Environmental Protection Agency June 2020 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), and the Department of the Treasury (Treasury) are providing potential applicants to the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) Program with information about budgetary screening criteria that will be applied to projects in accordance with the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2020.

Under the Federal Clean Air Act (CAA or Act), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to approve elements of a State Implementation Plan (SIP) submission from the State of Arkansas (State) for the 2015 Ozone (O3) National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS). This submittal addresses how the existing SIP provides for implementation, maintenance, and enforcement of the 2015 O3 NAAQS (infrastructure SIP or i-SIP). The i- SIP ensures that the Arkansas SIP is adequate to meet the state's responsibilities under the CAA for this NAAQS. We are also proposing to approve changes to the State's regulations to bring the State's rule up to date and consistent with the 2015 O3 NAAQS.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has submitted an information collection request (ICR), NSPS for Commercial and Industrial Solid Waste Incineration (CISWI) Units (EPA ICR Number 2384.05, OMB Control Number 2060-0662), to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act. This is a proposed extension of the ICR, which is currently approved through August 31, 2020. Public comments were previously requested, via the Federal Register, on May 6, 2019 during a 60-day comment period. This notice allows for an additional 30 days for public comments. A fuller description of the ICR is given below, including its estimated burden and cost to the public. An agency may neither conduct nor sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has submitted an information collection request (ICR), National Volatile Organic Compound Emission Standards for Consumer Products (EPA ICR Number 1764.08, OMB Control Number 2060-0348) to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act. This is a proposed extension of the Information Collection Request (ICR), which is currently approved through August 31, 2020. Public comments were previously requested via the Federal Register on December 2, 2019, during a 60-day comment period. No comments were received on that document. This notice allows for an additional 30 days for public comments. A fuller description of the ICR is given below, including its estimated burden and cost to the public. 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 proposing to approve a State Implementation Plan (SIP) revision submitted by the State of Connecticut. This revision amends a Connecticut air-quality regulation for controlling particulate matter (PM) and visible emissions. The intended effect of this action is to define the process industries and activities to which this regulation applies, and to make technical corrections to an emission-rate calculation method. This action is being taken under the Clean Air Act.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to approve a state implementation plan (SIP) revision submitted by the State of West Virginia. This revision pertains to the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection's (WVDEP) plan for maintaining the 1997 8-hour ozone national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) for the West Virginia portion of the Wheeling, WV-OH area (Wheeling Area), comprising Marshall and Ohio Counties). This action is being taken under the Clean Air Act (CAA).

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to approve a state implementation plan (SIP) revision submitted by the State of West Virginia. This revision pertains to the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection's (WVDEP) plan for maintaining the 1997 8-hour ozone national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) for the Charleston Area (comprising Kanawha and Putnam Counties). This action is being taken under the Clean Air Act (CAA).

Due to the receipt of adverse comments, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is withdrawing the May 18, 2020 direct final rule approving a State Implementation Plan (SIP) revision submitted by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Massachusetts' SIP revision provided a negative declaration for EPA's 2016 Control Technique Guideline for the oil and gas industry. This action is being taken in accordance with the Clean Air Act.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is approving a regional haze progress report State Implementation Plan (SIP) revision submitted by the State of Wyoming on November 28, 2017. The revision addresses the requirements for states to submit periodic reports describing progress toward reasonable progress goals established for regional haze and a determination of adequacy of the State's existing regional haze SIP and federal implementation plan (FIP). The EPA is taking this action pursuant to section 110 of the Clean Air Act (CAA).

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is approving the Limited Maintenance Plan (LMP) for the Columbia Falls, Kalispell and Libby nonattainment areas (NAAs) and the State's request to redesignate the Columbia Falls, Kalispell and Libby NAAs from nonattainment to attainment for the 1987 24-hour particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter less than or equal to a nominal 10 micrometers (PM10) National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS). Additionally, the EPA is determining that the Libby and Kalispell NAAs have attained the PM10 NAAQS based on monitoring data from calendar years 2016-2018. On January 31, 2011, the EPA determined that the Columbia Falls NAA attained the PM10 NAAQS. The EPA is also approving the Columbia Falls, Kalispell and Libby LMP as meeting the appropriate transportation conformity requirements. The EPA is taking this action pursuant to the Clean Air Act (CAA).

