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In response to Executive Order 13650, the EPA is considering potential revisions to its Risk Management Program regulations and related programs. The Agency may consider changes to the list of regulated substances and threshold quantities, addition of new accident prevention or emergency response program elements and/or changes to existing elements, and/or other changes to the existing regulatory provisions.

Statement of Need:

On August 1, 2013, President Obama signed Executive order 13650, entitled Improving Chemical Facility Safety and Security. The Executive order establishes the Chemical Facility Safety and Security Working Group ("Working Group"), co-chaired by the Secretary of Homeland Security, the Administrator of the EPA, and the Secretary of Labor or their designated representatives at the Assistant Secretary level or higher, and composed of senior representatives of other Federal departments, agencies, and offices. The Executive order requires the Working Group to carry out a number of tasks whose overall aim is to prevent chemical accidents, such as the explosion that occurred at the West Fertilizer facility in West, Texas, on April 17, 2013. Section 6 of the Executive order is entitled "Policy, Regulation, and Standards Modernization", and among other things, requires certain federal agencies to consider possible changes to existing chemical safety and security regulations. On July 31, 2014, the EPA issued a Request for Information (RFI) to solicit stakeholder feedback on a number of potential modifications to the RMP regulations. This NPRM is expected to contain a number of proposed modifications to the RMP regulations based on stakeholder feedback received from the RFI.

Summary of the Legal Basis:

The statutory authority for this action is provided by section 112(r) of the Clean Air Act (CAA) as amended (42 U.S.C. 7412(r)).

Alternatives:

Alternatives will be considered during the development of the proposal.

Anticipated Costs and Benefits:

Benefits and costs will be examined in detail during the development of the proposal. For any proposed regulatory changes, EPA expects that benefits will be due to prevented costs of accidental releases (e.g., through covering additional hazardous chemical processes, or addition or improvement of accident prevention program requirements), or reduced costs of accidental releases that do occur (e.g., due to improvements in release detection or emergency response procedures). Costs will relate to coverage of any additional sources or implementation of any additional accident prevention or emergency response program requirements that are imposed.

Risks:

Risks will be examined during the development of the proposal.