The EPA proposes to approve an application from the State of New Mexico under the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) to revise the State’s existing UIC program for Class I hazardous waste injection wells located within the State, except those in Indian country. The State of New Mexico is revising its UIC Class I program regulations to establish new permit conditions, oversight, and enforcement to safely manage Class I hazardous waste disposal wells.

Once the proposed rule is published in the Federal Register, Public comments can be submitted to Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OW-2020-0154, located at https://www.regulations.gov (our preferred method), or by other methods identified in the ADDRESSES section in the federal register notice below. Once submitted, comments cannot be edited or removed from the docket. The EPA may publish any comment received to its public docket. Do not submit electronically any information you consider to be Confidential Business Information (CBI) or other information whose disclosure is restricted by statute. Multimedia submissions (audio, video, etc.) must be accompanied by a written comment. The written comment is considered the official comment and should include discussion of all points you wish to make. The EPA will generally not consider comments or comment contents located outside of the primary submission (i.e., on the web, cloud, or other file sharing system). For additional submission methods, the full EPA public comment policy, information about CBI or multimedia submissions, and general guidance on making effective comments, please visit https://19january2021snapshot.epa.gov/dockets/commenting-epa-dockets.

The virtual public hearing for those who wish to provide oral testimony is scheduled on November 27, 2020 from 9:00 am until 11:00 am Mountain time. The hearing will take place by telephone using the toll-free call-in number (800) 378-7998.

Callers should dial the call-in number at the start of the hearing or anytime between 9:00 am and 11:00 am Mountain time on November 27, 2020. Callers will be asked whether they want to make a comment and will be placed in a queue. The operator will call on commenters in the order in which they join the queue. To ensure all interested persons have an opportunity to provide oral testimony, the speaking time allotted to each commenter will be 2 (two) minutes. While you are not speaking, you will be able to listen to others providing their comments. Once all commenters in the queue have provided testimony, if there is time remaining, the Hearing Officer will allow additional testimony from anyone who wishes to add to their prior comments. At that time, the Hearing Officer may limit the time allotted for additional comments depending on the number of people who request to provide additional comments. The hearing will conclude at 11:00 am Mountain time.

The virtual public hearing is an audio-only call. Commenters who want to supply written or other materials, may do so via the online docket.  Any supporting materials for oral testimony will be accepted through the close of the comment period on November 27, 2020

In accordance with 40 CFR § 124.12(d), the entire hearing will be transcribed and made available to the public as part of the administrative record.

The document attached below is an unsigned copy of the proposed FR Notice.  Once the Office of the Federal Register has received the proposed rule with the Administrator’s signature, this page will be updated and the direct link will be provided. Anyone experiencing any accessibility issues while trying to access the document attached here should contact Lisa Pham (pham.lisa@epa.gov) 214-665-8326.

• New Mexico UIC Class I Proposed Rule (PDF)(18 pp, 416 K)