally enforceable.

The Environmental Protection Agency, Region 8 (EPA) announces the deletion of portions of the Ellsworth Air Force Base (AFB) Site located in Meade and Pennington Counties, South Dakota, from the National Priorities List (NPL). All areas originally proposed for deletion under the Notice of Intent to Partially Delete published in the Federal Register on June 28, 2006 (71 FR 36736) are being deleted. The NPL constitutes Appendix B to the National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan, 40 CFR Part 300, which EPA promulgated pursuant to Section 105 of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA). EPA has determined, with the concurrence of the State of South Dakota through the Department of Environment and Natural Resources that the parcels pose no significant threat to public health, welfare or the environment and, therefore, no further response action pursuant to CERCLA is appropriate. This partial deletion pertains to surface soil, unsaturated subsurface soil, surface water, and sediments at Operable Units 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 12, and excludes the ground water medium at these parcels. The ground water medium at the Ellsworth AFB Site (OU-11, Basewide Ground Water), and the soil medium (surface and unsaturated subsurface soils) at OU-1, Fire Protection Training Area, will remain on the NPL and response activities will continue for those OUs. Two additional areas not associated with an operable unit, the Gateway Lake Ash Study Area and the Pride Hangar Study Area, are currently under investigation and are also not part of this partial deletion.

In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), this document announces that EPA is planning to submit a request to renew an existing approved Information Collection Request (ICR) to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). This ICR is scheduled to expire on March 31, 2007. 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's National Center for Environmental Innovation (NCEI) is giving notice of the availability of its solicitation for pre-proposals for the 2007 ``State Innovation Grant Program,'' an assistance agreement program to support innovation by state environmental regulatory agencies. Only the principal environmental regulatory agency within each state, U.S. territory, or the District of Columbia (generally, where delegated authorities for federal environmental regulations exist) is eligible to receive funding under this solicitation.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is announcing the availability of a final report titled, ``An Inventory of Sources and Environmental Releases of Dioxin-Like Compounds in the United States for the Years 1987, 1995 and 2000'' (EPA/600/P-03/002F), which was prepared by the National Center for Environmental Assessment (NCEA) within EPA's Office of Research and Development (ORD).

On or about December 4, 2006, the Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards (OAQPS) of EPA will make available for public review and comment a first draft document, Review of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards for Lead: Policy Assessment of Scientific and Technical Information (Draft Staff Paper). The purpose of the Staff Paper is to evaluate the policy implications of the key scientific and technical information contained in a related EPA document, Air Quality Criteria for Lead, required under sections 108 and 109 of the Clean Air Act (CAA) for use in the periodic review of the national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) for lead. On or about December 15, 2006, the OAQPS also will make available for public review and comment the related draft technical support document, Lead Human Exposure and Health Risk Assessments and Ecological Risk Assessment for Selected Areas (Pilot Phase).

EPA issued a notice in the Federal Register of August 2, 2006, concerning the availability of the PCNB reregistration eligibility decision (RED) and the opening of the 60-day public comment period on the RED. The original comment period was to close on October 2, 2006. The Agency subsequently issued a notice in the Federal Register of September 29, 2006, extending the comment period to November 1, 2006. The Agency issued a notice in the Federal Register of October 25, 2006, extending the comment period for a second time to December 4, 2006. The Agency is now extending the comment period for a third time, to January 8, 2006.

This notice announces the availability of EPA's human health and environmental fate and effects risk assessment(s) and related documents for the fumigant chloropicrin, and opens a public comment period on these documents. EPA is developing a Reregistration Eligibility Decision (RED) for chloropicrin through the full, 6-Phase public participation process that the Agency uses to involve the public in developing pesticide reregistration and tolerance reassessment decisions. EPA is also concurrently assessing the risks of five other soil fumigant pesticides to ensure that its assessment approaches are consistent and to ensure that risk trade offs and economic outcomes can be adequately predicted in reaching risk management decisions. Through these programs, EPA is ensuring that all pesticides meet current health and safety standards.

The EPA is proposing to approve New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services' (NH DES) request to implement and enforce its regulation entitled ``Asbestos Management and Control'' in lieu of the Asbestos National Emission Standard for Hazardous Air Pollutants (Asbestos NESHAP) as it applies to certain asbestos-related activities. Upon approval, NH DES' rule will be federally enforceable and will apply to all sources that otherwise would be regulated by the Asbestos NESHAP with the exception of inactive waste disposal sites that ceased operation on or before July 9, 1981. These inactive disposal sites are already regulated by State rules that were approved by EPA on May 23, 2003. NH DES' request seeks to adjust the federal rules by demonstrating the equivalency of its rules to the federal requirements.

EPA issued a final rule in the Federal Register of November 14, 2006, concerning amendments to the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) section 12(b) export notification regulations at subpart D of 40 CFR part 707. This document is being issued to correct a typographical error.

Under the Federal Advisory Committee Act, Public Law 92463, EPA gives notice of a meeting of the Environmental Technology Subcommittee of the National Advisory Council for Environmental Policy and Technology (NACEPT). NACEPT provides advice and recommendations to the Administrator of EPA on a broad range of environmental policy, technology, and management issues. The Environmental Technology Subcommittee was formed to assist EPA in evaluating its current and potential role in the development and commercialization of environmental technologies by suggesting how to optimize existing EPA programs to facilitate the development of sustainable private sector technologies, and by suggesting alternative approaches to achieving these goals. The purpose of the meeting is to discuss the Subcommittee's draft report on these issues. A copy of the agenda for the meeting will be posted at https://www.epa.gov/ocem/nacept/cal- nacept.htm.

