Environmental Protection Agency July 2, 2012 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

EPA is announcing a 60-day public comment period for the external review draft document titled, ``Nanomaterial Case Study: A Comparison of Multiwalled Carbon Nanotubes and Decabromodiphenyl Ether Flame-Retardant Coatings Applied to Upholstery Textiles'' (EPA/600/R- 12/043A). The draft document is being issued by the National Center for Environmental Assessment (NCEA) within EPA's Office of Research and Development (ORD). It does not draw conclusions regarding potential environmental risks or hazards of multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT); rather, it aims to identify what is known and unknown about MWCNT to support future assessment efforts. EPA is releasing this draft document for the purposes of public comment and peer review. This draft document is not final as described in EPA's information quality guidelines, and it does not represent and should not be construed to represent Agency policy or views. EPA will consider public comments it receives in accordance with this notice when finalizing the draft document. EPA is also announcing a Public Information Exchange Meeting to: (1) Receive comments and questions on the draft ``Nanomaterial Case Study: A Comparison of Multiwalled Carbon Nanotubes and Decabromodiphenyl Ether Flame-Retardant Coatings Applied to Upholstery Textiles;'' and (2) to provide information on the draft EPA nanomaterial case study and the workshop process that the draft document will be used in for identifying and prioritizing research gaps that could support future assessment and risk management efforts for MWCNT. This workshop process will be conducted independently by RTI International, a contractor to EPA.

The EPA is announcing two public hearings for the proposed rule titled, ``National Ambient Air Quality Standards for Particulate Matter,'' that is scheduled to be published in the Federal Register on June 29, 2012. The hearings will be held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Sacramento, California. In this rulemaking, the EPA is proposing to make revisions to the primary and secondary national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) for particulate matter (PM) to provide requisite protection of public health and welfare, respectively, and to make corresponding revisions to the data handling conventions for PM and ambient air monitoring, reporting, and network design requirements. The EPA is proposing changes to the Air Quality Index (AQI) to be consistent with the proposed primary standards. In addition, the EPA is proposing revisions to the prevention of significant deterioration (PSD) permitting program with respect to the proposed NAAQS revisions.

On June 1, 2012 (77 FR 32398), EPA published a direct final approval of a revision to the California State Implementation Plan (SIP). This revision concerned South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) Rule 1156, Further Reductions of Particulate Emissions from Cement Manufacturing Facilities. The direct final action was published without prior proposal because EPA anticipated no adverse comment. The direct final rule stated that if adverse comments were received by July 2, 2012, EPA would publish a timely withdrawal in the Federal Register. EPA received a timely adverse comment. Consequently, with this revision we are withdrawing the direct final approval of SCAQMD Rule 1156. EPA will either address the comment in a subsequent final action based on the parallel proposal also published on June 1, 2012 (77 FR 32398), or repropose an alternative action. As stated in the parallel proposal, EPA will not institute a second comment period on a subsequent final action.