On February 10, 1998, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that it would approve provisions of the Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Act (NREPA) concerning fugitive dust emissions for inclusion in Michigan's state implementation plan (SIP) under the Clean Air Act.
The provisions in question, Mich. Comp. Laws. § 324.5524 and .5525, regulate fugitive dust emissions from many types of industrial and some commercial operations located in specified portions of Bay, Calhoun, Delta, Genesee, Lapeer, Macomb, Manistee, Midland, Monroe, Muskegon, Saginaw, St. Clair, and Wayne Counties. These statutory provisions are similar to the requirements formerly contained in Mich. Admin. Code r. 336.1373, which had previously been approved by EPA for Michigan's SIP, but which the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality rescinded as a matter of state law in 1997.
EPA's decision was announced in a "direct final" rulemaking that had not previously been subject to a public notice and comment period. EPA announced that it would accept comments on its decision, which EPA deemed "noncontroversial and routine," until March 12, 1998. Because no adverse comments were received on EPA's decision, it took effect on April 13, 1998.
EPA did not state, in this Federal Register notice, whether it also approved the removal of the former Mich. Admin. Code r. 336.1373 from Michigan's SIP.
63 Fed. Reg. 6650 (Feb. 10, 1998).
This article was prepared by S. Lee Johnson, a partner in our Environmental Department, and previously appeared in the May, 1998 edition of the Michigan Environmental Compliance Update, a monthly newsletter prepared by the Environmental Department and published by M. Lee Smith Publishers.