Environmental Protection Agency January 2012 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

EPA is taking direct final action to approve the fine particulate matter (PM2.5) 2002 base year emissions inventory portion of the State Implementation Plan (SIP) revision submitted by the State of Georgia on October 27, 2009. The emissions inventory is part of the Rome, Georgia (hereafter referred to as ``the Rome Area'' or ``Area''), PM2.5 attainment demonstration that was submitted for the 1997 annual PM2.5 National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS). This action is being taken pursuant to section 110 of the Clean Air Act (CAA).

In accordance with section 6(f)(1) of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), as amended, EPA is issuing a notice of receipt of requests by registrants to voluntarily cancel certain pesticide registrations. EPA intends to grant these requests at the close of the comment period for this announcement unless the Agency receives substantive comments within the comment period that would merit its further review of the requests, or unless the registrants withdraw their requests. If these requests are granted, any sale, distribution, or use of products listed in this notice will be permitted after the registration has been cancelled only if such sale, distribution, or use is consistent with the terms as described in the final order.

In accordance with section 6(f)(1) of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), as amended, EPA is issuing a notice of receipt of requests by registrants to voluntarily amend certain imidacloprid product registrations to delete use on almonds, to voluntarily amend oxamyl product registrations to delete use on soybeans, and to voluntarily amend methomyl product registrations to delete use on grapes. The requests would not terminate the last imidacloprid, oxamyl, or methomyl products registered for use in the United States. EPA intends to grant these requests at the close of the comment period for this announcement unless it receives substantive comments within the comment period that would merit further review of the request, or unless one or more of the registrants withdraws its request. If the Agency grants these requests, any sale, distribution, or use of products listed in this notice will be permitted after the uses are deleted only if such sale, distribution, or use is consistent with the terms as described in the final order.

This notice announces the availability of EPA's final registration review decisions for the pesticides butylate, case no. 0071; fenoxycarb, case no. 7401; sodium tetrathiocarbonate, case no. 7009; and temephos, case no. 0006. Registration review is EPA's periodic review of pesticide registrations to ensure that each pesticide continues to satisfy the statutory standard for registration, that is, that the pesticide can perform its intended function without causing unreasonable adverse effects on human health or the environment. Through this program, EPA is ensuring that each pesticide's registration is based on current scientific and other knowledge, including its effects on human health and the environment.

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.

EPA is making determinations that the Metropolitan Washington, District of Columbia-Maryland-Virginia (DC-MD-VA) fine particle (PM2.5) nonattainment area and the Martinsburg-Hagerstown, West Virginia-Maryland (WV-MD) PM2.5 nonattainment area (hereafter referred to as ``Areas'') have attained the 1997 annual PM2.5 National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) by their applicable attainment date of April 5, 2010. These determinations are based upon complete, quality-assured, and certified ambient air monitoring data for the 2007-2009 monitoring period. EPA is finding these Areas to be in attainment, in accordance with the requirements of the Clean Air Act (CAA).

This action re-proposes confidentiality determinations for the data elements under the Mandatory Greenhouse Gas Reporting Rule. On July 7, 2010, EPA proposed confidentiality determinations for data elements and is issuing this re-proposal today due to significant changes to certain data elements. In addition, EPA is proposing confidentiality determinations for seven new data elements that are not inputs to equations. EPA is also proposing to categorize three data elements as inputs to emission equations and to defer their reporting deadline to March 31, 2013.

This document announces the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) responses to Agency Clearance requests, in compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.). An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number. The OMB control numbers for EPA regulations are listed in 40 CFR part 9 and 48 CFR chapter 15.

The EPA is proposing amendments to three national emission standards for hazardous air pollutants (NESHAP): National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutant Emissions: Group IV Polymers and Resins; NESHAP for Pesticide Active Ingredient Production; and NESHAP for Polyether Polyols Production. For all three of these NESHAP rules, the EPA is proposing decisions concerning the following: residual risk reviews; technology reviews; emissions during periods of startup, shutdown and malfunction; standards for previously unregulated hazardous air pollutant emissions; and electronic reporting of performance test results.

