Environmental Protection Agency September 2023 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

On July 31, 2023, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a proposal titled, ``National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants: Integrated Iron and Steel Manufacturing Facilities Technology Review.'' The EPA is extending the comment period on the proposed rule from September 14, 2023, to September 29, 2023.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA or Agency) finalizes revisions to the Agency's regulations under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA or Act). This action supports the Agency's mission by updating the process by which the public may access information about EPA actions and activities.

The Environmental Protection Agency is planning to submit an information collection request (ICR), ``Federal Implementation Plan for Oil and Natural Gas Well Production Facilities, Fort Berthold Indian Reservation (Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation), North Dakota (Renewal)'' (EPA ICR No. 2478.04, OMB Control No. 2008-0001), to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA). Before doing so, the 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 March 31, 2024. This document allows for 60 days for public comments.

Pursuant to the Clean Air Act (CAA), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator signed an order dated July 5, 2023, granting in part and denying in part a petition dated September 16, 2022, from Delaware Audobon Society, Delaware Concerned Residents for Environmental Justice, Environmental Justice Health Alliance for Chemical Policy Reform, the Widener Environmental and Natural Resources Law Clinic, Environmental Integrity Project, and Earthjustice. The petition requested that EPA object to a Clean Air Act (CAA) title V operating permit issued by the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC) to the Delaware City Refinery for its facility located in New Castle County, Delaware.

This regulation establishes tolerances for residues of fluazaindolizine in or on multiple commodities that are identified and discussed later in this document. E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company (``DuPont'', now Corteva) requested these tolerances under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA).

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is announcing the availability of the latest MOtor Vehicle Emission Simulator model major release (MOVES4) for official purposes outside of California. MOVES4 is the latest version of EPA's state-of-the science modeling tool for estimating emissions from cars, trucks, buses, and motorcycles based on the latest data and regulations. MOVES4 is available for use in state implementation plans (SIPs) and transportation conformity analyses outside of California. This notice starts a two-year grace period before MOVES4 will need to be used as the latest EPA emissions model for transportation conformity determinations outside of California, both in new regional emissions analyses and in new hot-spot analyses.

This document announces the Agency's receipt of an initial filing of a pesticide petition requesting the establishment or modification of regulations for residues of pesticide chemicals in or on various commodities.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to approve a Florida State Implementation Plan (SIP) revision, submitted by the State of Florida through the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) on April 1, 2022. The SIP revision revises multiple stationary source rules in Florida's SIP with substantive and minor changes throughout. EPA is proposing to approve these changes pursuant to the Clean Air Act (CAA or Act).

This determination of acceptability expands the list of acceptable substitutes pursuant to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Significant New Alternatives Policy program. This action lists as acceptable additional substitutes for use in the refrigeration and air conditioning and fire suppression sectors.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of the Army (``the agencies'') are amending the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) to conform the definition of ``waters of the United States'' to a 2023 Supreme Court decision. This conforming rule amends the provisions of the agencies' definition of ``waters of the United States'' that are invalid under the Supreme Court's interpretation of the Clean Water Act in the 2023 decision.

In accordance with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator's March 18, 2022, memorandum regarding ``Consent Decrees and Settlement Agreements to resolve Environmental Claims Against the Agency,'' notice is hereby given of a proposed consent decree in Center for Biological Diversity, et al., v. Regan, et al., No. 3:23-cv-535 (N.D. Cal. 2023). On February 6, 2023, the Center for Biological Diversity, the Friends of the Earth, and Marcelin Keever (collectively, ``Plaintiffs'') filed a complaint in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California against the EPA alleging that the Agency had failed to perform its non-discretionary duty to promulgate national standards of performance for discharges incidental to the normal operation of large commercial vessels (and ballast water from certain other types of vessels) pursuant to the Clean Water Act (CWA) as amended by the Vessel Incidental Discharge Act of 2018 (VIDA). EPA seeks public input on a proposed consent decree setting a date for final action on the national standards of performance prior to its final decision-making regarding potential settlement of the litigation.

The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (``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 (``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 proposes to add four sites to the General Superfund section of the NPL.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has submitted an information collection request (ICR), NSPS for Nitric Acid Plants (EPA ICR Number 1056.14, OMB Control Number 2060-0019), to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act. This is a proposed extension of the ICR, which is currently approved through January 31, 2024. Public comments were previously requested via the Federal Register on May 18, 2023 during a 60-day comment period. This notice allows for an additional 30 days for public comments.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (the EPA) is extending the comment period for the Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM), ``Used Drum Management and Reconditioning''. The EPA published this ANRPM in the Federal Register on August 11, 2023, and the public comment period was scheduled to end on September 25, 2023. However, the EPA has received several requests for additional time to develop and submit comments on the ANPRM. In response to the requests for additional time, the EPA is extending the comment period through November 22, 2023.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA), Office of the Chief Financial Officer, Office of Technology Solutions is giving notice that it proposes to rescind a system of records pursuant to the provisions of the Privacy Act of 1974. The Superfund Cost Recovery Package Imaging and On-Line System (SCORPIOS) system of records (EPA- 39) is being rescinded because the e-Recovery system of records (EPA- 90) replaces it. EPA is now using the e-Recovery system to organize and produce reports to recover costs associated with its response to releases or threatened releases of hazardous substances, or discharges or threatened discharges of oil.

The EPA is granting the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (RI DEM) the authority to implement and enforce the amended Rhode Island Code of Regulations, Control of Emissions from Organic Solvent Cleaning (Organic Solvent Cleaning Rule), and the General Definitions Regulation (General Definitions Rule) in place of the National Emission Standard for Halogenated Solvent Cleaning (Halogenated Solvent NESHAP) as a partial rule substitution as it applies to organic solvent cleaning machines in Rhode Island. RI DEM's amended Organic Solvent Cleaning Rule and General Definitions Rule will apply to all sources that otherwise would be regulated by the Halogenated Solvent NESHAP, except for continuous web cleaning machines, for which the Halogenated Solvent NESHAP will continue to apply. This approval makes RI DEM's amended Organic Solvent Cleaning Rule and General Definitions Rule federally enforceable. This action is being taken under the Clean Air Act.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is planning to submit an information collection request (ICR), ``Confidential Financial Disclosure Form for Special Government Employees Serving on Federal Advisory Committees at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, EPA Form 3110-48 (Renewal)'' (EPA ICR No. 2260.08, OMB Control No. 2090-0029) 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 proposed extension of the ICR, which is currently approved through June 30, 2024. 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.