01-3984. RIN 2025-AA05

AGENCY:

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION:

Final rule; delay of effective date.

SUMMARY:

In accordance with the memorandum of January 20, 2001, from the Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff, entitled “Regulatory Review Plan,” published in the Federal Register on January 24, 2001 (66 FR 7701), this action temporarily delays for 60 days the effective date of the rule entitled Lead and Lead Compounds; Lowering of Reporting Thresholds; Community Right-to-Know Toxic Chemical Release Reporting, published in the Federal Register on January 17, 2001 (66 FR 4500). That rule concerns the lowering of the reporting thresholds for lead and lead compounds which are subject to reporting under section 313 of the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act of 1986 (EPCRA) and section 6607 of the Pollution Prevention Act of 1990 (PPA). The reporting thresholds are being lowered to 100 pounds. The lower reporting thresholds apply to lead and all lead compounds except for lead contained in stainless steel, brass, and bronze alloys. The first reports at the lower thresholds are due on or before July 1, 2002, for the 2001 calendar year.

DATES:

The effective date of the Lead and Lead Compounds; Lowering of Reporting Thresholds; Community Right-to-Know Toxic Chemical Release Reporting, amending 40 CFR part 372 published in the Federal Register on January 17, 2001, at 66 FR 4500, is delayed for 60 days, from February 16, 2001 to a new effective date of April 17, 2001.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Daniel R. Bushman, Petitions Coordinator, [phone], e-mail: [e-mail], for specific information on this document, or for more information on EPCRA section 313, the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Hotline, Environmental Protection Agency, Mail Code 5101, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460, Toll free: 1-800-535-0202, in Virginia and Alaska: [phone] or Toll free TDD: 1-800-553-7672. Information concerning this notice is also available on EPA's Web site at http://www.epa.gov/​tri.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

To the extent that 5 U.S.C. 553 applies to this action, it is exempt from notice and comment because it constitutes a rule of procedure under 5 U.S.C. 553(b)(A). Alternatively, the Agency's implementation of this action without opportunity for public comment, effective immediately upon publication today in the Federal Register, is based on the good cause exceptions in 5 U.S.C. 553(b)(B) and 553(d)(3). Seeking public comment is impracticable, unnecessary and contrary to the public interest. The temporary 60-day delay in effective date is necessary to give Agency officials the opportunity for further review and consideration of new regulations, consistent with the Assistant to the President's memorandum of January 20, 2001. Given the imminence of the effective date, seeking prior public comment on this temporary delay would have been impractical, as well as contrary to the public interest in the orderly promulgation and implementation of regulations. The imminence of the effective date is also good cause for making this rule immediately effective upon publication.

Dated; February 12, 2001.

Christine Todd Whitman,

Administrator.