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

During a review of Louisiana's regulations, the EPA identified a variety of State-initiated changes to its hazardous waste program under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). We have determined that these changes are minor and satisfy all requirements needed to qualify for Final authorization and are authorizing the State-initiated changes through this direct Final action. In addition, this document corrects technical errors made in the May 20, 2009, Federal Register authorization document for Louisiana. The Solid Waste Disposal Act, as amended, commonly referred to as the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), allows the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to authorize States to operate their hazardous waste management programs in lieu of the Federal program. The EPA uses the regulations entitled ``Approved State Hazardous Waste Management Programs'' to provide notice of the authorization status of State programs and to incorporate by reference those provisions of the State statutes and regulations that will be subject to the EPA's inspection and enforcement. The rule codifies in the regulations the prior approval of Louisiana's hazardous waste management program and incorporates by reference authorized provisions of the State's statutes and regulations.

EPA is taking direct final action to delegate the authority to implement and enforce specific National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) to the Gila River Indian Community Department of Environmental Quality (GRIC) in Arizona. The preamble outlines the process that GRIC will use to receive delegation of any future NESHAP, and identifies the NESHAP categories to be delegated by today's action. EPA has reviewed GRIC's request for delegation and has found that this request satisfies all of the requirements necessary to qualify for approval. Thus, EPA is hereby granting GRIC the authority to implement and enforce the unchanged NESHAP categories listed in this rule.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA or Agency) Science Advisory Board (SAB) Staff Office announces two public teleconferences of the SAB Animal Feeding Operations Emission Review Panel (AFO Panel) to discuss additional EPA data and the Panel's draft advisory report regarding EPA draft methodologies for estimating emissions from animal feeding operations.

Under the Federal Advisory Committee Act, EPA gives notice of a teleconference meeting of the Farm, Ranch, and Rural Communities Committee (FRRCC). The FRRCC is a policy-oriented committee that provides policy advice, information, and recommendations to the EPA Administrator on a range of environmental issues and policies that are of importance to agriculture and rural communities. The purpose of this teleconference is to discuss specific topics of relevance for consideration by the Committee in order to provide advice and insights to the Agency on environmental policies and programs that affect and engage agriculture and rural communities.

EPA is proposing to approve a state implementation plan (SIP) revision submitted by the State of Alabama, through the Alabama Department of Environmental Management (ADEM) to EPA on October 7, 2009, for the purpose of providing for attainment of the 1997 fine particulate matter (PM2.5) national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) in the Alabama portion of the tri-state Chattanooga PM2.5 nonattainment area (hereafter referred to as the ``Chattanooga Area'' or ``Area''). The Chattanooga Area is comprised of Catoosa and Walker Counties in Georgia; Hamilton County in Tennessee; and a portion of Jackson County in Alabama. The Alabama SIP revision (hereafter referred to as the ``attainment plan'') pertains only to the Alabama portion of the Chattanooga Area (hereafter referred to as ``Jackson County''). EPA is now proposing to approve Alabama's October 7, 2009, SIP revision regarding reasonably available control technology (RACT) and reasonably available control measures (RACM); reasonable further progress (RFP); contingency measures; and, for transportation conformity purposes, an insignificance determination for PM2.5 and nitrogen oxides (NOx) for the mobile source contribution to ambient PM2.5 levels for the Alabama portion of the Chattanooga Area. This action is being taken in accordance with the Clean Air Act (CAA or Act) and the ``Clean Air Fine Particle Implementation Rule,'' hereafter referred to as the ``PM2.5 Implementation Rule,'' issued by EPA on April 25, 2007. The States of Georgia and Tennessee have provided separate SIP revisions with attainment plans for their portions for the Chattanooga Area. EPA is not addressing those SIP revisions in this proposed rulemaking.

EPA is revoking certain tolerances for the fungicide dicloran and the insecticide formetanate hydrochloride in follow-up to amended registrations that deleted specific uses, leaving no dicloran and formetanate hydrochloride registrations for those uses. Also, in accordance with current Agency practice, EPA is making minor revisions to the tolerance expressions for dicloran and formetanate hydrochloride and to specific tolerance nomenclatures for dicloran.

In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (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 collection and the estimated burden and cost.

This regulation establishes tolerances for residues of methoxyfenozide in or on multiple commodities which are identified and discussed later and for indirect or inadvertent combined residues of the methoxyfenozide on various other commodities. In addition, this regulation removes established tolerances for certain commodities/ groups superseded by this action and revises the tolerance expression. The Interregional Research Project 4 (IR-4) requested these tolerances under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA).

