[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 103 (Tuesday, June 1, 2021)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 29207-29209]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-11394]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 271

[EPA-R09-RCRA-2019-0491; FRL-10023-58-Region 9]


California: Authorization of State Hazardous Waste Management 
Program Revisions; Final Correction

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Final authorization; correction.

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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is finalizing 
corrections to the authorization of California's hazardous waste 
program under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). The 
EPA approved revisions to California's federally authorized hazardous 
waste program (specifically, updates to California's Universal Waste 
program) by publishing proposed and final rules in the Federal Register 
on October 18, 2019, and January 14, 2020, respectively. On March 5, 
2021, the Agency published and sought public comment on a Proposed Rule 
to correct information contained in the October 18, 2019, Federal 
Register proposal and the January 14, 2020 approval. No comments were 
received on the proposed revisions. This document finalizes those 
corrections.

DATES: This final authorization is effective July 1, 2021.

ADDRESSES: The EPA has established a docket for this action under 
Docket ID No. EPA-R09-RCRA-2019-0491. Publicly available docket 
materials are available electronically through http://www.regulations.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Laurie Amaro, EPA Region 9, 75 
Hawthorne St. (LND-1-1), San

[[Page 29208]]

Francisco, CA 94105. By phone: (415) 972-3364 or by email at 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

A. What corrections to California's hazardous waste program is the EPA 
authorizing with this action?

    The EPA approved revisions to California's federally authorized 
hazardous waste program by publishing proposed and final rules in the 
Federal Register on October 18, 2019 (80 FR 55871), and January 14, 
2020 (85 FR 2038), respectively. On March 5, 2021, the EPA proposed to 
add citations for approving the State's authority to adopt additional 
waste streams as universal wastes in the State Analogues to the Federal 
Program table and revise the scope of the State program that is 
considered ``broader in scope'' than the Federal program. The changes 
detailed in the proposed correction are summarized below.
    1. The EPA added citations to the table for Title 22 of the 
California Code of Regulations (CCR) 66260.22 and 66260.23 and the 
Federal analogues, 40 CFR 260.20(a) and 260.23(a) through (d), 
respectively. In addition, the EPA added a footnote to the table 
clarifying the implications of the authorization of the State's 
universal waste program as to a waste stream that the State already 
identified as a universal waste before the universal waste 
authorization update was effective, i.e., aerosol cans. (Similarly, 
effective January 1, 2021, California also now includes photovoltaic 
solar panels in the State's universal waste program.)
    2. The EPA revised the list of California requirements that the EPA 
considers beyond the scope of the Federal program by deleting 
California-only universal wastes (further defined as non-RCRA hazardous 
wastes) from the list of State requirements that are broader in scope 
than the Federal program and adding language to the broader in scope 
analysis that specifies that any non-RCRA hazardous wastes that the 
State regulates as a hazardous waste are generally considered beyond 
the scope of the Federal program.
    No comments were received on the proposal. The corrections are 
hereby finalized and the changes to the scope of California's 
authorized universal hazardous waste program will become effective on 
the date listed in the DATES section above.

B. What is codification and is the EPA codifying California's hazardous 
waste program as authorized in this rule?

    Codification is the process of placing citations and references to 
the State's statutes and regulations that comprise the State's 
authorized hazardous waste program into the Code of Federal 
Regulations. The EPA does this by adding those citations and references 
to the authorized state rules in 40 CFR part 272. The EPA is not 
codifying the authorization of California's revisions at this time. 
However, the EPA reserves the right to amend 40 CFR part 272, subpart 
F, for the authorization of California's program at a later date.

C. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews

    The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has exempted this action 
(RCRA state authorization) from the requirements of Executive Orders 
12866 (58 FR 51735, October 4, 1993) and 13563 (76 FR 3821, January 21, 
2011). Therefore, this action is not subject to review by OMB. This 
action finalizes corrections to the authorization of state requirements 
for the purpose of RCRA section 3006 and imposes no additional 
requirements beyond those imposed by state law. Accordingly, this 
action will not have a significant economic impact on a substantial 
number of small entities under the Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 
601 et seq.). Because this action finalizes corrections to the 
authorization of pre-existing requirements under state law and does not 
impose any additional enforceable duty beyond that required by state 
law, it does not contain any unfunded mandate or significantly or 
uniquely affect small governments, as described in the Unfunded 
Mandates Reform Act of 1995 (Pub. L. 104-4). This action also does not 
significantly or uniquely affect the communities of Tribal governments, 
as specified by Executive Order 13175 (65 FR 67249, November 9, 2000). 
This action will not have substantial direct effects on the states, on 
the relationship between the national government and the states, or on 
the distribution of power and responsibilities among the various levels 
of government, as specified in Executive Order 13132 (64 FR 43255, 
August 10, 1999), because it merely corrects the Federal Register 
document in which the EPA authorized state requirements as part of the 
state RCRA hazardous waste program without altering the relationship or 
the distribution of power and responsibilities established by RCRA. 
This action also is not subject to Executive Order 13045 (62 FR 19885, 
April 23, 1997), because it is not economically significant, and it 
does not concern environmental health or safety risks that the EPA has 
reason to believe may disproportionally affect children. This 
correction is not subject to Executive Order 13211, ``Actions 
Concerning Regulations That Significantly Affect Energy Supply, 
Distribution, or Use'' (66 FR 28355 May 22, 2001), because it is not a 
significant regulatory action under Executive Order 12866.
    Under RCRA section 3006(b), the EPA grants a state's application 
for authorization, as long as the state meets the criteria required by 
RCRA. It would thus be inconsistent with applicable law for the EPA, 
when it reviews a state authorization application, to require the use 
of any particular voluntary consensus standard in place of another 
standard that otherwise satisfies the requirements of RCRA. Thus, the 
requirements of section 12(d) of the National Technology Transfer and 
Advancement Act of 1995 do not apply. See 15 U.S.C. 272 note, sec. 
12(d)(3), Public Law 104-113, 110 Stat. 783 (Mar. 7, 1996) (exempting 
compliance with the NTTAA's requirement to use VCS if compliance is 
``inconsistent with applicable law''). As required by section 3 of 
Executive Order 12988 (61 FR 4729, February 7, 1996), in issuing this 
correction to its rule, the EPA has taken the necessary steps to 
eliminate drafting errors and ambiguity, minimize potential litigation, 
and provide a clear legal standard for affected conduct. The EPA has 
complied with Executive Order 12630 (53 FR 8859, March 15, 1988) by 
examining the takings implications of the correction to the rule in 
accordance with the ``Attorney General's Supplemental Guidelines for 
the Evaluation of Risk and Avoidance of Unanticipated Takings'' issued 
under the Executive Order. This correction to the rule authorizing 
California's universal waste program does not impose an information 
collection burden under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act 
of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.). Executive Order 12898 (59 FR 7629, 
February 16, 1994) establishes Federal executive policy on 
environmental justice. Its main provision directs Federal agencies, to 
the greatest extent practicable and permitted by law, to make 
environmental justice part of their mission by identifying and 
addressing, as appropriate, disproportionately high and adverse human 
health or environmental effects of their programs, policies, and 
activities on minority populations and low-income populations in the 
United States. Because this correction to the California universal 
waste authorization rule authorizes pre-existing state rules which are 
at least equivalent to, and no less stringent than existing Federal

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requirements, and imposes no additional requirements beyond those 
imposed by state law, and there are no anticipated significant adverse 
human health or environmental effects, the rule is not subject to 
Executive Order 12898. The Congressional Review Act, 5 U.S.C. 801 et 
seq., as added by the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness 
Act of 1996, generally provides that before a rule may take effect, the 
agency promulgating the rule must submit a rule report, which includes 
a copy of the rule, to each House of the Congress and to the 
Comptroller General of the United States. The EPA will submit a report 
containing this document and other required information to the U.S. 
Senate, the U.S. House of Representatives, and the Comptroller General 
of the United States prior to publication of the final rule correction 
in the Federal Register. A major rule cannot take effect until 60 days 
after it is published in the Federal Register. This correction is not a 
``major rule'' as defined by 5 U.S.C. 804(2).

    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, and 6974(b).

    Dated: May 24, 2021.
Deborah Jordan,
Acting Regional Administrator, Region IX.
[FR Doc. 2021-11394 Filed 5-28-21; 8:45 am]
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