Privacy & Security Notice

	Hanford Environmental Report
Dedicated to Environmental Compliance

Volume 24, Number 6 - June 14, 2002

From Washington, D.C.:

EPA PUBLISHES NOTICE ANNOUNCING THE AVAILABILITY OF A NEW ELECTRONIC PUBLIC DOCKET AND COMMENT SYSTEM

On May 31, 2002, EPA published a notice (67 FR 38102) in the Federal Register announcing the availability of a new electronic public docket and comment system. This system is designed to greatly expand access to EPA's public dockets and facilitate submission of public comments to EPA. The new system, called EPA Dockets, is an online system that provides electronic access to EPA's public dockets. The EPA Dockets system is being phased-in across EPA starting with the Headquarters offices - Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response, Office of Air and Radiation, Office of Water, and Office of Prevention, Pesticides, and Toxic Substances. Participation in the system will be expanded in the Fall of 2002 to other EPA Headquarters offices such as the Office of Environmental Information and Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. Since EPA is phasing-in the implementation of the EPA Dockets, not all Federal Register dockets that are published after the date of this notice will be included in the system, rather they will be included as the various offices implement the system into their organizations.

EPA has taken this action as a result of President Bush's Management Agenda whose stated goal is to make it easy for citizens to obtain services and interact with the Federal government; improve government efficiency and effectiveness; and improve government's response to the public. The action also is a requirement of the 1998 Government Paperwork Elimination Act. The EPA Dockets will be an anonymous access system where EPA will not know the identity, email address, or other contact information of the person submitting comments unless they appear in the body of the comment. Published Federal Register notices from EPA will now indicate if the docket is available on the Internet and provide instructions on how to view materials and submit comments. The EPA Dockets can be found on the Internet at http://www.epa.gov/edocket. For more information, email or call Marsha_A_Beery@rl.gov at (360) 709-0664 with Fluor Hanford's Olympia Office.

From Olympia:

ECOLOGY PUBLISHES PROPOSED RULE AMENDING THE AIR OPERATING PERMIT REGULATION

On May 15, 2002, Ecology published a proposed rule (02-10-031) in the Washington State Register amending Chapter 173-401, the Air Operating Permit (AOP) Regulation. The purpose of the proposed rule is to be consistent with Federal Regulations and to make the regulation more clear. The proposed changes to the rule include:

• Amending the treatment of insignificant air emission units at AOP sources to comply with EPA's Notice of Deficiency issued to Ecology on December 14, 2001, for the AOP program;
• Updating the definition of "major source" to reflect certain changes made in federal rules;
• Adding "continuous compliance" and "intermittent compliance" definitions;
• Clarifying requirements for a complete application;
• Clarifying reporting requirements for deviations from permitting standards; and
• Making the time-frames for renewal applications in the regulation consistent.

Ecology will hold a hearing on the proposed rule on June 14, 2002, in the Ecology Headquarters Office in Lacey at 2:00 p.m. Comments on the proposed rule must be received by Ecology on or before June 21, 2002. For more information, email or call Kirk_A_FDH_Peterson@rl.gov at (509) 372-2364.

ECOLOGY PUBLISHES EXPEDITED RULEMAKING ON NATIONAL EMISSION STANDARDS FOR HAZARDOUS AIR POLLUTANTS

On May 15, 2002, Ecology published an expedited rulemaking to amend Chapter 173-400 WAC to adopt by reference the Federal National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAPS) in 40 CFR, Part 61 and 40 CFR, Part 63 promulgated on July 1, 2000, through May 15, 2002. In particular, the rule adopts Federal Maximum Achievable Control Technology (MACT) procedural rules promulgated on April 5, 2002, and MACT standards amended or promulgated through May 15, 2002. Ecology is taking this action so that companies will not have to comply with two conflicting regulations.

On April 5, 2002, EPA published a final rule (67 FR 16581) in the Federal Register amending the NESHAPS and other regulatory requirements under Section 112 of the Clean Air Act (CAA). In the final rule, EPA promulgated amendments that establish equivalent emission limitations by permit under section 112(j) of the CAA. This section states that a Part 1 Title V application must be submitted to the appropriate permitting authority for those sources for which EPA has not promulgated standards on or before the deadline of May 15, 2002; and that Part 2 of the application must be submitted to EPA by May 15, 2004. Ecology's action adopts the NESHAPS by reference so that the State regulation will be equivalent to the Federal rule. If there are objections to the use of the expedited rule making process, the objection must be submitted in writing to Ecology on or before July 1, 2002. For more information, email or call Kirk_A_FDH_Peterson@rl.gov at (509) 372-2364.

