Environmental Protection Agency September 2021 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Office of Ground Water and Drinking Water is announcing a virtual meeting of the National Drinking Water Advisory Council (NDWAC or Council) as authorized under the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA). The purpose of the meeting is to allow members of the NDWAC's Consumer Confidence Report Rule Revision (CCR3) Working Group to present their preliminary recommendations to the Council on targeted issues relating to CCR rule revisions as required under the America's Water Infrastructure Act (AWIA) of 2018. Information about the CCR3 Working Group along with EPA's charge to the NDWAC, to provide advice and recommendations to the agency related to revisions of the CCR rule in the areas of accessibility challenges; advancing environmental justice to better support underserved communities; improving readability, understandability, clarity, and accuracy of information and risk communication of CCRs; and CCR delivery methods may be found on EPA's website at https://www.epa.gov/ndwac. The NDWAC will meet again at a later date to review the Working Group's final report to the Council and to develop advice and recommendations from the Council to EPA.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is providing notice of the availability of data on the administration of the assurance provisions of the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR) trading programs for the control periods in 2020. Total emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOX) reported by Mississippi and Missouri units participating in the CSAPR NOX Ozone Season Group 2 Trading Program during the 2020 control period exceeded the respective states' assurance levels under the program. Data demonstrating the exceedances and EPA's final calculations of the amounts of additional allowances that the owners and operators of certain Mississippi and Missouri units must surrender have been posted in a spreadsheet on EPA's website.

Notice is hereby given that the State of Rhode Island and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts are revising their respective approved Public Water System Supervision (PWSS) programs to meet the requirements of the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA).

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.

The Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) requires EPA to publish in the Federal Register a statement of its findings after its review of certain TSCA notices when EPA makes a finding that a new chemical substance or significant new use is not likely to present an unreasonable risk of injury to health or the environment. Such statements apply to premanufacture notices (PMNs), microbial commercial activity notices (MCANs), and significant new use notices (SNUNs) submitted to EPA under TSCA. This document presents statements of findings made by EPA on such submissions during the period from July 1, 2021 to July 31, 2021.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is approving revisions to the Iowa State Implementation Plan (SIP) to include changes to the Polk County Board of Health Rules and Regulations in addition to revisions from past submittals. The revisions update definitions and references to the effective dates of Federal rules approved into the State's SIP, prohibit burning of demolished buildings, update references to methods and procedures for performance test/stack test and continuous monitoring systems, and revise permitting exemptions. These revisions will not adversely impact air quality and will ensure consistency between the State and Federally approved rules.

This regulation establishes tolerances for residues of pyraclostrobin in or on pomegranate. Interregional Research Project Number 4 (IR-4) requested these tolerances under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA).

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to amend the National Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) Emission Standards for Aerosol Coatings, which establishes reactivity-based emission standards for the aerosol coatings category (aerosol spray paints) under the Clean Air Act (CAA). In this action, the EPA is proposing to update coating category product-weighted reactivity limits for aerosol coatings categories; add new compounds and reactivity factors (RFs); update existing reactivity values; revise the default RF; amend the thresholds for compounds regulated by this document; and add electronic reporting provisions.

EPA is issuing significant new use rules (SNURs) under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) for chemical substances which were the subject of premanufacture notices (PMNs). This action requires persons to notify EPA at least 90 days before commencing manufacture (defined by statute to include import) or processing of any of these chemical substances for an activity that is designated as a significant new use by this rule. This action further requires that persons not commence manufacture or processing for the significant new use until they have submitted a Significant New Use Notice (SNUN), EPA has conducted a review of the notice, made an appropriate determination on the notice, and has taken any risk management actions as are required as a result of that determination.

This notice announces issuance by all 10 Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Regions of the final 2021 National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) pesticide general permit (PGP) the 2021 PGP. The 2021 PGP, which has an effective date of October 31, 2021, replaces the existing permit (2016 PGP) that expires at midnight on October 31, 2021, and authorizes certain point source discharges from the application of pesticides to waters of the United States in accordance with the terms and conditions described therein. EPA is issuing this permit for five (5) years in all areas of the country where EPA is the NPDES permitting authority.

The Clean Air Act (CAA) requires each State Implementation Plan (SIP) to contain adequate provisions prohibiting emissions that will have certain adverse air quality effects in other states. The State of Rhode Island made a submission to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to address these requirements for the 2015 ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS). EPA is proposing to approve the submission for Rhode Island as meeting the requirement that each SIP contain adequate provisions to prohibit emissions that will significantly contribute to nonattainment or interfere with maintenance of the 2015 ozone NAAQS in any other state.

