Environmental Protection Agency January 9, 2008 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This regulation establishes an exemption from the requirement of a tolerance for residues of the insecticide, Poly(hexamethylenebiguanide) hydrochloride (PHMB) on all food when residues are the result of lawful application of a food contact surface sanitizer containing PHMB as a sanitizer solution in food handling establishments when applied as a sanitizer. Arch Chemicals Inc. submitted a petition to EPA under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA), as amended by the Food Quality Protection Act of 1996 (FQPA), requesting an exemption from the requirement of a tolerance. This regulation eliminates the need to establish a maximum permissible level for residues of PHMB.

EPA has granted an experimental use permit (EUP) to the following pesticide applicant. An EUP permits use of a pesticide for experimental or research purposes only in accordance with the limitations in the permit.

This regulation establishes, increases, and removes tolerances for residues of difenoconazole and also establishes tolerances for combined residues of difenoconazole and its metabolite, CGA-205375, in or on various commodities. In addition, this regulation revokes tolerances for secondary residues in poultry, fat, meat, and meat byproducts. Syngenta Crop Protection, Inc., requested these tolerances under the Federal, Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA).

This action promulgates national emission standards for hazardous air pollutants (NESHAP) for area sources engaged in paint stripping, surface coating of motor vehicles and mobile equipment, and miscellaneous surface coating operations. EPA has listed ``Paint Stripping,'' ``Plastic Parts and Products (Surface Coating),'' and ``Autobody Refinishing Paint Shops'' as area sources of hazardous air pollutants (HAP) that contribute to the risk to public health in urban areas under the Integrated Urban Air Toxics Strategy. This final rule includes emissions standards that reflect the generally available control technology or management practices in each of these area source categories. ``Plastic Parts and Products (Surface Coating)'' has been renamed ``Miscellaneous Surface Coating,'' and ``Autobody Refinishing Paint Shops'' has been renamed ``Motor Vehicle and Mobile Equipment Surface Coating'' to more accurately reflect the scope of these source categories.

The EPA recently finalized changes to the data handling conventions and computations necessary for determining when the annual and 24-hour national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) for fine particles (generally referring to particles less than or equal to 2.5 micrometers ([mu]m) in diameter, PM2.5) are met. These changes were made in support of revisions to the NAAQS for particulate matter (PM) that were finalized in the same rulemaking. Following the publication of this rule, an omission was discovered in the rule text explaining the procedures for calculating the key statistic (98th percentile) involved with determining compliance with the 24-hour PM2.5 standard in locations where extra samples of PM2.5 in ambient air were taken above the intended sampling frequency. If the error in the regulatory text is left unchanged, the resulting statistic for calculating compliance with the 24-hour PM2.5 standard would be biased low at some samplers, leading to potentially incorrect determinations that an area was attaining the NAAQS. The EPA is proposing to correct this error. The proposed correction involves the replacement of the currently used statistical formula and instructions with a simpler look-up table approach which is easier for readers to understand and which retains the originally intended numerical consistency with EPA's historical practice.