Environmental Protection Agency December 9, 2014 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

EPA is announcing its receipt of test data submitted pursuant to test rules issued by EPA under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). As required by TSCA, this document identifies each chemical substance and/or mixture for which test data have been received; the uses or intended uses of such chemical substances and/or mixtures; and describes the nature of the test data received. Each chemical substance and/or mixture related to this announcement is identified in Unit I. under SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is approving a November 14, 2011, request by Indiana to revise the state implementation plan (SIP) to update the open burning provisions in Title 326 of the Indiana Administrative Code (IAC), Article 4, Rule 1 (326 IAC 4-1), Open Burning Rule. This action applies statewide, with the exception of Clark, Floyd, Lake and Porter counties. EPA is approving this rule for attainment counties and is taking no action on the rule for Clark, Floyd, Lake and Porter counties which are nonattainment or maintenance areas for ozone (O3) or particulate matter (PM).

On February 24, 2014, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR) submitted revisions to the limits found in its nitrogen oxides (NOX) combustion turbine rule for the Milwaukee-Racine area formerly nonattainment for the 1997 ozone standard. This revision is contained in ``2013 Wisconsin Act 91Senate Bill 371,'' which provides for alternative NOX requirements, subject to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approval on a case-by- case basis, to determine whether these alternative limits satisfy the reasonably available control technology (RACT) requirements of the Clean Air Act (CAA). EPA proposed to approve this rule as a revision to the State Implementation Plan (SIP) on April 30, 2014, and received adverse comments. EPA subsequently issued a supplemental proposal on October 9, 2014, to address the issue of whether the SIP revision satisfies certain anti-backsliding requirements of the CAA. EPA received an adverse comment on this supplemental proposal on October 23, 2014. After duly considering both this comment and the adverse comments received in response to the April 30, 2014, proposal, EPA is approving this rule because the process established will ensure that modified sources meet RACT and the revision meets the anti-backsliding requirements of the CAA. This final action addresses all of these adverse comments.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing revisions and confidentiality determinations for the petroleum and natural gas systems source category of the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program. In particular, the EPA is proposing to add calculation methods and reporting requirements for greenhouse gas emissions from gathering and boosting facilities, completions and workovers of oil wells with hydraulic fracturing, and blowdowns of natural gas transmission pipelines between compressor stations. The EPA is also proposing well identification reporting requirements to improve the EPA's ability to verify reported data and enhance transparency. This action also proposes confidentiality determinations for new data elements contained in these proposed amendments.