Environmental Protection Agency September 9, 2016 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (``CERCLA'' or ``the Act''), as amended, requires that the National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan (``NCP'') include a list of national priorities among the known releases or threatened releases of hazardous substances, pollutants or contaminants throughout the United States. The National Priorities List (``NPL'') constitutes this list. The NPL is intended primarily to guide the Environmental Protection Agency (``the EPA'' or ``the agency'') in determining which sites warrant further investigation. These further investigations will allow the EPA to assess the nature and extent of public health and environmental risks associated with the site and to determine what CERCLA-financed remedial action(s), if any, may be appropriate. This rule adds ten sites to the General Superfund section of the NPL.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is approving elements of State Implementation Plan (SIP) submissions from the State of Texas for Ozone (O3) and Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2) National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS). These submittals address how the existing SIP provides for implementation, maintenance, and enforcement of the 2008 O3 and 2010 NO2 NAAQS (infrastructure SIPs or i-SIPs). These i-SIPs ensure that the State's SIP is adequate to meet the State's responsibilities under the Federal Clean Air Act (CAA).

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is taking direct final action to approve revisions to the Iowa Title V Operating Permits Program, the State Implementation Plan (SIP), and the 112(l) plan. The submission revises the Title V Operating Permits Program to include a new chapter to address fees for services by the air quality program. Administrative revisions made with this rulemaking to the SIP and 112(l) plan are associated with the new chapter.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is taking direct final action to approve an update to a portion of the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Air Regulations for Maryland. Requirements applying to OCS sources located within 25 miles of states' seaward boundaries must be updated periodically to remain consistent with the requirements of the corresponding onshore area (COA), as mandated by the Clean Air Act, as amended in 1990 (CAA or the Act). The portion of the OCS air regulations that is being updated pertains to the requirements for OCS sources for which Maryland is the designated COA. The intended effect of approving the OCS requirements for the Maryland Department of the Environment is to regulate emissions from OCS sources in accordance with the requirements for onshore sources.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is granting Indiana's request to redesignate, under the Clean Air Act (CAA), the state of Indiana portion of the Louisville (KY-IN) (Madison Township in Jefferson County and Clark and Floyd Counties) nonattainment area to attainment of the 1997 annual standard for fine particulate matter (PM2.5). EPA determined that the Louisville area has attained the 1997 annual standard, and proposed on July 11, 2013, with a supplemental proposal on June 23, 2016, to approve Indiana's request to redesignate the area. EPA is taking final action today on the proposal and supplemental proposal. EPA is also taking final action in this rulemaking on several related proposals. Along with granting the change in the area's designation status, EPA is also approving Indiana's PM2.5 maintenance plan for the Louisville area as a revision to the Indiana state implementation plan (SIP) as meeting the requirements of section 175A of the CAA. EPA is approving the 2008 emissions inventory for primary PM2.5, nitrogen oxides (NOX), sulfur dioxide (SO2), volatile organic compounds (VOC) and ammonia as satisfying the requirement of the CAA for a comprehensive, current emission inventory. Finally, EPA finds adequate and is approving 2015 and 2025 primary PM2.5 and NOX motor vehicle emissions budgets (MVEBs) for the Louisville area. These MVEBs will be used in future transportation conformity analyses for the area. These actions were proposed for approval in EPA's initial action on July 11, 2013. EPA received no comments in response to the above proposals.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently promulgated the NPDES Electronic Reporting Rule (``final rule'') to modernize Clean Water Act reporting for municipalities, industries, and other facilities by converting to an electronic data reporting system. This final rule requires regulated entities and state and Federal regulators to use existing, available information technology to electronically report data required by the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit program instead of filing written paper reports. This action will save time and resources for permittees, states, tribes, territories, and the U.S. Government while increasing data accuracy, improving compliance, and supporting EPA's goal of providing better protection of the nation's waters. This regulation will help provide greater clarity on who is and who is not in compliance and enhances transparency by providing a timelier, complete, more accurate, and nationally-consistent set of data about the NPDES program. The final rule requires EPA to publish in the Federal Register a listing of the initial recipients for electronic NPDES information from NPDES-regulated facilities by state, tribe, and territory and by NPDES data group. This listing must identify for NPDES-regulated facilities the initial recipient of their NPDES electronic data submissions and the due date for these NPDES electronic data submissions. This Federal Register document provides an overview of the ``initial recipient'' term as well as the listing of the initial recipients by state, tribe, and territory and by NPDES data group and the due date for NPDES electronic data submissions. In accordance with the final rule, EPA will update this listing on its Web site and in the Federal Register if there are any changes.