Environmental Protection Agency April 7, 2014 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

Today's notice announces the availability of two additional documents related to Protection of Stratospheric Ozone: Adjustments to the Allowance System for Controlling HCFC Production, Import and Export (2015-2019). The first document shows the aggregated results of Clean Air Act section 114 requests for information on the amount of HCFC-22 inventory held by nine entities between 2008 and 2013. The second is an updated draft of the 2013 Servicing Tail Report, which revises statements regarding alternatives to HCFC-123 for fire suppression and modeled need for virgin HCFC-123 for this purpose.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is approving a State Implementation Plan (SIP) revision submitted by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania pursuant to the Clean Air Act (CAA). Whenever new or revised national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) are promulgated, the CAA requires states to submit a plan for the implementation, maintenance, and enforcement of the NAAQS. The plan is required to address basic program elements, including, but not limited to regulatory structure, monitoring, modeling, legal authority, and adequate resources necessary to assure attainment and maintenance of the standards. These elements are referred to as infrastructure requirements. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has made a submittal addressing the infrastructure requirements for the 2008 lead (Pb) NAAQS.

Pursuant to its authority under the Clean Air Act (CAA), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is taking final action to approve elements of state implementation plan (SIP) submissions by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) and the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (Ohio EPA) to address the section 110 requirements of the CAA for the 2006 24-hour fine particle National Ambient Air Quality Standards (2006 PM2.5 NAAQS). The SIPs under section 110 of the CAA are often referred to as the ``infrastructure'' SIP, and specifically we are finalizing approval of portions of these states' submissions intended to meet the applicable state board requirements obligated by section 128 of the CAA. The proposed rule associated with this final action was published on February 7, 2014, and we received no comments.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is approving Illinois' rule revision to extend the term for an initial permit or renewal of a Federally Enforceable State Operating Permit (FESOP) from five years to ten years. Illinois submitted this rule revision for approval on January 9, 2014. FESOPs apply to non-major sources that obtain enforceable limits to avoid being subject to certain Clean Air Act (Act) requirements, including the Title V operating permit program. This revision meets the Federal requirements found in the June 28, 1989, rule addressing Federal enforceability of FESOPs. This rule revision is expected to reduce the administrative costs of the permitting process for both the affected sources and the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA). It will also allow IEPA to devote more resources to major source Title V permitting actions and permit modifications for both Title V and FESOP sources.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 10 is issuing a Notice of Intent to Delete Harbor Oil Superfund Site (Site) located in Portland, Oregon, from the National Priorities List (NPL) and requests public comments on this proposed action. The NPL, promulgated pursuant to section 105 of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) of 1980, as amended, is an appendix of the National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan (NCP). EPA and the State of Oregon, through the Department of Environmental Quality, have determined that all appropriate response actions under CERCLA have been completed. This deletion does not preclude future actions under Superfund or under state law.