[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 200 (Tuesday, October 17, 2006)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 60853-60854]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-17011]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
40 CFR Part 50
[EPA-HQ-OAR-2006-0834; FRL-8230-9]
Regulatory Impact Analysis for the Review of the Particulate
Matter National Ambient Air Quality Standards
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice of availability of documents.
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SUMMARY: On October 6, 2006, EPA released the Regulatory Impact
Analysis (RIA) for the revised particulate matter national ambient air
quality standards. This RIA provides EPA's estimates of the range of
the monetized human health benefits, control costs, and net benefits
associated with meeting the revised suite of standards for fine
particles (PM2.5) that are published elsewhere in this issue
of the Federal Register, as well as for meeting a more stringent
alternative. The final rule established a 24-hour standard of 35 g/
m3 and retained the annual standard of 15 g/m3.
The EPA also promulgated a final decision to retain the current 24-hour
PM10 standards and to revoke the current annual
PM10 standards, in order to maintain protection against the
health and welfare effects of thoracic coarse particles
(PM10-2.5). Data and modeling limitations preclude EPA from
assessing the costs and benefits of retaining the existing
PM10 24-hour standard.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Ron Evans, Mail Code C439-02,
Health and Environmental Impacts Division, Office of Air Quality
Planning and Standards, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Research
Triangle Park, North Carolina 27711, telephone: (919) 541-5488, e-mail:
[email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
A. How Can I Get Copies of This Document and Other Related Information?
1. Docket. The EPA has established a docket for this action under
Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2006-0834. Publicly available docket materials
are available either electronically through www.regulations.gov or in
hard copy at the Air and Radiation Docket and
[[Page 60854]]
Information Center in the EPA Docket Center (EPA/DC) EPA West, Room
B102, 1301 Constitution Ave., NW., Washington, DC. The EPA Docket
Center Public Reading Room is open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday
through Friday, excluding legal holidays. The telephone number for the
Public Reading Room is (202) 566-1744, and the telephone number for the
Air and Radiation Docket and Information Center is (202) 566-1742.
2. Electronic Access. You may access this Federal Register document
electronically through the EPA Internet under the ``Federal Register''
listings at http://www.epa.gov/fedrgstr/. The EPA also has posted the
RIA on its Web site for particle pollution and the revised PM standards
at http://www.epa.gov/pm. Note: The EPA Docket Center suffered damage
due to flooding during the last week of June 2006. The Docket Center is
continuing to operate. However, during the cleanup, there will be
temporary changes to Docket Center telephone numbers, addresses, and
hours of operation for people who wish to visit the Public Reading Room
to view documents. Consult EPA's Federal Register notice at 71 FR 38147
(July 5, 2006) or the EPA Web site at http://www.epa.gov/epahome/dockets.htm for current information on docket status, locations and
telephone numbers.
In setting primary ambient air quality standards, EPA's
responsibility under the law is to establish standards that protect
public health. The Clean Air Act (CAA) requires EPA, for each criteria
pollutant, to set a standard that protects public health with ``an
adequate margin of safety.'' As interpreted by the Agency and the
courts, the CAA requires EPA to base this decision on health
considerations; economic factors cannot be considered.
Although EPA cannot consider costs in setting the primary air
quality standards, consideration of costs and benefits is essential to
the efficient implementation of these standards. The impacts of cost,
benefits, and efficiency are considered by the States when making
decisions regarding what timelines, strategies, and policies make the
most sense.
This PM2.5 NAAQS RIA is focused on development and
analyses of illustrative control strategies to meet alternative suites
of standards in 2020, the latest year by which the CAA generally
requires full attainment of the new standards. Because the States are
ultimately responsible for implementing strategies to meet the revised
standards, the RIA provides insights and analysis of a limited number
of illustrative control strategies that States might adopt to meet the
revised standards. These strategies are subject to a number of
important assumptions, uncertainties and limitations, which EPA
documents in the relevant portions of the analysis.
The EPA presents this analysis pursuant to Executive Order 12866
and the guidelines of OMB Circular A-4.\1\ These documents present
guidelines for EPA to assess the incremental benefits and costs of the
selected regulatory approach as well as one less stringent, and one
more stringent, option. In this RIA, the 1997 standards represent the
less stringent option, and the alternative suite of standards including
a tighter annual standard of 14 g/m\3\ together with the revised 24-
hour standard of 35 g/m\3\ represents the more stringent option.
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\1\ For a copy of these requirements, see:http://www.whitehouse.gov/OMB/inforeg/eo12866.pdf and http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/circulars/a004/a-4.html.
Dated: October 5, 2006.
Jeffrey S. Clarke,
Acting Director, Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards.
[FR Doc. E6-17011 Filed 10-16-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P