Environmental Protection Agency December 30, 2010 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

EPA is approving the Clean Air Act (CAA) section 111(d)/129 State Plan (the Plan) submitted by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) for the State of Florida on July 12, 2007, for implementing and enforcing the Emissions Guidelines (EGs) applicable to existing Large Municipal Waste Combustors (LMWCs). These EGs apply to municipal waste combustors with a capacity to combust more than 250 tons per day of municipal solid waste (MSW).

In accordance with section 113(g) of the Clean Air Act, 42 U.S.C. 7413(g), notice is hereby given of a proposed settlement agreement to address lawsuits filed by the following groups of Petitioners: (1) The States of New York, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the District of Columbia, and the City of New York (collectively ``State Petitioners''); and (2) Natural Resources Defense Council, Sierra Club, and Environmental Integrity Project (collectively ``Environmental Petitioners''). State and Environmental Petitioners filed their lawsuits in the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, which were consolidated under the lead case American Petroleum Institute, et al. v. EPA, No. 08-1277 (DC Cir.). Petitioners filed petitions for review of EPA's final rule entitled ``Standards of Performance for Petroleum Refineries,'' published at 73 FR 35838 (June 24, 2008). The proposed settlement agreement establishes deadlines for EPA's proposed and final actions for meeting its obligations in the agreement.

The Regional Administrator of EPA Region 6 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 in sufficient and reasonably available quantities and of a satisfactory quality] to the Buffalo Island Regional Water District (``District'') for the purchase of a 15 horsepower (HP) vertical hollow shaft electric motor, for use in a water supply well. The 15 HP vertical hollow shaft electric motor is manufactured by foreign manufacturers and no United States manufacturer produces an alternative that meets the District's technical specifications. 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 the specific project circumstances. The Regional Administrator is making this determination based on the review and recommendations of the EPA Region 6, Water Quality Protection Division. The District has provided sufficient documentation to support its request. The Assistant Administrator of the EPA's 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 a 15 HP vertical hollow shaft electric motor not manufactured in America, for the proposed project being implemented by the District.

This notice announces EPA's order for the cancellations, voluntarily requested by the registrants and accepted by the Agency, of the products listed in Tables 1A and 1B of Unit II., pursuant to section 6(f)(1) of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), as amended. This cancellation order follows two Notices of Receipt of Requests from the respective registrants listed in Table 2 of Unit II. The notice dated August 25, 2010, pertains to the fenoxycarb product registrations and the notice dated August 18, 2010, pertains to the propetamphos product registrations. In those notices, EPA indicated that it would issue an order implementing the cancellations, unless the Agency received substantive comments within the 30-day comment periods that would merit its further review of these requests, or unless the registrants withdrew their requests. The Agency did not receive any comments on the notice for fenoxycarb or propetamphos and neither request was withdrawn. Accordingly, EPA hereby issues in this notice a cancellation order granting the requested cancellations. Any distribution, sale, or use of the products subject to this cancellation order is permitted only in accordance with the terms of this order, including any existing stocks provisions.

EPA is proposing to correct its previous full approval of Texas's Clean Air Act (CAA) Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) program to be a partial approval and partial disapproval and is proposing a Federal Implementation Plan (FIP) for Texas. This action is based on EPA's determination that Texas's PSD program is flawed because the state did not address how the program would apply to all pollutants that would become newly subject to regulation in the future, including non-National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) pollutants, among them greenhouse gases (GHGs). The partial disapproval requires EPA to promulgate a FIP and so EPA is also proposing a FIP in order to assure that GHG-emitting sources in Texas are able to proceed with plans to construct or expand. In the ``Rules'' section of this Federal Register, we are taking this action including the FIP through an interim final rule that is effective immediately.

This action is another in a series of steps EPA is taking to implement the Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) program for greenhouse gas (GHG)-emitting sources. EPA is finalizing its proposed rulemaking to narrow its previous approval of State Implementation Plan (SIP) PSD programs in 24 states that apply to GHG-emitting sources. Specifically, EPA is withdrawing its previous approval of those programs to the extent they apply PSD to GHG-emitting sources below the thresholds in the final Tailoring Rule, which EPA promulgated by Federal Register notice dated June 3, 2010. Having narrowed its prior approval, EPA asks that each affected state withdraw from EPA consideration the part of its SIP that is no longer approved. The states for whose SIPs EPA is narrowing approval are: Alabama, California, Colorado, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, and Wisconsin.