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.
To provide the opportunity for public comment on the updated RMP database and its impacts on the proposed rule, EPA is extending the comment period. Comments on the proposed Reconsideration Rule must be received on or before August 23, 2018. For more information, please see: Notice of Data Availability (83 FR 34967) (2 pp, 194 K, About PDF)
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.
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.
Additional Resources
Notice of Technical Correction (83 FR 36837)(2 pp, 210 K, About PDF) - EPA is correcting incorrect date references to the version of the Risk Management Plan (RMP) database used to extract accident history information for the years 2014 – 2016. EPA used this accident information to update the trend of accidents from RMP facilities discussed in the Regulatory Impact Analysis for the proposed Reconsideration. EPA also referred to this information in the Notification of Data Availability and Extension of Comment Period. This notice serves to correct the incorrect date references.
Notice of Data Availability (83 FR 34967) (2 pp, 194 K, About PDF) - To provide the opportunity for public comment on the updated RMP database and its impacts on the proposed rule, EPA is extending the comment period. Comments on the proposed Reconsideration Rule must be received on or before August 23, 2018.
Fact Sheet: Proposed Risk Management Program (RMP) Reconsideration Rule
Regulatory Impact Analysis (87 pp, 2 MB, About PDF)