Environmental Protection Agency December 1, 2008 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

EPA is proposing to amend the national emission standards for electric arc furnace (EAF) steelmaking facilities that are area sources of hazardous air pollutants published on December 28, 2007. The amendments to the area source standards for EAF steelmaking facilities would clarify applicability of the opacity limit, make the performance test requirements for particulate matter consistent with requirements in the new source performance standards for EAF steelmaking facilities, allow title V test data to be used to demonstrate compliance, and revise the definition of ``scrap provider'' to include electric are furnace steelmaking facilities that own and operate a scrap shredder. In the ``Rules and Regulations'' section of this Federal Register, we are amending the area source standards for EAF steelmaking facilities 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.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Science Advisory Board (SAB) Staff Office announces a public teleconference of the chartered Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC) to consider and approve the CASAC Panel's draft report regarding its peer review of EPA's Risk and Exposure Assessment for Review of the Secondary National Ambient Air Quality Standards for Oxides of Nitrogen and Oxides of Sulfur: First Draft (August 2008). The CASAC will also discuss the Agency's schedule and process for National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) review of criteria pollutants with EPA's Office of Air and Radiation and Office (OAR) and Office of Research and Development (ORD).

In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), this document announces that an Information Collection Request (ICR) has been forwarded to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval. This is a request to renew an existing approved collection. The ICR, which is abstracted below, describes the nature of the information collection and its estimated burden and cost.

On September 15, 1997, EPA adopted new source performance standards (NSPS) and emission guidelines (EG) for hospital/medical/ infectious waste incinerators (HMIWI). The NSPS and EG were established under sections 111 and 129 of the Clean Air Act (CAA or Act). The Sierra Club and the Natural Resources Defense Council (Sierra Club) filed suit in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (the Court) challenging EPA's methodology for adopting the regulations. On March 2, 1999, the Court remanded the rule to EPA for further explanation of the Agency's reasoning in determining the minimum regulatory ``floors'' for new and existing HMIWI. The Court did not vacate the regulations, so the NSPS and EG remain in effect and were fully implemented by September 2002. On February 6, 2007, EPA published a proposed response to the Court's remand and a proposed response to the CAA section 129(a)(5) requirement to review the NSPS and EG every 5 years. However, following recent court decisions and receipt of public comments regarding that proposal, we chose to re-assess our response to the Court's remand. Therefore, this action provides the results of EPA's reassessment in the form of another proposed response to the Court's remand and solicits public comment regarding it. This re-proposal also satisfies the CAA section 129(a)(5) requirement to conduct a review of the standards every 5 years.