Environmental Protection Agency April 16, 2012 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

Notice is hereby given of a proposed administrative settlement under CERCLA concerning the Tecumseh Heus Superfund Site (``Site'') in Calumet County, Wisconsin. Subject to review and comment by the public pursuant to this notice. The settlement resolves a United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) claim under Sections 106, 107(a), and 122 of CERCLA, against two parties who have executed binding certifications of their consent to the settlement, as listed below in the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section. The settlement requires the settling parties to pay a total of $60,000 to the EPA Hazardous Substances Superfund. Each settling party is required to pay an amount specified for that party in the settlement. Payments received shall be applied, retained, or used to finance the response actions taken or to be taken at or in connection with the Site. 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 EPA, Region 5, 7th Floor File Room, 77 West Jackson Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois.

EPA is proposing to approve in part, and conditionally approve in part, the State Implementation Plan (SIP) submission, submitted by the State of Tennessee, through the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC), to demonstrate that the State meets the requirements of sections 110(a)(1) and (2) of the Clean Air Act (CAA or Act) for the 1997 8-hour ozone national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS). Section 110(a) of the CAA requires that each state adopt and submit a SIP for the implementation, maintenance, and enforcement of each NAAQS promulgated by the EPA, which is commonly referred to as an ``infrastructure'' SIP. TDEC certified that the Tennessee SIP contains provisions that ensure the 1997 8-hour ozone NAAQS are implemented, enforced, and maintained in Tennessee (hereafter referred to as ``infrastructure submission''). EPA is proposing to conditionally approve sub-element 110(a)(2)(E)(ii) of Tennessee's December 14, 2007, submission because the current Tennessee SIP does not include provisions to comply with the requirements of this sub-element. With the exception of sub-element 110(a)(2)(E)(ii), EPA is proposing to determine that Tennessee's infrastructure submission, provided to EPA on December 14, 2007, addressed all the required infrastructure elements for the 1997 8-hour ozone NAAQS.

EPA is approving a revision to the Illinois State Implementation plan (SIP) submitted by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (Illinois EPA) on November 14, 2011. This SIP revision consists of amendments to the Illinois Administrative Code (Ill. Adm. Code) by adding a ``small container exemption'' for pleasure craft surface coating operations in the Chicago and Metro-East St. Louis 8-hour ozone nonattainment areas. These exemptions are approvable because they are consistent with EPA volatile organic compound (VOC) reasonably available control technology (RACT) policy.

EPA is reopening the public comment period for a proposal published in the Federal Register on February 28, 2012. In that action EPA proposed to approve a revision to the New Hampshire State Implementation Plan (SIP) submitted by the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services (NHDES) on January 29, 2010, with supplemental submittals on January 14, 2011, and August 26, 2011, that addresses regional haze for the first planning period from 2008 through 2018. Two commentors requested an extension of the comment period for this proposed rulemaking. EPA is now reopening the public comment period.