Environmental Protection Agency February 2013 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

With this final rule EPA declares a prion (i.e., proteinaceous infectious particle) to be a ``pest'' under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) and amends the regulations to expressly include prion within the regulatory definition of pest. This final rule also amends existing pesticide product performance data requirements to clarify that efficacy data are required for pesticide products with prion-related claims. In addition, EPA is announcing the availability of final test guidelines on generating the product performance data for prion-related pesticide products.

EPA is taking direct final action to approve revisions to the Knox County portion of the Tennessee State Implementation Plan (SIP), submitted by the State of Tennessee, through the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) on August 19, 2009, August 22, 2012, and October 12, 2012. The SIP submittals include changes to Knox County Air Quality Management Regulations concerning open burning, permits and regulation of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). TDEC considers Knox County's SIP revisions to be as or more stringent than the Tennessee SIP requirements. EPA is approving the Knox County SIP revisions because the State has demonstrated that they are consistent with the Clean Air Act (CAA or Act).

EPA is approving a State Implementation Plan (SIP) revision submitted by the Maryland Department of the Environmental (MDE) on April 4, 2012. This revision defers until July 21, 2014 the application of the Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) permitting requirements to biogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from bioenergy and other biogenic stationary sources in the State of Maryland. This action is being taken under the Clean Air Act (CAA).

Under 122(h) of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA), the United States Environmental Protection Agency has entered into a settlement with 2238 NW. 86th Street Inc. concerning the Florida Petroleum Reprocessors Site located in Davie, Broward County, Florida. The settlement addresses the PRP's Site-wide liability on an Ability-to-Pay basis.

EPA has received a specific exemption request from the Wyoming Department of Agriculture to use the pesticide diflubenzuron (CAS No. 35367-38-5) to treat up to 26,000 acres of alfalfa to control grasshoppers and Mormon crickets. The applicant proposes a use which is supported by the Interregional (IR)-4 program and has been requested in 5 or more previous years, and a petition for tolerance has not yet been submitted to the Agency. EPA is soliciting public comment before making the decision whether or not to grant the exemption.

This regulation establishes tolerances for residues of pyraflufen-ethyl in or on multiple commodities which are identified and discussed later in this document. Nichino America, Inc. requested these tolerances under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA).

In 1999 the State of Maine applied to implement its NPDES program under the Clean Water Act in the state, including the territories of the Aroostook Band of Micmacs and the Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians. Today, EPA is proposing to act on the state's application as it applies in those Indian territories and is inviting comment.

An Exposure Modeling Public Meeting (EMPM) will be held for one day on March 19, 2013. This notice announces the location and time for the meeting and sets forth the tentative agenda topics.

EPA is proposing to approve a State Implementation Plan (SIP) revision submitted by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD). This SIP revision consists of a demonstration that Allegheny County's portion of the Pennsylvania requirements of reasonably available control technology (RACT) for nitrogen oxides (NOx) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) satisfies the RACT requirements set forth by the Clean Air Act (CAA). This SIP revision demonstrates that all requirements for RACT are met either through Certification that previously adopted RACT controls in Allegheny County's SIP that were approved by EPA under the 1-hour ozone national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) are based on the currently available technically and economically feasible controls, and continue to represent RACT for the 8-hour ozone NAAQS, a negative declaration demonstrating that no facilities exist in Allegheny County for certain control technology guideline (CTG) categories; and a new RACT determination for a specific source. This action is being taken under the CAA.

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.

The Environmental Protection Agency published a document in the Federal Register of December 26, 2012, concerning request for comments for the Draft Quality Standard for Environmental Data Collection, Production, and Use by Non-EPA (External) Organizations and two associated QA Handbooks. The notice of availability is being extended to a 90 day review and comment period to provide more time for external reviewers to provide comments. This document extends the comment period for 28 days, from February 28, 2013, to March 29, 2013.

