Environmental Protection Agency 2008 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

EPA is taking direct final action to amend the Exceptional Events Rule to provide a revised exceptional event data flagging and documentation schedule for ozone data that may be used for designations under the 2008 ozone national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS). The Exceptional Events Rule states that when EPA sets a NAAQS for a new pollutant or revises the NAAQS for an existing pollutant, EPA may revise or set a new schedule for flagging data for those NAAQS. EPA recently revised the primary and secondary ozone NAAQS to protect public health and welfare; the revised standards became effective on May 27, 2008. Consistent with the process envisioned in the Exceptional Events Rule, this direct final action revises the dates for flagging data and submitting documentation regarding exceptional events under the revised ozone NAAQS. This revised schedule allows EPA to fully consider state requests for exceptional event concurrence prior to EPA making final designations.

EPA is proposing national emissions standards for hazardous air pollutants for nine area source categories in the chemical manufacturing sector: Agricultural Chemicals and Pesticides Manufacturing, Cyclic Crude and Intermediate Production, Industrial Inorganic Chemical Manufacturing, Industrial Organic Chemical Manufacturing, Inorganic Pigments Manufacturing, Miscellaneous Organic Chemical Manufacturing, Plastic Materials and Resins Manufacturing, Pharmaceutical Production, and Synthetic Rubber Manufacturing. The proposed standards and associated requirements for the nine area source categories are combined in one subpart. The proposed emissions standards for new and existing sources are based on EPA's determination regarding the generally available control technology or management practices for the nine area source categories. EPA is co-proposing an alternative to the requirements for process vents emitting metal hazardous air pollutants. The alternative would set a higher size threshold for large metal hazardous air pollutant process vents.

In accordance with Section 122 (i) of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, as amended (CERCLA), 42 U.S.C. 9622(i), notice is hereby given of a proposed administrative settlement concerning the Chief Supply/Greenway Superfund Site, near Haskell, Wagoner County, Oklahoma. The settlement requires the ten (10) settling parties to pay a total of $498,842.94 as payment of response costs to the Hazardous Substances Superfund plus $5,264.56 in calculated interest. The settlement includes a covenant not to sue pursuant to Section 107 of CERCLA, 42, U.S.C. 9607. For thirty (30) days beginning the date of publication of this notice, the Agency will receive written comments relating to this notice and will receive written comments relating to the settlement. The Agency will consider all comments received and may modify or withdraw its consent to the settlement if comments received disclose facts or considerations which indicate that the settlement is inappropriate, improper, or inadequate. The Agency's response to any comments received will be available for public inspection at 1445 Ross Avenue, Dallas, Texas 75202-2733.

The EPA's Science Advisory Board (SAB) Staff Office is announcing a public meeting of the SAB Environmental Economics Advisory Committee (EEAC) to review EPA's revised Guidelines for Preparing Economic Analyses.

In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (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 that is abstracted below describes the nature of the collection and the estimated burden and cost.

EPA is announcing a 30-day public comment period for the draft document titled, ``BASINS 4.0 Climate Assessment Tool (CAT): Supporting Documentation and Users Manual'' (EPA/600/R-08/088). The document was prepared by the National Center for Environmental Assessment within EPA's Office of Research and Development. The Office of Research and Development, in partnership with EPA's Office of Water, recently developed a Climate Assessment Tool (CAT) for the Office of Water's BASINS 4.0 watershed modeling system. BASINS CAT provides a flexible set of capabilities for creating user-defined climate change scenarios for assessing the influence of climate variability and change on water quantity and quality using the Hydrologic Simulation ProgramFORTRAN (HSPF) watershed model. This report provides documentation and technical user support including a discussion of tool capabilities with hands-on tutorials demonstrating the application of BASINS CAT to a range of problems. BASINS 4.0 (with the BASINS CAT) can be downloaded from EPA's BASINS Web site at https:// www.epa.gov/waterscience/basins/b3webdwn.htm. EPA is releasing this draft document solely for the purpose of pre- dissemination peer review under applicable information quality guidelines. This document has not been formally disseminated by EPA. It does not represent, and should not be construed to represent, any Agency policy or determination. EPA will consider any public comments submitted in accordance with this notice when revising the document.

EPA is approving a State Implementation Plan (SIP) revision submitted by the State of Ohio which allows the State to discontinue the vehicle inspection and maintenance (I/M) program in the Cincinnati- Hamilton and Dayton-Springfield areas, also known as the E-Check program. The revision specifically requests that the E-Check program regulations be moved from the active control measures portion of the SIP to the contingency measures portion of the Cincinnati-Hamilton and Dayton-Springfield ozone maintenance plans. The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (Ohio EPA) submitted this request on April 4, 2005, and supplemented it on May 20, 2005, February 14, 2006, May 9, 2006, October 6, 2006, and February 19, 2008. EPA is approving Ohio's request because the State has demonstrated that discontinuing the I/M program in the Cincinnati-Hamilton and Dayton-Springfield areas will not interfere with the attainment and maintenance of the 8-hour ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) and the fine particulate NAAQS or with the attainment and maintenance of other air quality standards.

Pursuant to the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA), Public Law 92-463, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) hereby provides notice that the National Environmental Justice Advisory Council (NEJAC) will meet on the dates and times described below. All meetings are open to the public. Members of the public are encouraged to provide comments relevant to the specific issues being considered by the NEJAC. For additional information about registering for public comment, please see SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION. Due to limited space, seating at the NEJAC meeting will be on a first-come basis.

EPA is proposing to take action on amendments to the Renewable Fuel Standard program requirements. Following publication of the final rule promulgating the Renewable Fuel Standard regulations, EPA discovered a number of technical errors and areas within the regulations that could benefit from clarification or modification. This proposed rule would amend the regulations to make the appropriate corrections, clarifications and modifications. In the ``Rules and Regulations'' section of this Federal Register, we are amending the Renewable Fuel Standard program requirements 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.

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.

EPA is revising the format of 40 CFR part 52 for materials submitted by the State of Maine that are incorporated by reference (IBR) into its State Implementation Plan (SIP). The regulations affected by this format change have all been previously submitted by Maine and approved by EPA.

EPA is approving revisions to Indiana's State plan to control air pollutants from large Municipal Waste Combustors (MWCs). The Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) submitted the State plan on August 24, 2007. The revisions are consistent with Emission Guideline (EG) amendments promulgated by EPA on May 10, 2006. This approval means that EPA finds that the State plan amendments meet applicable Clean Air Act (CAA) requirements for large MWCs for which construction commenced on or before September 20, 1994. Once effective, this approval also makes the amended State plan Federally-enforceable. On July 8, 2008, EPA also published a proposed rule (73 FR 38954) and a direct final rule (73 FR 38925) on this revision. The direct final rule stated that if EPA received an adverse comment, it would withdraw the direct final rule and address all public comments received in a subsequent final rule based on the proposed rule. EPA received an adverse comment and removed the direct final rule on August 21, 2008 (73 FR 49349). This rule responds to the comments received and announces EPA's final action.

EPA is announcing a listening session to be held on Friday, October 10, 2008, for the external review draft document entitled, ``Toxicological Review of Ethylene Glycol Mono Butyl Ether (EGBE): In Support of Summaiy Information on the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS).'' This listening session is a new step in EPA's revised process, announced on April 10, 2008, for development of human health assessments for inclusion on IRIS. The purpose of the listening session is to allow all interested parties to present scientific and technical comments on draft IRIS health assessments to EPA and other interested parties during the public comment period and prior to the external peer review meeting. EPA welcomes the scientific and technical comments that will be provided to the Agency by the listening session participants. The comments will be considered by the Agency as it revises the draft assessment in response to the independent external peer review and public comments. All presentations will become part of the official and public record. The EPA's draft assessment and peer review charge are available via the Internet on the National Center for Environmental Assessment's (NCEA) home page under the Recent Additions and the Data and Publications menus at https://www.epa.gov/ncea.

In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) (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 December 31, 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.

Idaho has applied to EPA for final authorization of certain changes to its hazardous waste program under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, as amended (RCRA). EPA has reviewed Idaho's application, has preliminarily determined that these changes satisfy all requirements needed to qualify for final authorization, and is proposing to authorize the State's changes.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is announcing that the Office of Research and Development's National Center for Environmental Assessment (NCEA) is preparing an Integrated Science Assessment (ISA) as part of the review of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for ozone (O3). This is intended to update the scientific assessment presented in the ``Air Quality Criteria for Ozone and Related Photochemical Oxidants'' (EPA 600/P-05/ 004aF-cF), published in February 2006. Interested parties are invited to assist the EPA in developing and refining the scientific information base for the review of the O3 NAAQS by submitting research studies that have been published, accepted for publication, or presented at a public scientific meeting. The EPA is also announcing that a workshop entitled, ``Workshop to Discuss Policy-Relevant Science to Inform EPA's Integrated Plan for the Ozone NAAQS,'' is being organized by NCEA and the EPA Office of Air and Radiation's Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards (OAQPS). The workshop will be held October 29-30, 2008, in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. The workshop will be open to attendance by interested public observers on a first-come, first-served basis up to the limits of available space.

