Environmental Protection Agency June 6, 2013 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is announcing an extension of the public comment period for 30 days for the revised draft document titled, ``An Assessment of Potential Mining Impacts on Salmon Ecosystems of Bristol Bay, Alaska'' (EPA-910-R-12-004Ba-c). The original Federal Register notice announcing the public comment period was published on April 30, 2013. This extension is being granted in response to requests from interested parties. The document was revised by EPA after reviewing comments received from the public between May 18 and July 23, 2012, and input from the peer review panel held in August 2012. EPA conducted this assessment to determine the significance of Bristol Bay's ecological resources and the potential impacts of large-scale mining on these resources.

EPA is granting the State of Indiana final authorization of the changes to its hazardous waste program under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). The Agency published a proposed rule on October 9, 2012, and provided for public comment. EPA received no comments. No further opportunity for comment will be provided. EPA has determined that these changes satisfy all requirements needed to qualify for final authorization.

EPA is proposing to remove over fifty rules in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) at 40 CFR part 52 for Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia because they are unnecessary or obsolete. EPA is also proposing to clarify regulations in 40 CFR part 52 which reflect updated citations of certain Commonwealth of Virginia rules due to the Commonwealth's recodification of its regulations at the state level. These proposed actions make no substantive changes to these State Implementation Plans (SIPs) and impose no new requirements. In the Final Rules section of this Federal Register, EPA is approving these determinations as a direct final rule without prior proposal because the Agency views this as a noncontroversial submittal and anticipates no adverse comments. A detailed rationale for the approval is set forth in the direct final rule. If no adverse comments are received in response to this action, no further activity is contemplated. If EPA receives adverse comments, the direct final rule will be withdrawn and all public comments received will be addressed in a subsequent final rule based on this proposed rule. EPA will not institute a second comment period. Any parties interested in commenting on this action should do so at this time.