Environmental Protection Agency January 15, 2013 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents
Results 1 - 4 of 4
Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposed Collection; Comment Request; Distribution of Offsite Consequence Analysis Information Under Section 112(r)(7)(H) of the Clean Air Act (CAA)
The Environmental Protection Agency is planning to submit an Information Collection Request (ICR), Distribution of Offsite Consequence Analysis Information under Section 112(r)(7)(H) of the Clean Air Act (CAA), (EPA ICR No. 1981.05, OMB Control No. 2050-0172) to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.). Before doing so, EPA is soliciting public comments on specific aspects of the proposed information collection as described below. This is a proposed extension of the ICR, which is currently approved through June 30, 2013. An Agency may not conduct or sponsor and a person is not required to respond to a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number.
Findings of Failure To Submit a Complete State Implementation Plan for Section 110(a) Pertaining to the 2008 Ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standard
The EPA is finding that 28 states, the District of Columbia and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico have not made complete state implementation plan (SIP) submissions to address certain SIP elements, as required by the Clean Air Act (CAA). Specifically, the EPA is determining that these states have not submitted complete SIPs that provide the basic CAA program elements as necessary to implement the 2008 8-hour ozone national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS). The EPA refers to these SIP submissions as ``infrastructure'' SIPs. By this action, the EPA is identifying states that either have not made any submission to address the applicable elements or have made a complete submission to address some applicable elements but did not make a complete submission for other applicable elements. The EPA recognizes that its efforts to reconsider the 2008 8-hour ozone NAAQS delayed and complicated the efforts of some states to develop and submit these infrastructure SIPs, but at this time the EPA is nevertheless required by court order to make these findings. These findings of failure to submit establish a 24-month deadline for the EPA to promulgate federal implementation plans (FIPs) to address the outstanding SIP elements unless, prior to that time, the affected states submit and the EPA approves, a SIP that corrects the deficiency.
National Ambient Air Quality Standards for Particulate Matter
Based on its review of the air quality criteria and the national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) for particulate matter (PM), the EPA is making revisions to the suite of standards for PM to provide requisite protection of public health and welfare and to make corresponding revisions to the data handling conventions for PM and to the ambient air monitoring, reporting, and network design requirements. The EPA also is making revisions to the prevention of significant deterioration (PSD) permitting program with respect to the NAAQS revisions. With regard to primary (health-based) standards for fine particles (generally referring to particles less than or equal to 2.5 micrometers ([mu]m) in diameter, PM2.5), the EPA is revising the annual PM2.5 standard by lowering the level to 12.0 micrograms per cubic meter ([mu]g/m\3\) so as to provide increased protection against health effects associated with long- and short-term exposures (including premature mortality, increased hospital admissions and emergency department visits, and development of chronic respiratory disease), and to retain the 24-hour PM2.5 standard at a level of 35 [mu]g/m\3\. The EPA is revising the Air Quality Index (AQI) for PM2.5 to be consistent with the revised primary PM2.5 standards. With regard to the primary standard for particles generally less than or equal to 10 [micro]m in diameter (PM10), the EPA is retaining the current 24-hour PM10 standard to continue to provide protection against effects associated with short-term exposure to thoracic coarse particles (i.e., PM10-2.5). With regard to the secondary (welfare-based) PM standards, the EPA is generally retaining the current suite of secondary standards (i.e., 24-hour and annual PM2.5 standards and a 24-hour PM10 standard). Non-visibility welfare effects are addressed by this suite of secondary standards, and PM-related visibility impairment is addressed by the secondary 24-hour PM2.5 standard.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google
Privacy Policy and
Terms of Service apply.