The purpose of this notice is to announce that between December 1, 2004 and June 30, 2008, the Region 2 Office of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), issued 11 final determinations, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) issued 2 final determinations and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) issued 3 final determinations pursuant to the Prevention of Significant Deterioration of Air Quality (PSD) regulations codified at 40 CFR 52.21.

EPA Regions 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 9, and 10 today are finalizing EPA's NPDES general permit for stormwater discharges from industrial activity, also referred to as the Multi-Sector General Permit (MSGP). The MSGP consists of thirty four (34) separate Regional EPA permits that may vary from each other based on State or Tribal water quality- based requirements. This permit replaces the existing permits that expired on October 30, 2005. As with the earlier permits, this permit authorizes the discharge of stormwater associated with industrial activities in accordance with the terms and conditions described therein. Industrial dischargers have the choice to seek coverage under an individual permit. An individual permit may be necessary if the discharger cannot meet the terms and conditions or eligibility requirements in the permit.

The Director, Office of Water and Watersheds, EPA Region 10, is proposing to issue a general National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit for Offshore Seafood Processors in Alaska, pursuant to the provisions of the Clean Water Act, 33 U.S.C. 1251 et seq. The draft general permit authorizes the discharge of treated seafood processing wastes from new and existing facilities to State and Federal Waters, at least 0.5 nautical miles from shore as delineated by mean lower low water. Interested persons may submit comments on the proposed general permit to EPA Region 10 at the address below. Comments must be received or postmarked by November 10, 2008. A fact sheet has been prepared which sets forth the principle factual, legal, policy, and scientific information considered in the development of the draft general permit. The draft general permit contains a variety of technology-based and water quality-based effluent limitations, along with administrative and monitoring requirements, as well as other standard conditions, prohibitions, and management practices. Within state waters a 100 foot mixing zone is proposed for residues, dissolved gas, non-hydrocarbon oil and grease, fecal coliform, pH, temperature, color, turbidity, and total residual chlorine. In addition, the permit allows for the issuance of site specific zones of deposit (ZODs) by the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation (ADEC). The site specific ZODs would only be authorized for facilities discharging between 0.5-1 nautical mile from shore upon application by the discharger. If a discharger requests a ZOD, ADEC would public notice the proposed ZOD authorization before the ZOD is authorized for the discharger. ZODs will be granted through an individual State certification that will be attached to EPA's authorization to discharge letter. Public Comment: Copies of the draft general permit, fact sheet, Biological Evaluation, Essential Fish Habitat Assessment, Environmental Assessment, Preliminary Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI), and Ocean Discharge Criteria Evaluation are available upon request. Theses documents may also be downloaded from the Region 10 Web site at https:// www.epa.gov/r10earth/waterpermits.htm (click on draft permits, then Alaska). Interested persons may submit written comments to the attention of Lindsay Guzzo at the address below. All comments must include the name, address, and telephone number of the commenter and a concise statement of comment and the relevant facts upon which it is based. Comments of either support or concern which are directed at specific, cited permit requirements are appreciated. After the expiration date of the Public Notice on November 10, 2008, the Director, Office of Water and Watersheds, EPA Region 10, will make a final determination with respect to issuance of the general permit. The proposed requirements contained in the draft general permit will become final upon issuance if no significant comments are received during the public comment period.

Under the Clean Air Act, EPA is proposing to approve certain revisions, and to disapprove certain other revisions, of the Nevada State Implementation Plan submitted by the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection. These revisions relate to the application of the State's vehicle inspection and maintenance program to vehicles operated on Federal installations. EPA is also proposing to correct certain plan revisions related to this subject that EPA previously approved in error. The intended effect is to ensure that vehicles operated on Federal installations are subject only to those requirements of the State's vehicle inspection and maintenance program that apply in the same manner and to the same extent to nongovernmental entities.

In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (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 collection and the estimated burden and cost.

The EPA Science Advisory Board (SAB) Staff Office announces a public face-to-face meeting of the chartered SAB to: discuss future environmental science issues within the context of EPA's research directions and priorities, and conduct quality reviews of up to three Draft SAB reports.

We announce the Ninth Conference on Air Quality Modeling. Such a conference is required by Section 320 of the Clean Air Act (CAA) to be held every 3 years. The purposes of the ninth conference are to provide an overview of the latest features of the new air quality models and to provide a forum for public review and comment on potential revisions to the way the Agency determines and applies the appropriate air quality models in the future.

This regulation establishes, revises, or deletes tolerances for residues of cyfluthrin in or on numerous raw agricultural commodities. It also establishes tolerances for residues of beta- cyfluthrin in or on all commodities for which cyfluthrin tolerances exist. Bayer CropScience requested these tolerances under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA).