Environmental Protection Agency August 10, 2011 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 8, is issuing a Notice of Intent to Delete the International Smelting and Refining Superfund Site (Site) located in Tooele, Utah from the National Priorities List (NPL) and requests public comments on this proposed action. The NPL, promulgated pursuant to section 105 of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) of 1980, as amended, is an appendix of the National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan (NCP). The EPA and the State of Utah, through the Utah Department of Environmental Quality (UDEQ), have determined that all appropriate response actions under CERCLA, other than operation, maintenance, and five-year reviews, have been completed. However, this deletion does not preclude future actions under Superfund.

EPA is seeking public comment on a June 21, 2011, petition from CropLife America (CLA), Consumer Specialty Products Association (CSPA), and the Responsible Industry for a Sound Environment (RISE) requesting the Agency develop and publish guidance explaining the criteria by which EPA will make its decisions on data received in response to the test orders issued under the Endocrine Disruptor Screening Program.

EPA is proposing to partially approve and partially disapprove revisions to Colorado's Regulation 1 adopted by the State of Colorado on July 21, 2005 and submitted to EPA on August 8, 2006. The revisions involve the use of obscurants during military exercises while maintaining air quality, averaged emission rate determination over time and recordkeeping requirements. Colorado's Regulation 1 governs opacity, particulate, sulfur dioxide (SO2), and carbon monoxide (CO) emissions from sources. EPA has determined that most of the revisions in Colorado's submittal are consistent with the Clean Air Act (CAA) and should be approved, but a revision to a provision governing fuel burning equipment is not and should be disapproved.

EPA is proposing to take several actions on a revision to the Minnesota State Implementation Plan (SIP) which updates Minnesota's rules in the SIP. The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) submitted the SIP revision to EPA on May 5, 2008. EPA is proposing to approve the majority of MPCA's submittal, which will result in consistent enforceability of rules at the state and Federal levels. EPA is proposing to defer action on two sections of Minnesota's rules related to the state's operating permit program. Finally, EPA is proposing to disapprove the state's request to remove the Minneapolis/ St. Paul vehicle inspection and maintenance program from the Minnesota SIP. These actions are approvable because they are consistent with the Clean Air Act (CAA) and EPA regulations.

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, entitled: ``TSCA Section 4 Test Rules, Consent Orders, Test Rule Exemptions, and Voluntary Data Submission'' and identified by EPA ICR No. 1139.09 and OMB Control No. 2070-0033, is scheduled to expire on January 31, 2012. Before submitting the ICR to OMB for review and approval, EPA is soliciting comments on specific aspects of the proposed information collection.

EPA is taking final action to approve revisions to the North Carolina State Implementation Plan (SIP) submitted by the State of North Carolina in three submittals dated November 30, 2005, March 16, 2007, and June 20, 2008. The revisions modify North Carolina's Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) and Nonattainment New Source Review (NNSR) permitting regulations in the SIP to address changes to the federal New Source Review (NSR) regulations, which were promulgated by EPA on December 31, 2002, and reconsidered with minor changes on November 7, 2003 (collectively, these two final actions are referred to as the ``2002 NSR Reform Rules''). In addition, the revisions address an update to the NSR regulations promulgated by EPA on November 29, 2005 (hereafter referred to as the Ozone Implementation NSR Update) relating to the implementation of the 1997 8-hour ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS). EPA proposed to approve these revisions on September 9, 2008, and received adverse comments. In this final action, EPA is also responding to the adverse comments.