Environmental Protection Agency May 23, 2012 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The EPA intends to expeditiously propose revisions to its Phase I stormwater regulations to specify that stormwater discharges from logging roads \1\ are not stormwater discharges ``associated with industrial activity.'' This notice of intent is in response to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals which found in Northwest Environmental Defense Center v. Brown that certain logging roads are stormwater point sources ``associated with industrial activity.'' Additionally, EPA is seeking comment on approaches for addressing water quality impacts associated with discharges of stormwater from forest roads. Where appropriate best management practices (BMPs) are used, receiving waters can be protected and impacts can be minimized. If not properly managed, however, stormwater discharges from some forest roads can cause preventable impairments to water quality. EPA believes that stormwater discharges from forest roads should be evaluated under section 402(p)(6) of the Clean Water Act because the section allows for a broad range of flexible approaches that are well-suited to address the complexity of forest road ownership, management, and use. Section 402(p) of the Clean Water Act allows EPA to consider a range of regulatory and non-regulatory approaches and determine which forest road discharges (if any) should be regulated under 402(p)(6). The EPA intends to study the water quality impacts of forest roads and existing federal, state, tribal, and voluntary programs designed to address them to determine if additional Agency action is necessary. The EPA will seek input again prior to taking additional action.

EPA is proposing to approve the Best Available Retrofit Technology (BART) determination for the TransAlta Centralia Generation LLC coal-fired power plant in Centralia, Washington (TransAlta). The Washington State Department of Ecology (Ecology) submitted its Regional Haze State Implementation Plan (SIP) on December 22, 2010 to meet the requirements of 40 CFR 50.308. On December 29, 2011 Ecology submitted an update to the SIP submittal containing a revised and updated BART determination for TransAlta. EPA plans to act on the remaining Regional Haze SIP elements for Washington in the near future.

The Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Interagency Testing Committee (ITC) transmitted its 69th Report to the EPA Administrator on April 5, 2012. In the 69th ITC Report, which is included with this notice, the ITC is adding a category of cadmium compounds including any chemical that contains cadmium as part of that chemical's structure, 6 non-phthalate plasticizers, 25 phosphate ester flame retardants, 2 other flame retardants, 9 chemicals to which children living near hazardous waste sites may be exposed, and a category of 69 diisocyanates and related compounds (including 14 Action Plan chemicals and 55 related compounds) to the TSCA Priority Testing List. In addition, the ITC is removing 103 cadmium compounds and 14 High Production Volume (HPV) Challenge Program orphan chemicals from the Priority Testing List during this reporting period (June to November 2011). The ITC is adding the category of cadmium compounds and removing 103 cadmium compounds to provide a more comprehensive approach to assessing cadmium compounds' safety.

EPA is proposing to approve portions of a State Implementation Plan (SIP) revision submitted by the State of Oregon on December 10, 2010 and supplemented on February 1, 2011, as meeting the requirements of Clean Air Act (CAA or the Act) section 169A and B and Federal Regulations in 40 CFR 51.308. In a previous action on July 5, 2011, EPA approved portions of the December 10, 2010, SIP submittal as meeting the requirements for interstate transport for visibility of CAA section 110(a)(2)(D)(II) and certain requirements of the regional haze program including the requirements for best available retrofit technology (BART). 76 FR 38997. The action in this Federal Register notice addresses the remaining requirements of the CAA and EPA's rules that require states to prevent any future and remedy any existing anthropogenic impairment of visibility in mandatory Class I areas caused by emissions of air pollutants from numerous sources located over a wide geographic area (also referred to as the ``regional haze program''). In this action, EPA proposes to approve the remaining regional haze SIP elements for which EPA previously took no action in the July 5, 2011 notice.

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 to renew an existing approved collection. The ICR, which is abstracted below, describes the nature of the information collection and its estimated burden and cost.

This document announces the Agency's receipt of several initial filings of pesticide petitions requesting the establishment or modification of regulations for residues of pesticide chemicals in or on various commodities.