Environmental Protection Agency June 2, 2008 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), this document announces that EPA is planning to submit a request to renew an existing approved Information Collection Request (ICR) to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). This ICR is scheduled to expire on November 30, 2008. Before submitting the ICR to OMB for review and approval, EPA is soliciting comments on specific aspects of the proposed information collection as described below.

A meeting of the National Advisory Committee for Acute Exposure Guideline Levels for Hazardous Substances (NAC/AEGL Committee) will be held on June 25-27, 2008, in Boston, MA. At this meeting, the NAC/AEGL Committee will address, as time permits, the various aspects of the acute toxicity and the development of Acute Exposure Guideline Levels (AEGLs) for 25 chemicals.

EPA is proposing to approve a request submitted by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) on October 23, 2007, to revise the Minnesota State Implementation Plan (SIP). The submission would address the ``good neighbor'' provisions of the Clean Air Act (CAA). These provisions require each state to submit a SIP that prohibits emissions that adversely affect another state's air quality through interstate transport. MPCA has adequately addressed the four distinct elements related to the impact of interstate transport of air pollutants. These include prohibiting significant contribution to nonattainment of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) in another state, interference with maintenance of the NAAQS in another state, interference with plans in another state to prevent significant deterioration of air quality, and interference with plans in another state to protect visibility. In the final rules section of this Federal Register, EPA is approving the SIP revision as a direct final rule without prior proposal, because EPA views this as a noncontroversial revision and anticipates no adverse comments. A detailed rationale for the approval is set forth in the direct final rule. If we do not receive any adverse comments in response to these direct final and proposed rules, we do not contemplate taking any further action in relation to this proposed rule. If EPA receives adverse comments, we will withdraw the direct final rule and will respond to all public comments in a subsequent final rule based on this proposed rule. EPA will not institute a second comment period on this action. Any parties interested in commenting on this action should do so at this time.

EPA is taking final action to partially approve, disapprove, and conditionally approve revisions to the South Carolina State Implementation Plan (SIP) submitted by the State of South Carolina on July 1, 2005. The SIP revisions modify the South Carolina Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) program to address changes to the federal New Source Review (NSR) regulations, which were promulgated by EPA on December 31, 2002, and reconsidered with minor changes on November 7, 2003 (commonly referred to as the ``2002 NSR Reform Rules''). The revisions also provide for new Nonattainment New Source Review (NNSR) regulations in the South Carolina SIP. EPA proposed action on these revisions on September 12, 2007; no comments were received on that proposal.

EPA is proposing to extend the stay of certain provisions of the standards of performance for equipment leaks of VOC in the Synthetic Organic Chemicals Manufacturing Industry (SOCMI) and Petroleum Refineries. In the ``Rules and Regulations'' section of this Federal Register we are extending the stay 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.