[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 72 (Tuesday, April 14, 2020)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Page 20625]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-07472]



[[Page 20625]]

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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 257

[EPA-HQ-OLEM-2019-0361; FRL-10007-70-OLEM]


Hazardous and Solid Waste Management System: Disposal of Coal 
Combustion Residuals From Electric Utilities; Federal CCR Permit 
Program; Extension of Comment Period

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of proposed rulemaking; extension of comment period.

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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA or the Agency) is 
extending the comment period on EPA's proposal to establish a federal 
Coal Combustion Residuals (CCR) permit program. The notice announcing 
this proposal was published on February 20, 2020, and the public 
comment period was scheduled to end on April 20, 2020. However, a 
number of public interest groups have requested additional time to 
develop and submit comments on the proposal. In response to the request 
for additional time, EPA is extending the comment period through May 
20, 2020.

DATES: Comments must be received on or before May 20, 2020.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-
OLEM-2019-0361; Title: Hazardous and Solid Waste Management System: 
Disposal of Coal Combustion Residuals from Electric Utilities; Federal 
CCR Permit Program, at http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the online 
instructions for submitting comments. Once submitted, comments cannot 
be edited or removed from Regulations.gov. The EPA may publish any 
comment received to its public docket. Do not submit electronically any 
information you consider to be Confidential Business Information (CBI) 
or other information whose disclosure is restricted by statute 
Multimedia submissions (audio, video, etc.) must be accompanied by a 
written comment. The written comment is considered the official comment 
and should include discussion of all points you wish to make. EPA will 
generally not consider comments or comment contents located outside of 
the primary submission (i.e., on the web, cloud or other file sharing 
system). For additional submission methods, the full EPA public comment 
policy, information about CBI or multimedia submissions, and general 
guidance on making effective comments, please visit http://www.epa.gov/dockets/commenting-epa-dockets.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Stacey Yonce, Materials Recovery and 
Waste Management Division, Office of Resource Conservation and 
Recovery, Mail Code 5304P, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 
Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20460; telephone number: (703) 
308-8476; email address: yonce.stacey@epa.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In December 2016, Congress passed, and the 
President signed the Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation 
(WIIN) Act, amending section 4005 of the Resource Conservation and 
Recovery Act (RCRA). The WIIN Act, among other things, requires the 
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA or the Agency) to implement a 
federal coal combustion residuals (CCR) permit program in Indian 
country and, subject to the availability of appropriations specifically 
provided to carry out a program, to implement a federal CCR permit 
program in nonparticipating states. The Fiscal Year 2018 and 2019 
Omnibus Appropriations Acts provided appropriations to the EPA to 
develop and implement a federal permit program for the regulation of 
CCR in nonparticipating states.
    The Agency is proposing to establish a federal CCR permit program 
in accordance with the requirements of the WIIN Act. The EPA is 
proposing to establish requirements and procedures to issue federal 
permits for disposal and other solid waste management of CCR in 40 CFR 
part 257 subpart E. The proposed permit requirements would include 
definitions, compliance deadlines, application requirements, content 
and duration, and modification requirements and procedures.
    The EPA is also proposing to rely on the general administrative 
procedures applicable to several EPA permit programs. These procedures, 
which are found in 40 CFR parts 22 and 124, apply to all other RCRA 
permits, as well as to certain permits issued under the Clean Water Act 
(CWA), the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA), and the Clean Air Act (CAA). 
The EPA is proposing to rely on these general procedures without 
substantive modification and is proposing only to modify provisions in 
parts 22 and 124 to the extent necessary to ensure they apply to the 
federal CCR permit program.
    The notice proposing to establish a federal CCR permit program was 
published on February 20, 2020, and the comment period was scheduled to 
end on April 20, 2020. See 85 FR 9940. Since publication of the notice, 
a number of stakeholders have requested additional time to review the 
proposal and to develop and submit comments. After considering this 
request for additional time, EPA has decided to extend the comment 
period until May 20, 2020.

    Dated: April 3, 2020.
Peter Wright,
Assistant Administrator, Office of Land and Emergency Management.
[FR Doc. 2020-07472 Filed 4-13-20; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6560-50-P


