Accidental Release Prevention Requirements: Risk Management Programs Under the Clean Air Act; Safer Communities by Chemical Accident Prevention

<RULE> ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY <CFR>40 CFR Part 68</CFR> <DEPDOC>[EPA-HQ-OLEM-2022-0174; FRL-5766.6-02-OLEM]</DEPDOC> <RIN>RIN 2050-AH22</RIN> <SUBJECT>Accidental Release Prevention Requirements: Risk Management Programs Under the Clean Air Act; Safer Communities by Chemical Accident Prevention</SUBJECT> <HD SOURCE="HED">AGENCY:</HD> Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). <HD SOURCE="HED">ACTION:</HD> Final rule. <SUM> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUMMARY:</HD> The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is amending its Risk Management Program (RMP) regulations as a result of Agency review. The revisions include several changes and amplifications to the accident prevention program requirements, enhancements to the emergency preparedness requirements, improvements to the public availability of chemical hazard information, and several other changes to certain regulatory definitions or points of clarification. As major and other serious and concerning RMP accidents continue to occur, the record shows and EPA believes that this final rule will help further protect human health and the environment from chemical hazards through advancement of process safety based on lessons learned. These amendments seek to improve chemical process safety; assist in planning, preparedness, and response to Risk Management Program-reportable accidents; and improve public awareness of chemical hazards at regulated sources. While many of the provisions of this final rule reinforce each other, it is EPA's intent that each one is merited on its own, and thus severable. </SUM> <EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">DATES:</HD> This final rule is effective on May 10, 2024. </EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">ADDRESSES:</HD> EPA has established a docket for this action under Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OLEM-2022-0174. All documents in the docket are listed on the <E T="03">https://www.regulations.gov</E> website. Although listed in the index, some information is not publicly available, <E T="03">e.g.,</E> Confidential Business Information (CBI) or other information whose disclosure is restricted by statute. Certain other material, such as copyrighted material, is not placed on the internet and will be publicly available only in hard copy form. Publicly available docket materials are available electronically through <E T="03">https://www.regulations.gov.</E> <FURINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:</HD> Deanne Grant, Office of Emergency Management, Mail Code 5104A, Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20460; telephone number: 202-564-1096; email: <E T="03">grant.deanne@epa.gov.</E> </FURINF> <SUPLINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:</HD> <E T="03">Preamble acronyms and abbreviations.</E> EPA uses multiple acronyms and terms in this preamble. While this list may not be exhaustive, to ease the reading of this preamble and for reference purposes, EPA defines the following terms and acronyms here: <HD SOURCE="HD1">List of Abbreviations and Acronyms</HD> <EXTRACT> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">ANSI American National Standards Institute</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">API American Petroleum Institute</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">CAA Clean Air Act</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">CAAA Clean Air Act Amendments</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">CBI Confidential Business Information</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">CCPS Center for Chemical Process Safety</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">CERCLA Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">CFATS Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">CFR Code of Federal Regulations</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">CISA Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">CSB Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">CSISSFRRA Chemical Safety Information, Site Security and Fuels Regulatory Relief Act</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">CVI Chemical-terrorism Vulnerability Information</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">DHS Department of Homeland Security</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">DOJ Department of Justice</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">DOT Department of Transportation</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">EHS Extremely Hazardous Substances</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">EJ Environmental Justice</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">E.O. Executive Order</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">EPA Environmental Protection Agency</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">EPCRA Emergency Planning and Community Right-To-Know Act</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">FBI Federal Bureau of Investigation</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">FOIA Freedom of Information Act</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">FR Federal Register</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">GDC General Duty Clause</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">HF hydrofluoric acid</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">HHC highly hazardous chemical</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">ICR Information Collection Request</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">IIAR International Institute of Ammonia Refrigeration</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">IPAWS Integrated Public Alert & Warning System</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">ISD inherently safer design</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">IST inherently safer technology</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">LEPC Local Emergency Planning Committee</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">LOPA Layers of Protection Analysis</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">NAICS North American Industry Classification System</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">NASTTPO National Association of SARA Title III Program Officials</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">NECI National Enforcement and Compliance Initiative</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">NJDEP New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">NRC National Response Center</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">NRI National Risk Index</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">NTTAA National Technology and Transfer Advancement Act</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">OCA offsite consequence analysis</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">OMB Office of Management and Budget</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">OSHA Occupational Safety and Health Administration</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">PES Philadelphia Energy Solutions</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">PHA process hazard analysis</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">PHMSA Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">PRA Paperwork Reduction Act</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">PSI process safety information</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">PSM process safety management</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">RAGAGEP recognized and generally accepted good engineering practices</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">RCA root cause analysis incident investigation</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">RFA Regulatory Flexibility Act</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">RIA Regulatory Impact Analysis</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">RMP Risk Management Program or risk management plan</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">SARA Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">SCCAP Safer Communities by Chemical Accident Prevention</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">SDS Safety Data Sheet</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">SERC State Emergency Response Commission</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">STAA safer technology and alternatives analysis</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">TCPA Toxic Catastrophe Prevention Act</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">TMA trimethylamine</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">TQ threshold quantity</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">UMRA Unfunded Mandates Reform Act</FP> </EXTRACT> The contents of this preamble are: <EXTRACT> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">I. Executive Summary</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">A. Purpose of the Regulatory Action</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">B. Summary of the Major Provisions of the Regulatory Action</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">C. Costs and Benefits</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">II. General Information</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">A. Does this action apply to me?</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">B. What action is the Agency taking?</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">C. What is the Agency's authority for taking this action?</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">D. What are the incremental costs and benefits of this action?</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">III. Background</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">A. Overview of EPA's Risk Management Program</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">B. Events Leading to This Action</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">C. EPA's Authority To Revise the RMP Rule</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">IV. Discussion of General Comments</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">A. General Comments</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">B. EPA Responses</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">V. Prevention Program Requirements</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">A. Hazard Evaluation Amplifications</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">B. Safer Technology and Alternatives Analysis (STAA)</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">C. Root Cause Analysis</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">D. Third-Party Compliance Audits</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">E. Employee Participation</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">VI. Emergency Response</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">A. Summary of Proposed Rulemaking</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">B. Summary of Final Rule</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">C. Discussion of Comments</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">VII. Information Availability</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">A. Summary of Proposed Rulemaking</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">B. Summary of Final Rule</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">C. Discussion of Comments and Basis for Final Rule Provisions</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">VIII. Other Areas of Technical Clarification/Enforcement Issues</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2"> A. Summary of Proposed Rulemaking </FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">B. Summary of Final Rule</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">C. Discussion of Comments and Basis for Final Rule Provisions</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">IX. Compliance Dates</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">A. Summary of Proposed Rulemaking</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">B. Summary of Final Rule</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">C. Discussion of Comments and Basis for Final Rule Provisions</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">X. Statutory and Executive Orders Reviews</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">A. Executive Order 12866: Regulatory Planning and Review and Executive Order 14094: Modernizing Regulatory Review</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">B. Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA)</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">C. Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA)</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">D. Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA)</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">E. Executive Order 13132: Federalism</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">F. Executive O ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Preview showing 10k of 534k characters. 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