Environmental Protection Agency August 31, 2020 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

In accordance with Section 122(i) of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act., as amended (``CERCLA''), notice is hereby given of a proposed administrative settlement for recovery of past and projected future response costs concerning the Hamilton/Labree Roads Groundwater Contamination Site in Chehalis, Washington, with the following settling party: S.C. Breen Construction Company. The settlement requires the settling party to pay $3,250,000 to the Hazardous Substance Superfund. The settlement includes a covenant not to sue the settling party. For thirty (30) days following the date of publication of this document, the Agency will receive written comments relating to the settlement. The Agency will consider all comments and may modify or withdraw its consent to the settlement if comments received disclose facts or considerations which indicate that the settlement is inappropriate, improper, or inadequate. The Agency's response to any comments received will be available electronically for public inspection at https://www.regulations.gov.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to approve, through parallel processing, a draft source-specific State Implementation Plan (SIP) revision submitted by the State of North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality, Division of Air Quality (DAQ) through a letter dated June 24, 2020. North Carolina's June 24, 2020, draft source-specific SIP revision requests that EPA incorporate into the SIP more stringent sulfur dioxide (SO2) permit limits than those currently contained in the SIP for the Blue Ridge Paper Products, LLC (also known as BRPP) facility located in the Beaverdam Township Area of Haywood County, North Carolina. Specifically, EPA is proposing to approve, into the SIP, specific SO2 permit limits and associated operating restrictions, monitoring, recordkeeping, reporting (MRR) and testing compliance requirements established in a BRPP title V operating permit as permanent and enforceable SO2 control measures. North Carolina submitted these limits to support its recommendation that EPA designate the Beaverdam Township Area as ``attainment/unclassifiable'' under the 2010 primary SO2 national ambient air quality standard (NAAQS or standard) (also referred to as the 2010 1-hour SO2 NAAQS). The purpose of this rulemaking is not to take action on whether these SO2 emissions limits are adequate for EPA to designate the Beaverdam Township Area as attainment under the 2010 1-hour SO2 NAAQS. Instead, EPA will determine the air quality status and designate remaining undesignated areas for the 2010 1-hour SO2 NAAQS, including the Beaverdam Township Area, in a separate action. This proposed SIP approval does not prejudge that future designation action.

EPA is proposing to correct an error in EPA's regulations for test procedures used in the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) program finalized in a 2012 rulemaking. EPA established the procedures under the general provisions of Energy Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA) which authorize EPA to establish test and calculation procedures for CAFE. The correction clarifies the method for how flex-fuel vehicles are accounted for in manufacturer fuel economy calculations in model years 2020 and later. This correction allows the program to be implemented as originally intended in the 2012 rule. This proposed action is not expected to result in any significant changes in regulatory burdens or costs. In the ``Rules and Regulations'' section of this Federal Register, we are taking direct final action without a prior proposed rule. If we receive no adverse comment, we will not take further action on this proposed rule.