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

This notice announces the availability of EPA's Reregistration Eligibility Decision (RED) for the pesticide fluometuron. The Agency's risk assessments and other related documents also are available in the fluometuron Docket. Fluometuron is a phenylurea herbicide that is used only on cotton. EPA has reviewed fluometuron through the public participation process that the Agency uses to involve the public in developing pesticide reregistration and tolerance reassessment decisions. Through these programs, EPA is ensuring that all pesticides meet current health and safety standards.

EPA has authorized its contractor, Lockheed-Martin Services, Inc. of Cherry Hill, NJ and its subcontractors, to access information which has been submitted to EPA under section(s) 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 12, and 13 of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). Some of the information may be claimed or determined to be Confidential Business Information (CBI).

EPA has authorized its contractor, Syracuse Research Corporation (SRC) of Arlington, VA, and its subcontractor, to access information which has been submitted to EPA under section(s) 4, 5, 6, and 8 of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). Some of the information may be claimed or determined to be Confidential Business Information (CBI).

EPA will authorize its contractor, Industrial Economics, Inc., and its subcontractors, Cascadia Consulting, DPRA, Inc., Energy and Environmental Research Corporation (a subsidiary of General Electric) (``EERGC''), ERG Corporation, Indtai, Inc., Menzie Cura, Ross & Associates, and RTI International to access Confidential Business Information (CBI) which has been submitted to EPA under the authority of all sections of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) of 1976, as amended. EPA has issued regulations (40 CFR Part 2, Subpart B) that outline business confidentiality provisions for the Agency and require all EPA Offices that receive information designated by the submitter as CBI to abide by these provisions.

EPA is reopening the comment period for a proposed rule concerning any significant new use of the chemical chloranil (2,3,5,6- tetrachloro-2,5-cyclohexadiene-1,4-dione) published in the Federal Register of May 12, 1993 (58 FR 27980). EPA reopened the comment period for 30 days through a proposed rule published in the Federal Register of December 18, 2006 (71 FR 75703) (FRL-8102-3). This document reopens the comment period for an additional 45 days. The comment period is again reopened because of a request for additional time from one of the original commenters.

EPA is approving a State Implementation Plan (SIP) revision submitted by the Commonwealth of Virginia. This revision pertains to the emission standards for consumer products sold and used in the Northern Virginia volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions control area. EPA is approving this SIP revision in accordance with the Clean Air Act (CAA or Act).

By this notice, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Office of Underground Storage Tanks (OUST) is advising the public that on January 22, 2007 EPA issued the public record grant guidelines and subsequently made the guidelines available on EPA's Web site. In this notice, EPA is publishing the public record grant guidelines in their entirety. EPA developed the public record grant guidelines as required by Section 9002 of Subtitle I of the Solid Waste Disposal Act, as amended by Section 1526 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005.

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 transferred to ICF, International and its subcontractor, Dynamac Corporation and Tetrahedron Staff, in accordance with 40 CFR 2.307(h)(3) and 2.308(i)(2). ICF, International and its subcontractor, Dynamac Corporation and Tetrahedron Staff, have been awarded a contract to perform work for OPP, and access to this information will enable ICF, International and its subcontractor, Dynamac Corporation and Tetrahedron Staff, to fulfill the obligations of the contract.

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 for a new collection. The ICR, which is abstracted below, describes the nature of the information collection and its estimated burden and cost.

This notice announces the final agency action on 10 TMDLs prepared by EPA Region 6 for waters listed in the State of Arkansas, under section 303(d) of the Clean Water Act (CWA). These TMDLs were completed in response to the lawsuit styled Sierra Club, et al. v. Clifford, et al., No. LR-C-99-114. Documents from the administrative record files for the final 10 TMDLs, including TMDL calculations may be viewed at https://www.epa.gov/region6/6wq/npdes/tmdl/index.htm.

EPA is taking direct final action under the Clean Air Act to approve the Miami Sulfur Dioxide Nonattainment Area State Implementation and Maintenance Plan as a revision to the Arizona state implementation plan. The Arizona Department of Environmental Quality developed this plan to maintain the sulfur dioxide national ambient air quality standards in the Miami (Gila County) area. The maintenance plan contains various elements, including contingency provisions that will be implemented if measured ambient concentrations of sulfur dioxide are above certain trigger levels. EPA is also approving the State of Arizona's request for redesignation of the Miami area from nonattainment to attainment for the sulfur dioxide standards. Lastly, EPA is correcting the boundary of the Miami sulfur dioxide nonattainment area to exclude a noncontiguous township that was erroneously included in the description of the area and to fix a transcription error in the listing of one of the other townships. EPA is taking these actions consistent with provisions in the Clean Air Act that obligate the Agency to approve or disapprove submittals of revisions to state implementation plans and requests for redesignation. The intended effect is to redesignate the Miami, Arizona sulfur dioxide nonattainment area to attainment, provide for maintenance of the standard for the ten-year period following redesignation, and correct long-standing errors in the codified description of the area.

This regulation revises a tolerance for combined residues of spiromesifen in or on vegetables, fruiting, group 8 and establishes tolerances for inadvertent or indirect combined residues in or on oat (grain, forage, hay, straw). Interregional Research Project No. 4 (IR- 4) and Bayer CropScience (respectively) requested these tolerances under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA), as amended by the Food Quality Protection Act of 1996 (FQPA).

EPA issued a notice in the Federal Register of November 29, 2006 (71 FR 69112) (FRL-8087-4), concerning the availability of the risk assessments for the fumigant pesticide chloropicrin. This document announces EPA's decision to extend the comment period for 30 days, February 23, 2007.

EPA is announcing a 30-day public comment period for the draft document titled, ``Metabolically-Derived Human Ventilation Rates: A Revised Approach Based Upon Oxygen Consumption Rates'' (EPA/600/R-06/ 129A). The document was prepared by the National Center for Environmental Assessment (NCEA) within EPA's Office of Research and Development (ORD). In 1997, NCEA published the Exposure Factors Handbook. This comprehensive document provides summaries of available statistical data on various factors that can impact an individual's exposure to environmental contaminants. NCEA maintains the Exposure Factors Handbook and periodically updates the document using current literature and other reliable data made available through research. Many program offices within EPA rely on the data from this handbook to conduct their exposure and risk assessments. One important determinant of a person's exposure to contaminants in air is the ventilation rate, or the volume of air that is inhaled by an individual in a specified time period. Ventilation rates, also known as breathing or inhalation rates, are given in Chapter 5 of the Exposure Factors Handbook. Calculations of the currently recommended ventilation rates were limited by their dependence on a ``ventilatory equivalent,'' which relied on a person's fitness level. This draft report, ``Metabolically-Derived Human Ventilation Rates: A Revised Approach Based Upon Oxygen Consumption Rates,'' presents a revised approach that calculates ventilation rates directly from an individual's oxygen consumption rate, and applies this method to data provided from more recent sources, such as the 1999-2002 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) and EPA's Consolidated Human Activity Database (CHAD). In the next edition of the Exposure Factors Handbook, NCEA would like to update the ventilation rate values using this revised approach and the more recently released data. EPA is releasing the draft, ``Metabolically-Derived Human Ventilation Rates: A Revised Approach Based Upon Oxygen Consumption Rates,'' 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. EPA will consider any public comments submitted in accordance with this notice when revising the document.

In 2001, EPA finalized a new, major program for highway heavy- duty engines. That program, the Clean Diesel Trucks and Buses program, will result in the introduction of advanced emissions control systems such as catalyzed diesel particulate filters (DPF) and catalysts capable of reducing harmful nitrogen oxide (NOX) emissions. This proposal would require that these advanced emissions control systems be monitored for malfunctions via an onboard diagnostic system (OBD), similar to those systems that have been required on passenger cars since the mid-1990s. This proposal would require manufacturers to install OBD systems that monitor the functioning of emission control components and alert the vehicle operator to any detected need for emission related repair. This proposal would also require that manufacturers make available to the service and repair industry information necessary to perform repair and maintenance service on OBD systems and other emission related engine components. Lastly, this proposal would revise certain existing OBD requirements for diesel engines used in heavy-duty vehicles under 14,000 pounds.

On January 20, 2006, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) submitted a State Implementation Plan (SIP) revision to request redesignation of the El Paso carbon monoxide (CO) nonattainment area to attainment for the CO National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS). This submittal also included a CO maintenance plan for the El Paso area and associated Motor Vehicle Emission Budgets (MVEBs). The maintenance plan was developed to ensure continued attainment of the CO NAAQS for a period of 10 years from the effective date of EPA approval of redesignation to attainment. In this action, EPA is proposing to approve the El Paso CO redesignation request and the maintenance plan with its associated MVEBs as satisfying the requirements of the Federal Clean Air Act (CAA) as amended in 1990.

EPA is approving a waiver of the requirements of the Federal asbestos-in-schools program for the Commonwealth of Kentucky. A waiver request can be granted if EPA determines that the Commonwealth of Kentucky is implementing or intends to implement a state program of asbestos inspection and management that is at least as stringent as the federal program. This action approves the waiver request submitted by Governor Paul E. Patton, on January 4, 1999. On June 1, 2006, EPA published a notice of proposed approval and request for comments, and on August 31, 2006, published a reopening of comment period and correction. A detailed description of this waiver request and EPA's rationale for approving it was provided in the notice of proposed approval and request for comments and will not be restated here. No significant or adverse comments were received on EPA's proposal.

In this action, EPA is notifying the public that EPA has found that the motor vehicle emissions budgets (MVEBs) for four areas across the state of Michigan are adequate for conformity purposes. On March 2, 1999, the D.C. Circuit Court ruled that submitted State Implementation Plans (SIPs) cannot be used for conformity determinations until EPA has affirmatively found them adequate. As a result of our finding, the Flint (consisting of Genesee and Lapeer Counties), Muskegon County, Berrien County, and Cass County areas can use the (MVEBs) for future conformity determinations. These budgets are effective February 7, 2007. The finding and the response to comments will be available at EPA's conformity Web site: https://www.epa.gov/otaq/transp.htm, (once there, click on the ``Conformity'' button, then look for ``Adequacy Review of SIP Submissions for Conformity'').

EPA is issuing national emission standards for hazardous air pollutants (NESHAP) for four area source categories. These final NESHAP include emissions limits and/or work practice standards that reflect the generally available control technologies (GACT) and/or management practices in each of these area source categories.

This notice announces the availability of the Draft Guidance for Munitions and Explosive of Concern Hazard Assessment (Guidance) for public comment. The Guidance was jointly developed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Department of Defense, Department of the Interior, and Association of State and Territorial Solid Waste Management Officials. The Guidance is available to support a recommended method for evaluating explosive safety hazards at military munitions response sites. It also presents approaches to support the evaluation of the effects of removal and remedial actions under the Comprehensive Environmental Restoration, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) regarding explosive hazards at munitions response sites. EPA is providing the public an opportunity to review and comment on the draft Guidance. The Guidance, comment form, and related materials can be found on EPA's Web site at https://www.epa.gov/fedfac/documents/ hazardassesswrkgrp.htm.

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. The ICR which is abstracted below describes the nature of the collection and the estimated burden and cost.

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.