Environmental Protection Agency – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator signed an order dated July 31, 2024, granting in part and denying in part a petition dated April 1, 2024, from the Center for Biological Diversity. The petition requested that the EPA object to a Clean Air Act (CAA) operating permit issued by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment's Air Pollution Control Division (Division) to HighPoint Operating Corporation for its Anschutz Equus Farms 4-62-28 NWNW oil and gas production facility located in Weld County, Colorado.

This notice announces EPA's order for the cancellation of certain pesticide products in association with fiscal year 2023 maintenance fee invoicing and collection. Table 1 of Unit III lists those products for which registrants have voluntarily requested cancellation pursuant to the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA). Table 3 of Unit III lists those products that EPA is cancelling for non-payment of annual maintenance fees, pursuant to FIFRA.

Under the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) gives notice of a virtual meeting of the National Environmental Education Advisory Council (NEE-AC). The NEE-AC was created by Congress to advise, consult with, and make recommendations to the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on matters related to activities, functions, and policies of EPA under the National Environmental Education Act (the Act). The purpose of this meeting is to discuss specific topics of relevance by the council to provide advice and insights to the Agency on environmental education.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to approve a State Implementation Plan (SIP) revision submitted by the Montana Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ or "the State"), on January 30, 2024, requesting to change the status of gasoline requirements (the "oxygenated fuels" or "oxyfuels" program") in the Missoula, Montana, Carbon Monoxide (CO) limited maintenance plan (LMP) area from an active control measure to a contingency measure. The SIP revision contains a non-interference demonstration under the Clean Air Act (CAA), which concludes that converting the oxygenated gasoline program from a control measure to a contingency measure in the Missoula CO LMP would not interfere with attainment or maintenance of the CO National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS). The EPA is proposing to approve Montana's SIP submittal pursuant to CAA.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to partially approve and partially disapprove the regional haze State implementation plan (SIP) revision submitted by Texas on July 20, 2021, under the Clean Air Act (CAA) and EPA's Regional Haze Rule (RHR) for the program's second implementation period. Texas's SIP submission addresses the requirement that states must periodically revise their long-term strategies for making reasonable progress towards the national goal of preventing any future, and remedying any existing, anthropogenic impairment of visibility, including regional haze, in mandatory Class I Federal areas. The SIP submission also addresses other applicable requirements for the second implementation period of the regional haze program. The EPA is taking this action pursuant to sections 110 and 169A of the Clean Air Act.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has submitted an information collection request (ICR), Urban Waters Federal Partnership Program (EPA ICR Number 2801.01, OMB Control Number 2040-NEW) to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act. This is a request for approval of a new collection. Public comments were previously requested via the Federal Register on March 27, 2024, during a 60-day comment period. This notice allows for an additional 30 days for public comments.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) invites nominations from a diverse range of qualified candidates to be considered for appointment to its Local Government Advisory Committee (LGAC). Qualified nominees for the LGAC hold elected positions with local, tribal, state, or territorial governments, or serve in a full- time government position appointed by an elected official. EPA is seeking up to 12 individuals to serve one- or two-year terms beginning in January 2025. For more information on the LGAC, including member bios, recent meeting summaries and recommendations, visit: https:// www.epa.gov/ocir/local-government-advisory-committee-lgac. For more details regarding the nomination process, please see information under SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION.

Pursuant to the Clean Air Act (CAA or the Act), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to approve revisions to the Texas State Implementation Plan (SIP) submitted to the EPA by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ or State) on December 18, 2023. The SIP revisions address Control of Air Pollution from Motor Vehicles and establish a Motor Vehicle Inspection and Maintenance (I/M) program for the San Antonio ozone nonattainment area. The revisions also update definitions and address options for displaying a vehicle's registration as proof of compliance with I/M requirements.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is supplementing a proposed approval published on March 6, 2023 ("March 2023 proposal"), for revisions to the Texas State Implementation Plan (SIP) that updates the Texas Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) and Nonattainment New Source Review (NNSR) permitting programs to incorporate Federal New Source Review (NSR) regulations for Project Emissions Accounting (PEA). This proposal supplements the March 2023 proposal with respect to the EPA's evaluation of the Texas SIP submittal and the anti-backsliding requirements of the Clean Air Act (CAA) sections 110(l) and 193. The EPA is providing an opportunity for public comment on this supplemental proposal. The EPA is not reopening for comment the March 2023 proposal. Comments received on the March 2023 proposal and this supplemental proposal will be addressed in a final rule.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to approve a revision to the California State Implementation Plan (SIP) consisting of California regulations and related test procedures that were adopted as part of California's Advanced Clean Cars I program and that establish standards and other requirements relating to the control of emissions of greenhouse gases from new passenger cars, light-duty trucks, and medium-duty vehicles. The standards and other requirements relate to 2017 and subsequent model-year passenger cars, light-duty trucks, and medium-duty vehicles. The EPA is proposing to approve the SIP revision because the regulations and related test procedures meet the applicable requirements of the Clean Air Act. If finalized, approval of the regulations and related test procedures as part of the California SIP will make them federally enforceable.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is taking a direct final action to approve negative declarations in lieu of State plans to satisfy the requirements in the Emission Guidelines and Compliance Times for Commercial and Industrial Solid Waste Incineration Units for the State of Maine and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The negative declarations certify that the States do not have any existing sources within their jurisdictions that must comply with the rule.

On various dates, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published final rules in the Federal Register approving certain revisions to the Arizona State Implementation Plan (SIP) and the California SIP. In those final rules, inadvertent errors in the amendatory instructions resulted in inaccuracies in the regulatory text codifying the final actions into the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR). This document corrects the errors in the regulatory text for those final rules.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has submitted an information collection request (ICR), Publicly Owned Treatment Works (POTW) Influent Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) Study and National Sewage Sludge Survey (NSSS) (EPA ICR Number 2799.01, OMB Control Number 2040-NEW) to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act. This is a request for approval of a new collection. Public comments were previously requested via the Federal Register on March 26, 2024 during a 60-day comment period. This notice allows for an additional 30 days for public comments.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA or Agency) is announcing the availability of interim guidance to expand the availability of virucidal claims for antimicrobial pesticides and provide a framework for registrants who seek to make such claims. This interim guidance reiterates recommended test methods and guidance for the addition of virucidal claims to products that meet the criteria for hard surface disinfection claims and the addition of virucidal claims to products that meet the criteria for food/non-food contact sanitizer claims consistent with current test guidelines. This guidance specifically covers the addition of a virucidal claim to a product that has met the criteria for a bactericidal disinfectant and/or sanitizer. Pursuant to this guidance, the Agency intends to grant the addition of virucidal claims associated with sanitizer claims for a time-limited period of a maximum of ten years. Prior to the end of the ten-year period, the Agency will review the record and may terminate the policy, make suggestions for changes to the policy, as necessary, or decide to make the policy permanent. The methods and performance standards applicable to this expanded availability of virucidal claims are the same test methods and performance standards that are currently used to support existing virucidal claims and thus there are no expectations of a reduction of product performance against viruses.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA or Agency) is announcing the availability of the final framework for expanding interagency collaboration to improve the communication and knowledge base within the federal family to fully consider potential adverse impact of pesticides on efficacy of human and animal drugs. In particular, the use of antifungal and antibacterial pesticides that can potentially lead to resistance in human and animal pathogens and may compromise the effectiveness of medically important antibacterial and antifungal drugs.

The Environmental Protection Agency (the EPA or the Agency) seeks public comment on its pending approval of a request for a "Small-scale Road Pilot Project on Private Land in Florida" submitted by Mosaic Fertilizer, LLC in March 2022, and updated by the "Revised Request for Approval of Use of Phosphogypsum in Small-scale Pilot Project", submitted in August 2023. The Agency's review found that Mosaic's request is complete per the requirements of EPA's National Emissions Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants under the Clean Air Act, and that the potential radiological risks from conducting the pilot project meet the regulatory requirement that the project is at least as protective of public health as maintaining the phosphogypsum in a stack. On October 9, 2024 the EPA issued a pending approval of the request subject to certain conditions. The EPA is soliciting public comments on the pending approval.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is promulgating a regulation under the Vessel Incidental Discharge Act that establishes Federal standards of performance for marine pollution control devices for discharges incidental to the normal operation of primarily non- Armed Forces and non-recreational vessels 79 feet in length and above into the waters of the United States or the waters of the contiguous zone. The Federal standards of performance were developed in coordination with the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) and in consultation with interested Governors. The final standards, once made final, effective, and enforceable through corresponding USCG regulations addressing implementation, compliance, and enforcement, will control the discharge of pollutants from vessels described above and repeal certain existing Federal, State, and local vessel discharge requirements, thus streamlining regulation of such vessel incidental discharges. EPA is also promulgating procedures states must follow if they choose to petition EPA to require the use of an emergency best management practice to address aquatic nuisance species (ANS) or water quality concerns ("emergency order"), to review any standard of performance, regulation, or policy, to request additional requirements with respect to discharges in the Great Lakes, or to apply to EPA to prohibit one or more types of vessel discharges regulated by this rule into specified waters to provide greater environmental protection.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to add 16 individually listed per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and 15 PFAS categories to the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) list of toxic chemicals subject to reporting under the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) and the Pollution Prevention Act (PPA) to comply with the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020 (NDAA). EPA also addresses how PFAS categories should be treated. Separately, EPA discusses what events may trigger the automatic addition of a PFAS to the TRI pursuant to the NDAA. This discussion does not propose to list chemicals to TRI pursuant to the NDAA, but rather describes what EPA documents and activities involving PFAS would trigger an automatic addition under the NDAA.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to redesignate the Alton Township nonattainment area in Madison County, Illinois to attainment for the 2010 sulfur dioxide (SO2) National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS). EPA is also proposing to approve Illinois' maintenance plan for the area. Illinois submitted the request for approval on October 2, 2023. Additionally, EPA is proposing to determine the Alton Township area attained the 2010 SO2 NAAQS by the September 12, 2021, attainment date, fulfilling EPA's obligation under the Clean Air Act (CAA) to determine whether the area attained the relevant NAAQS standard within six months of the attainment date.

