Environmental Protection Agency December 2022 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

EPA has granted emergency exemptions under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) for use of pesticides as listed in this notice. The exemptions were granted during the period July 1, 2022, to September 30, 2022, to control unforeseen pest outbreaks.

EPA is proposing significant new use rules (SNURs) under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) for chemical substances that were the subject of premanufacture notices (PMNs) and are also subject to Orders issued by EPA pursuant to TSCA. The SNURs would require persons who intend to manufacture (defined by statute to include import) or process any of these chemical substances for an activity that is proposed as a significant new use by this rule to notify EPA at least 90 days before commencing that activity. The required notification initiates EPA's evaluation of the use, under the conditions of use for that chemical substance, within the applicable review period. Persons may not commence manufacture or processing for the significant new use until EPA has conducted a review of the notice, made an appropriate determination on the notice, and has taken such actions as are required in association with that determination.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to clarify its National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Stormwater Phase II regulations due to recent changes made by the Census Bureau. The changes to EPA's regulations would be limited to clarifying that the designation criteria for small municipal separate storm sewer systems (MS4s), which have been used since the promulgation of the regulations in 1999, would remain the same. These clarifications are necessary due to the Census Bureau's recent decision to discontinue its practice of publishing the location of ``urbanized areas'' along with the 2020 Census and future censuses. The clarification in this proposed rulemaking would replace the term ``urbanized area'' in the Phase II regulations with the phrase ``urban areas with a population of at least 50,000,'' which is the Census Bureau's longstanding definition of the term urbanized areas. This change would allow NPDES permitting authorities to use 2020 Census and future Census data in a manner that is consistent with existing longstanding regulatory practice. Because this clarification would maintain the current scope of which entities are regulated as small MS4s, and is not expected to generate opposition, EPA is also publishing the same clarification in the Federal Register as a direct final rule. As is EPA's practice for direct final rules, if the Agency receives adverse comments in response to either the direct final rule or this proposed rulemaking, EPA will publish a timely withdrawal of the direct final rule in the Federal Register informing the public that the rule will not take effect and will address public comments received in any final rule action.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing conditional approval of portions of State Implementation Plan (SIP) revisions to Colorado Air Quality Control Commission (Commission or AQCC) Regulation Number 7 (Reg. 7), which address Colorado's SIP obligation to require reasonably available control technology (RACT) for sources covered by the 2008 miscellaneous metal and plastic parts coatings (miscellaneous metal coatings) control techniques guidelines (CTG) and major source nitrogen oxides (NOX) for Moderate nonattainment areas under the 2008 ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS). These revisions address all of the remaining pieces of the May 31, 2017 and May 10, 2019 submittals that we have not previously acted on. The EPA is taking this action pursuant to the Clean Air Act (CAA).

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing amendments to the Standards of Performance for secondary lead smelters per the Agency's periodic review of the new source performance standards required by the Clean Air Act (CAA). In this action, we are proposing updates to the current New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) for secondary lead smelters and proposing a new NSPS subpart that applies to affected sources constructed, reconstructed, or modified after the date of this proposed rule. For the current NSPS subpart, we are proposing to revise the definitions of blast furnace, reverberatory furnace, and pot furnace to more closely align with the equipment definitions used in the National Emissions Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) for secondary lead smelting. We are also proposing requirements for periodic performance tests for particulate matter (PM) and incorporating revised monitoring, recordkeeping, and reporting requirements, including electronic reporting of performance tests, to be more consistent with the NESHAP. For the new subpart, we are proposing updated PM and opacity emissions limits for blast, reverberatory, and pot furnaces that reflect the performance achieved by the best system for emissions reductions (BSER). In the new subpart, we are proposing PM and opacity emissions limits that apply at all times, including during periods of startup, shutdown, and malfunction (SSM), and proposing initial and periodic PM and opacity performance testing and the same equipment definitions, recordkeeping, and reporting requirements proposed for current NSPS subpart.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Office of Research and Development (ORD), gives notice of a virtual meeting of the Board of Scientific Counselors (BOSC) Executive Committee (EC) to follow up on the review of the New Chemicals Collaborative Research Program that occurred on October 24-25, 2022. The FRN was not published within a 15 day notice due to technical difficulties.