Briefly:

• Ecology recently signed an agreement with EPA that gives full delegation of EPA's Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) permitting regulations to Ecology. EPA took this action after reviewing Ecology's PSD rules, Chapter 173-400-141 WAC, and determining that the Agency had adequate legal authority to implement and enforce the State PSD permitting program. Ecology has had a partial delegation of the PSD program since 1982 for all sources and all pollutants except nitrogen oxide. A copy of the agreement can be found on the Internet at http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/air/airhome.html.

• Ecology recently released guidance on the 10-year MACT Standards. The guidance includes steps Ecology is recommending a facility take in order to comply with section 112(j) of the CAA. The guidance can be found on the Internet at http://www.ecy.wa.gov/air.

• The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit recently vacated EPA guidance entitled, "Polychlorinated Biphenyl (PCB) Risk Assessment Review Guidance," which was to be used by companies, agencies and other parties for cleaning up PCB-contaminated wastes. The Court was ruling on a petition filed by General Electric (GE) Company that the guidance was a rule that required public review and comment. GE also argued that the toxicity factors approved in the guidance were arbitrary and not developed with the appropriate scientific analysis.

• On May 6, 2002, EPA released guidance entitled, "Risk Assessment Guidance for Superfund Volume 3 Part A: Process for Conducting Probabilistic Risk Assessment (RAGS 3A)," which provides technical guidance on the application of probabilistic methods to human health and ecological risk assessment. The guidance focuses on the Monte Carlo analysis as a method of quantifying variability and uncertainty in risk. The guidance can be found on the Internet at http://www.epa.gov/superfund/programs/risk/rags3adt/index.htm.

• On May 9, 2002, EPA published an updated criteria document (67 FR 31303) entitled, "Air Quality Criteria for Particulate Matter (PM) (Third External Review Draft)," in the Federal Register, which EPA will use in revising the air quality standards for PM. This draft document updates a previous version released in April 2001. EPA is soliciting public review and comment on the draft. The guidance can be found on the Internet at http://cfpub.epa.gov/ncea/cfm/partmatt.cfm?ActType=default. Comments must be received by EPA on or before July 10, 2002.

• Ecology recently announced that the draft revision to Program Policy 1-11, Assessment of Water Quality for the Section 303(d) List was available for public review and comment. Section 303(d) of the Federal Clean Water Act (CWA) requires the State to periodically prepare a list of all surface waters in the state that are impaired by pollutants. The policy describes how the standards are applied, how requirements for the data are used, and how to prioritize total maximum daily loads. This guidance has been updated from previous guidance issued in 1998 to reflect changes made by EPA. Ecology plans to hold workshops in various cities throughout Washington including Yakima on June 6, 2002 at Ecology's Central Regional Office at 2:00 p.m. and in Walla Walla on June 13, 2002 at the Walla Walla Community College Main Building at 2:00 p.m. Comments on the guidance must be received by Ecology on or before July 8, 2002.

Notice:

• Ecology will be holding two interactive workshops on June 19 and 26, 2002, on pollution prevention planning. The workshops will provide in-depth pollution prevention illustrations and their relationship to the new electronic pollution prevention planning documents. Beginning this year, Pollution Prevention Planners will have the option to submit Plans and Annual Progress Reports electronically. Also, Ecology has a new guidance manual in both electronic and hardcopy formats, that reduces the number of pages compared to the previous worksheet format. It combines and integrates the pollution prevention planning and annual progress report manuals into one document. Registration for the workshops can be found on the Internet at http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/hwtr/P2/P2PlanningWrkshp.html.

• The Association of Washington Business and the Northwest Environmental Business Council are sponsoring the 2002 Environmental Conference on June 6-7, 2002, at the Westcoast Grand Hotel in Seattle. The conference will provide an in-depth discussion of environmental policy, technical and regulatory issues with an underlying theme focused on Washington's competitiveness in the national and global marketplace. The cost is $275 for the 2-day conference. To register on-line, go to http://www.ecwashington.org.