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

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to approve a revision to the Wisconsin state implementation plan (SIP), submitted by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR) on September 30, 2008. The revision updates the definition of ``Replacement Unit'' and clarifies a component of the emission calculation used to determine emissions under a plantwide applicability limitation (PAL) in the Wisconsin Administrative Code. Approving this revision makes Wisconsin rules consistent with Federal rules.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is taking final action to approve or conditionally approve portions of a state implementation plan (SIP) revision submitted by California to address Clean Air Act (CAA or ``Act'') requirements for the 2006 and 2012 fine particulate matter (PM2.5) national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS or ``standards'') in the Los Angeles-South Coast Air Basin (``South Coast'') PM2.5 nonattainment area. Specifically, the EPA is approving all but the contingency measure element of the submitted SIP revision as meeting all applicable Moderate area requirements for the 2012 annual PM2.5 NAAQS, and conditionally approving the contingency measure element as meeting both the Moderate area contingency measure requirement for the 2012 annual PM2.5 NAAQS and the Serious area contingency measure requirement for the 2006 24-hour PM2.5 NAAQS. In addition, the EPA is approving 2019 and 2022 motor vehicle emissions budgets for use in transportation conformity analyses for the 2012 annual PM2.5 NAAQS. The EPA is also reclassifying the South Coast PM2.5 nonattainment area, including reservation areas of Indian country and any other area of Indian country within it where the EPA or a tribe has demonstrated that the tribe has jurisdiction, as a Serious nonattainment area for the 2012 annual PM2.5 NAAQS based on the EPA's determination that the area cannot practicably attain the standard by the applicable Moderate area attainment date of December 31, 2021. As a consequence of this reclassification, California is required to submit a Serious area attainment plan that includes a demonstration of attainment of the 2012 annual PM2.5 NAAQS in the South Coast area as expeditiously as practicable and no later than December 31, 2025.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is planning to submit an information collection request (ICR), ``General Administrative Requirements for Assistance Programs'' (EPA ICR No. 0938.22, OMB Control No. 2030-0020 to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.). 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 April 30, 2021. In addition, this ICR includes EPA's Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) Program as a result of the relocation of the DBE Program from the Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization to the Office of Grants and Debarment. The information collection activities for the DBE Program were previously covered under OMB Control Number 2090-0030. 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.

This notice announces the availability of the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA or the Agency) draft biological evaluations (BEs) for the registration review of the pesticides atrazine, simazine, and propazine, and opens a public comment period on these documents.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing the redesignation of the Salt Lake City, Utah and Provo, Utah nonattainment areas (NAAs) to attainment for the 2006 24-hour fine particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter less than or equal to a nominal 2.5 microns (PM2.5) National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS), and also acting on multiple related State Implementation Plan (SIP) submissions. We are proposing to approve SIP revisions submitted by the State of Utah on January 19, 2017; April 19, 2018; February 4 and 15, 2019; and January 13, May 21, and July 21, 2020. These SIP submissions include revisions to Utah Administrative Code (UAC) Sections R307-110, R307-200, and R307-300 Series; revisions to Utah SIP Sections X.B and E; revisions to Utah SIP Sections IX.H.11, 12, and 13; best available control measures/best available control technologies (BACM/BACT) PM2.5 determinations for Salt Lake City and Provo; maintenance plans for the Salt Lake City and Provo areas for PM2.5; and the request for redesignation under the 2006 24- hour PM2.5 standard. Additionally, the EPA is proposing to approve, through parallel processing, a request to remove startup and shutdown emission limits for Kennecott's Power Plant in the Utah SIP and the accompanying R307-110-17 revisions (draft dated October 9, 2020). The EPA is taking this action pursuant to the Clean Air Act (CAA or the Act).

The Environmental Protection Agency is planning to submit an information collection request (ICR), ``Gathering Data on Results of Newly Required Annual and Triennial Testing to Evaluate the Impacts of U.S. E.P.A.'s 2015 Federal Underground Storage Tank Regulation'' (EPA ICR No. 2650.01, OMB Control No. 2050-NEW) 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 request for approval of a new collection. 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.

This notice announces EPA's order for the cancellations, voluntarily requested by the registrants and accepted by the Agency, of the products listed in Table 1 of Unit II, pursuant to the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA). This cancellation order follows an April 3, 2020 Federal Register Notice of Receipt of Requests from the registrants listed in Table 2 of Unit II to voluntarily cancel these product registrations. In the April 3, 2020 notice, EPA indicated that it would issue an order implementing the cancellations, unless the Agency received substantive comments within the 180-day comment period that would merit its further review of these requests, or unless the registrants withdrew their requests. The Agency did not receive any comments on the notice. Further, the registrants did not withdraw their requests. Accordingly, EPA hereby issues in this notice a cancellation order granting the requested cancellations. Any distribution, sale, or use of the products subject to this cancellation order is permitted only in accordance with the terms of this order, including any existing stocks provisions.

The State of Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) has applied to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for final authorization of the changes to its hazardous waste program under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). The EPA has reviewed Texas' application and has determine that these changes appear to satisfy all requirements needed to qualify for final authorization and is proposing to authorize the State's changes. The EPA is seeking public comment prior to taking final action.

This regulation establishes an exemption from the requirement of a tolerance for residues of thiamine mononitrate (CAS Reg. No. 532- 43-4) when used as an inert ingredient (enzyme cofactor) in pesticide products applied to/on all growing crops pre-harvest, limited to 0.1% (by weight) in pesticide formulations. SciReg, Inc on behalf of Valagro, S.p.A submitted a petition to EPA under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA), requesting an establishment of an exemption from the requirement of a tolerance. This regulation eliminates the need to establish a maximum permissible level for residues of thiamine mononitrate when used in accordance with this exemption. Vitamin B1 is also known as thiamine mononitrate. Throughout this document and for purposes of issuing the tolerance, EPA is using the name ``thiamine mononitrate'' to be consistent with standard agency nomenclature for the identification of this substance.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is finalizing amendments to the National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) for Chemical Recovery Combustion Sources at Kraft, Soda, Sulfite, and Stand-alone Semichemical Pulp Mills, and the New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) for Kraft Pulp Mills constructed, reconstructed, or modified after May 23, 2013. The final rule clarifies how to set operating limits for smelt dissolving tank (SDT) scrubbers used at these mills and corrects cross-reference errors in both rules.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is announcing the availability of the final Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) risk evaluation of Carbon Tetrachloride (CCl4). 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, without consideration of costs or other nonrisk factors. EPA has determined that specific conditions of use of CCl4 present an unreasonable risk of injury to health or the environment. For those conditions of use for which EPA has found an unreasonable risk, EPA must take regulatory action 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.

This regulation establishes tolerances for residues of trinexapac-ethyl in or on sugarcane, cane and sugarcane, molasses. Syngenta Crop Protection, LLC requested these tolerances under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA).

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is exempting residues of the antimicrobial pesticide ingredients dipropylene glycol and triethylene glycol from the requirement of a tolerance when used on or applied to food-contact surfaces in public eating places, dairy- processing equipment, and food-processing equipment and utensils. The Agency is finalizing this rule on its own initiative under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA) to address residues identified as part of the Agency's registration review program under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA).

In accordance with the requirements of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980, as amended (``CERLCA'') notice is hereby given by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Region 8, of a proposed prospective purchaser administrative settlement agreement, embodied in an Administrative Settlement Agreement and Covenant Not to Sue (``Settlement Agreement'') with the State of Montana (the ``State''), MAC LTT, LLC (``MAC''), which is purchasing the Property, and MAC LTT Manufacturing, Inc., a related entity to MAC, which, although not purchasing the Property, has leased the Property since 2013 and will continue to lease and operate the Property after MAC purchases the Property (``Lessee,'' and with MAC collectively, ``Purchaser''). This Settlement Agreement pertains to a portion of the approximately 580-acre area known as the Lockwood Solvent Ground Water Plume Superfund Site (``Site'') located at 1430 U.S. Highway 87 East, Billings, Montana (``The Property'').

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is publishing this final rule to postpone the compliance deadlines for implementation of Phase 2 of the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Electronic Reporting Rule (``NPDES eRule''). The NPDES eRule requires EPA and states to modernize Clean Water Act (CWA) reporting. This final rule also provides states with additional flexibility to request additional time as needed. Further, this final rule promulgates clarifying changes to the NPDES eRule and eliminates some duplicative or outdated reporting requirements. Taken together, these changes are designed to save the NPDES authorized programs considerable resources, make reporting easier for NPDES-regulated entities, streamline permit renewals, ensure full exchange of NPDES program data between states and EPA, enhance public transparency, improve environmental decision- making, and protect human health and the environment.