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

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA or Agency) is seeking public nominations of scientific and technical experts that EPA can consider for service as ad hoc reviewers assisting the Science Advisory Committee on Chemicals (SACC) with the peer review of the Agency's technical support documents for benzyl butyl phthalate (BBP), dibutyl phthalate (DBP), di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), diisobutyl phthalate (DIBP), and dicyclohexyl phthalate (DCHP) and the cross- phthalate technical support documents for human health benchmark dose (BMD) analysis, cancer analysis, and cumulative risk analysis. To facilitate nominations, this document provides information about the SACC, the intended topic for the planned peer review, the expertise sought for this peer review, instructions for submitting nominations to EPA, and the Agency's plan for selecting the ad hoc reviewers for this peer review. EPA is planning to convene a virtual public meeting of the SACC in the spring of 2025 to review the technical support documents.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA or Agency) is announcing the availability of the final supplemental risk evaluation under the under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) for asbestos Part 2: addressing legacy uses and associated disposal. The purpose of risk evaluations under TSCA is to determine whether a chemical substance presents an unreasonable risk of injury to health or the environment, without consideration of costs or non-risk factors, including unreasonable risk to potentially exposed or susceptible subpopulations identified as relevant to the risk evaluation by EPA, under the conditions of use. For the part 2 supplemental risk evaluation, the Agency evaluated legacy uses and associated disposals of asbestos including chrysotile asbestos, five additional fiber types, conditions of use for asbestos-containing talc that are subject to TSCA, and Libby asbestos. EPA used the best available science to prepare this final supplemental risk evaluation and determined, based on the weight of scientific evidence, that asbestos poses unreasonable risk to human health. Under TSCA, EPA must initiate risk management actions to address the unreasonable risk.

Consistent with Consent Decrees and Settlement Agreements to Resolve Environmental Claims Against the Agency (March 18, 2022), EPA is giving notice of and seeking comment on a proposed settlement agreement for In re Center for Biological Diversity, No. 21-1270 (D.C. Circuit) and Center for Biological Diversity v. Environmental Protection Agency, No. 23-1329 (D.C. Circuit). Defendant-Intervenors who represent the registrants for products contain cyantraniliproledo not oppose this proposed settlement agreement.

This notice is to extend the deadline for attendees to submit their public comments. Pursuant to the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA), notice is hereby given that the next meeting of the Animal Agriculture and Water Quality Subcommittee, a subcommittee of the Farm, Ranch, and Rural Communities Advisory Committee (FRRCC) will be held virtually on December 6, 2024. The goal of the AAWQ subcommittee is to provide recommendations that will inform the Agency's decisions regarding how to improve the implementation of the Clean Water Act (CWA) National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation (CAFO) permitting program.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is partially approving and partially disapproving a regional haze state implementation plan (SIP) revision submitted by the State of Utah on August 2, 2022 (Utah's regional haze SIP submission), to address applicable requirements under the Clean Air Act (CAA) and the EPA's Regional Haze Rule (RHR) for the regional haze program's second implementation period. Additionally, the EPA is disapproving the visibility transport "Prong 4" portion of Utah's infrastructure SIP submission submitted on January 9, 2020, for the 2015 Ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS). The EPA is taking these actions pursuant to the CAA.

EPA is proposing significant new use rules (SNURs) under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) for certain chemical substances that were the subject of premanufacture notices (PMNs) and are also subject to an Order issued by EPA pursuant to TSCA. The SNURs 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 rulemaking to notify EPA at least 90 days before commencing that activity. The required notification initiates EPA's evaluation of the conditions of that use for that chemical substance. In addition, the manufacture or processing for the significant new use may not commence until EPA has conducted a review of the required notification, made an appropriate determination regarding that notification, and taken such actions as required by that determination.