Environmental Protection Agency February 17, 2015 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to approve the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's September 5, 2014 request to redesignate to attainment the Pennsylvania portion of the Philadelphia- Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE nonattainment area (hereafter ``the Philadelphia Area'' or ``the Area'') for both the 1997 annual and the 2006 24-hour fine particulate matter (PM2.5) National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS or standards). EPA is also proposing to approve as a revision to the Pennsylvania State Implementation Plan (SIP) the associated maintenance plan to show maintenance of the 1997 annual and the 2006 24-hour PM2.5 NAAQS through 2025 for the Pennsylvania portion of the Area. EPA is also proposing to approve the motor vehicle emissions budgets (MVEBs) included in Pennsylvania's maintenance plan for the Pennsylvania portion of the Area for both the 1997 annual and 2006 24-hour PM2.5 NAAQS. EPA is also proposing to determine that the Pennsylvania portion of the Philadelphia Area continues to attain both the 1997 annual and the 2006 24-hour PM2.5 NAAQS. In addition, EPA is proposing to approve the 2007 emissions inventory included in the maintenance plan for the Pennsylvania portion of the Area for the 2006 24-hour PM2.5 NAAQS. In this rulemaking action, EPA also addresses the effects of several decisions of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia (D.C. Circuit Court) and a decision of the United States Supreme Court: (1) The D.C. Circuit Court's August 21, 2012 decision to vacate and remand to EPA the Cross-State Air Pollution Control Rule (CSAPR); (2) the Supreme Court's April 29, 2014 reversal of the vacature of CSAPR, and remand to the D.C. Circuit Court; (3) the D.C. Circuit Court's October 23, 2014 decision to lift the stay of CSAPR; and (4) the D.C. Circuit Court's January 4, 2013 decision to remand to EPA two final rules implementing the 1997 annual PM2.5 NAAQS. This rulemaking action to propose approval of the 1997 annual and 2006 24-hour PM2.5 NAAQS redesignation request and associated maintenance plan for the Pennsylvania portion of the Philadelphia Area is based on EPA's determination that Pennsylvania has met the criteria for redesignation to attainment specified in the Clean Air Act (CAA) for both the 1997 annual and 2006 24-hour PM2.5 NAAQS. EPA has taken separate rulemaking actions to approve the redesignation of the New Jersey portion and the Delaware portion of the Philadelphia Area for the 1997 annual and 2006 24-hour PM2.5 NAAQS. See 78 FR 54396, September 4, 2013 (for the New Jersey portion of the Area), and 79 FR 45350, August 5, 2014 (for the Delaware portion of the Area).

EPA is announcing its receipt of test data submitted pursuant to a test rule 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 substance and/or mixture; 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 proposing to determine that the Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) 8-hour ozone nonattainment area did not attain the 1997 8-hour ozone national ambient air quality standard (NAAQS or standard) by June 15, 2013, the attainment deadline set forth in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) for a Serious ozone nonattainment area under this standard. This proposal is based on EPA's review of complete, quality assured and certified ambient air quality monitoring data for the 2010-2012 monitoring period that are available in the EPA Air Quality System (AQS) database. If the EPA finalizes this determination, the DFW area will be reclassified by operation of law as a Severe ozone nonattainment area for the 1997 8-hour ozone standard. The EPA is also proposing that Texas must submit to the EPA the State Implementation Plan (SIP) revisions to address the Severe ozone nonattainment area requirements of the Act no later than one year after the effective date of the final rulemaking for this reclassification.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing amendments to the national emissions standards for hazardous air pollutants (NESHAP) for Aerospace Manufacturing and Rework Facilities to address the results of the residual risk and technology review (RTR) conducted as required under the Clean Air Act (CAA), and to correct errors and deficiencies identified during the review of these standards. The proposed amendments would add limitations to reduce organic and inorganic emissions of hazardous air pollutants (HAP) from specialty coating application operations; would remove the exemptions from the emission limitations for periods of startup, shutdown and malfunction (SSM) so that affected units would be subject to the emission standards at all times; and would revise provisions to address recordkeeping and reporting requirements applicable to periods of SSM. This action also proposes other technical corrections. The EPA estimates that implementation of this proposed rule will result in reductions of 58 tons of HAP.