Environmental Protection Agency January 2009 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

EPA is proposing to approve a revision to the Texas State Implementation Plan (SIP). The revision consists of a maintenance plan for El Paso County developed to ensure continued attainment of the 8- hour ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) for 10 years after the effective designation date of June 15, 2004. The Maintenance Plan meets the requirements of Section 110(a)(1) of the Federal Clean Air Act (CAA), EPA's rules, and is consistent with EPA's guidance.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is approving a revision to the Arkansas State Implementation Plan (SIP) to meet the Emissions Inventory and Emissions Statements requirements of the Clean Air Act (CAA) for the Crittenden County ozone nonattainment area. EPA is approving the SIP revision because it satisfies the Emissions Inventory and Emissions Statements requirements for 8-hour ozone nonattainment areas. EPA is approving the revision pursuant to section 110 of the CAA.

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.

EPA issued a notice in the Federal Register of August 20, 2008, concerning requests from registrants to voluntarily amend their registrations to terminate uses of certain carbaryl products, or eliminate certain application methods for carbaryl products. This document is being issued to correct a typographical error.

EPA is taking direct final action approving State Implementation Plan (SIP) revisions submitted by the State of Utah on September 7, 1999, and December 1, 2003. The revisions add the requirements of EPA's Consolidated Emission Reporting Rule (CERR) to the State's SIP. Utah has submitted four SIPs that relate to today's action on the CERR requirements. The State of Utah submitted a SIP revision on September 20, 1999, which did not make any substantive changes, but adopted a re-organization and renumbering of the air quality regulations. Although EPA is not acting on this particular submittal, EPA is approving and incorporating by reference rules using this new numbering scheme. Approving these rules rather than the earlier version will avoid confusion to the public and will obviate the need for future SIP revisions merely to renumber the SIP. In the remainder of this notice, we will refer to the rules by their current numbers, as reflected in the September 20, 1999 submittal, unless the context dictates otherwise. EPA is acting on the submittal of September 7, 1999, which addresses inventory requirements for emissions from landfills. EPA is approving only the emission inventory requirement for larger landfills, located at Utah Rule R307-221-1 under the State's new numbering system. As emissions from these larger landfills may exceed the emission reporting thresholds addressed in the CERR, Utah must include this information in its emission inventory report to EPA. The remainder of the September 7, 1999 revisions do not affect the State's ability to comply with the CERR; therefore, EPA is not acting on them. The Governor submitted additional revisions to their air quality emission inventory rules on October 23, 2000, which addressed inventory requirements for ammonia emissions. These revisions are contrary to the CERR issued on June 10, 2002 and, therefore, EPA is not acting on the October 23, 2000 SIP. The December 1, 2003 submittal adopted the requirements of the CERR by way of revisions to Utah Rule R307-150. In this action, we are approving and incorporating by reference Utah Rule R307-150, with the exception of two of its subparts, R307-150-4 and R308-150-8. EPA is not approving and incorporating R307-150-4 because it addresses inventory requirements for the Regional Haze State Implementation Plan and the Regional Haze regulatory requirements have changed since the 2003 submission. EPA is also not approving R307-150-8, which exempts specific Hazardous Air Pollutants (HAPs) from being reported in emission inventories if the amount of the emissions falls below a specific limit. EPA is not acting on this part of the submittal because the CERR does not require that HAPs emissions be reported to EPA. The intended effect of today's action is to approve only those portions from the State's submittals that add CERR requirements. This action is being taken under section 110 of the Clean Air Act.

This notice announces EPA's receipt of an application, 85004- EUP-R, from MacIntosh and Associates, Incorporated (on behalf of Pasteuria Bioscience, Incorporated) requesting an experimental use permit (EUP) for the microbial nematicide, Pasteuria usgae. The Agency has determined that the permit may be of regional and national significance. Therefore, in accordance with 40 CFR 172.11(a), the Agency is soliciting comments on this application.

The EPA is conditionally approving the Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) 1997 8-hour ozone State Implementation Plan (SIP) revisions submitted on May 30, 2007 and November 7, 2008, as supplemented on April 23, 2008. This final conditional approval action is for the attainment demonstration SIP, which includes the 2009 attainment Motor Vehicle Emissions Budgets (MVEBs), the Reasonably Available Control Measures (RACM) demonstration, and the failure-to-attain contingency measures plan. The approval is conditioned upon Texas adopting and submitting to EPA prior to March 1, 2009, a complete SIP revision to limit the use of Discrete Emission Reduction Credits (DERCs), beginning in March 2009. If the State meets its commitment to submit the DERC SIP revision, EPA will undertake additional rulemaking action on the approvability of the DERC SIP revision and, if EPA approves that SIP revision, the conditional approval of the attainment demonstration will be converted to a full approval at that time. We are fully approving two local control measures relied upon in the attainment demonstration, the Voluntary Mobile Source Emission Reduction Plan (VMEP) and Transportation Control Measures (TCMs). We are also fully approving the DFW area SIP as meeting the Reasonably Available Control Technology (RACT) requirement for volatile organic compounds (VOCs) for both the 1-hour and 1997 8-hour ozone standards. These actions will result in emissions reductions in the DFW 8-hour ozone nonattainment area and meet section 110 and part D of the Act and EPA's regulations.

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.