This regulation establishes an exemption from the requirement of a tolerance for residues of the Bacillus amyloliquefaciens strain D747 (formerly known as Bacillus subtilis variant amyloliquefaciens strain D747) in or on all food commodities when used in accordance with good agricultural practices. Certis USA LLC 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 Bacillus amyloliquefaciens strain D747 (formerly known as Bacillus subtilis variant amyloliquefaciens strain D747).

EPA will amend the EPA Acquisition Regulation (EPAAR) to revise the content of a clause that addresses compliance policies for information resources management in contracts. This revision incorporates to the EPAAR, administrative changes to update terminology and Web site links related to EPA policies for information resources management.

This notice announces that EPA has granted manufacturers new emission-related scheduled maintenance and maintenance intervals for the replenishment of the nitrogen-containing reducing agent for selective catalytic reduction (SCR) technologies used with nonroad compression-ignition (NRCI) engines for 2011 and later model years. Replenishment of reducing agent for SCR technologies is considered critical emission-related maintenance.

EPA is issuing a direct final rule identifying additional fuel pathways that EPA has determined meet the biomass-based diesel, advanced biofuel or cellulosic biofuel lifecycle greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction requirements specified in Clean Air Act section 211(o), the Renewable Fuel Standard Program, as amended by the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA). This direct final rule describes EPA's evaluation of biofuels produced from camelina oil, energy cane, giant reed, and napiergrass; it also includes an evaluation of renewable gasoline and renewable gasoline blendstocks, as well as biodiesel from esterification, and clarifies our definition of renewable diesel. We are also finalizing two changes to regulation that were proposed on July 1, 2011(76 FR 38844). The first change adds ID letters to pathways to facilitate references to specific pathways. The second change adds ``rapeseed'' to the existing pathway for renewable fuel made from canola oil. This direct final rule adds these pathways to Table in regulation as pathways which have been determined to meet one or more of the GHG reduction thresholds specified in CAA 211(o), and assigns each pathway a corresponding D-Code. It allows producers or importers of fuel produced pursuant to these pathways to generate Renewable Identification Numbers (RINs), providing that the fuel meets the other requirements specified in the RFS regulations to qualify it as renewable fuel.

We are proposing to approve Section 1.11 of Colorado's procedural rules as adopted by the Air Quality Control Commission (Commission) on January 16, 1998 and submitted to EPA as a State Implementation Plan (SIP) revision on November 5, 1999. Section 1.11 specifies certain requirements regarding the composition of the Commission and disclosure by its members of potential conflicts of interest. We are also reproposing approval of a portion of Colorado's January 7, 2008 submittal to meet the ``infrastructure'' requirements of section 110(a)(2) of the Clean Air Act (CAA) for the 1997 8-hour ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS), specifically the portion intended to address the requirements of section 110(a)(2)(E)(ii) of the CAA. We previously proposed approval, 76 FR 28707, of this portion as part of our action on the January 7, 2008 submittal. This action is being taken under section 110 of the CAA.

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 settlement agreement to address lawsuits filed by EnerNOC, Inc., EnergyConnect, Inc., CPower, Inc., and Innoventive Power, LLC (``Petitioners'') in the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit: EnerNOC, et al v. EPA, No. 10-1090 (DC Cir.) and EnerNOC, et al v. EPA, No. 10-1336 (DC Cir.). Petitioners filed for review of two EPA rulemakings that revised the National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants for Reciprocating Internal Combustion Engines (the RICE NESHAP). Under the terms of the proposed settlement agreement, by April 20, 2012, the Agency will sign a notice of proposed rulemaking that includes a proposal to revise the RICE NESHAP and the stationary internal combustion engine new source performance standards (ICE NSPS) to allow owners and operators of emergency stationary internal combustion engines to operate emergency stationary internal combustion engines in emergency conditions, as defined in those regulations, as part of an emergency demand response program for 60 hours per year or the minimum hours required by Independent System Operator tariff, whichever is less. The notice of proposed rulemaking may also allow for more hours of operation. In addition, under the terms of the proposed settlement agreement, by December 14, 2012, the Administrator of EPA will sign a final action on this proposal, which may include signature of a final rule by the Administrator. If EPA promulgates in final form an amendment to the RICE NESHAP and ICE NSPS that includes changes that are substantially the same substance as that set forth in the settlement agreement, then Petitioners shall promptly file a stipulation of dismissal of Nos. 10- 1090 and 10-1336.

