Environmental Protection Agency February 29, 2016 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to disapprove a State Implementation Plan, submitted by the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico to the EPA on January 30, 2015, for the purpose of providing for attainment of the 2008 Lead National Ambient Air Quality Standards in the Arecibo 2008 Lead nonattainment area. While the SIP includes all of the required elements for the Arecibo Area, the EPA proposes disapproval because the dispersion modeling analysis does not demonstrate attainment of the lead standard.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is taking direct final action to approve revisions to the Commonwealth of Virginia State Implementation Plan (SIP) submitted by the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (VADEQ) on behalf of the Commonwealth on July 22, 2014. VADEQ's submittal revises Virginia's Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) air quality preconstruction permitting program to be consistent with the federal PSD regulations regarding the use of the significant monitoring concentration (SMC) and significant impact levels (SILs) for fine particulate matter (PM2.5) emissions. EPA is approving these revisions in accordance with the requirements of the Clean Air Act (CAA).

The Environmental Protection Agency has submitted an information collection request (ICR), ``NSPS for Small Municipal Waste Combustors (40 CFR part 60, subpart AAAA) (Renewal)'' (EPA ICR No. 1900.06, OMB Control No. 2060-0423), to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.). This is a proposed extension of the ICR, which is currently approved through February 29, 2016. Public comments were previously requested via the Federal Register (80 FR 32116) on June 5, 2015 during a 60-day comment period. This notice allows for an additional 30 days for public comments. A fuller description of the ICR is given below, including its estimated burden and cost to the public. An Agency may neither conduct nor sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposes to approve the State Implementation Plan (SIP) revision submitted by the Commonwealth of Virginia which revises Virginia's Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) air quality preconstruction permitting program to be consistent with the federal PSD regulations regarding the use of the significant monitoring concentration (SMC) and significant impact levels (SILs) for fine particulate matter (PM2.5) emissions. In the Final Rules section of this Federal Register, EPA is approving the State's SIP submittal as a direct final rule without prior proposal because the Agency views this as a noncontroversial submittal and anticipates no adverse comments. A detailed rationale for the approval is set forth in the direct final rule. If no adverse comments are received in response to this action, no further activity is contemplated. If EPA receives adverse comments, the direct final rule will be withdrawn and all public comments received will be addressed in a subsequent final rule based on this proposed rule. EPA will not institute a second comment period. Any parties interested in commenting on this action should do so at this time.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposes to grant full approval of Missouri's attainment demonstration State Implementation Plan (SIP) for the lead National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) for the Exide Technologies Canon Hollow facility in Forest City, Missouri, received by EPA on October 20, 2014. The applicable standard addressed in this action is the lead NAAQS promulgated by EPA in 2008. EPA believes that the SIP submitted by the state satisfies the applicable requirements of the Clean Air Act (CAA) identified in EPA's Final Rule published on October 15, 2008 in the Federal Register, and will bring the violating area into attainment of the 0.15 microgram per cubic meter (ug/m\3\) lead NAAQS.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to add a subsurface intrusion (SsI) component to the Hazard Ranking System (HRS) which is the principal mechanism that EPA uses to evaluate sites for placement on the National Priorities List (NPL). The subsurface intrusion component (this addition) would expand the number of available options for EPA and state and tribal organizations performing work on behalf of EPA to evaluate potential threats to public health from releases of hazardous substances, pollutants, or contaminants. This addition will allow an HRS evaluation to directly consider human exposure to hazardous substances, pollutants, or contaminants that enter regularly occupied structures through subsurface intrusion in assessing a site's relative risk, and thus, enable subsurface intrusion contamination to be evaluated for placement of sites on the NPL. The agency is not considering changes to the remainder of the HRS except for minor updates reflecting changes in terminology.