Environmental Protection Agency August 26, 2016 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

As required by section 9(a)(2) of the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA), EPA is giving notice that, pursuant to section 2625(o) of the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act, the Agency is establishing the Science Advisory Committee on Chemicals (SACC). The purpose of the SACC is to provide independent advice and expert consultation, at the request of the EPA Administrator, with respect to the scientific and technical aspects of risk assessments, methodologies, and pollution prevention measures or approaches supporting implementation of the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act. Copies of the SACC charter will be filed with the appropriate congressional committees and the Library of Congress. The 14 members of the SACC will be selected from interested and available members of the existing EPA Chemical Safety Advisory Committee (CSAC). In addition, EPA invites the public to nominate experts to be considered for the Science Advisory Committee on Chemicals.

EPA was directed by Congress to publish in the Federal Register a list of mercury compounds that are prohibited from export, not later than 90 days after the date of enactment of the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act (the Act), which amended the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). The Act was enacted on June 22, 2016. Effective January 1, 2020, the statute prohibits export of: Mercury (I) chloride or calomel; mercury (II) oxide; mercury (II) sulfate; mercury (II) nitrate; and cinnabar or mercury sulphide, unless those mercury compounds are exported to member countries of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development for environmentally sound disposal, on the condition that no mercury or mercury compounds so exported are to be recovered, recycled, or reclaimed for use, or directly reused, after such export. EPA is not soliciting comments on this notice.

In accordance with section 113(g) of the Clean Air Act, as amended (``CAA''), notice is hereby given of a proposed settlement agreement to settle lawsuits filed by CTA Construction and Environmental, LLC, and National Electric Coil, Inc. (``Petitioners''), in the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit: CTA Construction and Environmental, LLC, et al., v. EPA, Nos. 15-72796 and 15-72810. On September 15, 2015, Petitioners filed petitions for review challenging, generally, the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) July 15, 2015, administrative compliance order (``Amended Order'') issued by EPA under the CAA and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (``RCRA'') and challenging, specifically, the CAA provisions of the Amended Order. Under the terms of the proposed settlement agreement, Petitioners will voluntarily dismiss their petitions for review of the Amended Order, with prejudice, in exchange for EPA's agreement that EPA will not seek administrative or civil penalties from the Petitioners for the CAA violations alleged in the Amended Order.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposes to approve the state implementation plan (SIP) revision submitted by the Commonwealth of Virginia (Virginia) for the purpose of removing a consent agreement and order (consent order) previously included in the Virginia SIP to address reasonably available control technology (RACT) requirements for volatile organic compounds (VOCs) control at Reynolds Consumer Product LLC (Reynolds) plant and include a state operating permit for the Reynolds plant in the SIP to continue to address RACT requirements. In the Final Rules section of this Federal Register, EPA is approving the Commonwealth'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. A more detailed description of the state submittal and EPA's evaluation is included in a technical support document (TSD) prepared in support of this rulemaking action. A copy of the TSD is available, upon request, from the EPA Regional Office listed in the ADDRESSES section of this document or is also available electronically within the Docket for this rulemaking action. 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.