Environmental Protection Agency December 30, 2013 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is taking final action to approve North Dakota Department of Agriculture's (NDDA's) request for partial delegation of the Risk Management Program (RM Program) for facilities with an anhydrous ammonia storage capacity of ten thousand pounds or more that is intended to be used as fertilizer or in the manufacturing of a fertilizer (``agricultural anhydrous ammonia facilities'') in the state of North Dakota. EPA retains authority for the RM Program for all other regulated chemicals which may be present at these facilities and for the RM Program generally in North Dakota for all other facilities.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today is taking final action to amend the standards and practices for conducting all appropriate inquiries under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) to reference a standard practice recently made available by ASTM International, a widely recognized standards development organization. Specifically, this final rule amends the ``All Appropriate Inquiries Rule'' at 40 CFR Part 312 to reference ASTM International's E1527-13 ``Standard Practice for Environmental Site Assessments: Phase I Environmental Site Assessment Process'' and make clear that persons conducting all appropriate inquiries may use the procedures included in this standard to comply with the All Appropriate Inquiries Rule.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to partially disapprove a Washington Regional Haze State Implementation Plan (RH SIP) element submitted by the State of Washington (the State) on December 22, 2010, that exempted Alcoa's Wenatchee Works aluminum smelting facility (Alcoa Wenatchee facility or Wenatchee facility), located near Wenatchee, Washington, from the Clean Air Act's Best Available Retrofit Technology (BART) requirements. On December 26, 2012, the EPA proposed to approve, along with proposed action on other SIP elements, the State's determination that the Alcoa Wenatchee facility is exempt from BART requirements. The EPA received adverse comments regarding the dispersion modeling used for this determination. After further review, the EPA now proposes to disapprove the State's determination that the facility is not subject to BART and proposes to find that the Wenatchee facility is subject to BART. The EPA is also proposing a BART determination for the facility through a Federal Implementation Plan (FIP). This Federal Register document also announces the availability of new information regarding Alcoa's ability to afford limestone slurry forced oxidation (LSFO) sulfur dioxide (SO2) control technology at the Intalco Aluminum Corporation facility in Ferndale, Washington (Intalco). Also available for public review is new air quality dispersion modeling regarding the visibility improvement assessment for the BART Alternative for the Tesoro Refining and Marketing refinery in Anacortes, Washington (Tesoro).