In September 2008, the Total Coliform Rule/Distribution Systems Advisory Committee (Committee) signed an Agreement in Principle, making recommendations to the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency on revisions to the Total Coliform Rule and research/information needs to better inform distribution system issues. The purpose of this notice is to make available to the public the Agreement in Principle, which includes the full recommendations of the Committee. The Agreement in Principle can be found on EPA's Office of Water, Office of Ground Water and Drinking Water's Web site.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is announcing the availability of the final White Paper on Integrated Modeling for Integrated Environmental Decision Making (EPA 100/R-08/010, November 2008. In pursuing its mission to protect human health and to safeguard the natural environment, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency often relies on environmental models. The EPA defines a model as a ``simplification of reality that is constructed to gain insights into select attributes of a particular physical, biological, economic, or social system.'' While traditionally environmental modeling has focused on considering a single pollutant in a single environmental medium, this approach is no longer viewed as sufficient for effective environmental management decision support. It is increasingly recognized that a holistic approach to modeling the environment and the mechanisms governing the fate and transport of pollutants through the different environmental media as well as the multiple exposure pathways and the consequent responses of humans and ecosystems, is required to adequately assess and address environmental problems. Integrated modeling is thus of importance to helping EPA consider the environment as a ``single, interrelated system''. Integrated modeling encompasses a broad range of approaches and configurations of models, data and assessment methods to describe and analyze complex environmental problems, often in a multimedia and multidisciplinary manner. This staff white paper recommends a commitment to a new direction in environmental modeling and decision making, one that adopts a systems thinking approach. This approach EPA will be able to significantly improve its ability to conduct scientific analyses in support of integrated decision making. The result will be implementing more efficient, effective and equitable policies and programs to advance environmental protection as well as economic prosperity. This white paper: (1) Outlines the need for and value of integrated modeling for EPA science and decision-making; (2) analyzes the state of the art and practice of integrated modeling and include examples of how this approach has been successfully applied and the lessons learned; (3) identifies the challenges to more fully implementing this approach in the future; and (4) presents a plan to create an enabling environment to facilitate a concerted, systematic, and stable approach to the development and application of integrated modeling for integrated decision making.

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.

EPA is proposing to partially approve and partially disapprove State Implementation Plan revisions submitted by the State of Utah on September 15, 2006, October 1, 2007, and March 7, 2008 to Utah's Rule R307-405 (``Permits: Major Sources in Attainment or Unclassified Areas (PSD)'') and to Utah's Rule R307-110-9 (``Section VIII, Prevention of Significant Deterioration of the Utah Air Quality Rules''). Utah adopted these rules on June 15, 2006, July 11, 2007, and January 9, 2008 and these rules became State-effective on June 16, 2006, September 7, 2007, and January 11, 2008 respectively. Utah has a federally approved Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) program for new and modified sources impacting attainment areas in the State. This action is being taken under section 110 of the Clean Air Act.

This action contains a minor correction to the final Civil Monetary Penalty Inflation Adjustment Rule, which was published on December 11, 2008 (73 FR 75340) and will be effective on January 12, 2009. As mandated by the Debt Collection Improvement Act (DCIA), the rule adjusts for inflation the statutory civil penalties that may be assessed for violations of EPA-administered statutes and their implementing regulations. A corrected version of Table 1 of the regulation appears at the end of this action.

EPA has granted an experimental use permit (EUP) (524-EUP-99) to the pesticide applicantMonsanto Company. An EUP permits use of a pesticide for experimental or research purposes only in accordance with the limitations in the permit.

EPA issued a final rule in the Federal Register of December 10, 2008, concerning the establishment of tolerance residues of novaluron in or on sugarcane, cane and tomato. This document is being issued to correct an amendment to the section as published in that document.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is inviting nominations from a diverse range of qualified candidates to be considered for appointment to fill vacancies on the Good Neighbor Environmental Board. Vacancies are expected to be filled by late spring 2009. Additional sources may be utilized in the solicitation of nominees.

Notice is hereby given that a petition has been received from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts requesting a determination by the Regional Administrator, U. S. Environmental Protection Agency, that adequate facilities for the safe and sanitary removal and treatment of sewage from all vessels are reasonably available for the waters of Revere, Saugus, Lynn, Nahant, and Swampscott.

EPA is announcing the availability of a final report titled, ``Predicting Future Introductions of Nonindigenous Species to the Great Lakes'' (EPA/600/R-08/066F). The report was prepared by the National Center for Environmental Assessment (NCEA), within EPA's Office of Research and Development (ORD). The Great Lakes of the United States have been subjected to adverse ecological and economic impacts from introduced species. Ballast water discharge from commercial shipping is the major means by which these nonindigenous species have entered the Great Lakes. This assessment demonstrates that successful invasions are best predicted by knowing the propagule pressure (i.e., the number of larvae/individuals entering a new area) and habitat matching (i.e., how similar is the invaded area to the native range of the species). The purpose of the report is to help resource managers focus monitoring activities on particular nonindigenous species at ports that are most at risk of invasion.

Section 5 of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) requires any person who intends to manufacture (defined by statute to include import) a new chemical (i.e., a chemical not on the TSCA Inventory) to notify EPA and comply with the statutory provisions pertaining to the manufacture of new chemicals. Under sections 5(d)(2) and 5(d)(3) of TSCA, EPA is required to publish a notice of receipt of a premanufacture notice (PMN) or an application for a test marketing exemption (TME), and to publish periodic status reports on the chemicals under review and the receipt of notices of commencement to manufacture those chemicals. This status report, which covers the period from November 17, 2008 through November 28, 2008, consists of the PMNs pending or expired, and the notices of commencement to manufacture a new chemical that the Agency has received under TSCA section 5 during this time period.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA or Agency) is seeking comment on which non-hazardous materials are or are not solid waste under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). The Agency is also seeking comment on a number of specific questions concerning the meaning of ``solid waste'' under RCRA, as it applies to non-hazardous waste programs. We are issuing this ANPRM to assist the Agency in developing certain standards under sections 112 and 129 of the Clean Air Act (CAA). The meaning of ``solid waste'' as defined under RCRA is of particular importance since CAA section 129 states that the term ``solid waste'' shall have the meaning ``established by the Administrator pursuant to [RCRA].''