Environmental Protection Agency September 19, 2014 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

On July 21, 2014, EPA published in the Federal Register (79 FR 42314) a Notice of Proposed Determination, under Section 404(c) of the Clean Water Act, to restrict the use of certain waters in the South Fork Koktuli River, North Fork Koktuli River, and Upper Talarik Creek watersheds in Southwest Alaska as disposal sites for dredged or fill material associated with mining the Pebble deposit, a copper-, gold-, and molybdenum-bearing ore body. The notice established a public comment period that ended September 19, 2014. EPA also held seven hearings throughout Southwest Alaska during the week of August 11, 2014. More than 830 community members participated in the seven hearings, more than 300 of whom provided oral statements. In addition to testimony taken at the hearings, as of September 11, 2014, EPA had received over 155,000 written comments. EPA expects that number will be significantly larger at the conclusion of the comment period on September 19, 2014. EPA's regulations require that, within 30 days after the conclusion of public hearings (but not before the end of the comment period), the Regional Administrator either withdraw the Proposed Determination or prepare a Recommended Determination (40 CFR 231.5(a)). However, upon a showing of good cause, EPA may extend this time requirement (40 CFR 231.8). To allow full consideration of the extensive administrative record, including public comments, EPA finds there is good cause to extend the time period provided in 40 CFR 231.5(a). The time period to either withdraw the Proposed Determination or to prepare the Recommended Determination is therefore extended until no later than February 4, 2015.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is correcting a final rule that appeared in the Federal Register of August 19, 2014 (79 FR 49001). The rule finalized minor amendments to its Clean Water Act (CWA) regulations to codify that under the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) program, in general, permit applicants must use ``sufficiently sensitive'' analytical test methods when completing an NPDES permit application and the Director must prescribe that only ``sufficiently sensitive'' methods be used for analyses of pollutants or pollutant parameters under an NPDES permit.

EPA is required under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) to publish in the Federal Register a notice of receipt of a premanufacture notice (PMN); an application for a test marketing exemption (TME), both pending and/or expired; and a periodic status report on any new chemicals under EPA review and the receipt of notices of commencement (NOC) to manufacture those chemicals. This document covers the period from July 1, 2014 to August 22, 2014.