Environmental Protection Agency November 2010 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

EPA is interested in soliciting individual stakeholder input regarding the issues addressed in the EPA interim final guidance, titled Institutional Controls: A Guide to Planning, Implementing, Maintaining, and Enforcing Institutional Controls at Contaminated Sites. The Agency will consider the information gathered from this notice and other sources before finalizing this guidance.

In accordance with section 113(g) of the Clean Air Act, as amended (``Act''), 42 U.S.C. 7413(g), notice is hereby given of a proposed consent decree, to address a lawsuit filed by WildEarth Guardians: WildEarth Guardians v. Jackson, Civil Action No. 1:10-cv- 01672-RPM (D. CO). On or about July 14, 2010, WildEarth Guardians filed a complaint alleging that EPA Administrator Jackson failed to fulfill a mandatory duty to respond to an administrative petition to object to issuance of air permit No. 96OPMR129 to the Public Service Company of Colorado doing business as Xcel Energy to operate the Pawnee coal-fired power plant in Morgan County, Colorado (the ``Pawnee Petition'') within the 60 days specified in section 505(b)(2) of the Clean Air Act and asking the court to enter judgment: (i) Declaring that EPA has violated the Clean Air Act by failing to grant or deny the administrative petition; and, (ii) Ordering EPA to grant or deny the administrative petition in accordance with an expeditious schedule prescribed by the Court. On September 1, 2010, WildEarth Guardians filed a first amended complaint alleging that EPA Administrator Jackson failed to fulfill a mandatory duty to respond to administrative petitions to object to the issuance of air permit No. 96OPAD137 to Xcel Energy to operate the Cherokee coal-fired power plant in Denver, Colorado (the ``Cherokee Petition'') and air permit No. 960PBO131 to Xcel Energy to operate the Valmont coal-fired power plant in Boulder County, Colorado (the ``Valmont Petition''). Under the terms of the proposed consent decree, EPA agrees to: (i) Sign a response to the Pawnee Petition no later than June 30, 2011; (ii) sign a response to the Valmont Petition no later than September 30, 2011; and, (iii) sign a response to the Cherokee Petition no later than October 31, 2011.

EPA proposes to approve the State of Delaware's negative declaration and request for EPA withdrawal of its section 111(d)/129 plan (the plan) approval for HMIWI units. Submittal of a negative declaration or state plan revision is a requirement of the Clean Air Act (CAA). In the Final Rules section of this Federal Register, EPA is approving the State of Delaware's negative declaration and request for EPA withdrawal of its plan approval for HMIWI units. A detailed rationale for the approval is set forth in the direct final rule. If no adverse comments are received in response to this action, no further activity is contemplated. If EPA receives adverse comments, the direct final rule will be withdrawn and all public comments received will be addressed in a subsequent final rule based on this proposed rule. EPA will not institute a second comment period. Any parties interested in commenting on this action should do so at this time.

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 May 31, 2011. 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.

EPA is proposing to approve in part and disapprove in part state implementation plan (SIP) revisions submitted by California to provide for attainment of the 1997 annual and 24-hour fine particulate matter (PM2.5) national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) in the San Joaquin Valley (SJV) nonattainment area. The SIP revisions are the SJV 2008 PM2.5 Plan (revised 2010) and portions of the 2007 State Strategy (revised 2009). Specifically, EPA is proposing to approve the emissions inventories as meeting the requirements of the Clean Air Act and EPA's fine particle implementing rule and to approve commitments to implement specific measures and meet specific aggregate emissions reductions by the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District and the California Air Resource Board. In addition, we are proposing to find that volatile organic compounds are a PM2.5 attainment plan precursor in the SJV for which controls should be evaluated. EPA is proposing to disapprove the attainment demonstration. EPA is also proposing to disapprove the reasonably available control measures/reasonably available control technology demonstration, the air quality modeling, the reasonable further progress (RFP) demonstration, the contingency measures, and the attainment and RFP conformity motor vehicle emissions budgets. EPA is also proposing to not grant California's request to extend to April 5, 2015 the deadline for the SJV nonattainment area to attain the 1997 PM2.5 NAAQS.

