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May 2009
News and Opportunities for Environmental Consultants and Engineers
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Defining Solid Waste
Public meeting could decide fate of recycling plans
The EPA on Wednesday, May 27, announced a public meeting regarding the agency's recent regulation on the definition of solid waste under Subtitle C of RCRA. The agency is currently reviewing a petition requesting that the agency reconsider and repeal the recently promulgated revisions to the definition of solid waste for hazardous secondary materials being reclaimed, and is soliciting comments and information to assist the agency in evaluating the petition.
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The agency said it does not plan to repeal the rule, but is interested in receiving comments on possible revisions to the rule. The public meeting will be held on June 30, 2009, from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The closing date for advance registration is June 23, 2009. Persons may also submit written or electronic comments by July 14, 2009. The administrative record of the meeting will remain open for submissions that date.
Click here to read more about the original public meeting announcement from May 5, 2009.
Click here to read the rest of this article on PE's website. PE
EPA Warning: File Updated RMPs, or Else
Agency warns facilities to get risk plans submitted in advance of enforcement effort
In late April, the EPA sent out a warning to facilities required to submit updated risk management plans (RMPs), and noted it will soon begin issuing fines against companies that do not. The plans, required under the Clean Air Act, contain information assessing plans in place to prevent and respond to accidental releases of hazardous substances from facilities, and must be updated at least every five years.
EPA regional offices continually identifies facilities that currently have risk management plans in place to see which plans are overdue. Some regions that find facilities that have not updated their plans on time, have offered those businesses a chance to pay a discounted penalty. All regions now can accept these plans online at www.epa.gov/emergencies/rmp.
Click here for more information about the new RMP submission process . PE
NSR Changes Cometh
Three NSR rules currently under review
The EPA last month announced it intends to reconsider portions of three rules under its New Source Review (NSR) permitting program. According to an agency release, the "rules under review determine when and how facilities are required to account for air emissions that are not released through a stack, vent or other confined air stream; keep records on emissions; and account for air emissions associated with fine particle pollution when obtaining a permit."
In its release, the EPA noted it will publish a notice of proposed rulemaking in the Federal Register requesting comment on certain aspects of each of these three rules.
Also in NSR news, the EPA released its final amendments to the Standards of Performance for Nonmetallic Mineral Processing Plants (NMPP)
. These amendments include revisions to the emission limits for NMPP-affected facilities that commenced construction, modification or reconstruction on or after April 22, 2008. These final amendments for NMPP also include additional testing and monitoring requirements for affected facilities that commence construction, modification, or reconstruction on or after April 22, 2008; exemption of affected facilities that process wet material from this final rule; changes to simplify the notification requirements for all affected facilities; and changes to definitions and various clarifications.
The agency did not take final action in this document regarding the amendment to the Standards of Performance for Calciners and Dryers in Mineral Industries, even though the agency discussed doing so in the proposed rule. This final rule became effective on April 28, 2009.
Click here for more information on forthcoming NSR changes. PE |
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EPA Extends Comment Period for SO2
Industry has till June 11 to influence sulfur dioxide rules
The EPA this week announced an extension of the public comment period for the draft document titled Risk and Exposure Assessment to Support the Review of the SO2 Primary National Ambient Air Quality Standards: Second Draft (74 FR 18573). The agency extended the comment period that originally ended on Thursday, May 20, 2009. The extended comment period will close on June 11, 2009
. The agency said in a press release that is extending the comment period to provide stakeholders and the public with adequate time to conduct appropriate analysis and prepare meaningful comments.
Click here to read the notice.
PE
Aggregate Rule Delayed to 2010
The EPA in mid-May issued its final action on a rule that amends and delays the effective date for the rule addressing "aggregation" under the Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) and the nonattainment New Source Review (nonattainment NSR) programs. The amendments were published in the Federal Register
on Jan. 15, 2009, and described when a source must combine nominally separate physical changes, and changes in the method of operation, for the purpose of determining whether they are a single change resulting in a significant emissions increase.
Click here to read the rest of this article on PE's website.
PE
EPA Reschedules Hearing on Cement Plant Rules
The EPA is rescheduling its May 26, 2009 public hearing to solicit comments on a proposal to slash mercury emissions from Portland cement kilns in order to have hearings at additional locations, the agency announced in a press release before Memorial Day.
The agency will hold three hearings, to be scheduled for mid-June, to take public comment on the agency's April 21 proposal to significantly reduce mercury emissions from Portland cement kilns, the fourth-largest source of mercury air emissions in the United States. The proposal would set the nation's first limits on mercury emissions from existing kilns and would strengthen the limits for new kilns, the agency said. The proposed standards also would set emission limits for total hydrocarbons and particulate matter from cement kilns of all sizes, and would reduce hydrochloric acid emissions from kilns that are large emitters.
In response to requests, the EPA noted it is now planning to hold the hearings in the Dallas, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., areas. The agency will announce specific times and locations as soon as the hearing dates are set.
Click here for more information about the meetings. PE
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May State's Rules
Sponsored by Airgas
 California may get its GHG plans another look-see in Washington, D.C., while Kansas gets its CO2 permitting process looked at. And EPDs, DEPs, CEQs and DEQs across the nation are looking at their P's and Q's, not to mention their BMPs and PDES's.
California, Texas, Kansas, Louisiana, Georgia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Maryland are profiled in this month's state regulatory update.
Click here to read the latest State's Rules.
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GAO Tackles Endangered Species Act
In a recent review of the Endangered Species Act, the Government Accountability Office had some suggestions for how the federal government continue to protect endangered species. The GAO recommended that the Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS) "develop a cost-effective method for tracking required monitoring reports systematically and continue to develop existing databases to enable tracking of cumulative take." The Department of the Interior concurred with GAO's findings and recommendations.
Click here to continue reading this article on PE's website. PE
EPA Terminates Performance Track Program
The National Environmental Performance Track Program is terminated effective May 14, 2009, the EPA announced this month.
On March 16, 2009, EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson issued a memorandum halting the Performance Track Program. Jackson's memo was followed by a memorandum from Chuck Kent, director, Office of Policy Economics and Innovation, dated March 25, 2009, which provided more details about the termination, including that the low priority for routine inspections incentive is no longer in effect. The May 15 notice in the Federal Register signifies the program's final deathblow. It also gives public notice that the low priority for routine inspections incentive for Performance Track facilities is also terminated.
Click here to continue reading this article on PE's website. PE
Mountaintop Mining in Interior Crosshairs
Interior Secretary wants to be rid of Bush-era regulation
Calling the directive "legally defective," Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar in April announced a determination by the White House to get rid of the mountaintop coal mining stream buffer zone rule issued during the final weeks of the Bush Administration.
Salazar directed the United States Department of Justice to file a pleading with the U.S. District Court in Washington D.C. requesting that the rule be vacated and remanded to the Department of the Interior for further action.
Click here to continue reading this article on PE's website. PE |
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