On September 19, 2006, the State of Georgia's Department of Natural Resources, through the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (GA EPD), submitted a final State Implementation Plan (SIP) revision to remove the transportation control measure (TCM) related to a compressed natural gas refueling station/park and ride transportation center project in Douglas County, Georgia. This TCM was originally submitted by GA EPD for inclusion into the Atlanta portion of the Georgia SIP on August 29, 1997. EPA approved this TCM into the Georgia SIP through direct final rulemaking published in the Federal Register on June 24, 1998 (effective on August 10, 1998). Subsequently, the project sponsor determined that the equipment necessary to implement this project is no longer available, and thus, this TCM cannot be implemented as originally anticipated. No SIP credit was claimed for this program, nor were emission benefits ever realized for this TCM because it was never implemented. Through this rulemaking, EPA is proposing to approve the removal of this TCM from the Atlanta portion of the Georgia SIP because this SIP revision meets Clean Air Act requirements. In the Final Rules Section of this Federal Register, EPA is approving the State'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 proposed rule. 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.

EPA is taking direct final action under section 110 of the Clean Air Act (CAA), 42 U.S.C. 7410, to approve a revision to the Florida State Implementation Plan (SIP) submitted by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) on June 8, 2005. The revision is source-specific to the Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company (LM), located in Pinellas County, Florida, and regards that facility's compliance with Florida's Surface Coating of Miscellaneous Metal Parts and Products Reasonably Available Control Technology rule, found at Florida Administrative Code (F.A.C.) Rule 62-296.513 (FL MMPP Rule). The source-specific SIP revision seeks to allow LM to employ as reasonably available control technology (RACT) the control techniques outlined in EPA's December 1997, ``Aerospace Control Technique Guidelines'' (EPA's Aerospace CTG), instead of the RACT described in the FL MMPP Rule. The source-specific SIP revision is approvable because it meets the standards for approval described in section 110(l) of the CAA.

Today, EPA is issuing a regulation stating that the application of a pesticide in compliance with relevant requirements of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) does not require a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit in two specific circumstances. The first circumstance is when the application of the pesticide is made directly to waters of the United States to control pests that are present in the water. The second circumstance is when the application of the pesticide is made to control pests that are over, including near, waters of the United States. This rulemaking is based on the Agency's interpretation of the definition of the term ``pollutant'' under the Clean Water Act (CWA) as not including such pesticides. This final rulemaking replaces EPA's previously published Interim and Final Interpretive Statements on the Application of Pesticides to Waters of the United States in Compliance with FIFRA. EPA's Interpretive Statement, published February 1, 2005, described the Agency's interpretation of the CWA with regard to the application of pesticides regulated under FIFRA that are applied to or over, including near, waters of the United States. On August 13, 2003, EPA provided public notice of and solicited public comment on an Interim Statement and incorporated that input into the Interpretive Statement. On February 1, 2005, EPA published the Interpretive Statement and proposed to codify its substance in EPA's NPDES regulations and solicited comment on that proposed action. Today's final rule is the result of this process.

EPA is taking direct final action approving Texas State Implementation Plan (SIP) revisions. The revisions pertain to Reid Vapor Pressure (RVP) requirements for gasoline. The revisions add exemptions to RVP requirements for research laboratories and academic institutions, competition racing, and gasoline that is being stored or transferred that is not used in the affected counties. The revisions also reduce recordkeeping requirements for retail gasoline dispensing outlets in the affected counties, and correct a typographical error. We are approving the revisions pursuant to section 110 and part D of the Federal Clean Air Act (CAA).

In accordance with the Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation, and Liability Act, 42 U.S.C. 9601 et seq. (``CERCLA''), notice is hereby given of the proposed Agreement between the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (``EPA'') and the University of Portland (``University''), subject to the final review and approval of the EPA and the U.S. Department of Justice. The proposed Agreement relates to the University's plan to expand its campus by purchasing two adjacent properties, one currently owned by Triangle Park LLC at 5828 N. Van Houten Place, Portland, and the other currently owned by McCormick & Baxter, Inc. at 6900 Edgewater, Portland (the ``Properties''). The Properties are contiguous with the Willamette River. The University is certifying that it did not cause or contribute to the contamination at either the Portland Harbor or McCormick & Baxter Sites. The Agreement provides for the University to spend $3 million conducting a non-time critical removal action on the Triangle Park property. The University seeks to continue to pursue and expand its educational and service mission by relocating certain athletic facilities, freeing up its existing land for construction of academic buildings. The University's plan includes public access to the Properties, and recreational opportunities, including a planned riverfront trail. In addition to conducting the $3 million removal action, the University will pay EPA's costs of overseeing that removal action. In exchange for this consideration, the proposed Agreement contains the United States' conditional covenant not to sue the University for existing contamination at the Sites. The covenant is subject to certain reservations set forth in the Agreement. In addition, the proposed Agreement provides protection from third-party law suits for contribution. In order for the University to purchase the Triangle Park property by the closing date in the agreement for the purchase of that property (December 31, 2006), EPA is allowing just over fifteen (15) days for public comment on the Agreement.