Environmental Protection Agency August 2017 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

In accordance with the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), EPA is issuing a notice of receipt of requests by registrants to voluntarily cancel certain pesticide registrations. EPA intends to grant these requests at the close of the comment period for this announcement unless the Agency receives substantive comments within the comment period that would merit its further review of the requests, or unless the registrants withdraw its requests. If these requests are granted, any sale, distribution, or use of products listed in this notice will be permitted after the registrations have been cancelled only if such sale, distribution, or use is consistent with the terms as described in the final order.

The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (``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 (``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 proposes to add four sites to the General Superfund section of the NPL and withdraws a previous proposal to list one site on the NPL.

The EPA Administrator signed two Orders, dated June 30, 2017, granting the petitions submitted by Sierra Club (Petitioner) objecting to proposed Clean Air Act (CAA) title V operating permits issued to Duke Energy, LLC. One Order responds to a June 17, 2016, petition objecting to a proposed title V permit issued by the Western North Carolina Regional Air Quality Agency to the Asheville Steam Electric Plant located in Arden, Buncombe County, North Carolina. The other Order responds to a June 23, 2016, petition objecting to a proposed title V permit issued by the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality to the Roxboro Steam Electric Plant located near Semora, in Person County, North Carolina. Each Order constitutes a final action on the petition addressed therein.

Section 5(g) of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) requires EPA to publish in the Federal Register a statement of its findings after its review of TSCA section 5(a) notices when EPA makes a finding that a new chemical substance or significant new use is not likely to present an unreasonable risk of injury to health or the environment. Such statements apply to premanufacture notices (PMNs), microbial commercial activity notices (MCANs), and significant new use notices (SNUNs) submitted to EPA under TSCA section 5. This document presents statements of findings made by EPA on TSCA section 5(a) notices during the period from April 1, 2017 to April 30, 2017.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to approve New Jersey's regional haze progress report, submitted on June 28, 2016, as a revision to its State Implementation Plan (SIP). New Jersey's SIP revision addresses requirements of the Clean Air Act and its implementing regulations that the State submit periodic reports describing progress toward reasonable progress goals established for regional haze and a determination of the adequacy of the State's existing regional haze SIP. New Jersey's progress report notes that New Jersey has implemented the measures in the regional haze SIP due to be in place by the date of the progress report and that visibility in federal Class I areas affected by emissions from New Jersey is improving and has already met the applicable reasonable progress goals for 2018. The EPA is proposing approval of New Jersey's determination that the State's regional haze SIP is adequate to meet these reasonable progress goals for the first implementation period, which extends through 2018, and requires no substantive revision at this time.

This notice announces EPA's approval of the State of Wisconsin's request to revise/modify certain of its EPA-authorized programs to allow electronic reporting.