As a result of the Third Circuit Court of Appeals' decision, dated August 27, 2020, in Sierra Club v. U.S. EPA, No. 19-2562 (3rd Cir. 2020), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to partially disapprove a specific part of a state implementation plan (SIP) revision that had been previously approved by EPA. On May 19, 2019, EPA fully approved certain parts of a SIP revision submitted by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to address reasonably available control technology (RACT) for the 1997 and 2008 ozone national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS), and conditionally approved other parts of that submission. The court vacated EPA's approval of a portion of the SIP revision, as discussed below, and ordered that EPA either approve a new SIP revision addressing the court's decision or promulgate a federal implementation plan (FIP) within two years. EPA is therefore proposing to disapprove the portion of the SIP submission addressed by the court's decision. This action is being taken under the Clean Air Act (CAA).

This notice announces the availability of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Preliminary Effluent Guidelines Program Plan 15 (Preliminary Plan 15) and solicits public comment. The Clean Water Act (CWA) requires the EPA to biennially publish a plan for new and revised effluent limitations guidelines, after public review and comment. Preliminary Plan 15 discusses EPA's 2020 annual review of effluent limitations guidelines and pretreatment standards, presents the agency's preliminary review of specific categories identified through the review, provides an update on the analyses and tools that EPA is continuing to develop, and discusses several new and ongoing rulemaking actions.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is issuing a proposed rule to delete the Beckman Instruments site from the National Priorities List (NPL) and requests public comments on this proposed action. The NPL, promulgated pursuant to 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, through its designated state agency, have determined that all appropriate response actions under CERCLA have been completed. However, this deletion does not preclude future actions under Superfund.

The State of Alabama (Alabama or State) has applied to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for final approval of revisions to its Underground Storage Tank Program (UST Program) under subtitle I of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). Pursuant to RCRA, the EPA is proposing to approve revisions to Alabama's UST Program. This action is based on the EPA's determination that the State's revisions satisfy all requirements for UST program approval. This action also proposes to codify Alabama's revised UST Program and to incorporate by reference the State statutes and regulations that we have determined meet the requirements for approval.

As provided under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), State-designated lead agencies may register pesticides, within their respective States, to meet special local needs. EPA's regulations require the State lead agencies to notify EPA of such special local need registrations. EPA may disapprove any such State registration. EPA's regulations require that notice of disapproval actions be published in the Federal Register; as such this notice identifies special local need registrations which were disapproved by EPA on March 15, 2021, April 9, 2021, and April 23, 2021.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is correcting a notice of final determination published on May 11, 2021. EPA determined that adequate facilities for the safe and sanitary removal and treatment of sewage from all vessels were reasonably available to support the State's prohibition of vessel sewage discharges in thirteen waterbodies in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, but has since identified errors in the geographic coordinates that correspond to the boundaries of the no-discharge zones as described in the earlier notice. This notice simply corrects those geographic coordinate errors; it does not otherwise change EPA's May 11, 2021 final determination.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is taking final action to approve revisions to the Antelope Valley Air Quality Management District (AVAQMD), Eastern Kern Air Pollution Control District (EKAPCD), and Yolo-Solano Air Quality Management District (YSAQMD) portions of the California State Implementation Plan (SIP). These revisions concern emissions of oxides of nitrogen (NOX) from boilers, steam generating units, process heaters, and stationary internal combustion engines. We are approving local rules that regulate these emission sources under the Clean Air Act (CAA or the ``Act'').

This notice announces that pesticide related information submitted to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) pursuant to the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) and the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA), including information that may have been claimed as Confidential Business Information (CBI) by the submitter, will be transferred to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and parties to certain litigation. This transfer of data is in accordance with the CBI regulations governing the disclosure of potential CBI in litigation.

The State of Tennessee (Tennessee or State) has applied to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for final approval of revisions to its Petroleum Underground Storage Tank Program (Petroleum UST Program) under subtitle I of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). Pursuant to RCRA, the EPA is taking direct final action, subject to public comment, to approve revisions to the Petroleum UST Program. The EPA has reviewed Tennessee's revisions and has determined that these revisions satisfy all requirements needed for approval. In addition, this action also codifies the EPA's approval of Tennessee's revised Petroleum UST Program and incorporates by reference those provisions of the State statutes and regulations that the EPA has determined meet the requirements for approval.

The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (``CERCLA'' or ``the Act''), as amended, requires that the National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan (``NCP'') include a list of national priorities among the known releases or threatened releases of hazardous substances, pollutants or contaminants throughout the United States. The National Priorities List (``NPL'') constitutes this list. The NPL is intended primarily to guide the Environmental Protection Agency (``the EPA'' or ``the agency'') in determining which sites warrant further investigation. These further investigations will allow the EPA to assess the nature and extent of public health and environmental risks associated with the site and to determine what CERCLA-financed remedial action(s), if any, may be appropriate. This rule adds four sites to the General Superfund section of the NPL.

Pursuant to the Federal Clean Air Act (CAA or the Act), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is approving the portions of a State Implementation Plan (SIP) revision submitted by the State of Texas that describes how CAA requirements for Nonattainment New Source Review (NNSR) and emission statements are met in the Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW), Houston-Galveston-Brazoria (HGB), and Bexar County ozone nonattainment areas for the 2015 Ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS).