[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 233 (Wednesday, December 4, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Page 72173]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-30763]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-7417-2]


Generic Assessment Endpoints for Ecological Risk Assessments 
(External Review Draft); Notice of Availability

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency.

ACTION: Notice of availability and opportunity for public comment.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is announcing a 
60-day public comment period for the draft document titled Generic 
Assessment Endpoints for Ecological Risk Assessments prepared by the 
Agency's Risk Assessment Forum (RAF). The document is intended to 
assist EPA during the process of ecological risk assessment in 
selecting assessment endpoints, which are valued ecological entities 
and attributes to be protected. EPA will consider the public comment 
submissions in revising the document.

DATES: The 60-day public comment period begins December 4, 2002, and 
ends February 3, 2003. Comments must be provided by February 3, 2003.

ADDRESSES: The draft is available via the Internet on the EPA Risk 
Assessment Forum's home page at http://www.epa.gov/ncea/raf under the 
What's New and External Review Drafts menus. Comments may be submitted 
electronically, by mail, or in person, as described in the instructions 
under SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For information on the public comment 
period, please contact Scott Schwenk, U.S. EPA, Office of Research and 
Development, National Center for Environmental Assessment (8601D), 1200 
Pennsylvania Ave. NW., Washington, DC 20460; telephone: 202-564-6667; 
fax: 202-565-0062; e-mail: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Submission of Comments

    Electronic comments are preferred and may be sent by e-mail to: 
[email protected]. Alternatively, comments may be mailed to the 
Technical Information Staff (8623D), NCEA-W, U.S. Environmental 
Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20460, 
or delivered to the Technical Information Staff at 808 17th Street, 
NW., 5th Floor, Washington, DC 20006; telephone: 202-564-3261; 
facsimile: 202-565-0050. In the case of paper comments, please submit 
one unbound original with pages numbered consecutively, and three 
copies of the comments. For attachments, provide an index, number pages 
consecutively with the comments, and submit an unbound original and 
three copies.
    Please note that all comments received in response to this notice 
will be placed in a public record. For that reason, commentors should 
not submit personal information (such as medical data or home address), 
Confidential Business Information, or information protected by 
copyright. Due to limited resources, acknowledgments will not be sent.

II. Background

    Ecological risk assessment is a process for evaluating the 
likelihood that adverse ecological effects may occur or are occurring 
as a result of exposure to one or more stressors. A critical early step 
in conducting an ecological risk assessment is to select assessment 
endpoints. Assessment endpoints represent valued ecological entities, 
and their attributes, upon which risk-management actions are focused. 
Selecting assessment endpoints is often challenging because of the 
diversity of species, ecological communities, and ecological functions 
from which those involved in risk assessment can choose and because of 
statutory ambiguity regarding what is to be protected. The purpose of 
the RAF document is to assist EPA risk assessors by providing a set of 
generic ecological assessment endpoints that can be considered and 
adapted for use in specific ecological risk assessments, building on 
existing EPA guidance and experience. The document is not prescriptive, 
but rather is intended to be a useful starting point that is flexible 
enough to be applied to many different types of ecological risk 
assessments. The document is undergoing peer review concurrent with the 
public comment period described in this notice.

    Dated: November 12, 2002.
George W. Alapas,
Director, National Center for Environmental Assessment.
[FR Doc. 02-30763 Filed 12-3-02; 8:45 am]
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