Environmental Protection Agency February 15, 2013 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Environmental Protection Agency is planning to submit an information collection request (ICR), ``RadNet (Renewal)'' (EPA ICR No. 0877.11, OMB Control No. 2060-0015) 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 July 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.

This notice announces the broadly applicable alternative test method approval decisions the EPA has made under and in support of New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) and the National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) under the Clean Air Act (CAA) in 2012.

EPA is proposing to approve a State Implementation Plan (SIP) revision submitted by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (Pennsylvania). This proposed revision consists of an update to the SIP-approved Motor Vehicle Emissions Budgets (MVEBs) for the Pennsylvania counties in the Philadelphia-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE 1997 fine particulate matter (PM2.5) Nonattainment Area (hereafter referred to as the Philadelphia Area) to reflect the use of the most recent version of the Motor Vehicle Emission Simulator model (MOVES). Those counties are: Philadelphia, Montgomery, Delaware, Chester, and Bucks Counties. This rulemaking proposes to approve the MVEBs and thereby make them available for transportation conformity purposes. EPA determined on May 16, 2012 that the Philadelphia Area attained the 1997 PM2.5 National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) by the applicable attainment date. Approval of this SIP revision will not interfere with the Philadelphia Area's ability to continue to attain the 1997 PM2.5 NAAQS. This action is being taken under section 110 of the Clean Air Act (CAA).

EPA has received a specific exemption request from the Michigan Department of Agriculture to use the pesticide kasugamycin (CAS No. 6980-18-3) to treat up to 10,000 acres of apples to control fire blight. The applicant proposes the use of a new chemical which has not been registered by EPA. EPA is soliciting public comment before making the decision whether or not to grant the exemption.

The EPA is proposing to revise the definition of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) for purposes of preparing state implementation plans (SIPs) to attain the national ambient air quality standards for ozone under title I of the Clean Air Act (CAA). This proposed revision would add trans 1-chloro-3,3,3-trifluoroprop-1-ene (also known as SolsticeTM 1233zd(E)) to the list of compounds excluded from the definition of VOCs on the basis that this compound makes a negligible contribution to tropospheric ozone formation. In the ``Rules and Regulations'' section of this Federal Register, we are making these same amendments as a direct final rule without a prior proposed rule. If we receive no adverse comment, we will not take further action on this proposed rule.