The EPA is finding that seven states 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 seven states have not submitted complete SIPs that provide the basic CAA program elements necessary to implement the 2008 lead national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS). The EPA refers to these SIP submissions as ``infrastructure'' SIPs. Of the seven states, three are incomplete only due to prevention of significant deterioration (PSD)-related elements, for which a federal implementation plan (FIP) is in place. The remaining 43 states have made complete submissions. Each finding of failure to submit establishes a 24-month deadline for the EPA to promulgate FIPs to address the outstanding SIP elements unless prior to the EPA promulgating a FIP an affected state submits, and the EPA approves, a SIP that corrects the deficiency.

EPA is proposing significant new use rules (SNURs) under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) for 37 chemical substances which were the subject of premanufacture notices (PMNs). Seventeen of these chemical substances are subject to TSCA section 5(e) consent orders issued by EPA. This action would require persons who intend to manufacture, import, or process any of these 37 chemical substances for an activity that is designated as a significant new use by this proposed rule to notify EPA at least 90 days before commencing that activity. The required notification would provide EPA with the opportunity to evaluate the intended use and, if necessary, to prohibit or limit that activity before it occurs.

In accordance with the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), EPA is issuing a notice of receipt of requests by registrants to voluntarily cancel certain pesticide registrations. EPA intends to grant these requests at the close of the comment period for this announcement unless the Agency receives substantive comments within the comment period that would merit its further review of the requests, or unless the registrants withdraw its requests. If these requests are granted, any sale, distribution, or use of products listed in this notice will be permitted after the registration has been cancelled only if such sale, distribution, or use is consistent with the terms as described in the final order.

EPA is taking direct final action to approve a limited maintenance plan update submitted by the State of North Carolina, through the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources (NC DENR), on August 2, 2012. The limited maintenance plan update is for the Charlotte, Raleigh/Durham and Winston-Salem carbon monoxide (CO) maintenance areas. Specifically, the State submitted a limited maintenance plan update for CO, showing continued attainment of the 8-hour CO National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) for the Charlotte, Raleigh/Durham and Winston-Salem Areas. The 8-hour CO NAAQS is 9 parts per million (ppm). EPA is taking direct final action to approve the limited maintenance plan update because it is consistent with the Clean Air Act (CAA or Act), and EPA's policy for limited maintenance plans.

EPA is proposing a limited approval and limited disapproval of permitting rules submitted by California as a revision to the Placer County Air Pollution Control District (PCAPCD) and Feather River Air Quality Management District (FRAQMD) portion of the California State Implementation Plan (SIP). These rules were adopted by the PCAPCD and FRAQMD to regulate the construction and modification of stationary sources of air pollution within each District. EPA is proposing to approve these SIP revisions based on the Agency's conclusion that the rules are consistent with applicable Clean Air Act (CAA) requirements, policies and guidance. Final approval of these rules would make the rules federally enforceable and correct program deficiencies identified in a previous EPA rulemaking (76 FR 44809, July 27, 2011).

The EPA is proposing to take action on a petition for rulemaking filed by the Sierra Club with the EPA Administrator on June 30, 2011 (the Petition). The Petition includes interrelated requests concerning the treatment of excess emissions in state rules by sources during periods of startup, shutdown, or malfunction (SSM). The EPA is proposing to grant in part and to deny in part the request in the Petition to rescind its policy interpreting the Clean Air Act (CAA) to allow states to have appropriately drawn state implementation plan (SIP) provisions that provide affirmative defenses to monetary penalties for violations during periods of SSM. The EPA is also proposing either to grant or to deny the Petition with respect to the specific existing SIP provisions related to SSM in each of 39 states identified by the Petitioner as inconsistent with the CAA. Further, for each of those states where the EPA proposes to grant the Petition concerning specific provisions, the EPA also proposes to find that the existing SIP provision is substantially inadequate to meet CAA requirements and thus under CAA authority proposes a ``SIP call.'' For those states for which the EPA proposes a SIP call, the EPA also proposes a schedule for the states to submit a corrective SIP revision. Finally, the EPA is also proposing to deny the request in the Petition that the EPA discontinue reliance on interpretive letters from states to clarify any potential ambiguity in SIP submissions, even in circumstances where the EPA may determine that this approach is appropriate and has adequately documented that approach in a rulemaking action. This action reflects the EPA's current SSM Policy for SIPs.