As part of the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) commitment to safeguard the environment from per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), the agency is announcing the availability of national "Final Recommended Freshwater Aquatic Life Ambient Water Quality Criteria and Acute Saltwater Aquatic Life Benchmarks for Perfluorooctanoic Acid (PFOA)" and "Final Recommended Freshwater Aquatic Life Ambient Water Quality Criteria and Acute Saltwater Aquatic Life Benchmarks for Perfluorooctane Sulfonate (PFOS)," pursuant to the Clean Water Act (CWA). The EPA is also announcing the availability of Acute Freshwater Aquatic Life Benchmarks for eight data-limited perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS): perfluorobutanoic acid (PFBA), perfluorohexanoic acid (PFHxA), perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA), perfluorodecanoic acid (PFDA), perfluorobutanesulfonic acid (PFBS), perfluorohexanesulfonic acid (PFHxS), 2H-perfluoro-2-decenoic acid (8:2 FTUCA), and 2H,2H,3H,3H-pefluorodecanoic acid (7:3 FTCA). These final CWA recommended criteria and benchmarks provide information that States and Tribes may consider when adopting water quality standards. Consistent with Clean Water Act sections 304(a)(1) and (a)(2), the EPA expects to update these recommended criteria and benchmark values from time to time as new information becomes available. This announcement is in accordance with Clean Water Act section 304(a)(3), which directs the EPA to publish information developed under sections 304(a)(1) and (a)(2) in the Federal Register and make it available to States, Tribes, and the public.

This regulation establishes a tolerance for residues of flazasulfuron in or on Avocado. ISK Biosciences Corporation requested this tolerance under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA).

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is approving under the Clean Air Act (CAA), a State Implementation Plan (SIP) revision to the sulfur dioxide (SO2) regulations under chapter 3745-18 of the Ohio Administrative Code (OAC). Ohio submitted the request to EPA on June 8, 2023. The revision removes SO2 emissions limitations for fuel burning equipment at the Greif Packaging, LLC facility located at 9420 Warmington Rd. SW in Massillon, Ohio (Greif facility). The units that were subject to these limits have been permanently shut down. EPA proposed to approve this action on July 17, 2024, and received no adverse comments.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) invites nominations of scientific experts to be considered for appointment to the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC). Appointments will be made by the Administrator.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA or Agency) is finalizing revisions to the application exclusion zone (AEZ) requirements in the Agricultural Worker Protection Standard (WPS). EPA has determined that several aspects of the AEZ provisions, such as those regarding the applicability of the AEZ and distance determination criteria, should be revised to reinstate previous requirements that better protect public health and limit exposure for those who may be near ongoing pesticide applications. To restore these protections, EPA is finalizing the AEZ rule proposed on March 13, 2023, as proposed without change.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is approving state implementation plan (SIP) revisions submitted by the District of Columbia (the District), State of Maryland (MD), and Commonwealth of Virginia (VA). The revisions update the motor vehicle emissions budgets (MVEBs) and the onroad and nonroad (except for marine, airport, and railroad) mobile emissions for volatile organic compounds (VOC) and nitrogen oxides (NOX) for the years 2025 and 2030. EPA is approving the updated MVEBs and updates to the applicable onroad and nonroad mobile emissions for VOC and NOX for the years 2025 and 2030. EPA is also approving the allocation of a portion of the safety margins for VOC and NOX in the ozone maintenance plan to the 2025 and 2030 MVEBs. The MVEBs will be available for transportation conformity purposes, in accordance with the requirements of the Clean Air Act (CAA).