Environmental Protection Agency March 29, 2007 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Environmental Protection Agency, in conjunction with other Federal agencies and offices, is announcing a stakeholder panel process to provide approaches for management of non-Federal supplies of commodity-grade mercury. The need for management arises from concern that some mercury supplies may ultimately be released into the environment, resulting in human exposure with the potential to cause adverse health effects. A stakeholder panel will hold a series of meetings with the kickoff meeting in Washington, DC on May 8, 2007. EPA invites the public to submit written comments to the EPA on the issues the stakeholder panel will address. Stakeholder panel meetings will be open to the public and there will be opportunity for public comment at each meeting. Information on the public meetings will be available at https://www.epa.gov/mercury/roadmap.htm.

EPA is proposing to approve a State Implementation Plan (SIP) revision submitted by the State of Ohio on February 14, 2006 and October 6, 2006, establishing a lower Reid Vapor Pressure (RVP) fuel requirement for gasoline distributed in the Cincinnati and Dayton 8- hour ozone nonattainment areas. Ohio has developed these fuel requirements to reduce emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in accordance with the requirements of the Clean Air Act (CAA). EPA is proposing to approve Ohio's fuel requirements into the Ohio SIP because EPA has found that the requirements are necessary for the Cincinnati and Dayton areas to achieve the 8-hour ozone national ambient air quality standard (NAAQS). This action is being taken under section 110 of the CAA.

This ANPRM asks for public comment on hazardous air pollutant emissions and other model input data that EPA intends to use to assess residual risk from selected industrial major source categories, as required by the Clean Air Act. Specifically, the data are comprised of hazardous air pollutant emission estimates and emission release parameters for 22 industrial source categories subject to 12 national emission standards for hazardous air pollutants for hazardous air pollutants with compliance dates of 2002 and earlier. The source of this information is the February 2006 version of the 2002 National Emissions Inventory, updated with some facility-specific data collected by EPA. We are seeking comment on the emissions and source data found at the Risk and Technology Review Web site and we are providing the opportunity for the public to submit technical corrections and updates. Following review of comments received, we will update the data, as appropriate, and assess risk for these source categories. We will use these risk estimates and our evaluation of the availability, cost, and feasibility of emissions reduction options to determine the ample margin of safety for residual risk and to fulfill our obligations to conduct a technology review. We currently anticipate using the results of these risk estimates along with review of control technology as the basis for our decisions on whether to propose additional standards to address residual risk for each source category. There will be opportunity for oral and written comment on any additional standards when we publish our Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM). We anticipate proposing the results of this risk and technology review for these 22 source categories by fall 2007.

EPA is announcing that the Oak Ridge Institute of Science and Education (ORISE), under an 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 document titled, ``Toxicological Review of Nitrobenzene: In Support of Summary Information in the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS).'' The EPA also is announcing a public comment period for the external review draft document. 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 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. 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 document under review. The draft document and EPA's peer-review charge are available via the Internet on the National Center for Environmental Assessment's (NCEA's) home page under the Recent Additions and the Publications menus at https://www.epa.gov/ncea. When finalizing the draft document, 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.

EPA is announcing a 30-day public comment period for the draft document titled, ``A Screening Assessment of the Potential Impacts of Climate Change on the Costs of Implementing Water Quality-Based Effluent Limits at Publicly-Owned Treatment Works in the Great Lakes Region'' (EPA/600/R-07/034A). The document was prepared by the National Center for Environmental Assessment (NCEA) within EPA's Office of Research and Development. 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. EPA will consider any public comments submitted in accordance with this notice when revising the document.

The EPA is approving revisions to Indiana's State Implementation Plan (SIP) submitted on August 25, 2006, revising its existing emission reporting rule to be consistent with the emission statement program requirements for stationary sources in the Clean Air Act (CAA). The rationale for approval and other information are provided in this rulemaking action.