Environmental Protection Agency June 30, 2008 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

EPA is adopting a comprehensive program to dramatically reduce pollution from locomotives and marine diesel engines. The controls will apply to all types of locomotives, including line-haul, switch, and passenger, and all types of marine diesel engines below 30 liters per cylinder displacement, including commercial and recreational, propulsion and auxiliary. The near-term emission standards for newly- built engines will phase in starting in 2009. The near-term program also includes new emission limits for existing locomotives and marine diesel engines that apply when they are remanufactured, and take effect as soon as certified remanufacture systems are available, as early as 2008. The long-term emissions standards for newly-built locomotives and marine diesel engines are based on the application of high-efficiency catalytic aftertreatment technology. These standards begin to take effect in 2015 for locomotives and in 2014 for marine diesel engines. We estimate particulate matter (PM) reductions of 90 percent and nitrogen oxides (NOX) reductions of 80 percent from engines meeting these standards, compared to engines meeting the current standards. We project that by 2030, this program will reduce annual emissions of NOX and PM by 800,000 and 27,000 tons, respectively. EPA projects these reductions will annually prevent up to 1,100 PM-related premature deaths, 280 ozone-related premature deaths, 120,000 lost work days, 120,000 school day absences, and 1.1 million minor restricted- activity days. The annual monetized health benefits of this rule in 2030 will range from $9.2 billion to $11 billion, assuming a 3 percent discount rate, or between $8.4 billion to $10 billion, assuming a 7% discount rate. The estimated annual social cost of the program in 2030 is projected to be $740 million, significantly less than the estimated benefits.

EPA is notifying the public that EPA has found that the 2008 and 2009 motor vehicle emissions budgets in the April 30, 2008 Rhode Island 8-hour ozone State Implementation Plan revision are adequate for transportation conformity purposes. The submittal includes 2008 and 2009 motor vehicle emission budgets for the Providence (All of RI), RI 8-hour ozone nonattainment area. As a result of our finding, Rhode Island must use these motor vehicle emission budgets for future conformity determinations.

In 2000, EPA announced the availability of final revisions to the Methodology for Deriving Ambient Water Quality Criteria for the Protection of Human Health (2000) (hereafter ``2000 Human Health Methodology'') published pursuant to section 304(a)(1) of the Clean Water Act (CWA). Along with the 2000 Human Health Methodology, EPA committed to publishing several technical support documents to provide additional detail to the Methodology document, including two documents that describe the development of bioaccumulation factors for use in ambient water quality criteria calculations. In 2003, EPA announced the release of the Technical Support Document Volume 2: Development of National Bioaccumulation Factors (hereafter ``National BAF TSD''). Today, the Agency is soliciting scientific views on the Draft Technical Support Document, Volume 3: Development of Site-Specific Bioaccumulation Factors (hereafter ``Draft Site-Specific BAF TSD'') that accompanies the Methodology and the National BAF TSD. The National BAF TSD contains technical details on how EPA develops national bioaccumulation factors for use in deriving national recommended ambient water quality criteria for protecting human health. The Draft Site-Specific BAF TSD contains technical details on how States and Tribes may develop site-specific bioaccumulation factors for use in deriving site-specific ambient water quality criteria for protecting human health. The goal in deriving site-specific BAFs is to determine the most accurate estimates of bioaccumulation feasible for each site.