Environmental Protection Agency March 23, 2015 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

Under the Federal Advisory Committee Act, Public Law 92-463, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) gives notice of a meeting of the National Advisory Committee (NAC) and Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) to the U.S. Representative to the North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC). The National and Governmental Advisory Committees advise the EPA Administrator in her capacity as the U.S. Representative to the CEC Council. The committees are authorized under Articles 17 and 18 of the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation (NAAEC), North American Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act, Public Law 103-182, and as directed by Executive Order 12915, entitled ``Federal Implementation of the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation.'' The NAC is composed of 15 members representing academia, environmental non-governmental organizations, and private industry. The GAC consists of 14 members representing state, local, and tribal governments. The committees are responsible for providing advice to the U.S. Representative on a wide range of strategic, scientific, technological, regulatory, and economic issues related to implementation and further elaboration of the NAAEC. The purpose of the meeting is to provide advice on issues related to the CEC's draft Operational Plan and Budget for 2015-16, the CEC's draft Strategic Plan for 2015-2020, and to discuss additional trade and environment issues. The meeting will also include a public comment session. The agenda, meeting materials, and general information about the NAC and GAC will be available at https://www2.epa.gov/faca/nac-gac.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing requirements that state, local and tribal air agencies would have to meet as they implement the current and future national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) for fine particulate matter (PM2.5). Specifically, this notice provides details on how the EPA proposes that air agencies meet the statutory state implementation plan (SIP) requirements that apply to areas designated nonattainment for any PM2.5 NAAQS, such as: general requirements for attainment plan due dates and attainment dates; emissions inventories; attainment demonstrations; provisions for demonstrating reasonable further progress; quantitative milestones; contingency measures; and nonattainment New Source Review (NNSR) permitting programs, among other things. This proposed rule clarifies the specific attainment planning requirements that would apply to PM2.5 NAAQS nonattainment areas based on their classification (either Moderate or Serious), and the process for reclassifying Moderate areas to Serious. Additionally in this notice, the EPA is proposing to revoke the 1997 primary annual standard because the EPA revised the primary annual standard in 2012. The EPA first established the PM2.5 NAAQS in 1997, completed a review of those standards in 2006, and most recently completed a review of the PM2.5 NAAQS on December 14, 2012.