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Significant New Uses of Chemical Substances; Updates to the Hazard Communication Program and Regulatory Framework; Minor Amendments to Reporting Requirements for Premanufacture Notices (16 pages, in English)

EPA is proposing changes to the existing regulations governing significant new uses of chemical substances under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) to align these regulations with revisions to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's (OSHA) Hazard Communications Standard (HCS), which are proposed to be cross referenced, and with changes to the OSHA Respiratory Protection Standard and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) respirator certification requirements pertaining to respiratory protection of workers from exposure to chemicals.

Hazardous Materials: Oil Spill Response Plans and Information Sharing for High-Hazard Flammable Trains (63 pages, in English)

PHMSA, in consultation with the Federal Railroad Administration, is issuing this NPRM to propose revisions to regulations that would expand the applicability of comprehensive oil spill response plans (OSRPs) based on thresholds of liquid petroleum oil that apply to an entire train consist.

National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants : Ferroalloys Production

On 30 June 2015, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published the residual risk and technology review (RTR) final rule, establishing national emission standards for hazardous air pollutants (NESHAP) for the Ferroalloys Production source category.

National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutant Emissions : Petroleum Refinery Sector Amendments (14 pages, in English)

This action amends the National Emissions Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) for Petroleum Refineries in three respects. First, this action adjusts the compliance date for regulatory requirements that apply at maintenance vents during periods of startup, shutdown, maintenance or inspection for sources constructed or reconstructed on or before 30 June 2014. Second, this action amends the compliance dates for the regulatory requirements that apply during startup, shutdown, or hot standby for fluid catalytic cracking units (FCCU) and startup and shutdown for sulfur recovery units (SRU) constructed or reconstructed on or before 30 June 2014. Finally, this action finalizes technical corrections and clarifications to the NESHAP and the New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) for Petroleum Refineries. These amendments are being finalized in response to new information submitted after these regulatory requirements were promulgated as part of the residual risk and technology review (RTR) rulemaking, which was published on 1 December 2015. This action will have an insignificant effect on emissions reductions and costs.

National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants for the Portland Cement Manufacturing Industry (2 pages, in English)

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to amend the National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants for the Portland Cement Manufacturing Industry. In the "Rules and Regulations" section of this Federal Register, we are publishing a direct final rule, without a prior proposed rule, that corrects an inadvertent error and temporarily revises the testing and monitoring requirements for hydrochloric acid (HCl) due to the current unavailability of a calibration gas used for quality assurance purposes. If we receive no adverse comment, we will not take further action on this proposed rule.

Approval and Promulgation of Air Quality Implementation Plans; Maryland; Control of Volatile Organic Compounds Emissions from Fiberglass Boat Manufacturing Materials (1 page, in English)

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposes to approve the state implementation plan (SIP) revision submitted by the State of Maryland for the purpose of establishing Maryland's adoption of the requirements in EPA's control technique guidelines (CTG) for fiberglass boat manufacturing materials. In the "Rules and Regulations" section of this Federal Register, EPA is approving the State's SIP submittal as a direct final rule without prior proposal because the Agency views this as a noncontroversial submittal and anticipates no adverse comments.

Bus Testing: Establishment of Performance Standards, a Bus Model Scoring System, a Pass/Fail Standard and Other Program Updates (28 pages, in English)

The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) is issuing a new pass/fail standard and new aggregated scoring system for buses and modified vans (hereafter referred to as "bus" or "buses") that are subject to FTA's bus testing program, as mandated by Section 20014 of the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21) . The pass/fail standard and scoring system address the following categories as required by MAP-21: Structural integrity, safety, maintainability, reliability, fuel economy, emissions , noise, and performance. Recipients of FTA grants are prohibited from using FTA financial assistance to procure new buses that have not met the minimum performance standards established by today's final rule. Finally, FTA is requiring bus manufacturers to provide country-of-origin information for test unit bus components, in lieu of applying Buy America U.S. content requirements to all buses submitted for testing.

Energy Conservation Program: Energy Conservation Standards for Uninterruptible Power Supplies (52 pages, in English)

The Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 1975 (EPCA), as amended, prescribes energy conservation standards for various consumer products and certain commercial and industrial equipment, including battery chargers. In this notice, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) proposes new energy conservation standards for uninterruptible power supplies, a class of battery chargers, and also announces a public meeting to receive comment on these proposed standards and associated analyses and results.

Significant New Use Rule on Certain Chemical Substances (6 pages, in English)

EPA is proposing significant new use rules (SNURs) under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) for two chemical substances which were the subject of premanufacture notices (PMNs) .

This action would require persons who intend to manufacture (defined by statute to include import) or process any of the chemical substances for an activity that is designated as a significant new use by this proposed rule to notify EPA at least 90 days before commencing that activity. The required notification initiates EPA's evaluation of the intended use within the applicable review period. Manufacture and processing for the significant new use is unable to commence until EPA has conducted a review of the notice, made an appropriate determination on the notice, and taken such actions as are required in association with that determination.

Hazardous Materials: Harmonization With International Standards (RRR) (91 pages, in English)

The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) proposes to amend the Hazardous Materials Regulations (HMR) to maintain consistency with international regulations and standards by incorporating various amendments, including changes to proper shipping names, hazard classes, packing groups, special provisions, packaging authorizations, air transport quantity limitations, and vessel stowage requirements.