Environmental Protection Agency January 4, 2007 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This document provides notice of a proposed rulemaking for public comment on EPA's National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Permit Fee Incentive for Clean Water Act Section 106 Grants; Allotment Formula. With this notice, EPA proposes using its Clean Water Act (CWA) Section 106 authority to provide a financial incentive to States to utilize an adequate fee program when implementing an authorized NPDES permit program. EPA proposes to amend its existing CWA Section 106 grant allotment regulation to provide the Agency with the flexibility to allot separately a permit fee incentive amount. This action would not be effective prior to fiscal year 2008.

EPA is proposing to approve revisions to the Tennessee State Implementation Plan (SIP) submitted by the State of Tennessee, through Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, on January 20, 2006. The revisions pertain to the Knox County portion of the Tennessee SIP and include changes to the Knox County Air Quality Regulations Section 46.0``Regulation of Volatile Organic Compounds.'' The changes were made in response to changes made by EPA to corresponding federal law. The change involves the addition of four compounds to the list of compounds excluded from the definition of volatile organic compounds on the basis that they make a negligible contribution to ozone formation. This action is being taken pursuant to section 110 of the Clean Air Act. In the Final Rules Section of this Federal Register, the EPA is approving the State's SIP revisions 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 If EPA receives adverse comments, the direct final rule will be withdrawn and all public comments received will be addressed in a subsequent final rule based on this proposed rule.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 to approve revisions to the Imperial County Air Pollution Control District and South Coast Air Quality Management District portion of the California State Implementation Plan (SIP). These revisions concern volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions from architectural coatings and organic liquid storage tanks. We are approving local rules that regulate these emission sources under the Clean Air Act as amended in 1990 (CAA or the Act).