Environmental Protection Agency December 11, 2015 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is confirming that the California Air Resources Board's (CARB's) 2011 amendments to its Small Off-Road Engines (SORE) regulations (2011 SORE amendments), Tier 4 Off-Road Compression-Ignition (CI) regulations (2011 Tier 4 amendments), and Exhaust Emission Certification Test Fuel for Off-Road Spark-Ignition (SI) Engines, Equipment, and Vehicles regulations (2011 Certification Test Fuel amendments) are within the scope of previous EPA authorizations. The 2011 SORE amendments modify California's existing SORE test procedures by aligning California procedures to be consistent with recent amendments by EPA to the federal certification and exhaust emission testing requirements. The 2011 Tier 4 amendments enhance the harmonization of CARB's exhaust emission requirements for new off-road CI engines with the corresponding federal emissions requirements for nonroad CI engines. The 2011 Certification Test Fuel amendments modify the certification test fuel requirements for off-road spark ignition, gasoline-fueled engines to allow the use of 10-percent ethanol-blend gasoline (E10) as a certification fuel. This decision is issued under the authority of the Clean Air Act (``CAA'' or ``Act'').

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to approve the State plan submitted by the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico to implement and enforce the Emission Guidelines (EG) for existing sewage sludge incineration (SSI) units. Puerto Rico's plan is consistent with the EG promulgated by the EPA on March 21, 2011. Puerto Rico's plan establishes emission limits and other requirements for the purpose of reducing toxic air emissions and other air pollutants from existing SSI units throughout the Commonwealth. At the request of Puerto Rico, the EPA is proposing not to take action on a provision of its SSI plan allowing for affirmative defenses of Clean Air Act violations in the case of malfunctions. Puerto Rico submitted its plan to fulfill the requirements of sections 111(d) and 129 of the Clean Air Act.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to approve a revision submitted by the State of Minnesota on July 16, 2015. The purpose of this revision is to establish transportation conformity criteria and procedures related to interagency consultation, and enforceability of certain transportation related control and mitigation measures.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing a Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) rule that requires public water systems to collect occurrence data for contaminants that may be present in tap water but are not yet subject to EPA's drinking water standards set under SDWA. This rule, revised every five years as required by SDWA, benefits public health by providing EPA and other interested parties with scientifically valid data on the national occurrence of selected contaminants in drinking water, such as cyanotoxins associated with harmful algal blooms. This data set is one of the primary sources of information on occurrence, levels of exposure and population exposure the Agency uses to develop regulatory decisions for emerging contaminants in the public drinking water supply. This proposal identifies eleven analytical methods to support water system monitoring for a total of 30 chemical contaminants/groups, consisting of ten cyanotoxins/groups; two metals; eight pesticides plus one pesticide manufacturing byproduct (hereinafter collectively referred to as ``pesticides''); three brominated haloacetic acid groups of disinfection byproducts; three alcohols; and three semivolatile organic chemicals. EPA is also announcing a public webinar to discuss this proposal of the fourth Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule.