Environmental Protection Agency June 14, 2016 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to remove the affirmative defense provisions for emergencies found in the regulations for state and federal operating permit programs. These provisions establish an affirmative defense that sources can assert in civil enforcement cases when noncompliance with certain emission limitations in operating permits occurs because of qualifying ``emergency'' circumstances. These provisions, which have never been required elements of state operating permit programs, are being removed because they are inconsistent with the enforcement structure of the Clean Air Act (CAA) and recent court decisions from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. The removal of these provisions is consistent with other recent EPA actions involving affirmative defenses and would harmonize the enforcement and implementation of emission limitations across different CAA programs. The EPA is also taking comment on various implementation consequences relating to the proposed removal of the emergency affirmative defense provisions.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is providing notice that two chapters of the EPA Air Pollution Control Cost Manual (Control Cost Manual) have been finalized and are available to the public. These chapters, titled ``Chapter 1Selective Non-Catalytic Reduction'' and ``Chapter 2Selective Catalytic Reduction'' are components of ``Section 4Nitrogen Oxide Controls'' and incorporate comments received on draft versions made available in a Notice of Data Availability (NODA) published on June 12, 2015. A response to comment (RTC) document summarizing comments and agency responses is available for each chapter. In addition, cost calculation information is provided electronically for each chapter enabling estimation of costs for installing and operating NOx control measures. The final chapters, RTC and cost calculation documents are available at https://www3.epa.gov/ ttn/ecas/cost_manual.html. In addition, all public comments received by the agency are available in the docket for this Notice of Availability (EPA-HQ-OAR-2015-0341). Docket: All documents in the docket are listed in the www.regulations.gov index. Although listed in the index, some information is not publicly available, e.g., Confidential Business Information or other information whose disclosure is restricted by statute. Certain other material, such as copyrighted material, will be publicly available only in hard copy. Publicly available docket materials are available either electronically in www.regulations.gov or in hard copy at the Air and Radiation Docket and Information Center, EPA/DC, WJC West Building, Room 3334, 1301 Constitution Ave. NW., Washington, DC. The Public Reading Room is open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding legal holidays. The telephone number for the Public Reading Room is (202) 566-1744, and the telephone number for the Air Docket is (202) 566-1742.

This regulation establishes tolerances for residues of clofentezine in or on multiple commodities which are identified and discussed later in this document. Interregional Research Project Number 4 (IR-4) requested these tolerances under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA).

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to revise a limitation on the rescission of stationary source preconstruction permits that is contained in the federal New Source Review (NSR) regulations. This proposal would amend the EPA's federal Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) regulations to remove a date restriction from the current permit rescission provision. Other than removing the date restriction, the proposed rule is not intended to alter the circumstances under which an NSR permit may be rescinded. This proposal would also add a corresponding permit rescission provision in the federal regulations that apply to major sources in nonattainment areas of Indian country. This rule also proposes to correct an outdated cross-reference to another part of the regulations.