Environmental Protection Agency January 10, 2013 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

On December 7, 2012, in accordance with section 113(g) of the Clean Air Act, as amended (``CAA'' or the ``Act''), the EPA published a notice in the Federal Register of a proposed consent decree to address a lawsuit filed by Sierra Club in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia: Sierra Club v. Jackson, No. 1:08-cv-00424 RWR (D. DC). Sierra Club filed a complaint alleging that the EPA failed to meet its obligations under section 112(e)(1)(E) of the CAA to promulgate emission standards for hazardous air pollutant emissions from brick and structural clay products manufacturing facilities and clay ceramics manufacturing facilities located at major sources by November 15, 2000. The proposed consent decree establishes deadlines for the EPA's proposed and final actions for meeting these obligations. This notice extends the comment period on the proposed consent decree until January 14, 2013.

The EPA is providing notice that it has responded to a petition for reconsideration and a request for an administrative stay of certain provisions of the rule titled, ``Review of New Sources and Modifications in Indian Country'' published on July 1, 2011. The EPA received letters dated August 30, 2011, and November 4, 2011, petitioning for reconsideration of various aspects of the minor new source review (NSR) rule (the Petitions) and one provision of the nonattainment major NSR rule pursuant to the Clean Air Act (CAA) from the American Petroleum Institute (API), the Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA) and America's Natural Gas Alliance (ANGA) (collectively, the Petitioners). In the letter dated August 30, 2011, the Petitioners asked, among other things, that the EPA reconsider the synthetic minor source provisions of the minor NSR rule and requested that the EPA stay the effective date of the minor NSR rule as it relates to synthetic minor sources pending its reconsideration. In the letter dated November 4, 2011, the Petitioners asked for reconsideration of several aspects of the minor NSR rule and one aspect of the nonattainment major NSR rule. The EPA considered the Petitions, including the request for an administrative stay, along with information contained in the rulemaking docket, in reaching a decision on the Petitions generally and the request for an administrative stay specifically. In letters to the Petitioners dated December 19, 2012, the EPA Administrator, Lisa P. Jackson, expressed her intent to grant reconsideration of several aspects of the Petitions and denied reconsideration of several other aspects raised in the Petitions, including the request for administrative stay. She took no action at this time with respect to several other issues raised in the Petitions. The denials of reconsideration and of the request for an administrative stay constitute final agency action.