[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 129 (Wednesday, July 5, 2000)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 41391-41392]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-16756]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
40 CFR Part 136
[FRL-6729-3]
Guidelines Establishing Test Procedures for the Analysis of
Pollutants; Centralized Waste Treatment and Landfills Point Source
Categories; Notice of Data Availability and Request for Comment
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice of data availability and request for comment.
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SUMMARY: On January 13, 1999, EPA proposed effluent limitations
guidelines, pretreatment standards, and new source performance
standards for the Centralized Waste Treatment (CWT) Point Source
Category to limit effluent discharges to waters of the United States
and the introduction of pollutants into publicly owned treatment works.
The comment period for the proposal closed on March 15, 1999.
In the CWT proposal, EPA noted plans for a validation study for
several pollutants found during EPA's data gathering, using EPA Methods
625 and 1625. Today, EPA invites comment on the validation data for the
pollutants included in the CWT proposal. EPA plans to use these data to
support the use of EPA Methods 625 and 1625, as amended, in the
upcoming final CWT rule, and to establish performance criteria for the
additional analytes. EPA is soliciting comment only on the new
information and data being made available today.
Today's document also provides notice that EPA will clarify the
scope of recently-published amendments to EPA Methods 625 and 1625 for
the Landfills Point Source Category.
DATES: Submit an original and three copies of your comments on or
before August 4, 2000.
ADDRESSES: Please send an original and 3 copies of your comments and
enclosures (including references) to ``Centralized Waste Treatment--
Notice of Data Availability,'' W-98-21 Comment Clerk, Water Docket (MC-
4101), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Ariel Rios Building, 1200
Pennsylvania Ave., NW. Washington, DC 20460. Hand deliveries should be
delivered to: EPA's Water Docket at 401 M St., SW., Room EB-57,
Washington, DC.
Commenters who want EPA to acknowledge receipt of their comments
should enclose a self-addressed, stamped envelope. No facsimiles
(faxes) will be accepted. Comments may also be submitted electronically
to [email protected]. Electronic comments must be submitted as
an ASCII, WP5.1, WP6.1 or WP8 file avoiding the use of special
characters and any form of encryption. Electronic comments must be
identified by the docket number [W-98-21]. Comments and data will also
be accepted on disks in WP5.1, WP6.1, WP8 or ASCII file format.
Electronic comments on this notice may be filed online at many Federal
Depository Libraries.
The record for this rulemaking has been established under docket
number [W-98-21], and includes supporting documentation as well as
printed, paper versions of electronic comments. The record is available
for inspection from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Monday through Friday,
excluding legal holidays, at EPA's Water Docket, 401 M St., Room EB-57,
SW., Washington, DC. For access to docket materials, please call 202/
260-3027 to schedule an appointment.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr. Maria Gomez-Taylor, Engineering
and Analysis Division (MC-4303), USEPA Office of Science and
Technology, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, Ariel Rios Building, N.W.
Washington, D.C., 20460, or call (202) 260-1639.
[[Page 41392]]
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On January 13, 1999, EPA proposed effluent
limitations guidelines, pretreatment standards, and new source
performance standards for the Centralized Waste Treatment (CWT) Point
Source Category (64 FR 2280). The comment period for the proposal
closed on March 15, 1999. These comments may be reviewed in the Water
Docket at EPA Headquarters (see address above).
In the January 1999 Federal Register notice, EPA discussed the use
of modified versions of EPA Methods 625 and 1625 for the determination
of all CWT semivolatile organic pollutants, including some analytes not
currently listed in these methods, which are published at 40 CFR part
136, Appendix A. The proposed modifications to EPA Methods 625 and 1625
were included in the EPA Water Docket at proposal. The modified
versions of these methods would allow the analysis of all CWT
semivolatile organic pollutants in the proposed rule. In the preamble
to the CWT proposal, the Agency noted its plans to conduct further
validation of these method modifications and also noted plans to
promulgate these method modifications in the final rulemaking for CWT.
Following proposal, EPA conducted a validation study to demonstrate
the performance of the methods and to use the data gathered during the
study to develop quality control (QC) acceptance criteria for the
target pollutants. The resulting modifications to EPA Methods 625 and
1625 consist of text, performance data, and quality control (QC)
acceptance criteria for the additional target analytes. The eleven CWT
target analytes are acetophenone, aniline, benzoic acid, 2,3-
dichloroaniline, o-cresol, p-cresol, pyridine, alpha-terpineol,
carbazole, n-decane, and n-octadecane. This information would allow a
laboratory to practice the methods with the additional analytes as an
integral part. In addition to the CWT pollutants, the study included
five pollutants for which EPA had proposed and then promulgated
effluent limitations in the Landfills Point Source Category (see 63 FR
6425, February 6, 1998 and 65 FR 3007, January 19, 2000, respectively).
The five Landfill analytes (aniline, benzoic acid, o-cresol, p-cresol,
and pyridine) are among the CWT target analytes. The data collected in
support of both CWT and Landfills were published in a validation study
report dated October 1999, and that report is available for review in
EPA's Water Docket. EPA will review the public comments received on the
study and may, based on those comments, amend the 40 CFR part 136
revisions made in the Landfills rule to revise the list of analytes
subject to Methods 625 and 1625.
Today's notice solicits comments only on the new data which support
the use of Methods 625 and 1625 for the pollutants in the CWT rule.
Specifically, the Agency seeks comment on the data summarized in the
study report and placed in EPA's Water Docket. The Agency in not
reopening the comment period on the entire proposed rule. Therefore,
comments on other aspects of the proposal will not be considered.
The final rule for the Landfills Point Source Category (see 65 FR
3008, January 19, 2000) promulgated amendments to EPA Methods 625 and
1625 by modifying the methods for additional pollutants, including the
five pollutants of concern for Landfills. These amendments are also
available for review in EPA's Water Docket. Since publication of that
rule, EPA has received inquiries about the scope and applicability of
the amendments to Methods 625 and 1625 promulgated at 40 CFR part 136
pertaining to the Landfills rule. Specifically, EPA received questions
on whether these amendments apply to any other point source categories.
Today's notice clarifies EPA's intent regarding the published
amendments to these methods. The amendments are applicable only to the
five regulated pollutants in the Landfills rule when found in the waste
streams regulated under that rule. When EPA promulgates effluent
limitations and standards for CWT, EPA plans to further amend the
methods to specify that the revisions to Methods 625 and 1625 are only
applicable to the five pollutants in the Landfills rule (listed above)
and to the eleven pollutants promulgated in the final CWT rule and only
for the waste streams regulated under those rules.
EPA intends to use the revised Methods 625 and 1625 for monitoring
the pollutants regulated in the CWT and Landfills rules only and not
for general use. To clarify this intent, EPA plans to amend Methods 625
and 1625 in the upcoming final CWT rule to limit the scope and
applicability to these rules. These amendments will clarify the
Agency's objective to expand the scope of Methods 625 and 1625 for
complying with monitoring requirements for the additional pollutants
regulated in the two effluent guidelines discussed herein (i.e., CWT
and Landfills only).
Dated: June 27, 2000.
J. Charles Fox,
Assistant Administrator for Water.
[FR Doc. 00-16756 Filed 7-3-00; 8:45 am]
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