EPA is proposing to adjust the allowance system controlling U.S. consumption and production of hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) as a result of a recent court decision vacating a portion of the rule titled ``Protection of Stratospheric Ozone: Adjustments to the Allowance System for Controlling HCFC Production, Import, and Export; Final Rule.'' EPA interprets the court's vacatur as applying to the part of the rule that establishes the company-by-company baselines and calendar-year allowances for HCFC-22 and HCFC-142b. Following the August 5, 2011 interim final rule allocating allowances for 2011, this action proposes to relieve the regulatory ban on production and consumption of these two chemicals following the court's vacatur by establishing company-by-company HCFC-22 and HCFC-142b baselines and allocating production and consumption allowances for 2012-2014.

In accordance with Section 122(i) of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, as amended (``CERCLA''), 42 U.S.C. 9622(i), notice is hereby given of a proposed administrative settlement for recovery of response costs concerning the North Hollywood Operable Unit of the San Fernando Valley Area 1 Superfund Site, located in the vicinity of Los Angeles, California, with the following settling party: Waste Management Recycling & Disposal Services of California, Inc., dba Bradley Landfill & Recycling Center. The settlement requires the settling party to pay a total of $185,734 to the North Hollywood Operable Unit Special Account within the Hazardous Substance Superfund. The settlement also includes a covenant not to sue the settling party pursuant to Section 107(a) of CERCLA, 42 U.S.C. 9607(a). For thirty (30) days following the date of publication of this notice, the Agency will receive written comments relating to the settlement. The Agency will consider all comments received and may modify or withdraw its consent to the settlement if comments received disclose facts or considerations which indicate that the settlement is inappropriate, improper, or inadequate. The Agency's response to any comments received will be available for public inspection at the City of Los Angeles Central Library, Science and Technology Department, 630 West 5th Street, Los Angeles CA 90071 and at the EPA Region 9 Superfund Records Center, Mail Stop SFD-7C, 95 Hawthorne Street, Room 403, San Francisco, CA 94105.

A GP regulating the activities of facilities related to oil and gas extraction on the North Slope of the Brooks Range, Alaska expired on January 2, 2009. On July 2, 2009, EPA proposed to reissue the GP expanding the coverage area to the TransAlaska Pipeline Corridor along with other potential corridors. There was a 45 day comment period. During the comment period, EPA received many comments and decided to make changes to the draft based on the comments received. On August 2, 2011, EPA re-noticed the GP with a new Fact Sheet requesting new comments. The comment permit ended on September 17, 2011. EPA received several comments, the major one being a request not to cover the pipeline corridors under this GP. EPA agreed so the final coverage area reverts back to the North Slope Borough, Alaska. EPA has also renumbered the permit to distinguish it from the previous GP which covered more types of discharges.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) receives from time to time Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests for documentation received or issued by EPA or data contained in EPA database systems pertaining to the export and import of Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) hazardous waste from/to the United States, the export of cathode ray tubes (CRTs) and spent lead acid batteries (SLABs) from the United States, and the export and import of RCRA universal waste from/to the United States. These documents and data may identify or reference multiple parties, and describe transactions involving the movement of specified materials in which the parties propose to participate or have participated. The purpose of this notice is to inform ``affected businesses'' about the documents or data sought by these types of FOIA requests in order to provide the businesses with the opportunity to assert claims that any of the information sought that pertains to them is entitled to treatment as confidential business information (CBI), and to send comments to EPA supporting their claims for such treatment. Certain businesses, however, do not meet the definition of ``affected business,'' and are not covered by today's notice. They consist of any business that actually submitted to EPA any document at issue pursuant to applicable RCRA regulatory requirements and did not assert a CBI claim as to information that pertains to that business in connection with the document at the time of its submission; they have waived their right to do so at a later time. Nevertheless, other businesses identified or referenced in the documents that were submitted to EPA by the submitting business may have a right to assert a CBI claim concerning information that pertains to them and may do so in response to this notice.