E7-13206. Withdrawal of Federal Marine Aquatic Life Water Quality Criteria for Toxic Pollutants Applicable to Washington State

AGENCY:

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION:

Proposed rule.

SUMMARY:

EPA is proposing to amend the Federal regulations to withdraw its 1992 federally promulgated marine copper and cyanide chronic aquatic life water quality criteria for Washington State, thereby enabling Washington to implement its current EPA-approved chronic numeric criteria for copper and cyanide that cover all marine waters of the State.

In 1992, EPA promulgated Federal regulations establishing water quality criteria for priority toxic pollutants for 12 States, including Washington, and two Territories that had not fully complied with the Clean Water Act (CWA). These regulations are known as the “National Toxics Rule” or “NTR”. On November 18, 1997, Washington adopted revised chronic marine aquatic life criteria for copper and cyanide, the only two marine aquatic life priority toxic pollutants in the NTR applicable to Washington. These revisions included a chronic marine aquatic life water quality criterion for copper for all marine waters and a chronic site-specific cyanide criterion for the Puget Sound. EPA approved these criteria on February 6, 1998. On August 1, 2003, Washington adopted revisions to its water quality standards, including a chronic marine criterion for cyanide for all marine waters except the Puget Sound. EPA approved this criterion on May 23, 2007. Since Washington now has marine copper and cyanide chronic aquatic life criteria effective under the CWA that EPA has approved as protective of Washington's designated uses, EPA is proposing to amend the NTR to withdraw the federally promulgated criteria.

DATES:

Written comments must be received by August 8, 2007.

ADDRESSES:

Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OW-2007-0467, by one of the following methods:

• www.regulations.gov: Follow the on-line instructions for submitting comments.
• E-mail: [e-mail].
• Mail to either: Water Docket, USEPA, Mailcode: 2822T, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington, DC, 20460 or Docket Manager, Washington Marine Aquatic Life NTR Removal, U.S. EPA, Region 10, 1200 Sixth Avenue, Seattle, WA 98101, Attention Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OW-2007-0467.
• Hand Delivery: EPA Docket Center, EPA West Room 3334, 1301 Constitution Ave., NW., Washington, DC, 20004 or Becky Lindgren, Washington Marine Aquatic Life NTR Removal, U.S. EPA, Region 10, OWW-131, 1200 Sixth Avenue, Seattle, WA 98101, Attention Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OW-2007-0467. Such deliveries are only accepted during the Docket's normal hours of operation, and special arrangements should be made for deliveries of boxed information.

Instructions: Direct your comments to Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OW-2007-0467. EPA's policy is that all comments received will be included in the public docket without change and may be made available online at www.regulations.gov, including any personal information provided, unless the comment includes information claimed to be Confidential Business Information (CBI) or other information whose disclosure is restricted by statute. Do not submit information that you consider to be CBI or otherwise protected through www.regulations.gov or e-mail. The www.regulations.gov website is an “anonymous access” system, which means EPA will not know your identity or contact information unless you provide it in the body of your comment. If you send an e-mail comment directly to EPA without going through www.regulations.gov your e-mail address will be automatically captured and included as part of the comment that is placed in the public docket and made available on the Internet. If you submit an electronic comment, EPA recommends that you include your name and other contact information in the body of your comment and with any disk or CD-ROM you submit. If EPA cannot read your comment due to technical difficulties and cannot contact you for clarification, EPA may not be able to consider your comment. Electronic files should avoid the use of special characters, any form of encryption, and be free of any defects or viruses. For additional information about EPA's public docket visit the EPA Docket Center homepage at http://www.epa.gov/​epahome/​dockets.htm.

Docket: All documents in the docket are listed in the www.regulations.gov index. Although listed in the index, some information is not publicly available, e.g., CBI or other information whose disclosure is restricted by statute. Certain other material, such as copyrighted material, will be publicly available only in hard copy. Publicly available docket materials are available either electronically in www.regulations.gov or in hard copy at two Docket Facilities. The OW Docket Center is open from 8:30 a.m. until 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding legal holidays. The Docket telephone number is [phone] and the Docket address is OW Docket, EPA West, Room 3334, 1301 Constitution Ave., NW., Washington, DC, 20004. The Public Reading Room is open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding legal holidays. The telephone number for the Public Reading Room is [phone]. Publicly available docket materials are also available in hard copy at the U.S. EPA Region 10 address. Docket materials can be accessed from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding legal holidays. The telephone number is [phone].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Becky Lindgren, U.S. EPA, Region 10, 1200 Sixth Avenue, Seattle, WA 98101 (telephone: [phone] or e-mail: [e-mail]) or Claudia Fabiano, U.S. EPA Headquarters, Office of Science and Technology, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Mail Code 4305T, Washington, DC 20460 (telephone: [phone] or e-mail: fabiano.claudia#epa.gov).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

This action concern's EPA's withdrawal of Federal marine copper and cyanide chronic aquatic life water quality criteria applicable to Washington State from 40 CFR 131.36 (the National Toxics Rule) (57 FR 60848). For further information, including the rationale, regulatory text, and various statutes and executive orders that require findings for rulemakings, please see the information provided in the direct final rule titled, “Withdrawal of Federal Marine Aquatic Life Water Quality Criteria for Toxic Pollutants Applicable to Washington” located in the “Rules and Regulations” section of this Federal Register Publication.

List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 131

• Environmental protection
• Indians-lands
• Intergovernmental relations
• Reporting and Recordkeeping requirements
• Water pollution control

Dated: July 2, 2007.

Stephen L. Johnson,

Administrator.