Environmental Protection Agency December 14, 2020 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The United States Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance has issued EPA Tampering Policy: The EPA Enforcement Policy on Vehicle and Engine Tampering and Aftermarket Defeat Devices under the Clean Air Act. This Policy states how the EPA intends to handle certain potential civil violations of the Clean Air Act's prohibitions on tampering with vehicle and engine emissions controls as well as the manufacturing, selling, offering to sell, and installation of parts and components that defeat emissions controls. The EPA Tampering Policy creates no obligations on regulated parties, and it is not a rule. Further, it is principally a restatement of currently applicable enforcement discretion policies. The EPA Tampering Policy supersedes and replaces former statements of enforcement policy, as specified in the Policy itself. The EPA Tampering Policy neither supersedes nor replaces a 1986 enforcement policy that is specific to replacement catalytic converters for light- duty gasoline motor vehicles that are beyond their emissions warranty. Rather, with this Federal Register document, the EPA requests information to help the agency make a future decision on whether and how to update or withdraw the 1986 catalyst policy. EPA does not anticipate any measurable costs to be incurred by the affected entities associated with the Tampering Policy or the request for information regarding the 1986 catalyst policy.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA or the Agency) is correcting a typographical error in a final rule published in the Federal Register on November 12, 2020. The EPA finalized regulations under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) with procedures to allow certain facilities to request approval to operate an existing coal combustion residuals (CCR) surface impoundment with an alternate liner, among other things.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is approving two state implementation plan (SIP) revisions submitted by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. These revisions address certain reasonably available control technology (RACT) requirements, specifically those related to control technique guidelines (CTGs) for volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and the addition of regulations controlling VOC emissions from industrial cleaning solvents. These submissions are part of Pennsylvania's efforts to implement RACT for the 2008 ozone national ambient air quality standard (NAAQS). EPA is approving these revisions to the Pennsylvania SIP in accordance with the requirements of the Clean Air Act (CAA).