[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 214 (Thursday, November 5, 1998)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 59754-59755]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-29802]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
40 CFR Part 745
[OPPTS-62156D; FRL-6044-9]
RIN 2070-AC63
Lead, Identification of Dangerous Levels of Lead; Extension of
Comment Period and Rescheduling of Public Meeting
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Proposed rule.
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SUMMARY: EPA is extending the time for the public to provide written
comments on a proposed rule, issued under section 403 of the Toxic
Substances Control Act (TSCA), that would provide guidelines for
managing lead in paint, dust, and soil in residences and child-occupied
facilities. The public now has until December 31, 1998, to submit
written comments. EPA is also rescheduling a public meeting on the
proposed rule from its original date of November 16, 1998, to December
4, 1998. The purpose of this meeting is to provide an opportunity for
nationally recognized experts to offer their perspectives on the
proposed rule and for the public to present oral comments. The public
would still have the opportunity to submit written comments after the
meeting.
DATES: Written comments on the proposed rule must be received on or
before December 31, 1998.
The public meeting will be held on December 4, 1998, from 9 a.m. to
9 p.m. EPA requests that members of the public wishing to present oral
comments at the meeting register by November 23, 1998, persons may also
register to speak at the time of the meeting, if any comment time is
remaining.
ADDRESSES: Public meeting: The meeting will be held at the Grand Hyatt
San Francisco, 345 Stockton St., San Francisco, CA.
Comments: Each written comment must bear the docket control number
OPPTS-62156D. All comments should be sent in triplicate to: OPPT
Document Control Officer (7407), Office of Pollution Prevention and
Toxics, Environmental Protection Agency, 401 M St., SW., Rm. G-099,
East Tower, Washington, DC 20460.
Written comments and data may also be submitted electronically to:
[email protected]. Follow the instructions in Unit III. of this
document. No Confidential Business Information (CBI) should be
submitted through e-mail.
All written comments which contain information claimed as CBI must
be clearly marked as such. Three copies, sanitized of any comments
containing information claimed as CBI, must also be submitted and will
be placed in the public record for this rulemaking. Persons submitting
information, any portion of which they believe is entitled to treatment
as CBI by EPA, must assert a business confidentiality claim in
accordance with 40 CFR 2.203(b) for each such portion. This claim must
be made at the time that the information is submitted to EPA. If a
submitter does not assert a confidentiality claim at the time of
submission, EPA will consider this as a waiver of any confidentiality
claim and the information may be made available to the public by EPA
without further notice to the submitter.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For general information and to
register to present oral comments at the meeting: National Lead
Information Center's Clearinghouse, 1-800-424-LEAD (5323).
For technical and policy questions: Jonathan Jacobson, telephone:
(202) 260-3779 or e-mail: [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
In the Federal Register of June 3, 1998 (63 FR 30302) (FRL-5791-9),
EPA published a proposed rule under Title IV of TSCA. Section 403 of
TSCA (15 U.S.C. 2683) directs EPA to promulgate regulations identifying
lead-based paint hazards, lead-contaminated dust, and lead-contaminated
soil. Section 402 of TSCA (15 U.S.C. 2682) directs EPA to promulgate
regulations governing lead-based paint activities. Section 404 of TSCA
(15 U.S.C. 2684) requires that any State that seeks to administer and
enforce the requirements established by the Agency under section 402 of
TSCA must submit to the Administrator a request for authorization of
such a program.
[[Page 59755]]
On October 1, 1998, EPA announced in the Federal Register (63 FR
52662) ( FRL-6037-7) that it would extend the public comment period
until November 30, 1998. On October 28, 1998, EPA announced in the
Federal Register (63 FR 57636) ( FRL-6041-1) that it would be holding a
public meeting on November 16, 1998, to provide an opportunity to
present oral comments. Upon further reflection, the Agency has decided
that it would be more valuable to expand the scope of this meeting and
include nationally recognized experts to offer their perspectives on
the proposed rule in a public workshop. Following the workshop, members
of the public will have the opportunity to present oral comments on the
proposed rule to the Agency. In order to accommodate this type of
forum, EPA is rescheduling the public meeting to December 4, 1998, and
will further extend the time for submitting written comments to
December 31, 1998.
II. Meeting Process
The workshop component of the meeting, consisting of nationally
recognized experts, will convene at approximately 9 a.m. and will end
at 2:30 p.m. Oral comments from the public will be heard between 3 p.m.
and 9 p.m.
The workshop will begin with presentations by EPA officials on the
Agency's approach described in the proposed rule and an explanation of
the decisions in the proposal. These presentations will be followed by
several discussion segments that will address the major issues of
concern. In each segment, several experts have been invited to present
formal remarks on EPA's proposed standards. After the conclusion of the
formal presentations during each segment, there will be an open
discussion among the invited participants. EPA officials will
facilitate the discussion and will be available to answer questions
that will help clarify materials contained in the public record. In
addition, the public is encouraged to attend the workshop to hear the
discussions and will have the opportunity to offer comments later in
the day.
The public comment component of the meeting will run from
approximately 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. with an hour break from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m.
EPA will hear as many comments as time permits. Commenters will speak
in the order in which they register. Individuals are requested to limit
their presentations to 10 minutes in order to allow as many persons as
possible a fair chance to participate. Individuals interested in
presenting comments at the meeting should register in advance by
contacting the National Lead Information Clearinghouse at 1-800-424-
LEAD (5323). Individuals should indicate whether they wish to speak at
the afternoon or evening session.
III. Public Record and Electronic Submissions
The official record for this rulemaking, as well as the public
version, has been established for this rulemaking under docket control
number OPPTS-62156D (including comments and data submitted
electronically as described in this unit). A public version of this
record, including printed, paper versions of electronic comments, which
does not include any information claimed as CBI, is available for
inspection from 12 noon to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding
legal holidays. The official rulemaking record is located in the TSCA
Nonconfidential Information Center, Rm. NE-B607, 401 M St., SW.,
Washington, DC. Electronic comments can be sent directly to EPA at:
[email protected].
Electronic comments must be submitted as an ASCII file avoiding the
use of special characters and any form of encryption. Comments and data
will also be accepted on disks in WordPerfect 5.1/6.1 or ASCII file
format. All comments and data in electronic form must be identified by
the docket control number OPPTS-62156D. Electronic comments on this
proposed rule may be filed online at many Federal Depository Libraries.
List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 745
Environmental protection, Hazardous substances, Lead-based paint,
Lead poisoning, Reporting and recordkeeping requirements.
Dated: November 3, 1998.
Joseph S. Carra,
Acting Director, Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics.
[FR Doc. 98-29802 Filed 11-3-98; 3:37 pm]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-F