Action Initiation List – March 2014 Page 1 of 4

March 2014 Action Initiation List (as of 5/21/2014)

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 each 

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 Regulatory 

Development and Retrospective Review Tracker (RegDaRRT) on www.epa.gov/rulemaking/. 

If one of the rules on this AIL is in RegDaRRT, a link to the rule's profile is included in the table below. For all rules – those that 

are in RegDaRRT and those 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) 
Action Initiation List – March 2014 Page 2 of 4

Action Title Stage Contact Abstract

Projected

Publication 

Date

National Emissions Standards 

for Hazardous Air Pollutants 

From Secondary Lead 

Smelting

NPRM Nathan Topham 

919-541-0483

Topham.Nathan@epa.gov

This action addresses reconsideration petitions filed by environmental and 

industry groups following the January 5, 2012 residual risk and technology 

reviews for secondary lead smelters. The EPA agreed to reconsider limited 

aspects of the final rule. 

12 months 

or less

Fee Schedule for Electronic 

Hazardous Waste Manifest

NPRM Rich LaShier 

703-308-8796

Lashier.Rich@epa.gov

This action will establish a program of fees that will be imposed on users of 

the e-manifest system and will announce the user fee schedule for 

manifest related activities, including activities associated with collection 

and processing of paper manifests submitted to EPA. This action also will 

announce the date upon which EPA will be ready to transmit and receive 

manifests through the national e-Manifest system and will announce the 

date upon which the user community must comply with the new e-Manifest 

regulation.

More than 

12 months 
Action Initiation List – March 2014 Page 3 of 4

Action Title Stage Contact Abstract

Projected

Publication 

Date

Uniform National Discharge 

Standards for Vessels of the 

Armed Forces - Phase II –

Batch Two (UNDS)

NPRM Katherine Weiler 

202-566-1280

Weiler.Katherine@epa.gov

In 1996 the Clean Water Act was amended to create section 312(n), 

"Uniform National Discharge Standards (UNDS) for Vessels of the Armed 

Forces." Section 312(n) directs EPA and DOD to establish national 

discharge standards for discharges incidental to the normal operation of a 

vessel of the Armed Forces. These national standards will preempt State 

discharge standards for these vessels though States will be able to enforce 

the uniform national standards. 

EPA and DOD jointly promulgated Phase I of these regulations, 40 CFR 

part 1700, on May 10, 1999 (64 FR 25126). Phase I concluded that 25 out 

of 39 discharges from Armed Forces vessels would require EPA and DoD 

to jointly establish performance standards by regulation (Phase II) for which 

it is "reasonable and practicable" to require a "marine pollution control 

device." Some of these discharges have the potential to introduce oil or 

other organics into receiving waters (such as bilge water); some have the 

potential to introduce copper or other metals (such as hull coating leachate); 

and some have the potential to introduce aquatic nuisance species (such as 

ballast water).

Phase II of these regulations will establish performance standards to control 

the 25 discharges in two separate rulemakings. EPA and DoD published the 

UNDS Phase II – Batch One Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on February 

3, 2014; the comment period closed on April 4, 2014. Batch One included 

the following 11 discharges: aqueous film forming foam, chain locker 

effluent, distillation and reverse osmosis brine, elevator pit effluent, gas 

turbine water wash, non-oily machinery wastewater, photographic 

laboratory drains, seawater cooling overboard discharge, seawater piping 

biofouling prevention, small boat engine wet exhaust, and well deck 

discharges. 

Phase II – Batch Two (current Action) will include performance standards 

for the following 14 discharges: catapult water brake tank & post-launch 

retraction exhaust, clean ballast, compensated fuel ballast, controllable 

pitch propeller hydraulic fluid, deck runoff, dirty ballast, firemain systems, 

graywater, hull coating leachate, motor gasoline compensating discharge, 

sonar dome discharge, submarine bilgewater, surface vessel bilgewater/oilwater separator, and underwater ship husbandry.

12 months 

or less 
Action Initiation List – March 2014 Page 4 of 4

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 20 days after the close of the month (e.g., 

the April 2014 AIL will post sometime around May 20th).

What Does Each Column in the AIL Mean?

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 proposed 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 Action

• Interim Final – Interim Final Action

• Final – Final Action

• Section 610 Review – Agency Review under Section 610 of the Regulatory Flexibility Act

Contact: Provides the name, phone, and email address for the EPA staff person assigned to this rule. Additionally, if a rule is in EPA's 

RegDaRRT (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 "Projected 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.