Environmental Protection Agency November 2, 2007 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

EPA expressed environmental concerns about impacts from cumulative emissions leading to visibility impairments and/or exceedances of air quality standards. EPA recommended broad implementation of air mitigation measures. Rating EC2.

On March 15, 2006, EPA promulgated Federal Implementation Plans (FIPs) for all States covered by the Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR). The CAIR FIPs will regulate electric generating units (EGUs) in the affected States and achieve the emission reductions required by CAIR until each affected State has an approved CAIR State Implementation Plan (SIP) to achieve the reductions. EPA will withdraw a State's FIP in coordination with approval of a full CAIR SIP implementing the requirements of CAIR. The CAIR FIP indicates that the Administrator will determine by order the CAIR NOX allowance allocations. In the CAIR FIP, EPA stated that it would publish a NODA with NOX allowance allocations for 2009 through 2014, provide the public with the opportunity to object to the allocations and underlying data, and then publish a final NODA (adjusted if necessary). On August 4, 2006, EPA published a preliminary NODA in the Federal Register and accepted objections to the data through an electronic docket. This action constitutes the final NODA and indicates the existing units receiving CAIR NOX allowances under the FIPs and the quantity of allowances to be allocated to each unit. These FIP allowances will only be recorded for sources located in States that do not have an approved SIP in place. Most States have an approved SIP in place, and the State determined allowances will be recorded for sources in these states. In this NODA, the EPA is making available to the public the Agency's final determination of the NOX annual and NOX ozone season allocations under the CAIR FIPs that EPA is making to individual existing units under the CAIR FIP NOX annual and NOX ozone season trading programs for 2009 through 2014, as well as the data relating to those allocations. The NODA references, or presents in tables, all these data and the NOX annual and NOX ozone season allowance allocations calculated using the data and the allocation formulas finalized in the CAIR FIPs for existing units for 2009 through 2014.

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 The Cadmus Group, Inc. in accordance with 40 CFR 2.307(h)(3) and 2.308(i)(2). The Cadmus Group, Inc. has been awarded multiple contracts to perform work for OPP, and access to this information will enable The Cadmus Group, Inc. to fulfill the obligations of the contract.

This notice announces the availability of EPA's human health risk assessment, and related documents for the pesticide acrolein, and opens a public comment period on these documents (Phase 3 of 6-Phase Process). The public is encouraged to suggest risk management ideas or proposals to address the risks identified. EPA is developing a Reregistration Eligibility Decision (RED) for acrolein through a 6- Phase public participation process that the Agency uses to involve the public in developing pesticide reregistration decisions. Through this process, EPA is ensuring that all pesticides meet current health and safety standards.

EPA is proposing to amend the Federal Implementation Plans (FIPs) for the Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR) to provide for automatic withdrawal of the CAIR FIPs in a State upon the effective date of EPA's approval of a full State implementation plan (SIP) revision meeting the CAIR requirements. EPA believes it is appropriate for the FIP withdrawal to be automatic because to the extent EPA approves the State's full CAIR SIP, this corrects the deficiency that provided the basis for EPA's promulgation of the FIPs in that State. In the ``Rules'' section of this Federal Register, we are issuing this action as a direct final rule without a prior proposed rule. If we receive no adverse comment, we will not take further action on this proposed rule.