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🌊Oil and Gas Leasing Withdrawal in the Northern Bering Sea

🏭EPA Notice on Chemical Risk Evaluation and Public Comment Requested

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has submitted an information collection request (ICR), TSCA Existing Chemical Risk Evaluation and Management; Generic ICR for Interview and Focus Groups, (EPA ICR Number 2584.03 and OMB Control Number 2070-0219) to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act. This is a proposed extension of the ICR, which is currently approved through February 28, 2025. Public comments were previously requested via the Federal Register on May 15, 2024. This notice allows for an additional 30 days for public comments.

💧EPA Approves Alternative Test Methods for Drinking Water Compliance

This action announces the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) approval of alternative testing methods for use in measuring the levels of contaminants in drinking water to determine compliance with national primary drinking water regulations. The Safe Drinking Water Act authorizes EPA to approve the use of alternative testing methods through publication in the Federal Register. EPA is using this streamlined authority to make two additional methods available for analyzing drinking water samples. This expedited approach provides public water systems, laboratories, and primacy agencies with more timely access to new measurement techniques and greater flexibility in the selection of analytical methods, thereby reducing monitoring costs while maintaining public health protection.

🌍EPA Title V Permit Issued to Deseret Generation in Utah

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a final permit decision under title V of the Clean Air Act (CAA) to Deseret Bonanza and Transmission Co-operative (Deseret) for the operation of Deseret's Uintah County, Utah, Bonanza Power Plant (Bonanza).

🚰EPA Announces Preliminary Regulatory Determinations for Water Contaminants

The Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA), as amended in 1996, requires that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) determine whether to regulate at least five unregulated contaminants every five years. The decision to regulate or not to regulate a contaminant is known as a regulatory determination. In most cases, the contaminants chosen for regulatory determination are selected from the most recent Contaminant Candidate List (CCL), which the SDWA requires the EPA to publish every five years. This document presents the preliminary regulatory determinations and supporting rationale for contaminants listed on the EPA's fifth CCL (CCL 5). Since the fourth round of regulatory determinations was published in March 2021, the EPA has made determinations to regulate per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), including individual determinations for three PFAS: perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA), perfluorohexanesulfonic acid (PFHxS), hexafluoropropylene oxide dimer acid and its ammonium salt (HFPO-DA, also known as GenX or GenX chemicals); and mixtures including two or more of these three PFAS and perfluorobutanesulfonic acid (PFBS). In April 2024, the agency issued a final National Primary Drinking Water Regulation that includes these four PFAS as well as perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS). In this Federal Register Notice (FRN), the EPA is making preliminary determinations not to regulate nine additional contaminants from CCL 5: 2-aminotoluene, cylindrospermopsin, ethoprop, microcystins, molybdenum, permethrin, profenofos, tebuconazole and tribufos. The EPA requests public comment on these preliminary determinations and other aspects of this FRN. The EPA also presents updates on additional contaminants from CCL 5, as well as on some of those that have been considered in previous rounds of regulatory determinations and for which the EPA has not yet made a regulatory determination. The agency is also presenting and requesting comment on the process and analyses used for this round of regulatory determinations (i.e., RD 5), the supporting information, and the rationale used to make these preliminary decisions.

🚨Draft Risk Assessment of PFOA and PFOS in Sewage Sludge Released

As part of the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) commitment to safeguarding the environment from per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), the agency is announcing the availability of the "Draft Sewage Sludge Risk Assessment for Perfluorooctanoic Acid (PFOA) and Perfluorooctane Sulfonic Acid (PFOS)" for a 60-day public comment period. This draft risk assessment reflects the agency's latest scientific understanding of the potential risks to human health and the environment posed by the presence of PFOA and PFOS in sewage sludge that is land applied as a soil conditioner or fertilizer (on agricultural, forested, and other lands), surface disposed, or incinerated. The draft risk assessment focuses on those living on or near impacted sites or those that rely primarily on their products (e.g., food crops, animal products, drinking water); the draft risk assessment does not model risks for the general public. This draft risk assessment underwent independent external peer review, and the EPA revised the document accordingly. Once finalized, the risk assessment will provide information on risk from use or disposal of sewage sludge and will inform the EPA's potential future regulatory actions under the Clean Water Act (CWA).

🌊Proposed Modification to Clean Water Act Compliance Notice

🌱EPA Solicits Comments on Clothianidin Exemption for Citrus Growers

EPA has received a specific exemption request from the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS) to use the pesticide clothianidin (CAS No. 210-880-92-5) to treat up to 75,000 acres of immature (3-5 years old) citrus trees to control the transmission of Huanglongbing (HLB) disease vectored by the Asian Citrus Psyllid. The applicant proposes a use that has been requested in 5 or more previous years and for which a complete application for registration or tolerance petition has not been submitted to the Agency. Therefore, EPA is soliciting public comment before making the decision whether or not to grant the exemption.

⚖️EPA Interim Decision on Ethylene Oxide

This notice announces the availability of EPA's interim registration review decision for ethylene oxide (EtO).

🌱EPA Notice

This notice announces the availability of the EPA's work plans and registration review case dockets for the chemical DEET. EPA is opening a 60-day public comment period for this work plan and case docket.