[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 49 (Wednesday, March 13, 2019)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 8988-8989]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-04645]
[[Page 8988]]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
40 CFR Part 271
[EPA-R06-RCRA-2017-0324; FRL-9990-04-Region 6]
Oklahoma: Final Authorization of State Hazardous Waste Management
Program Revision
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Final rule.
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SUMMARY: On October 3, 2018, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
published a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) to approve a revision
to the State of Oklahoma hazardous waste program under the Resource
Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) and provided for a thirty-day
public comment period. The public comment period closed on November 2,
2018 and EPA received five comments. Two of the comments were
irrelevant to the proposed rulemaking. EPA received written adverse
comments from three sources not to grant the State of Oklahoma the
authorized program. The EPA has reviewed and analyzed the concerns
raised by the commenters, and now issues this final rule. After
consideration of these concerns, EPA is confirming that the program
revisions to the State of Oklahoma hazardous waste program satisfy all
requirements needed to qualify for final authorization. No further
opportunity for comment will be provided.
DATES: This final authorization is effective March 13, 2019.
ADDRESSES: EPA has established a docket for this action under Docket ID
No. EPA-R06-RCRA-2017-0324. All documents in the docket are listed in
www.regulation.gov index. Although listed in the index, some of the
information is not publicly available. e.g., Confidential Business
Information 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 through
www.regulation.gov or in hard copy. You can view and copy Oklahoma's
application and associated publicly available materials from 8:30 a.m.
to 4:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, at the following locations:
Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality, 707 North Robinson,
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73101-1677, (405) 702-7180 and EPA, Region 6,
1445 Ross Avenue, Suite 1200, Dallas, Texas 75202-2733, phone number
(214) 665-8533.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, CONTACT: Alima Patterson, (214) 665-8533,
[email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. What revisions is EPA authorizing with this action?
On March 31, 2017, the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality
(ODEQ) submitted a final complete program revision application seeking
authorization of its program revision in accordance with 40 CFR 271.21.
EPA now makes a final decision that ODEQ's hazardous waste program
revisions satisfy all of the requirements necessary to qualify for
final authorization. EPA will continue to implement and enforce
Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendments of 1984 (HSWA) provisions for
which the State is not authorized. For a list of rules that become
effective with this Final Rule, please see the NPRM published in the
Federal Register at 83 FR 49900, October 3, 2018.
II. What were the comments and responses to EPA's proposal?
EPA received comments from five individuals regarding EPA's
proposal to authorize revisions to Oklahoma's hazardous waste
regulations. In accordance with 40 CFR part 271, EPA provides the
following responses to comments regarding authorization of Oklahoma's
requested RCRA subtitle C program revision:
Two commenters raised issues that are completely unrelated to this
rulemaking and will not be addressed. An additional two commenters
raised issues about a separate rulemaking involving a RCRA subtitle D
program that is separate from this rulemaking and was addressed in our
rulemaking approving Oklahoma's Coal Combustion Residual State program.
See, 83 FR 30356; June 28, 2018. See also, Disposal of Coal Combustion
Residuals from Electric Utilities 80 FR 21302; April 17, 2015. Those
issues are outside the scope of this rulemaking. In addition, one of
the commenters stated that EPA should vacate approval of the Oklahoma
program because Oklahoma has a significant budget crisis and does not
have adequate funds, staff or expertise to take on the task. While it
seems that this question is about Oklahoma's Coal Ash program
referenced above, and not this revision to Oklahoma's RCRA subtitle C
program, we speak to this concern. We believe Oklahoma has the
resources and staff expertise to adequately implement the RCRA subtitle
C program. This is supported by EPA's oversight and the end-of-year
review conducted on September 26, 2018. Oklahoma's overall progress,
accomplishment of Performance Partnership Grant (PPG) workplan
commitments, and achievement of Government Performance and Results Act
(GPRA) goals were discussed and evaluated by EPA. See the FY 18 RCRA
Hazardous Waste Program End-of-Year Report, dated October 24, 2018.
One commenter indicated that states should not be allowed to have
regulations that are more stringent or broader in scope than those of
the national government--that the rules should be uniform across the
country. RCRA directly addresses this issue, under RCRA section 3009
and 40 CFR 271.1(i), states are not precluded from having requirements
that are broader in scope or requirements that are more stringent. In
this rule, we are not making any broader in scope or more stringent
determinations. See, Section G of the October 3, 2018 proposed rule,
there are no state requirements that are more stringent or broader in
scope than the federal requirements for which Oklahoma is seeking
authorization. This same commenter stated that the proposed rule would
allow Oklahoma officials to administer and regulate Subtitle C in
Indian Country and that Native American land is considered sovereign
land and should absolutely not be under the jurisdiction of state
governments. EPA responds to this comment as follows: Nothing in this
rulemaking authorizes Oklahoma to administer RCRA subtitle C programs
in Indian country. This commenter also raised concerns about Oklahoma's
proposed change that classifies fossil fuels as nonhazardous waste and
that this waste needs to be properly disposed of to slow climate
change. Our response is as follows: We believe the commenter is
referring to a clarification to 40 CFR 261.4(b)(4) that wastes from the
combustion of fossil fuels are not hazardous waste. Oklahoma is
required to revise their State RCRA subtitle C program to conform to
the Federal rule change. This change has nothing to do with disposal of
fossil fuel residual, as noted above this is regulated by a separate
RCRA subtitle D program and is beyond the scope of this rulemaking.
III. Final Action
Based on the proposal, administrative record and EPA's responses to
the comments received regarding the
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proposed authorization of the State of Oklahoma hazardous waste
management program, EPA is granting final authorization of the state's
program. EPA retains its authority under RCRA sections 3007, 3008, 3013
and 7003 which include, among others, authority to: (1) Take
enforcement actions regardless of whether the state has taken its own
action, (2) enforce RCRA requirements and suspend or revoke permits;
and (3) perform inspections, and require monitoring, tests, analyses or
reports.
IV. What is codification and is the EPA codifying Oklahoma's hazardous
waste program as authorized in this rule?
Codification is the process of placing the State's statutes and
regulations that comprise the State's authorized hazardous waste
program into the Code of Federal Regulation (CFR). We do this by
referencing the authorized State rules in 40 CFR part 272. We reserve
the amendment of 40 CFR part 272 subpart LL for this authorization of
Oklahoma's program changes until a later date. In this authorization
application, the EPA is not codifying the rules documented in this
Federal Register action.
V. Administrative Requirements
This final authorization revises Oklahoma's authorized hazardous
waste management program pursuant to RCRA section 3006 and imposes no
requirements other than those currently imposed by state law. For
further information on how this authorization complies with applicable
executive orders and statutory provisions, please see the proposed
rulemaking published in the Federal Register (83 FR 49900, October 3,
2018).
List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 271
Environmental protection, Administrative practice and procedure,
Confidential business information, Hazardous waste, Hazardous waste
transportation, Indian lands, Intergovernmental relations, Penalties,
Reporting and recordkeeping requirements.
Authority: This action is issued under the authority of sections
2002(a), 3006, and 7004(b) of the Solid Waste Disposal Act as
amended 42 U.S.C. 6912(a), 6926, 6974(b).
Dated: March 7, 2019.
Anne Idsal,
Regional Administrator, Region 6.
[FR Doc. 2019-04645 Filed 3-12-19; 8:45 am]
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