Environmental Protection Agency February 28, 2011 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The States of Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska and the local agencies of Lincoln-Lancaster County, Nebraska, and the city of Omaha, Nebraska, have submitted updated regulations for delegation of EPA authority for implementation and enforcement of NSPS, NESHAP, and MACT standards. The submissions cover new EPA standards and, in some instances, revisions to standards previously delegated. EPA's review of the pertinent regulations shows that they contain adequate and effective procedures for the implementation and enforcement of these Federal standards. This action informs the public of delegations to the above-mentioned agencies.

EPA is proposing to determine that the St. Louis (MO-IL) metropolitan nonattainment area has attained the 1997 8-hour National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) for ozone. The St. Louis metropolitan ozone nonattainment area includes the counties of Franklin, Jefferson, St. Charles, and St. Louis as well as St. Louis City in Missouri; and the counties of Madison, Monroe, St. Clair, and Jersey in Illinois. This proposed determination is based on three years of complete, quality assured ambient air quality monitoring data for Missouri and Illinois for the 2008 through 2010 ozone seasons showing attainment of the NAAQS at all ozone monitoring sites in the nonattainment area. If EPA finalizes its proposed determination, it will suspend the obligation to submit certain ozone attainment demonstration requirements, along with other requirements related to the attainment of the 1997 8-hour ozone standard.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA or Agency) Science Advisory Board (SAB) Staff Office announces a public teleconference of the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC) Ozone Review Panel for the Reconsideration of the 2008 National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) to continue the discussion of their advice regarding EPA's reconsideration of the 2008 Ozone NAAQS.

EPA is announcing the release of the draft report titled, ``Aquatic Ecosystems, Water Quality, and Global Change: Challenges of Conducting Multi-stressor Vulnerability Assessments'' (EPA/600/R-11/ 011) and a 45-day public comment period for the report. The document was prepared by the National Center for Environmental Assessment within EPA's Office of Research and Development. This draft report investigates the issues and challenges associated with identifying, calculating, and mapping indicators of the relative vulnerability of water quality and aquatic ecosystems, across the United States, to the potential impacts of global change. Using a large set of environmental indicators drawn from the scientific and management literature, this draft report explores the conceptual and practical challenges associated with using such indicators to assess how the resilience of ecosystems and human systems may vary as a function of existing stresses and maladaptations. The public comment period and the external peer review are separate processes that provide opportunities for all interested parties to comment on the document. EPA intends to forward the public comments that are submitted in accordance with this notice to the external peer reviewers for their consideration prior to the finalization of their review comments. When finalizing the draft document, EPA intends to consider any public comments that EPA receives in accordance with this notice. 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. The draft document and EPA's peer review charge are available via the Internet on the NCEA home page under the Recent Additions and the Data and Publications menus at https://www.epa.gov/ncea.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is announcing a 60-day public comment period and availability of the first external review draft of a document titled, ``First External Review Draft Integrated Science Assessment for Ozone and Related Photochemical Oxidants'' (EPA/600/R-10/076A). The document was prepared by the National Center for Environmental Assessment (NCEA) within EPA's Office of Research and Development as part of the review of the national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) for ozone. EPA is releasing this draft document to seek review by the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC) and the public (meeting date and location to be specified in a separate Federal Register notice). The draft document does not represent and should not be construed to represent any final EPA policy, viewpoint, or determination. EPA will consider any public comments submitted in response to this notice when revising the document.