Federal Register, Volume 76 Issue 36 (Wednesday, February 23, 2011)

[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 36 (Wednesday, February 23, 2011)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 9988-9990]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-4152]

[[Page 9988]]

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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Chapters I through VII

[FRL-9270-8; EPA-HQ-OA-2011-0154, -0155, -0156, -0157, -0158, -0159, -
0160, -0161, -0162, -0163, -0164, -0165, -0166, -0167, -0168]

Improving EPA Regulations

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Request for comment; notice of public meeting.

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SUMMARY: On January 18, 2011, President Obama issued Executive Order
13563, ``Improving Regulation and Regulatory Review,'' and called on
all Federal agencies to conduct a ``retrospective analysis of rules
that may be outmoded, ineffective, insufficient, or excessively
burdensome and to modify, streamline, expand, or repeal them in
accordance with what has been learned.'' EPA seeks public input on the
design of a plan to use for periodic retrospective review of its
regulations.

DATES: Comments must be received on or before March 20, 2011. A public
meeting will be held on March 14, 2011 in Arlington, VA.

ADDRESSES: You may submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No.
EPA-HQ-OA-2011-0154, -0155, -0156, -0157, -0158, -0159, -0160, -0161, -
0162, -0163, -0164, -0165, -0166, -0167 or -0168 by any one of the
following methods:
http://www.regulations.gov: Follow the on-line
instructions for submitting comments.
E-mail: ImprovingRegulations.SuggestionBox@epa.gov
Fax: 202-566-9744
Mail: Send a copy of your comments and any enclosures to:
Improving Regulations Docket, Environmental Protection Agency, EPA
Docket Center, Mailcode: 2822T, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, Washington,
DC 20460.
Hand Delivery: Improving Regulations Docket, EPA/DC, EPA
West, Room 3334, 1301 Constitution Ave., NW., Washington, DC. 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-OA-2011-
0154, -0155, -0156, -0157, -0158, -0159, -0160, -0161, -0162, -0163, -
0164, -0165, -0166, -0167, -0168. EPA's policy is that all comments
received will be included in the public docket without change and may
be made available online at http://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
http://www.regulations.gov. The http://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 http://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 instructions on submitting
comments, go to Section II of the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of
this document.
Docket: All documents in the docket are listed in the http://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 http://www.regulations.gov or in hard copy at the Improving
Regulations Docket, EPA/DC, EPA West, Room 3334, 1301 Constitution
Ave., NW., Washington, DC. 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 (202) 566-1744, and the
telephone number for the Improving Regulations Docket is (202) 566-
1752.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information on this
document, please contact Stuart Miles-McLean, Office of Regulatory
Policy and Management (1803A), Environmental Protection Agency, 1200
Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20460; telephone number: 202-
564-6581; fax number: 202-564-7322; e-mail address:
ImprovingRegulations.SuggestionBox@epa.gov. If you have questions
concerning the public meetings, contact Lucinda Power, Office of
Regulatory Policy and Management (1806A), Environmental Protection
Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20460; telephone
number: 202-566-0356; fax number: 202-564-0965; e-mail address:
ImprovingRegulations.SuggestionBox@epa.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. General Information

EPA's mission is to protect human health and the environment. Among
the Agency's goals are taking action on climate change and improving
air quality; protecting America's waters; cleaning up communities and
advancing sustainable development; ensuring the safety of chemicals and
preventing pollution; and enforcing environmental laws. As part of
these efforts, EPA has developed a number of regulations that protect
Americans from significant risks to human health and the environment
where they live, learn and work.

A. Submitting Comments

At this time, EPA seeks help in designing the plan it will use for
periodic review of regulations. Section II of this notice provides
several specific comment categories to focus the Agency's review based
upon specific regulatory impacts or program areas. In the following
section you will find a non-exhaustive list of issues or impacts to
help you formulate your ideas, though it is not intended to restrict
the issues that you may wish to address.
Please be as specific as possible when submitting your comments. In
offering your input, EPA requests that you include an explanation as to
why you believe a regulation should be modified, streamlined, expanded
or repealed; any data or other information that supports your
explanation; and suggestions on how the Agency can better achieve the
regulatory program's objective. Please provide citation if you
reference a specific regulation.
While it is EPA's aim is to define a method and schedule for
periodically identifying certain significant rules that warrant repeal
or modification because they are no longer justified or necessary, this
review may also reveal that an existing rule is needed, but has not
operated as well as expected, and that a stronger, expanded, or
somewhat different approach is justified.

[[Page 9989]]

EPA is accepting your comments from now through 03/20/2011.
Although the Agency won't be able to respond to every individual
comment, your input is valued and your ideas merit careful
consideration. By late May or early June, you will have the chance to
read our retrospective review plan at http://www.epa.gov/improvingregulations, as well as an initial list of regulations that we
plan to review first.
As you comment, EPA requests that you keep these key considerations
in mind:
EPA must uphold its mission to protect human health and
the environment.
EPA's plan will be tailored to reflect its resources,
rulemaking history, and volume.
A number of laws already direct the Agency to regularly
review certain regulations. Your input is requested on developing a
plan that is integrated with those existing requirements.
See http://www.epa.gov/improvingregulations for additional
information and updates.

