Environmental Protection Agency May 14, 2014 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Idaho Department of Environmental Quality (IDEQ) submitted a revision to the State Implementation Plan (SIP), dated December 14, 2012, to address Clean Air Act (CAA or the Act) requirements for the Idaho portion (hereafter referred to as ``Franklin County'') of the cross border Logan, Utah-Idaho nonattainment area for the 2006 24-hour fine particulate matter (PM2.5) national ambient air quality standards. The EPA is proposing to approve the baseline emissions inventory contained in IDEQ's submittal as meeting the requirement to submit a comprehensive, accurate, and current inventory of direct PM2.5 and PM2.5 precursor emissions in Franklin County.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to approve a State Implementation Plan (SIP) revision submittal from the State of West Virginia 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 such 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. West Virginia has made a submittal addressing the infrastructure requirements for the 2010 sulfur dioxide (SO2) NAAQS. This action proposes to approve portions of this submittal.

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 the Environmental Integrity Project and Benjamin Feldman in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia: Environmental Integrity Project v. McCarthy, Civil Action No. 1:13-cv-01783 (KBJ) (D.D.C.). On November 14, 2013, Plaintiff filed a complaint alleging that Gina McCarthy, in her official capacity as Administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (``EPA''), failed to perform a non- discretionary duty to grant or deny within 60 days a petition submitted by Environmental Integrity Project and Benjamin Feldman on February 5, 2013 requesting that EPA object to a CAA Title V permit issued by the Maryland Department of the Environment to Mettiki Coal, LLC to operate a coal preparation/processing plant located in Oakland, Maryland. The proposed consent decree would establish a deadline for EPA to take such action.

The EPA is proposing to partially approve and partially disapprove the State Implementation Plan (SIP) submittal from the State of Washington (Washington or the State) demonstrating that the SIP meets the infrastructure requirements of the Clean Air Act (CAA) for the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) promulgated for lead on October 15, 2008. The CAA requires that each state, after a new or revised NAAQS is promulgated, review their SIP to ensure that it meets the infrastructure requirements necessary to implement the new or revised NAAQS. On April 1, 2014, Washington certified that the Washington SIP meets the infrastructure requirements of the CAA for purposes of the 2008 lead NAAQS, except for those requirements related to the Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) permitting program currently operated under a Federal Implementation Plan (FIP). The EPA is proposing to find that Washington's 2008 lead SIP is adequate for purposes of the infrastructure SIP requirements of CAA section 110, with the exception of the requirements related to PSD permitting and portions of the interstate transport requirements. The EPA finds that the SIP deficiencies related to PSD permitting, however, have been adequately addressed by the existing EPA FIP and, therefore, no further action is required by Washington or the EPA. The EPA will address the remaining interstate transport requirements in a separate action.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is approving revisions to the State Implementation Plan (SIP) for the state of Iowa. These revisions amend the SIP to include revisions to Iowa air quality rules necessary to allow for implementation of revised National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for fine particulate matter (PM2.5), lead, and sulfur dioxide (SO2) as they apply to construction permit exemptions. The spray booth ``permit by rule'' is revised to add content limits for lead-containing spray materials. The updated Federal references to the revised NAAQS are also included in this revision. The revisions improve the stringency of the SIP. EPA is also approving revisions to the Iowa Title V Operating Permits Program to modify requirements for insignificant activities. The changes correspond to the revisions to the construction permit exemptions amended with this SIP revision.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is taking final action to approve a request submitted on June 21, 2012, by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, through Georgia Environmental Protection Division (GA EPD), to redesignate the Rome, Georgia, fine particulate matter (PM2.5) nonattainment area (hereafter referred to as the ``Rome Area'' or ``Area'') to attainment for the 1997 Annual PM2.5 National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS). The Rome Area is comprised of Floyd County in Georgia. EPA's approval of the redesignation request is based on the determination that Georgia has met the criteria for redesignation to attainment set forth in the Clean Air Act (CAA or Act). EPA is also approving a revision to the Georgia State Implementation Plan (SIP) to include the 1997 Annual PM2.5 maintenance plan for the Rome Area. Additionally, EPA is approving into the Georgia SIP the motor vehicle emission budgets (MVEBs) for nitrogen oxides (NOX) and PM2.5 for the year 2023 for the Rome Area that are included as part of Georgia's maintenance plan for the 1997 Annual PM2.5 NAAQS. Furthermore, EPA is approving a determination that the Area is expected to maintain the 1997 Annual PM2.5 NAAQS through the year 2024. EPA is also correcting inadvertent errors in the proposed rulemaking for this action.

EPA is revoking, modifying, and establishing specific tolerances for the fungicide mancozeb and revising the definition for total residue of dithiocarbamates permitted in or on the same raw agricultural commodity. These actions are in follow-up to the tolerance recommendations made during the reregistration and tolerance reassessment processes (including follow-up on canceled or additional uses of pesticides). In addition, EPA is removing expired tolerances for mancozeb and maneb. EPA is taking no further tolerance actions herein on metiram and thiram because proposed changes have since been completed for metiram and the Agency expects to propose tolerance actions for thiram in a future notice in the Federal Register.