Environmental Protection Agency July 26, 2023 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is announcing the availability of and requesting public comment on a draft revision to the risk determination for 1,4-dioxane following a risk evaluation issued under TSCA. EPA published a risk evaluation for 1,4-dioxane in December 2020 and a draft supplement to the risk evaluation in July 2023. This draft revision to the 1,4-dioxane risk determination reflects policy changes announced in June 2021, to ensure the public is protected from unreasonable risks from chemicals in a way that is supported by science and the law, as well as information from the 2023 Draft Supplement to the risk evaluation. In this draft revision to the risk determination EPA has preliminarily determined that 1,4-dioxane, as a whole chemical substance, presents an unreasonable risk of injury to health when evaluated under its conditions of use. This draft risk determination considers the occupational and consumer exposures from the December 2020 Risk Evaluation, as well as the occupational, general population, and fenceline community exposures in the draft supplement to the risk evaluation, including exposures that result from conditions of use where 1,4-dioxane is present due to production as a byproduct and the risks from general population and fenceline communities' exposures to 1,4-dioxane released under the conditions of use to drinking water sourced from surface and ground water and ambient air. In addition, this revised risk determination does not reflect an assumption that all workers always appropriately wear personal protective equipment (PPE). EPA understands that there could be adequate occupational safety protections in place at certain workplace locations; however, not assuming use of PPE reflects EPA's recognition that unreasonable risk may exist for subpopulations of workers that may be highly exposed because they are not covered by Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) standards, or their employers are out of compliance with OSHA standards, or because many of OSHA's chemical- specific permissible exposure limits largely adopted in the 1970's are described by OSHA as being ``outdated and inadequate for ensuring protection of worker health,'' or because EPA finds unreasonable risk for purposes of TSCA notwithstanding OSHA requirements. This revision, when final, would supersede the condition of use-specific no unreasonable risk determinations in the December 2020 1,4-dioxane risk evaluation (and withdraw the associated order) and would make a revised determination of unreasonable risk for 1,4-dioxane as a whole chemical substance.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to approve a revision to the San Diego County Air Pollution Control District (SDCAPCD) portion of the California State Implementation Plan (SIP). This revision concerns emissions of oxides of nitrogen (NOX) from small boilers, process heaters, steam generators, and large water heaters. We are proposing to approve a local rule to regulate these emission sources under the Clean Air Act (CAA or the ``Act''). The California Air Resources Board (CARB) submitted the rule, on behalf of SDCAPCD, to the EPA as part of the requirement to implement reasonably available control technology (RACT) for major sources of NOX for the San Diego County ozone nonattainment area. We are taking comments on this proposal and plan to follow with a final action.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposes to approve into the Washington State Implementation Plan (SIP) the Yakima Regional Clean Air Agency's (YRCAA) revised outdoor and agricultural burning rule submitted by the State of Washington (Washington or the State) on October 14, 2021. The submitted revisions improve stringency, clarity and enforceability of the rule. The EPA is proposing to approve the SIP submission as consistent with Clean Air Act (Act or CAA) requirements.

In the Federal Register of July 12, 2023, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that it is co-hosting a virtual workshop with the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to hear stakeholder perspectives on specific topics related to detection of and exposure to potential lead hazards from existing residential lead-based paint. EPA and HUD have subsequently identified that many stakeholders have a conflict with the original planned dates for the virtual workshop that was planned to be held on October 17 and 18, 2023. As such, EPA and HUD have determined to change the dates for the virtual workshop to November 1 and 2, 2023. In addition, the deadline for abstract submissions is changed to August 11, and the deadline for registration and special accommodation requests is now October 13.