EPA and NHTSA, on behalf of the Department of Transportation, are each proposing rules to establish a comprehensive Heavy-Duty National Program that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase fuel efficiency for on-road heavy-duty vehicles, responding to the President's directive on May 21, 2010, to take coordinated steps to produce a new generation of clean vehicles. NHTSA's proposed fuel consumption standards and EPA's proposed carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions standards would be tailored to each of three regulatory categories of heavy-duty vehicles: Combination Tractors; Heavy-Duty Pickup Trucks and Vans; and Vocational Vehicles, as well as gasoline and diesel heavy-duty engines. EPA's proposed hydrofluorocarbon emissions standards would apply to air conditioning systems in tractors, pickup trucks, and vans, and EPA's proposed nitrous oxide (N2O) and methane (CH4) emissions standards would apply to all heavy-duty engines, pickup trucks, and vans. EPA is also requesting comment on possible alternative CO2-equivalent approaches for model year 2012-14 light-duty vehicles. EPA's proposed greenhouse gas emission standards under the Clean Air Act would begin with model year 2014. NHTSA's proposed fuel consumption standards under the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 would be voluntary in model years 2014 and 2015, becoming mandatory with model year 2016 for most regulatory categories. Commercial trailers would not be regulated in this phase of the Heavy- Duty National Program, although there is a discussion of the possibility of future action for trailers.

The Director of the Office of Ecosystem Protection, Environmental Protection AgencyRegion 1 (EPA), issued a Notice of Availability of Draft NPDES general permits for discharges from small MS4s to certain waters of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts on November 4, 2010. The draft general permits are the Draft Small MS4 General Permits for Massachusetts Interstate, Merrimack, and South Coastal Watersheds. These three general permits are for the discharge of stormwater from Small MS4s to the waters in these watersheds. The November 4, 2010 notice included information on a public hearing. The notice did not meet the time frames required by 40 CFR 124.10. Therefore, EPA has rescheduled the hearing and extended the comment permit of the draft permits. Throughout this documents the terms ``this permit'' and ``the permit'' will refer to all three general permits. Information on the draft permits, appendices and fact sheet is available at: https://www.epa.gov/ne/npdes/stormwater/mimsc_sms4.html.

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 05/31/2011. 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.

Due to the receipt of an adverse comment, EPA is withdrawing the November 2, 2010 (75 FR 67220), direct final rule determining that the Hayden, Nogales, and Paul Spur/Douglas areas in Arizona had attained the national ambient air quality standard (NAAQS) for particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter of less than or equal to ten microns by the applicable attainment date. On the basis of this determination, EPA concluded that these three ``moderate'' nonattainment areas were not subject to reclassification. In the direct final rule, EPA stated that if adverse comments were submitted by December 2, 2010, the rule would be withdrawn and not take effect. On November 3, 2010, EPA received a comment. EPA believes this comment is adverse and, therefore, EPA is withdrawing the direct final rule. EPA will address the comment in a subsequent final action based upon the proposed action also published on November 2, 2010 (75 FR 67303). EPA will not institute a second comment period on this action.

Due to an adverse comment, EPA is withdrawing the direct final rule to approve revisions to Maryland's State Implementation Plan (SIP). This SIP revision consists of an addition to Maryland's Volatile Organic Compounds from Specific Processes Regulation. Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) adopted standards for industrial solvent cleaning operations that satisfy the reasonably available control technology (RACT) requirements for sources of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) covered by control techniques guidelines (CTG). In the direct final rule published on September 29, 2010 (75 FR 59973), we stated that if we received any adverse comments by October 29, 2010, the rule would be withdrawn and would not take effect. EPA received an adverse comment within the comment period. EPA will address the comment received in a subsequent final action based upon the proposed action also published on September 29, 2010 (75 FR 60013). EPA will not institute a second comment period on this action.

