Environmental Protection Agency October 2018 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

Pursuant to the Federal Advisory Committee Act, Public Law 92- 463, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Research and Development (ORD), gives notice of a meeting of the Board of Scientific Counselors (BOSC) Air and Energy Subcommittee.

Notice is hereby given that the State of Maryland is revising its approved Public Water System Supervision Program. Maryland has adopted drinking water regulations for the Revised Total Coliform Rule. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has determined that Maryland's Revised Total Coliform Rule meets all minimum federal requirements, and that it is no less stringent than the corresponding federal regulation. Therefore, EPA has tentatively decided to approve the State program revisions.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is finalizing its approval of section 110(a)(2)(D)(i)(I) in a State Implementation Plan (SIP) submission from the State of Missouri for the 2012 Annual Fine Particulate Matter (PM2.5) National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS). Section 110(a)(2)(D)(i)(I) requires the State to prohibit any source or other type of emissions activity within the State from emitting any air pollutant in amounts which will contribute significantly to nonattainment (prong 1), or interfere with maintenance (prong 2) in any other State with respect to the NAAQs.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is planning to submit an information collection request (ICR), NESHAP for Industrial, Commercial, and Institutional Boilers Area Sources (EPA ICR No. 2253.04, OMB Control No. 2060-0668) to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act. Before doing so, EPA is soliciting public comments on specific aspects of the proposed information collection as described below. This is a proposed extension of the ICR, which is currently approved through October 31, 2018. An agency may not conduct or sponsor and a person is not required to respond to a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is approving State Implementation Plan (SIP) revisions submitted by the State of Connecticut. The SIP revisions are for the Greater Connecticut and the Connecticut portion of the New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, NY-NJ-CT moderate ozone nonattainment areas. EPA is approving submittals which include 2011 base year emissions inventories, an emissions statement certification, reasonable further progress (RFP) demonstrations, reasonably available control measures (RACM) analyses, motor vehicle emissions budgets, and contingency measures. This action is being taken in accordance with the Clean Air Act (CAA).

The Clean Air Act (CAA) prohibits knowingly venting or releasing ozone-depleting and substitute refrigerants in the course of maintaining, servicing, repairing, or disposing of appliances or industrial process refrigeration. On November 18, 2016, EPA finalized a rule that updated the existing refrigerant management requirements and extended requirements that previously applied only to refrigerants containing an ozone-depleting substance (ODS) to substitute refrigerants such as hydrofluorocarbons that are subject to the venting prohibition (i.e., those that have not been exempted from that prohibition). The Agency is revisiting the aspects of the 2016 Rule that apply to equipment containing such substitute refrigerants. This action proposes changes to the legal interpretation that supported that rule and amendments to the regulations based on the revised interpretation. More specifically, in connection with the proposed changes to the legal interpretation, EPA is proposing to revise the appliance maintenance and leak repair provisions so they apply only to equipment using refrigerant containing a class I or class II substance. Based on this proposed limitation of the leak repair requirements, this document further proposes to revise the list of practices that must be followed in order for refrigerant releases to be considered de minimis to clarify that the reference to following leak repair practices only applies to equipment that contains ODS refrigerant. EPA is also taking comment on whether, in connection with the proposed changes to the legal interpretation, the 2016 Rule's extension of subpart F refrigerant management requirements to such substitute refrigerants should be rescinded in full. Additionally, EPA is proposing to extend by six to twelve months the January 1, 2019 compliance date for when appliances containing only substitute refrigerants subject to the venting prohibition must comply with the appliance maintenance and leak repair provisions.