### Action Initiation List

– January 2011 Page 1 of 5 

## January 2011 Action Initiation List (as of 2 / 10 /2011)

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

The following actions were initiated by EPA this month. Explanations of which EPA actions are included on this list and of e ach

element of the table can be found at the end of this document.

The two most recent Action Initiation Lists (AILs) can always be found at: http://www.epa.gov/lawsregs/search/ail.html . But, they will not provide updates on the actions listed herein. Updates on priority rulemakings are available from EPA's Rulemaking Gate way ( www.epa.gov/rulemaking/ ).

If one of the rules on this AIL is in the Rulemaking Gateway, a link to the rule's profile is included in the table below. F or all rules

– those that are in the Gateway and thos e that are not

– you may obtain updates twice a year in EPA’s Semiannual Regulatory Agenda,

which is accessible from these Web sites:

• EPA’s Laws, Regulations, Guidance and Dockets (http://www.epa.gov/lawsregs/search/regagenda.html)

• RegInfo.gov (http://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/eAgendaMain)

• Regulations.gov (http://www.regulations.gov/fdmspublic/component/main?main=UnifiedAgenda&agency=EPA&pubperiod=200710)

To assist you in tracking actions’ progr ess, the RINs in the table below are also displayed in the Semiannual Regulatory Agenda and the Rulemaking Gateway.

### Action Initiation List

– January 2011 Page 2 of 5 RIN Action Title Stage Contact Abstract Projected

Publication

Date

2050

- AG67 Addition of Vapor

Intrusion Component to the Hazard Ranking System (HRS) NPRM Terry Jeng

703

- 603

- 8852 Jeng.Terry@epa.gov

Follow this rule on the Rulemaking Gateway The Hazard Ranking System (HRS), required by the Superfund statute, is the primary mechanism used by EPA to assess the relative threat associated with actual or potential

relea ses of hazardous substances. As a matter of Agency policy, those sites that score 28.50 or greater under the HRS are eligible for inclusion on the National Priorities List (NPL). The NPL is intended primarily to guide the EPA in determining

which sites war rant further investigation. A score of 28.50 does not represent a specified level of risk but is a cutoff point that serves as a screening

- level indicator of the highest priority

releases or threatened releases. The HRS includes four scoring pathways

- gro und water, surface w ater, air and soil

exposure.

Additional pathways have been identified as posing significant

threats to human health and the environment that should be considered when evaluating sites for the NPL. One such pathway is vapor intrusion. Vapor intrusion occurs when contaminants enter into indoor spaces, generally residences, from environmental sources such as contaminated ground water or contaminated soil. Over the past decade EPA and state environmental programs have learned significantly more information regarding the risk that this pathway poses to human health. Historically, EPA’s Superfund program has responded to vapor intrusion contamination by two mechanisms: (1) through its emergency response program at sites not on the NPL, or (2) through sites placed on the NPL

because of other pathway

- related risks.

In a May 2010 report, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) concluded that if vapor intrusion sites are not assessed and, if needed, listed on the NPL, some seriously

contamina ted hazardous waste sites with unacceptable human exposure may not otherwise be cleaned up. Thus, EPA is proposing to add a new HRS pathway so that sites with vapor

intrusion contamination can be evaluated for inclusion on the

NPL. More than

12 months

### Action Initiation List

– January 2011 Page 3 of 5 RIN Action Title Stage Contact Abstract Projected

Publication

Date

2060

- AQ75 Petroleum Refinery Sector

Risk and Technology

Review and New

Source

Performance

Standards (NPSP) NPRM Brenda Shine

919

- 541

- 3608 Shine.Brenda@epa.gov

Follow this rule on the Rulemaking Gateway

. EPA is required to evaluate the risk remaining at facilities 8 years after they are required to comply with Maximum Achievable Control Technology ( MACT ) air

- toxic emission standards according to Section 112 (f)(2) of the Clean Air Act (CAA). EPA is also required to review and revise the MACT standards if needed every 8 years with regard to practices, processes and control technologies according to Section 112(d)(6) of the CAA.

In this action we propose to conduct risk and technology reviews for both Petroleum Refinery MACT 1 and 2 source categories. Our efforts will focus on gathering comprehensive information on petroleum refineries that will allow us to complete these reviews. Additionally, we are also in the process of addressing issues related to the reconsideration of Petroleum Refinery N ew Source Performance Standards (NSPS) Subpart Ja. We intend to use information obtained through the comprehensive information collection process to

address NSPS Ja reconsideration issues. 12 months or

less

### Action Initiation List

– January 2011 Page 4 of 5 RIN Action Title Stage Contact Abstract Projected

Publication

Date

2060

- A Q 7 6 2012 Renewable

Fuel Volume

Standards as Required by Energy Independence and Security Act NPRM David Korotney

734

- 214

- 4507 Korotney.David@epa.gov In response to the Energy Independence and Security Act ( EISA), EPA finalized the RFS2 program regulations. However, under EISA, the Environmental Protection Agency is required to promulgate regulations that specify the annual statutory volume requirements for renewable fuels, including cellulosic biofuel, biomass

- based diesel, advanced biofuel, and total renewable fuel that must be used in transportation fuel in each year. In the case of the cellulosic biofuel standard, EISA specifically requires that the standard be set based on the volume projected to be available during the following year. If the volumes are lower than those specified under EISA, then EPA may also lower the advanced biofuel and total renewable fuel standards each year accordingly. Furthe r, the Act requires the Administrator to promulgate rules establishing the applicable volumes of biomass

- based diesel for 2013 and beyond and to do so no later than 14 months before the first year for which such applicable volume will apply. Therefore,

thi s action will al so propose and finalize at minim um, the 2013



### biomass based diesel ( BBD ) volume along with all the 2012 standards. This regulatory action will establish

, as required

, the annual statutory volume requirements for the RFS2 fuel categories (cel lulosic, biomass

- based diesel, advanced biofuel, and renewable fuel) that apply to all gasoline and diesel produced or imported in year 2012 and set, at minimum, the 2013 BBD requirement. Entities potentially affected by this

final rule are those involved with the production, distribution, and sale of transportation fuels, including gasoline and diesel

fuel or renewable fuels such as ethanol and biodiesel. 12 months or

less

### Action Initiation List

– January 2011 Page 5 of 5 

# What EPA Actions Appear on the AILs?

Generally, AILs include those actions that 1) will appear in upcoming Semiannual Regulatory Agenda and 2) have been approved for commencement by EPA's
Regulatory Policy Officer. In rare instances, an action will not appear on an AIL before it appears in the Agenda . Also, keep in mind that AILs will not post immediately.
You can access a given month's list roughly 15 days after the close of the month (e.g., the Ap ril 2008 AIL will post sometime around May 15 th ).



# What Does Each Column in the AIL Mean?

RIN: RIN stands for "Regulation Identifier Number." A RIN is assigned by the Regulatory Information Service Center , a component of the U.S. General Services

Administration, to identify each regulatory action listed in our Semiannual Regulatory Agenda and Annual Regulatory Plans . Also, RINs are included in the headings
of our rules when they are published in the Federal Register to make it easier for you to track our actions. An example of an EPA RIN is 2050

- AG37. It is composed
of two parts. The first part (i.e., 2050) identifies which office within EPA is in charge of the action. In this case, it is the Office of Solid Waste and Emergency
Response. The second part (e.g., AG37) is an alpha

- numeric code automatically generated as rules are assigned a RIN.



## Title: Self

- explanatory.



## Stage: The stage of an action describes where we are in the rule writing process, from the very beginning when a rule (or other action) is just an idea to the end when it

is published as a final rule (or other action) in the Federal Register. For example, the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) stage announces a propo sed rule or
proposed modification to an existing rule. In the AILs, the following acronyms are used:

• ANPRM

- Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking

• NPRM

- Notice of Proposed Rulemaking

• Supplemental

- Supplemental NPRM

• Direct Final

- Direct Final Act ion

• Interim Final

– Interim Final Action

• Final

– Final Action

• Section 610 Review

– Agency Review under Section 610 of the Regulatory Flexibility Act



## C ontact: Provides the name, phone, and email address for the EPA staff person assigned to this rule. A dditionally, if a rule is in EPA's Rulemaking Gateway

( www.epa.gov/rulemaking/ ), then a link to the rule's profile will be provided in this column.



## Abstract: A brief summary of the action and its purpose.



## Projected Publication Date: Since many variables affect how long it takes to write a rule or other action, it is difficult to predict a firm publication date when we

have just started working on an action. Therefore, we insert one of two options in the "P rojected Publication Date" column: 1) "12 months or less" and 2) "more than 12
months." These options give you some idea of how quickly we expect to complete an action.