On Tuesday, July 24, 2018, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) extended the comment period for the May 30th Proposed RMP Reconsideration rule to afford the public an opportunity to comment on the updated RMP database and its impacts on the proposed Reconsideration rule. The comment period was originally scheduled to end July 30, 2018. The EPA will now accept comments received on or before August 23, 2018
BACKGROUND
Stationary sources under the CAA are subject to the chemical accident prevention requirements of 40 CFR part 68 under section 112(r) of the CAA (42 U.S.C. 7412(r)). EPA amended these requirements on January 13, 2017 addressing various aspects of risk management programs, including prevention programs at stationary sources, emergency response preparedness requirements, information availability, and various other changes.
On May 30, 2018, the EPA published a proposed Risk Management Program (RMP) Reconsideration rule requesting public comment on proposed changes to the final Risk Management Program Amendments rule (Amendments rule) issued on January 13, 2017. EPA is proposing to rescind amendments relating to safer technology and alternatives analyses, third-party audits, incident investigations, information availability, and other minor regulatory changes. EPA is also proposing to modify amendments relating to local emergency coordination and emergency exercises, and to change the compliance dates for these provisions.
Several stakeholders notified EPA that the rulemaking docket for the proposed RMP Reconsideration rule failed to provide the risk management plan data used to compare the number of facilities reporting in the February 2015 version of the RMP database to those reporting in the November 2017 version. This analysis of the change in the number of facilities was presented in the Regulatory Impact Analysis (RIA) for the Reconsideration Proposal.
The risk management plan database has now been placed in the docket (Docket ID: EPA–HQ–OEM– 2015–0725–0989) and consists of a digital versatile disc (DVD) containing the RMP database as a 1.4 gigabyte size file in .mdb format. The database file is too large to be provided online through regulations.gov. Those who wish to view or receive a copy of the DVD will need to contact the EPA Docket Center, Public Reading Room, as follows:
In person/writing: Environmental Protection Agency, Docket Center, 1301 Constitution Ave. NW, 2822T, Room 3334, Washington, DC 20004
telephone: 202–566–1744
fax: 202–566–9744
email: docketcustomerservice@epa.gov.