EPA is proposing to approve a request submitted by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) on June 29, 2009, to revise the Indiana State Implementation Plan (SIP) under the Clean Air Act (CAA). The State has submitted amendments to the Indiana Administrative Code (IAC), which supplement Indiana's Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR), for which EPA granted limited approval as an abbreviated SIP on October 22, 2007. The State's June 29, 2009, submittal includes elements that EPA deems necessary in order for EPA to fully approve Indiana's CAIR SIP. This will allow a transition from an abbreviated SIP with limited approval to a full SIP with full approval under which the various CAIR implementation provisions would be governed by State rules rather than Federal Implementation Plan (FIP) rules. This action results in the withdrawal of the Indiana CAIR FIP concerning sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxides (NOX) annual, and NOX ozone season emissions.

EPA is proposing to approve a revision to the maintenance plan for the Ohio portion of the Cincinnati-Hamilton, OH-KY-IN 8-hour ozone area. The Cincinnati-Hamilton area includes Butler, Clermont, Clinton, Hamilton, and Warren Counties in Ohio, Lawrenceburg Township in Dearborn County, Indiana, and Boone, Campbell, and Kenton Counties in Kentucky. The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (Ohio EPA) submitted a maintenance plan revision on July 6, 2010. The submittal contained revisions to 2015 and 2020 NOX point source emissions projections for Butler County to reflect modifications at a major source that will occur during the maintenance period.

EPA is adding 16 chemicals to the list of toxic chemicals subject to reporting under section 313 of the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) of 1986 and section 6607 of the Pollution Prevention Act of 1990 (PPA). These 16 chemicals have been classified by the National Toxicology Program in their Report on Carcinogens as ``reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen.'' EPA has determined that these 16 chemicals meet the EPCRA section 313(d)(2)(B) criteria because they can reasonably be anticipated to cause cancer in humans.

EPA is approving part of a State Implementation Plan (SIP) revision submitted by the State of Oklahoma that demonstrates that adequate provisions are in place to prohibit Oklahoma air emissions from interfering with Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) measures required in the SIP of any other state for the 1997 8-hour ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) and the 1997 fine particulate matter (PM2.5) NAAQS. Specifically, EPA is approving the Oklahoma Interstate Transport SIP provisions that address the requirement of section 110(a)(2)(D)(i)(II) that emissions from sources in Oklahoma do not interfere with measures required in the SIP of any other state under part C of the CAA to prevent ``significant deterioration of air quality.'' EPA is also approving portions of revisions to the Oklahoma SIP submitted on February 14, 2002, and June 24, 2010. The February 14, 2002, revisions we are approving relate to PSD and Nonattainment New Source Review (NNSR) for major sources, source registration and emissions reporting and other rules of practice and procedure (except for revisions relating to minor sources). The June 24, 2010, revisions we are approving include nitrogen oxides (NOX) as an ozone precursor in Oklahoma's PSD SIP for purposes of the 1997 8-hour ozone NAAQS. This action is being taken under section 110 and parts C and D of the Clean Air Act (CAA).

Under sections 5(d)(2) and 5(d)(3) of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), EPA is required to publish in the Federal Register a notice of receipt of a premanufacture notice (PMN) or an application for a test marketing exemption (TME), and to publish in the Federal Register periodic status reports on the new chemicals under review and the receipt of notices of commencement (NOC) to begin the manufacture of those chemicals. This document covers the period from September 20, 2010, to October 8, 2010, and provides the required notice and status report for the PMNs and TMEs, both pending or expired, and the NOCs to manufacture a new chemical that the Agency has received under TSCA section 5 during this time period.

Section 110(h) of the Clean Air Act, as amended in 1990 (the ``Act''), requires EPA by November 15, 1995, and every three years thereafter, to assemble the requirements of the Federally-enforceable State Implementation Plans (SIPs) in each State and to publish notice in the Federal Register of the availability of such documents. This notice of availability fulfills the three-year requirement of making these SIP compilations for each State available to the public.

The EPA Science Advisory Board (SAB) Staff Office announces two public teleconferences of the chartered SAB: (a) A quality review of an SAB draft review of EPA's ``Toxicological Review of Trichloroethylene'' on December 15, 2010 and (b) a quality review of an SAB draft review of EPA's ``Development of a Relative Potency Factor (RPF) Approach for Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon (PAH) Mixtures'' on December 16, 2010.

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 for a new collection. The ICR, which is abstracted below, describes the nature of the information collection and its estimated burden and cost.

This regulation establishes an exemption from the requirement of a tolerance for residues of polyoxyalkylated glycerol fatty acid esters; the mono-, di-, or triglyceride mixtures of C8 through C22, primarily C8 through C18 saturated and unsaturated, fatty acids containing up to 15% water by weight reacted with a minimum of three moles of either ethylene oxide or propylene oxide, also known as polyoxyalkylated glycerol fatty acid esters, when used as an inert ingredient in a pesticide chemical formulation under 40 CFR 180.960. Croda Inc., 315 Cherry Lane, Wilmington, DE submitted a petition to EPA under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA), requesting an exemption from the requirement of a tolerance. This regulation eliminates the need to establish a maximum permissible level for residues of polyoxyalkylated glycerol fatty acid esters; the mono-, di-, or triglyceride mixtures of C8 through C22, primarily C8 through C18 saturated and unsaturated, fatty acids containing up to 15% water by weight reacted with a minimum of three moles of either ethylene oxide or propylene oxide, also known as polyoxyalkylated glycerol fatty acid esters, when used as an inert ingredient in a pesticide chemical formulation on food or feed commodities.

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 05/31/2011. 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.

EPA has received applications to register pesticide products containing active ingredients not included in any previously registered pesticide products. Pursuant to the provisions of section 3(c)(4) of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), EPA is hereby providing notice of receipt and opportunity to comment on these applications.

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.

This rule establishes air quality designations for certain areas in the United States for the 2008 lead (Pb) National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS). Based on air quality monitoring data, EPA is issuing this rule to identify areas that do not meet the 2008 Pb NAAQS and areas that contribute to Pb air pollution in a nearby area that does not meet the Pb NAAQS. EPA is deferring designation for all other areas of the United States, including Indian country, pending collection and review of additional data from recently deployed Pb monitors. The Clean Air Act (CAA) requires areas designated nonattainment by this rule to undertake certain planning and pollution control activities to attain the standards as quickly as reasonably possible.

The EPA is hereby granting a project waiver of the Buy American requirements of ARRA Section 1605 under the authority of Section 1605(b)(2) [manufactured goods are not produced in the United States of a satisfactory quality] to the UDWQ for the purchase of coconut fiber (coir) woven mats. This is a project-specific waiver and only applies to the use of the specified product for the ARRA-funded project being proposed. Any other ARRA project that may wish to use the same product must apply for a separate waiver based on project-specific circumstances. These coconut fiber woven mats, which are supplied by Geo Dynamics in Ogden, UT, are manufactured in India and Sri Lanka, and meet the UDWQ's performance specifications and requirements. The Regional Administrator is making this determination based on the review and recommendations of EPA Region 8's Technical & Financial Services Unit. The UDWQ has provided sufficient documentation to support its request. The Assistant Administrator of the Office of Administration and Resources Management has concurred on this decision to make an exception to Section 1605 of ARRA. This action permits the purchase of coconut fiber woven mats for the East Canyon Stream Restoration Project being implemented by the UDWQ that may otherwise be prohibited under Section 1605(a) of the ARRA.