Under the Federal Advisory Committee Act, EPA gives notice of a series of teleconference meetings of the National Environmental Education Advisory Council (NEEAC). The NEEAC was created by Congress to advise, consult with, and make recommendations to the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on matters related to activities, functions and policies of EPA under the National Environmental Education Act (the Act). The purpose of these teleconference(s) is to discuss specific topics of relevance for consideration by the council in order to provide advice and insights to the Agency on environmental education.

The EPA is announcing a public hearing to be held for the proposed rule ``Regulation of Fuels and Fuel Additives: 2013 Renewable Fuel Standards,'' which was published separately in the Federal Register on February 7, 2013. (78 FR 9282.) The hearing will be held in Ann Arbor, Michigan on March 8, 2013. EPA is also extending the comment period on the proposed rule to April 7, 2013. The proposed rule would amend the renewable fuel standard program regulations to establish annual percentage standards for cellulosic biofuel, biomass-based diesel, advanced biofuel, and renewable fuels that would apply to all gasoline and diesel produced in the U.S. or imported in the year 2013. The proposal is based in part on EPA's proposed projection of cellulosic biofuel production in 2013, and its proposed determination that the applicable volumes of advanced biofuel and total renewable fuel specified in the statute should not be modified in 2013.

The Environmental Protection Agency has submitted an information collection request (ICR), ``EPA's ENERGY STAR Program in the Residential Sector'' (EPA ICR No. 2193.03, OMB Control No. 2060- 0586), 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.). This is a proposed extension of the ICR, which is currently approved through February 28, 2013. Public comments were previously requested via the Federal Register (77 FR 50495) on August 21, 2012 during a 60- day comment period. This notice allows for an additional 30 days for public comments. A fuller description of the ICR is given below, including its estimated burden and cost to the public. 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.

EPA is updating the materials submitted by the State of Hawaii that are incorporated by reference (IBR) into the Hawaii State Implementation Plan (SIP). The regulations affected by this update have been previously submitted by the State of Hawaii and approved by EPA. This update affects the SIP materials that are available for public inspection at the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), the Air and Radiation Docket and Information Center located at EPA Headquarters in Washington, DC, and the EPA Regional Office.

In accordance with the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), EPA is issuing a notice of receipt of requests by registrants to voluntarily cancel certain pesticide registrations. EPA intends to grant these requests at the close of the comment period for this announcement unless the Agency receives substantive comments within the comment period that would merit its further review of the requests, or unless a registrant withdraws its request. If these requests are granted, any sale, distribution, or use of products listed in this notice will be permitted after the registration has been cancelled only if such sale, distribution, or use is consistent with the terms as described in any final cancellation order.

EPA is proposing to approve submissions from Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee for inclusion into each state's implementation plan. This proposal pertains to the infrastructure state implementation plans (SIPs) for these States as they relate to certain Clean Air Act (CAA or Act) requirements for the 1997 annual and 2006 24-hour fine particulate matter (PM2.5) National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS). The CAA requires that each state adopt and submit a SIP for the implementation, maintenance, and enforcement of each NAAQS promulgated by EPA. These plans are commonly referred to as an ``infrastructure'' SIPs. Specifically, EPA is proposing to approve the submissions for Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee that relate to the infrastructure SIP requirement to protect visibility in another state. All other applicable infrastructure requirements for the 1997 annual and 2006 24-hour PM2.5 NAAQS associated with these States are being addressed in separate rulemakings.

The Environmental Protection Agency is planning to submit an Information Collection Request (ICR), Registration of Fuels and Fuel AdditivesHealth-Effects Research Requirements for Manufacturers, EPA ICR No. 1696.07, OMB Control No. 2060-0297, 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 August 31, 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.