B. Public Meetings

EPA will hold a public meeting at Hilton Arlington, 950 N Stafford
Street, Arlington, VA on March 14, 2011. Registration information and
updates are available at http://www.epa.gov/improvingregulations/meeting.html. In addition, EPA plans to host a variety of meetings in
regional offices in March 2011. The specific location names and
addresses for these regional meetings will be posted as they become
available at http:/www.epa.gov//improvingregulations/meeting.html.

II. Design of Plan for Periodic Retrospective Review

EPA's plan will create a defined method and schedule for
periodically identifying certain significant regulations that are
obsolete, unnecessary, unjustified, excessively burdensome, or
counterproductive. Also, it will consider how best to strengthen,
complement or modernize rules where necessary or appropriate--
including, if relevant, undertaking new rulemaking. To help EPA design
the plan, you are invited to provide input on specific considerations
related to how the agency should conduct these periodic retrospective
reviews of existing regulations.
To assist you in focusing your comments or recommendations, EPA has
provided three categories relating to issue/impact, program area, or a
multipurpose general area. These are not intended to restrict the
issues that you may wish to address. The following sections present a
series of questions under these categories as a guide for making
recommendations on the design of EPA's periodic retrospective review
plan. If you wish to submit comments, please address them to the
appropriate docket labeled in each section or by mail as described in
the ADDRESSES section above.
The first set of questions relating to the design plan are not
intended to be restrictive but are meant to assist you in formulating
your comments.
How should EPA identify candidate regulations for periodic
retrospective review?
What criteria should EPA use to prioritize regulations for
review?
How should EPA's review plan be integrated with its
existing requirements to conduct retrospective reviews?
How often should EPA solicit input from the public?
What should be the timing of any given regulatory review
(e.g., should a regulation be in effect for a certain amount of time
before it is reviewed)?

A. Issue or Impact Areas for Consideration

To more specifically focus your response, the following questions
listed by issue or impact area may assist but are not meant to limit
you in providing EPA input on its retrospective review plan.
1. Integration and Innovation
Submit a comment on integrating regulations or achieving innovation
to the ``Improving Regulations: Integration and Innovation'' docket
(EPA-HQ-OA-2011-0161). Use the following questions to guide your
comments:
Which regulations could achieve the intended environmental
results using less costly methods, technology, or innovative
techniques? How could the regulations be changed? What data support
this?
Which regulations could be improved by harmonizing
requirements across programs or agencies to better meet the regulatory
objectives? What suggestions do you have for how the Agency can better
harmonize these requirements?
Which regulations have requirements that are overlapping
and could be streamlined or eliminated? What suggestions do you have
for how the Agency could modify the regulations? Be specific about how
burden can be reduced from gained efficiencies related to streamlining
the requirements.
What opportunities exist for the Agency to explore
alternatives to existing regulations? How can these alternatives be
designed to ensure that environmental objectives are still met?
2. Environmental Justice/Children's Health/Elderly
Submit a comment related to environmental justice, children's
health, or the elderly to the ``Improving Regulations: EJ, Children &
Elderly'' docket (EPA-HQ-OA-2011-0168). Use the following questions to
guide your comments:
Which regulations have exacerbated existing impacts or
created new impacts on vulnerable populations such as low-income or
minority populations, children or the elderly? Which ones and how? What
suggestions do you have for how the Agency could change the
regulations? What data support this?
Which regulations have failed to protect vulnerable
populations (minority or low-income, children or elderly) and why?
Which regulations could be streamlined, modified,
tightened, or expanded to mitigate or prevent impacts to vulnerable
populations (minority or low-income, children or elderly)? What
suggestions do you have for changing the regulations? What data support
this?
3. Science/Obsolete/Technology Outdated
Submit a comment related to the science in regulations that you
believe is outdated or which relies on outdated technology. Use the
``Improving Regulations: Science/Obsolete/Technology Outdated'' docket
(EPA-HQ-OA-2011-0162) and the following questions to guide your
comments:
Which regulations could be modified because the underlying
scientific data has changed since the regulation was issued, and the
change supports revision to the original regulation? What data support
this? What suggestions do you have for changing the regulations?
Which regulations have achieved their original objective
and have now become unnecessary or obsolete? What data support this?
What suggestions do you have for how the Agency could modify,
streamline, expand, or repeal the regulation?
Have circumstances surrounding any regulations changed
significantly such that the regulation's requirements should be
reconsidered? Which regulations? What data support this? What
suggestions can you provide the Agency about how these regulations
could be changed?
Which regulations or reporting requirements have become
outdated? How can they be modernized to accomplish their regulatory
objectives