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is taking final action to conditionally approve portions of two state implementation plan (SIP) submissions from the State of California to meet Clean Air Act (CAA or ``the Act'') requirements for the 2008 8-hour ozone national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS or ``standards'') in the Ventura County, California (``Ventura County'') ozone nonattainment area. The two SIP submissions include the ``Final 2016 Ventura County Air Quality Management Plan,'' and the Ventura County portion of the ``2018 Updates to the California State Implementation Plan.'' In this action, the EPA refers to these submittals collectively as the ``2016 Ventura County Ozone SIP.'' The 2016 Ventura County Ozone SIP addresses the nonattainment area requirements for the 2008 ozone NAAQS, including the requirements for an emissions inventory, attainment demonstration, reasonable further progress, reasonably available control measures, contingency measures, among others; and establishes motor vehicle emissions budgets. In a separate final rule, the EPA took final action to approve the 2016 Ventura County Ozone SIP as meeting all the applicable ozone nonattainment area requirements except for the contingency measures requirement. In this action, the EPA is taking final action to conditionally approve the contingency measures element of the 2016 Ventura County Ozone SIP.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Office of Research and Development (ORD), gives notice of a meeting of the Board of Scientific Counselors (BOSC) Executive Committee (EC) to review the Chemical Safety and Sustainability and Health and Environmental Risk Assessment (CSS-HERA) Subcommittee's report on the Strategic Research Action Plan (StRAP) of ORD's HERA research program. The committee will also receive a briefing on ORD research on SARS-COV-2 and EPA's new approach methods (NAMs) work plan to reduce animal testing.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is announcing the availability of the final Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) risk evaluation of methylene chloride (MC). The purpose of conducting risk evaluations under TSCA is to determine whether a chemical substance presents an unreasonable risk of injury to health or the environment under the conditions of use, including an unreasonable risk to a relevant potentially exposed or susceptible subpopulation. EPA has determined that specific conditions of use of methylene chloride present an unreasonable risk of injury to health. For those conditions of use for which EPA has found an unreasonable risk, EPA must move to address that unreasonable risk through risk management measures enumerated in TSCA. EPA has also determined that specific conditions of use do not present unreasonable risk of injury to health or the environment. For those conditions of use for which EPA has found no unreasonable risk to health or the environment, the Agency's determination is a final Agency action and is issued via order in the risk evaluation.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 5 is issuing a Notice of Intent to Delete soil (land), lagoon, and sediment portions of the Allied Chemical & Ironton Coke Superfund Site (Site) in Ironton, Ohio, from the National Priorities List (NPL) and requests public comments on this proposed action. The NPL, promulgated pursuant to Section 105 of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) of 1980, as amended, is an appendix of the National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan (NCP). The EPA and the State of Ohio, through the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (OEPA), have determined that all appropriate response actions identified for these Site media, other than operation and maintenance, monitoring, and five-year reviews, have been completed. However, this deletion does not preclude future actions under Superfund.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is taking final action to determine that the West Pinal County, Arizona nonattainment area did not attain the 1987 24-hour national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS or ``standard'') for particulate matter with a diameter of ten micrometers or smaller (PM10) by December 31, 2018, the statutory attainment date for the nonattainment area. This action is based on the EPA's calculation of the PM10 design value for the nonattainment area over the 2016-2018 period, using complete, quality-assured, and certified PM10 monitoring data. With this final determination that West Pinal County has failed to attain the PM10 NAAQS by its attainment date, the Clean Air Act (CAA) section 188(b)(2) requires that the nonattainment area be reclassified to Serious by operation of law. Within 18 months from the effective date of this reclassification to Serious, the State must submit State Implementation Plan (SIP) revisions that comply with the statutory and regulatory requirements for Serious PM10 nonattainment areas.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region III is publishing a direct final Notice of Deletion of the First Piedmont Rock Quarry (Route 719) Superfund Site (Site), located in Pittsylvania County, Virginia, from the National Priorities List (NPL). The NPL, promulgated pursuant to section 105 of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) of 1980, as amended, is an appendix of the National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan (NCP). This direct final deletion is being published by EPA with the concurrence of the Commonwealth of Virginia, through the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (VDEQ), because EPA has determined that all appropriate response actions under CERCLA, other than operation and maintenance (O&M), monitoring, and five-year reviews, have been completed. However, this deletion does not preclude future actions under Superfund.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region III is issuing a Notice of Intent to Delete the First Piedmont Rock Quarry (Route 719) Superfund Site (Site) located in Pittsylvania County, Virginia, from the National Priorities List (NPL) and requests public comments on this proposed action. The NPL, promulgated pursuant to section 105 of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) of 1980, as amended, is an appendix of the National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan (NCP). The EPA and the Commonwealth of Virginia, through the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (VDEQ), have determined that all appropriate response actions under CERCLA, other than operation and maintenance (O&M), monitoring, and five-year reviews, have been completed. However, this deletion does not preclude future actions under Superfund.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 5 is issuing a Notification of Intent to Delete Source Area 4 of Operable Unit 3 (OU3) of the Southeast Rockford Groundwater Contamination Superfund Site located in Rockford, Illinois, from the National Priorities List (NPL) and requests public comments on this proposed action. The NPL, promulgated pursuant to Section 105 of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) of 1980, as amended, is an appendix of the National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan (NCP). The EPA and the State of Illinois, through the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA), have determined that all appropriate response actions under CERCLA have been completed for Source Area 4. However, this deletion does not preclude future actions under Superfund.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is approving a Clean Air Act (CAA) section 111(d) plan submitted by the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (VADEQ). This plan was submitted to fulfill the requirements of the CAA and in response to EPA's promulgation of Emissions Guidelines and Compliance Times for municipal solid waste (MSW) landfills. The Virginia plan establishes emission limits for existing MSW landfills and provides for the implementation and enforcement of those limits.

The Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Region 7 Office is publishing a second supplemental notice of proposed rulemaking (SNPRM) to propose approval of Iowa's State Implementation Plan (SIP) for the 2010 1-hour Sulfur Dioxide (SO2) National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) for the Muscatine nonattainment area, including the attainment plan control strategy. In this action, Region 7 is including additional technical information in the docket. Region 7 is also considering adoption of an alternative policy regarding startup, shutdown, and malfunction (SSM) exemption provisions in the Iowa SIP that departs from the policy detailed in EPA's 2015 SSM SIP Action, as well as proposing to withdraw the SIP call issued to Iowa as part of the 2015 SSM SIP Action and to approve the attainment plan control strategy.

EPA is adding 172 per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) to the list of toxic chemicals subject to reporting under section 313 of the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) and section 6607 of the Pollution Prevention Act (PPA). EPA is also setting a manufacture, processing, and otherwise use reporting threshold of 100 pounds for each PFAS being added to the list. These actions are being taken to comply with section 7321 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020 enacted on December 20, 2019. As this action is being taken to conform the regulations to a Congressional legislative mandate, notice and comment rulemaking is unnecessary, and this rule is effective immediately.

Pursuant to the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA or Act), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is taking direct final action to approve revisions to the State of Texas's Underground Storage Tank (UST) program submitted by the State. EPA has determined that these revisions satisfy all requirements needed for program approval. This action also codifies EPA's approval of Texas's State program and incorporates by reference those provisions of the State regulations that we have determined meet the requirements for approval. The provisions will be subject to EPA's inspection and enforcement authorities under sections 9005 and 9006 of RCRA Subtitle I and other applicable statutory and regulatory provisions.

EPA has received applications to register new uses for pesticide products containing currently registered active ingredients. Pursuant to the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), EPA is hereby providing notice of receipt and opportunity to comment on these applications.

On June 11, 2020, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published the proposed rulemaking ``Increasing Consistency and Transparency in Considering Benefits and Costs in the Clean Air Act Rulemaking Process.'' The EPA is extending the comment period on the proposed rulemaking. The EPA is also announcing that a virtual public hearing will be held for the proposed rulemaking.