Environmental Protection Agency March 4, 2016 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

Notice is hereby given of a proposed administrative cost settlement for recovery of response costs concerning the Former Athol Rod and Gun Club Superfund Site, located in Athol, Worcester County, Massachusetts with the Settling Party the Town of Athol. The proposed settlement requires the Settling Party to pay the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) $275,000, plus interest, to the Hazardous Substance Superfund to settle EPA's past response costs, which currently amount to $3,434,307.47. In exchange, EPA will provide the Settling Party with a covenant not to sue for past costs. The settlement has been approved by the Environmental and Natural Resources Division of the United States Department of Justice. For 30 days following the date of publication of this notice, the Agency will receive written comments relating to the settlement for recovery of response costs. The Agency will consider all comments received and may modify or withdraw its consent to this cost recovery settlement if comments received disclose facts or considerations which indicate that the settlement is inappropriate, improper, or inadequate. The Agency's response to any comments received will be available for public inspection at the Athol Public Library, 568 Main Street, Athol, MA 01331 and at the Environmental Protection AgencyRegion I, 5 Post Office Square, Suite 100, Boston, MA 02109-3912.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposes to approve certain State Implementation Plan revisions submitted by Alaska on May 12, 2015. The revisions updated the incorporation by reference of certain Federal provisions, revised rules to reflect changes to Federal permitting requirements and the 2013 redesignation of the Mendenhall Valley area of Juneau, and made minor clarifications. We note that the May 12, 2015 submission also addressed transportation conformity and infrastructure requirements. These requirements are not being addressed in this action. We approved the transportation conformity revisions in a previous action on September 8, 2015 and we intend to address the infrastructure requirements in a separate, future action.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is taking final action to extend the compliance date for the Best Available Retrofit Technology (BART) emission limits for sulfur dioxide (SO2) at the P.H. Glatfelter Company (Glatfelter) facility submitted as part of its State Implementation Plan (SIP) Revision on April 14, 2014. Specifically, EPA is extending the compliance date for the SO2 emission limits applicable to Boilers No. 7 and No. 8 at Glatfelter by 25 months, from December 31, 2014, to January 31, 2017. We have reviewed this SIP revision and concluded that it meets the requirements of the Clean Air Act and the regional haze rule and because BART requirements continue to be met.