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better? What data support this? What suggestions do you have for how
the Agency could change the regulations?
Which regulations have new technologies that can be
leveraged to modify, streamline, expand or repeal existing
requirements? What data support this? What suggestions do you have for
how the Agency could change these regulations?
4. State, Local and Tribal Governments
Submit a comment related to state/local/tribal government issues in
the ``Improving Regulations: State, Local and Tribal governments''
docket (EPA-HQ-OA-2011-0163). Use the following questions to guide your
comments:
Which regulations impose burden on state, local or tribal
governments? How could these regulations be changed to reduce the
burden without compromising environmental protection?
What opportunities are there within existing regulations
to better partner with state, local and/or tribal governments? If so,
do you have suggestions for how to better utilize those opportunities?
5. Least Burdensome/Flexible Approaches
Provide comment on a regulation that is burdensome or could be more
flexible in the ``Improving Regulations: Least Burden/Flexible
Approaches'' docket (EPA-HQ-OA-2011-0165). Use the following questions
to guide your comments:
Which regulations have proven to be excessively
burdensome? What data support this? How many facilities are affected?
What suggestions do you have for reducing the burden and maintaining
environmental protection?
Which regulations impose paperwork activities (reporting,
recordkeeping, or 3rd party notifications) that would benefit from
online reporting or electronic recordkeeping? Tell us whether regulated
entities have flexibility in providing the required 3rd party
disclosure or notification. What data support this? What suggestions do
you have for how the Agency could change the regulation?
Which regulations could be made more flexible within the
existing legal framework? What data support this? What suggestions do
you have for how the Agency could change the regulations to be more
flexible?
6. Benefits and Costs
Submit a comment related to benefits and costs in the ``Improving
Regulations: Benefits and Costs'' docket (EPA-HQ-OA-2011-0158). Use the
following questions to guide your comments:
Which regulations have high costs and low benefits? What
data support this?
Which regulations could better maximize net benefits
(including potential economic, environmental, public health and safety,
and other advantages; distributive impacts; and equity)? What data
support this? What quantitative and qualitative benefits and costs
justify your suggestion (recognizing that some benefits and costs are
difficult to quantify)?
7. Small Business
Submit a comment related to small business impacts in the
``Improving Regulations: Small Business'' docket (EPA-HQ-OA-2011-0164).
Use the following questions to guide your comments:
Which regulations have large impacts on small businesses?
How could these regulations be changed to reduce the impact while
maintaining environmental protection? Are there flexible approaches
that might help reduce these impacts? Which of these regulations have
high costs and low benefits? What data support this?
Are there any regulations where flexible approaches for
small businesses have proven successful and could serve as a model?
Where else and how could these approaches be utilized?
8. Compliance
Submit a comment related to compliance in the ``Improving
Regulations: Compliance'' docket (EPA-HQ-OA-2011-0166). Use the
following questions to guide your comments:
Which regulations have complicated or time consuming
requirements? To what extent are alternative compliance tools
available? Could the regulations be modified to improve compliance?
What data support this?
Which regulations or regulated sectors have particularly
high compliance? How could the factors or approaches that lead to high
compliance be utilized in other regulations and sectors? What data is
available to support this?
9. Economic Conditions/Market
Submit a comment about economic conditions and/or markets in the
``Improving Regulations: Economic Conditions/Market'' docket (EPA-HQ-
OA-2011-0167). Use the following questions to guide your comments:
Which regulations have impacted an industry sector(s) that
was hard hit by high unemployment in the past three years? What changes
to the regulation would promote economic growth or job creation without
compromising environmental protection? What data support this?
How can regulations spur new markets, technologies and new
jobs? What suggestions do you have to support this idea?
Which regulations have impeded economic growth in an
affected industry sector? What information is available to support
this? How could the regulations be modified to improve both economic
growth and environmental protection? What data support this?
Where can EPA examine market-based incentives as an option
to regulation? What program would you design that utilizes market-based
incentives and ensures environmental objectives are still met?
How can a regulation be improved so as to create, expand
or transform a market?
Which regulations could be modified so as to invite
public/private partnerships, and how?

B. Program Area

Use one of the dockets listed below to provide comments related to
a specific program area.
``Improving Regulations: Air'' docket--EPA-HQ-OA-2011-0155
``Improving Regulations: Pesticides'' docket--EPA-HQ-OA-
2011-0157
``Improving Regulations: Toxic Substances'' docket--EPA-
HQ-OA-2011-0159
``Improving Regulations: Waste'' docket--EPA-HQ-OA-2011-
0160
``Improving Regulations: Water'' docket--EPA-HQ-OA-2011-
0154

C. General Category

Use the Improving Regulations: General docket (EPA-HQ-OA-2011-0156)
to submit an idea for how best to promote retrospective analysis of
rules. This docket may also be used for any comment that:
Pertains to more than one issue/impact and/or program
area.
Doesn't relate to any of the other docket categories
listed in this section.
EPA welcomes comment and feedback from all parties on the issues
listed herein. The Agency is collecting this information for its
planning purposes and is not bound to further action or response. All
submissions will be made publically available on http://www.regulations.gov.

Dated: February 18, 2011.
Michael Goo,
Associate Administrator, Office of Policy.
[FR Doc. 2011-4152 Filed 2-22-11; 8:45 am]
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