Proposed Risk Management Program (RMP) Reconsideration Rule

Rule Summary

On May 17, 2018, EPA's Administrator signed a proposed rule requesting public comment on several proposed changes to the final RMP Amendments issued on January 13, 2017. EPA is proposing to rescind amendments relating to:

safer technology and alternatives analyses,
third-party audits,
incident investigations,
information availability, and
several other minor regulatory changes.

EPA is also proposing to modify amendments relating to local emergency coordination, emergency exercises, public meetings, and to change the compliance dates for these provisions. EPA is proposing these changes to address:

potential security risks associated with new information disclosure requirements introduced in the final Amendments rule,
concerns about unnecessary regulations and regulatory costs, concerns that EPA did not coordinate its rulemaking with OSHA,
the timing of the finding by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (BATF) that the West Fertilizer incident was caused by arson, and
other issues.

Comments on the proposed rule must be received on or before July 30, 2018.

Proposed Rule (83 FR 24850) (34 pp, 395 K, About PDF)

Public Hearing

A public hearing on the proposed rule will be held in Washington, DC on June 14, 2018, at William J. Clinton East Building Room 1153 (Map Room), 1201 Constitution Ave. NW, Washington DC 20460. For more information and to register, please see: Public Hearing on the Proposed Changes to the Risk Management Program (RMP) Rule.

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Rule History

On January 13, 2017, the final RMP Amendments were published in the Federal Register.

On June 9, 2017, EPA's Administrator signed a final rule to further delay the effective date of the RMP rule amendments for 20 months until February 19, 2019. For more information, please see: Final Amendments to the Risk Management Program (RMP) Rule.

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