Environmental Protection Agency August 28, 2013 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

In accordance with section 113(g) of the Clean Air Act, as amended (``CAA'' or the ``Act''), notice is hereby given of a proposed consent decree to address a lawsuit filed by Sandra L. Bahr and David Matusow in the United States District Court for the District of Arizona: Bahr, et al. v. McCarthy, No. 2:13-cv-00872 SMM (D. AZ). On April 30, 2013, Plaintiffs filed a complaint alleging that EPA failed to perform a mandatory duty under CAA section 110(c)(1) to promulgate a federal implementation plan for the State of Arizona that arose as a result of EPA's February 14, 2011, finding of failure to submit a revision to the state implementation plan required under CAA section 189(d), by the required deadline. The proposed consent decree establishes deadlines for EPA to take action.

This regulation establishes an exemption from the requirement of a tolerance for residues of the biochemical pesticide ethyl-2E,4Z- decadienoate (pear ester) in or on all food commodities. This regulation eliminates the need to establish a maximum permissible level for residues of ethyl-2E,4Z-decadienoate (pear ester).

The EPA is taking final action to revise the regulatory definition of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) for purposes of preparing state implementation plans (SIPs) to attain the national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) for ozone under title I of the Clean Air Act (CAA). This final action adds trans 1-chloro-3,3,3- trifluoroprop-1-ene (also known as SolsticeTM 1233zd(E)) to the list of compounds excluded from the regulatory definition of VOCs on the basis that this compound makes a negligible contribution to tropospheric ozone formation. As a result, if you are subject to certain federal regulations limiting emissions of VOCs, your emissions of SolsticeTM 1233zd(E) may not be regulated for some purposes. This action may also affect whether SolsticeTM 1233zd(E) is considered as a VOC for state regulatory purposes, depending on whether the state relies on the EPA's regulatory definition of VOCs. An exemption for SolsticeTM 1233zd(E) was promulgated first as a direct final rulemaking but was withdrawn because EPA received an adverse comment.

EPA is proposing to approve a state implementation plan (SIP) revision submitted by the State of California to address Clean Air Act nonattainment area contingency measure requirements for the 1997 annual and 24-hour fine particulate matter (PM2.5) national ambient air quality standards in the San Joaquin Valley. Final approval of this SIP revision would terminate the sanctions clocks and a federal implementation plan clock that were triggered by EPA's partial disapproval of a related SIP submission on November 9, 2011 (76 FR 69896).

EPA is announcing an extension of the public comment period for the IRIS external review draft carcinogenicity assessment titled, ``Evaluation of the Inhalation Carcinogenicity of Ethylene Oxide'' (EPA/635/R-13/128a and EPA/635/R-13/128b) and the draft peer review charge questions. The original Federal Register notice announcing the public comment period was published on July 23, 2013. We are extending the deadline for this public comment period from September 5, 2013, to October 11, 2013, at the request of the American Chemistry Council and the Ethylene Oxide Sterilization Association, Inc. The draft assessment was prepared by the National Center for Environmental Assessment (NCEA) within the EPA Office of Research and Development (ORD). This draft assessment is not final as described in EPA's information quality guidelines, and it does not represent and should not be construed to represent Agency policy or views. Discussion of the draft IRIS carcinogenicity assessment for ethylene oxide will be included on the agenda of the IRIS bimonthly public meeting to be held on October 23-24, 2013, at EPA offices in Arlington, Virginia. Information on this meeting, including meeting location, time, registration, and participation procedures will be available at the IRIS Web site (https://www.epa.gov/iris/publicmeeting/ ).

This regulation establishes tolerances for residues of halosulfuron-methyl in or on artichoke and caneberry subgroup 13-07A. The Interregional Research Project Number 4 (IR-4) requested these tolerances under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA).