Subpart W Quarterly Call – January 3, 2013 

Attendees

EPA: Reid Rosnick (ORIA), Angelique Diaz (Region 8), Susan Stahle (OGC) 

Environmental Groups 

Jennifer Thurston (INFORM) 

Other 

Travis Stills (Energy Minerals Law Center) 

Industry 

Oscar Paulson (Kennecott), Katie Sweeney (National Mining Association), John Cash (UrEnergy), Mike Thomas (?), John McCarthy (?), Bill Carney (Uranium One), Mike Griffin (Strata 

Energy), Jim Cain (Cotter) 

Reid

 No comments received on October call draft minutes 

 Very little to report since the last call. Update on rule package: scheduled to be received 

by OMB on 2/8/2013. I have been told that Court ordered deadline rules are at OMB 

with higher priority than Subpart W – reason for the hold up. Subpart W behind rules 

with court ordered deadlines, but before general rules because there is a settlement 

agreement in place. 

Questions/Comments/Discussion

Travis Stills: Referred to FOIA documents. Travis claims that EPA is 18 months out of 

compliance with documents being placed on the website. Repeating his claim regarding 

placement of documents on the website, and says he doesn’t see a good faith attempt by EPA to 

conform to agreement. 

Reid: He doesn’t have authority over when rulemaking packages are sent to OMB; that would be 

the Administrator’s office. 

Travis Stills: Request that minutes reflect that the Administrator’s office is not going forward 

with the rulemaking package. SO NOTED 
Katie Sweeney: Why isn’t this rulemaking in the regulatory agenda that came out last week? 

Neither was Part 192, curious why they weren’t included. Note that after the conference call 

Katie sent two websites she uses to track EPA regulations (Subpart W): 

http://yosemite.epa.gov/opei/RuleGate.nsf/(LookupRIN)2060-AP26#1

http://regulations.gov/#!documentDetail;D=EPA-HQ-OA-2012-1987-0001

Reid: Wasn’t aware of that. Doesn’t have the answer, Reid will find out and address in the 

minutes. Reid will also try to find status of part 192 rule. ACTION SINCE THE CONFERENCE 

CALL: SENIOR LEVEL MANAGEMENT OF EPA IS AWARE OF THE DELAY IN 

SENDING THE SUBPART W RULMAKING PACKAGE TO OMB. REID HAS BEEN 

DIRECTED TO TELL THE STAKEHOLDERS TO THANK THEM FOR THEIR PATIENCE, 

STAY TUNED, AND THAT MORE INFORMATION WILL BE PROVIDED IN THE 

SPRING 2013 REGULATORY AGENDA. 

Katie Sweeney: Status update is helpful, because there is no info on the web regarding updates 

anymore. 

Reid: Actually, on the Subpart W website 

(http://www.epa.gov/radiation/neshaps/subpartw/rulemaking-activity.html) 

there is a section (required by the settlement agreement) that posts a tentative completion 

estimate for the rule, and it is updated as necessary. We assume there is a 90 day review period 

once we give the package to OMB. Therefore the proposed rule would be signed in mid to late 

June of this year and out for public comments. 

Katie Sweeney: Looked at the EPA dashboard. 

Travis Stills: Who do you communicate with in Administrator’s office? 

Reid: It’s in the Office of Policy - Barry Elman, staff person, member of the Subpart W 

workgroup. 

Travis Stills: Sees it being pushed from desk to desk and not going anywhere. Asking for 

assurance that this is handled by folks with authority to move rulemakings, doesn’t think it is. 

Reid: Will see what he can do to see why the rulemaking is not on the current regulatory agenda 

and pin down a more realistic time for package. SEE ABOVE ACTION ITEM. 
Katie Sweeney: 90 days is optimistic for OMB. Rules have been sitting there for a couple years 

or longer. 

Reid: Correct. The updates I give are the most optimistic deadlines. 

Travis Stills: What has been done since the last call to move the regulation forward? 

Reid: Once package goes to Office of Policy and then on to OMB, it is out of our hands. Reid 

again explained the queue of regulations and where the log jam is because of prioritization. 

Difficult to determine how many are in the line and how they get moved over. Reid will try to 

provide additional information on the process. Will post what I discover in the minutes. 

ACTION SINCE THE CONFERENCE CALL: SENIOR LEVEL MANAGEMENT OF EPA IS 

AWARE OF THE DELAY IN SENDING THE SUBPART W RULMAKING PACKAGE TO 

OMB. REID HAS BEEN DIRECTED TO TELL THE STAKEHOLDERS TO THANK THEM 

FOR THEIR PATIENCE, TO STAY TUNED, AND THAT MORE INFORMATION WILL BE 

PROVIDED FOR THE SPRING 2013 REGULATORY AGENDA. 

Travis Stills: The level of discussion and level of authority is not sufficient. This project needs to 

be handled by people with authority. 

Reid: Without any further questions or comments the conference call was ended. 

NEXT CALL: Thursday, April 4, 2013 11am Eastern Time.