EPA is proposing to approve a State Implementation Plan (SIP) revision submitted by the State of Maryland. The SIP revision amends Maryland's COMAR 26.11.19.23 ``Control of Volatile Organic Compounds Emissions from Vehicle Refinishing'' to establish new volatile organic compounds (VOC) content limits for coating and cleaning solvents used in vehicle refinishing and standards for coating application, work practices, monitoring, and recordkeeping. This action is being taken under the Clean Air Act (CAA).

EPA is proposing approval of revisions adopted by the State of Colorado on December 15, 2005, to Regulation No. 3 (Stationary Source Permitting and Air Pollutant Emission Notice Requirements.) Colorado submitted the request for approval of these rule revisions into the State Implementation Plan (SIP) on August 21, 2006. The revisions remove repealed provisions in Regulation No. 3 that pertain to the issuance of Colorado air quality permits; the revisions also implement other minor administrative changes and renumbering. The intended effect of this action is to propose to approve the rules that are consistent with the Clean Air Act (CAA.) This action is being taken under section 110 of the CAA.

This regulation establishes an exemption from the requirement of a tolerance for residues of Pasteuria spp. (Rotylenchulus reniformis nematode)Pr3 in or on all food commodities when applied as a nematicide and used in accordance with label directions and good agricultural practices. Pasteuria Bioscience, Inc. 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 Pasteuria spp. (Rotylenchulus reniformis nematode)Pr3 under the FFDCA.

This Notice provides an opportunity to comment on the EPA's revised Hazard Ranking System (HRS) scoring for the Leeds Metal site in Leeds, Maine. The site was proposed to the National Priorities List (NPL) on September 16, 2011.

In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA), this document announces that EPA is planning to submit a new Information Collection Request (ICR) to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). Before submitting the ICR, titled: ``Soil Fumigant Risk Mitigation'' and identified by EPA ICR No. 2451.01 and OMB Control No. 2070-new to OMB for review and approval, EPA is soliciting comments on specific aspects of the proposed information collection.

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.

In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (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 collection and the estimated burden and cost.

EPA is proposing to determine that the Tacoma, Pierce County nonattainment area (hereafter referred to as ``Tacoma, Pierce County'' or ``the area'') for the 2006 24-hour fine particulate matter (PM2.5) National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) has clean data for the 2006 24-hour PM2.5 NAAQS. This proposed determination is based upon quality-assured, quality-controlled, and certified ambient air monitoring data showing that the area has monitored attainment of the 2006 PM2.5 NAAQS based on the 2009-2011 data available in EPA's Air Quality System (AQS) database. If this proposed determination is made final, the requirements for the area to submit an attainment demonstration, associated reasonably available control measures (RACM), a reasonable further progress plan (RFP), contingency measures, and other planning State Implementation Plans (SIPs) related to attainment of the standard shall be suspended for so long as the area continues to meet the 2006 24-hour PM2.5 NAAQS. This action is being taken under the Clean Air Act (CAA).

EPA is proposing to approve a State Implementation Plan (SIP) revision submitted by West Virginia. This SIP revision provides the basic program elements specified in Clean Air Act (CAA) section 110(a)(2) necessary to implement, maintain, and enforce the 2008 lead national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS).

The EPA is finalizing a partial limited approval and a partial disapproval of a revision to the Louisiana State Implementation Plan (SIP) submitted by the State of Louisiana through the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ), on June 13, 2008, that addresses regional haze (RH) for the first implementation period. This revision was submitted to address the requirements of the Clean Air Act (CAA) and the EPA's rules that require states to prevent any future and remedy any existing anthropogenic impairment of visibility in mandatory Class I areas (national parks and wilderness areas) caused by emissions of air pollutants from numerous sources located over a wide geographic area (also referred to as the ``regional haze program''). States are required to assure reasonable progress toward the national goal of achieving natural visibility conditions in Class I areas. In a separate action, the EPA has finalized a limited disapproval of the Louisiana RH SIP, along with several other states' regional haze plans, because of deficiencies in the state's regional haze SIP submittal arising from the remand by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia (D.C. Circuit) to the EPA of the Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR). In this action, the EPA is finalizing a partial disapproval because of deficiencies in Louisiana's RH SIP submittal that go beyond the issues addressed in the EPA's limited disapproval in that separate action. The EPA is also finalizing a partial limited approval of those elements of this SIP revision not addressed by our partial disapproval. The partial limited approval of the RH requirements for Louisiana is based on the conclusion that the revisions, as a whole, strengthen the Louisiana SIP. This action is being taken under section 110 and part C of the CAA.

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.