Environmental Protection Agency June 2024 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announces revised guidelines for eligible recipients (states, territories, and the District of Columbia) awarded Federal grants under section 319 of the Clean Water Act (CWA) for the implementation of nonpoint source management programs ("2024 Guidelines"). The 2024 guidelines describe the requirements that apply to recipients of grants made with funds appropriated by Congress under the Clean Water Act. These new guidelines will replace the Nonpoint Source Program and Grants Guidelines for States and Territories that have been in effect since the fiscal year 2014 grant cycle. The revisions are intended to advance new science and information, engage communities, and guide the national Nonpoint Source Program.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to approve State implementation plan (SIP) revisions submitted by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The revisions establish and require reasonably available control technology (RACT) requirements for the 2008 and 2015 ozone national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) for each category of volatile organic compound (VOC) sources in Pennsylvania covered by the EPA's 2016 control techniques guidelines (CTG) for the oil and gas industry. EPA is also proposing to approve Allegheny County, Pennsylvania's incorporation of the Pennsylvania regulations into the Allegheny County SIP with minor changes to reference Allegheny County's existing regulations. This action is being taken under the Clean Air Act (CAA).

On March 9, 2023, the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation's (TDEC or State) Division of Air Pollution Control (TDEC- APC) requested to update the method of delegations and continue the delegations of authority to implement and enforce National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAPs), and NESHAPs for Source Categories.

This regulation establishes tolerances for residues of spiromesifen in or on Oranges and Orange, oil. Bayer CropScience, LP requested these tolerances under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA).

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is extending the comment period for a proposed rule published May 31, 2024. The current comment period for the proposed rule was set to end on July 1, 2024. In response to requests from commenters, the EPA is extending the comment period for the proposed action to July 15, 2024.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Science Advisory Board (SAB) Staff Office announces two public meetings of the Science Advisory Board Environmental Justice Science and Analysis Review Panel. The purpose of the meetings is to discuss the panel's draft peer review report of the EPA's draft Revised Technical Guidance for Assessing Environmental Justice in Regulatory Analysis (EJTG). The Panel will also discuss their self-initiated commentary outlining recommendations on advancing environmental justice science in rulemaking.

This notice announces the availability of EPA's interim registration review decisions for the following chemicals: Aluminium phosphide, magnesium phosphide, phosphine, tetrachlorvinphos and triadimefon.

EPA is taking final action to amend the "Standards and Practices for All Appropriate Inquiries" to reference a standard practice recently made available by ASTM International, a widely recognized standards development organization. Specifically, EPA is amending the All Appropriate Inquiries Rule to reference ASTM International's E2247-23 "Standard Practice for Environmental Site Assessments: Phase I Environmental Site Assessment Process for Forestland or Rural Property" and allow for its use to satisfy the requirements for conducting all appropriate inquiries under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act. In addition, EPA will remove after one year, from the All Appropriate Inquiries Rule, recognition of the previous version of that standard, ASTM E2247-16, as compliant with the All Appropriate Inquiries Rule.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposes to approve revisions to the Idaho State Implementation Plan (SIP) submitted on May 8, 2023 and May 13, 2024. The SIP submissions include changes designed to streamline the Idaho air quality regulations by repealing outdated provisions, striking duplicative terms, and simplifying rule language. The submissions also update the adoption by reference of specific Federal standards and reference methods. The EPA proposes to determine that the submitted changes to the Idaho SIP are consistent with Clean Air Act requirements.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Science Advisory Board (SAB) Staff Office requests public nominations of scientific experts to form a Panel to review the Benefits Spatial Platform for Aggregating Socioeconomics and H2O Quality (BenSPLASH). BenSPLASH serves as one component in an integrated assessment model designed to quantify the economic benefits of changes in water quality. The Panel will evaluate the underlying valuation approaches and endpoints, benefits transfer applications and methodology, and default assumptions within BenSPLASH.

The Clean Water Act (CWA) requires that states periodically submit, and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approve or disapprove, lists of waters (called "Section 303(d) lists") for which existing technology- based pollution controls are not stringent enough to attain or maintain State water quality standards and for which total maximum daily loads (TMDLs) must be prepared. Waters identified on Section 303(d) lists are called "water quality-limited segments." This notice describes the EPA's Decision Document, which identified certain additional water quality-limited segments for the Arkansas 2020 Section 303(d) list, and requests public comment on those additions.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) invites nominations from a diverse range of qualified candidates who desire to serve as members of EPA's Great Lakes Advisory Board (GLAB). The GLAB is chartered to provide advice and recommendations to the EPA Administrator, through the Great Lakes National Program Manager, on matters related to the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative and on domestic matters related to the implementation of the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement between the U.S. and Canada. For appointment consideration, nominations should be submitted by July 30, 2024. Sources in addition to this Federal Register notice may also be utilized in the solicitation of nominees.

