## December 201 4 Ac tion Initiation List (as of 1 / 15 /201 5 )

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 ea ch

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/.

For all rules

– those that are in RegDaRRT and those that are not

– you may obtain updates twice a yea r 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

– Dece m ber 201 4 Page 1 of 3Action Title Stage Contact Abstract Projected

Publication

Date

Protection of Stratospheric Ozone: Update to the Refrigerant Management Requirements under

Section 608 of the Clean

Air Act NPRM Luke Hall

- Jordan

202

- 343

- 9591

Hall

- Jordan.Luke@epa.gov This rule proposes to implement the Clean Air Act prohibition against knowingly releasing refrigerants during the course of maintaining, servicing, repairing, or disposing of appliances by updating and then extending the existing standards for ozone

- depleting refrigerants to non

ozone

- depleting refrigerants like hydrofluorocarbons (HF Cs). This action would reduce emissions of high global warming potential refrigerants. 12 months

or less

Proposed Revision of

Certain Federal Water Quality Criteria Applicable to Washington NPRM Erica Fleisig

202

- 566

- 1057 Fleisig.Erica@epa.gov Washington’s existing criteria for the protection of human health were promulgated by EPA in 1992 as part of the National Toxics Rule (40 CFR 131.36). EPA is proposing to update these criteria to reflect the latest science, including local and regional information and applicable EPA policies, guidance, and legal requirements. 12 months

or less



### Action Initiation List

– Dece m ber 201 4 Page 2 of 3

# 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 201 4 AIL will post sometime around May 20 th).



# 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 act ion) 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 mod ification 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 u nder 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.go v/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 s ome idea of how q uickly we expect to complete an

action.



### Action Initiation List

– Dece m ber 201 4 Page 3 of 3