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 October 1, 2023, to March 31, 2024, to control unforeseen pest outbreaks.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is issuing a correction to a final rule published in the Federal Register of Monday, April 22, 2024, which will be effective June 21, 2024. The final rule established new emission standards for heavy-duty highway vehicles, along with several amendments for a wide range of highway and nonroad engines and vehicles. This document corrects inadvertent errors introduced in preparing the amendatory regulatory text for publication. These corrections do not include any substantives change to the final rule.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA or the "Agency") is proposing to address the unreasonable risk of injury to human health presented by n-methylpyrrolidone (NMP) under its conditions of use as documented in EPA's risk evaluation and risk determination for NMP pursuant to the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). NMP is a widely used solvent in a variety of industrial, commercial, and consumer applications including the manufacture and production of electronics such as semiconductors, polymers, petrochemical products, paints and coatings, and paint and coating removers. EPA determined that NMP presents an unreasonable risk of injury to health due to the significant adverse health effects associated with exposure to NMP, including developmental post-implantation fetal loss from short-term exposure and reduced fertility and fecundity from long-term exposure. Additional adverse effects associated with exposure to NMP include liver toxicity, kidney toxicity, immunotoxicity, neurotoxicity, skin irritation, and sensitization. To address the identified unreasonable risk, EPA is proposing to: prohibit the manufacture (including import), processing, and distribution in commerce and use of NMP in several occupational conditions of use; require worker protections through an NMP workplace chemical protection program (WCPP) or prescriptive controls (including concentration limits) for most of the occupational conditions of use; require concentration limits on a consumer product; regulate certain consumer products to prevent commercial use; and establish recordkeeping, labeling, and downstream notification requirements.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA or the "Agency") is announcing the change in the peer review mechanism from the letter peer review to a Science Advisory Committee on Chemicals (SACC) peer review; the addition of the draft human health hazard assessment for 1,2- dichloroethane for peer review; the availability of and solicitation of comment on the list of candidates under consideration for selection as ad hoc peer reviewers that will assist the SACC with their peer review of the Agency's draft risk evaluation of 1,1-dichloroethane and human health hazard assessment of 1,2-dichloroethane. The list of candidates provides the names and biographical sketches of all interested and available candidates identified from the responses to the call for nominations and other sources. Public comments on these candidates will assist the Agency in selecting ad hoc peer reviewers to assist the SACC with the identified peer review.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is approving a revision to the North Carolina State Implementation Plan (SIP), submitted by the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (NCDEQ), Division of Air Quality, on December 19, 2022. The revision updates the 2026 on-road and nonroad emissions inventories and safety margins and allocates a portion of the newly available 2026 safety margins in the 2008 8-hour Ozone Maintenance Plan to the 2026 nitrogen oxides (NOX) and volatile organic compounds (VOC) motor vehicle emissions budgets ("budgets") for the North Carolina portion of the Charlotte-Rock Hill, NC-SC bi-state Area (hereinafter referred to as the "North Carolina portion of the Charlotte Maintenance Area") to accommodate updates from the EPA Motor Vehicle Emissions Simulator (MOVES3) model. The SIP revision also revises the current 2026 budgets based on the MOVES3 updates and recalculates new available safety margins. NCDEQ's December 19, 2022, submission supplements the revised 2008 8-hour Ozone Maintenance Plan submitted by NCDEQ on July 16, 2020, and approved by EPA on August 25, 2021. EPA is approving North Carolina's December 19, 2022, SIP revision pursuant to section 110(a)(1) of the Clean Air Act (CAA) and deeming the budgets adequate for transportation conformity purposes because they meet the applicable statutory and regulatory requirements.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is correcting a final rule published in the Federal Register of April 18, 2024, which will be effective June 17, 2024. The final rule established new emission standards for light-duty and medium-duty motor vehicles. This document corrects inadvertent errors introduced in preparing the regulatory text for publication. These corrections do not include any substantives change to the final rule.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is taking final action to approve elements of a state implementation plan (SIP) submittal from the State of California to meet Clean Air Act (CAA) Extreme area requirements for the 1997 8-hour ozone national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) in the Riverside Co. (Coachella Valley), CA nonattainment area ("Coachella Valley"). We are specifically approving the reasonably available control measures (RACM) demonstration and attainment demonstration and finding the State has satisfied the clean fuels for boilers requirement. The EPA previously proposed to approve these elements in conjunction with a proposal to approve the vehicle miles traveled (VMT) offset demonstration and the reasonable further progress (RFP) demonstration for the Coachella Valley. The EPA intends to take final action on the area's VMT offset demonstration and RFP demonstration in a future rulemaking.

Pursuant to the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is announcing a public meeting of the Clean Air Act Advisory Committee (CAAAC). The EPA renewed the CAAAC charter on October 31, 2022, to provide independent advice and counsel to EPA on economic, environmental, technical, scientific and enforcement policy issues associated with implementation of the Clean Air Act of 1990.

Under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), the United States Environmental Protection Agency has entered into a settlement with LPC Holdings, Inc., concerning the Aberdeen Contaminated Groundwater Superfund Site located in Aberdeen, North Carolina. The settlement addresses recovery of CERCLA costs for cleanup response actions performed at the Site and costs incurred by EPA.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is correcting formatting and entry designations in a final rule that was published in the Federal Register on April 26, 2024. The rule finalized National Primary Drinking Water Regulations under the Safe Drinking Water Act for five individual per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS): perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS), perfluorohexane sulfonic acid (PFHxS), perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA), hexafluoropropylene oxide dimer acid (HFPO-DA, commonly known as GenX Chemicals). The rule finalized a NPDWR for two or more mixtures of PFNA, PFHXs, HFPO-DA and perfluorobutane sulfonic acid (PFBS). This document corrects formatting and entry designations in the final regulation.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to approve a request submitted by the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) on February 28, 2024, to revise the Michigan state implementation plan (SIP). The revision is updating the SIP for clarity by removing a redundant definition for "used oil."