[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 137 (Tuesday, July 18, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 40718-40720]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-11343]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[EPA-HQ-OAR-2005-0172; FRL-8198-8]
Draft Staff Paper for Ozone
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice of a draft for public review and comment.
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SUMMARY: On or about July 18, 2006, the Office of Air Quality Planning
and Standards (OAQPS) of EPA will make available for public review and
comment a draft document, Review of the National Ambient Air Quality
Standards for Ozone: Policy Assessment of Scientific and Technical
Information (Draft Staff Paper) (Chapters 1-5 and 7-8). Chapter 6
(Staff Conclusions on the Primary Ozone National Ambient Air Quality
Standards) of the Draft Staff Paper will be made available on or about
July 25, 2006. The purpose of the Staff Paper is to evaluate the policy
implications of the key scientific and technical information contained
in a related EPA document, Air Quality Criteria for Ozone and Related
Photochemical Oxidants, required under sections 108 and 109 of the
Clean Air Act (CAA) for use in the periodic review of the national
ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) for ozone.
The OAQPS also will make available for public review and comment
related draft technical support documents, Ozone Population Exposure
Analysis for Selected Urban Areas (draft Exposure Analysis), Ozone
Health Risk Assessment for Selected Urban Areas (draft Risk
Assessment), and Technical Report on Ozone Exposure, Risk and Impact
Assessments for Vegetation (draft Environmental Assessment).
Availability of Documents
The following documents are available for review by the CASAC Ozone
Panel in the form of printed copies and a CD-ROM containing these
electronic files or by downloading the documents from the EPA Web site:
http://www.epa.gov/ttn/naaqs/standards/ozone/s_o3_cr_sp.html for
the Staff Paper and http://www.epa.gov/ttn/naaqs/standards/ozone/s_o3_cr_td.html for the technical support documents and staff memos.
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DATES: Comments on the Draft Staff Paper, draft Exposure Analysis,
draft Risk Assessment, and draft Environmental Assessment should be
submitted on or before September 18, 2006.
ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-
OAR-2005-0172 by one of the following methods:
www.regulations.gov: Follow the on-line instructions for
submitting comments.
E-mail: [email protected].
Fax: 202-566-1741.
Mail: Docket EPA-HQ-OAR-2005-0172, Environmental
Protection Agency, Mailcode 6102T, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW.,
Washington, DC 20460. Please include a total of two copies.
Hand Delivery: Public Reading Room, Room B102, EPA West
Building, 1301 Constitution Avenue, NW., Washington, DC. Such
deliveries are only accepted during the Docket's normal hours of
operation, and special arrangements should be made for deliveries of
boxed information.
Instructions: Direct your comments to Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-
2005-0172. The EPA's policy is that all comments received will be
included in the public docket without change and may be made available
online at www.regulations.gov, including any personal information
provided, unless the comment includes information claimed to be
Confidential Business Information (CBI) or other information whose
disclosure is restricted by statute. Do not submit information that you
consider to be CBI or otherwise protected through www.regulations.gov
or e-mail. The www.regulations.gov Web site is an ``anonymous access''
system, which means EPA will not know your identity or contact
information unless you provide it in the body of your comment. If you
send an e-mail comment directly to EPA without going through
www.regulations.gov, your e-mail address will be automatically captured
and included as part of the comment that is placed in the public docket
and made available on the Internet. If you submit an electronic
comment, EPA recommends that you include your name and other contact
information in the body of your comment and with any disk or CD-ROM you
submit. If EPA cannot read your comment due to technical difficulties
and cannot contact you for clarification, EPA may not be able to
consider your comment. Electronic files should avoid the use of special
characters, any form of encryption, and be free of any defects or
viruses. For additional information about EPA's public docket visit the
EPA Docket Center homepage at http://www.epa.gov/epahome/dockets.htm.
Docket: All documents in the docket are listed in the
www.regulations.gov index. Although listed in the index, some
information is not publicly available, e.g., CBI or other information
whose disclosure is restricted by statute. Certain other material, such
as copyrighted material, will be publicly available only in hard copy.
Publicly available docket materials are available either electronically
in www.regulations.gov or in hard copy at the address listed above for
hand delivery of comments. This Docket Facility is open from 8:30 a.m.
to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, excluding legal holidays. The
Docket telephone number is 202-566-1742.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr. David McKee, Office of Air Quality
Planning and Standards (Mail Code C504-06), U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, NC 27711; e-mail:
[email protected]; telephone: (919) 541-5288; fax: (919) 541-0237.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. What Should I Consider as I Prepare My Comments for EPA?
1. Submitting CBI. Do not submit this information to EPA through
www.regulations.gov or e-mail. Clearly mark the part or all of the
information that you claim to be CBI. For CBI information in a disk or
CD-ROM that you mail to EPA, mark the outside of the disk or CD-ROM as
CBI and then identify electronically within the disk or CD-ROM the
specific information that is claimed as CBI. In addition to one
complete version of the comment that includes information claimed as
CBI, a copy of the comment that does not contain the information
claimed as CBI must be submitted for inclusion in the public docket.
Information so marked will not be disclosed except in accordance with
procedures set forth in 40 CFR part 2.
2. Tips for Preparing Your Comments. When submitting comments,
remember to:
Identify the rulemaking by docket number and other
identifying information (subject heading, Federal Register date and
page number).
Follow directions--The agency may ask you to respond to
specific questions or organize comments by referencing a Code of
Federal Regulations (CFR) part or section number.
Explain why you agree or disagree; suggest alternatives
and substitute language for your requested changes.
Describe any assumptions and provide any technical
information and/or data that you used.
If you estimate potential costs or burdens, explain how
you arrived at your estimate in sufficient detail to allow for it to be
reproduced.
Provide specific examples to illustrate your concerns, and
suggest alternatives.
Explain your views as clearly as possible, avoiding the
use of profanity or personal threats.
Make sure to submit your comments by the comment period
deadline identified.
II. Background on the Ozone NAAQS Review
Section 108(a) of the CAA directs the Administrator to identify
certain pollutants which ``may reasonably be anticipated to endanger
public health and welfare'' and to issue air quality criteria for them.
These air quality criteria are to ``accurately reflect the latest
scientific knowledge useful in indicating the kind and extent of all
identifiable effects on public health or welfare which may be expected
from the presence of [a] pollutant in the ambient air * * *'' Under
section 109 of the CAA, EPA is then to establish NAAQS for each
pollutant for which EPA has issued criteria. Section 109(d) of the CAA
subsequently requires periodic review and, if appropriate, revision of
existing air quality criteria to reflect advances in scientific
knowledge on the effects of the pollutant on public health and welfare.
Also, EPA is to retain or, if appropriate revise, the NAAQS based on
the revised criteria, which have undergone review by the Clean Air
Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC).
The CASAC, which is comprised of seven members appointed by the EPA
Administrator, was established under section 109(d)(2) of the CAA (42
U.S.C. 7409) as an independent scientific advisory committee, in part
to provide advice, information, and recommendations on the scientific
and technical aspects of issues related to air quality criteria and
NAAQS under sections 108 and 109 of the CAA. The CASAC is a Federal
advisory committee under the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA), as
amended, 5 U.S.C., App. The CASAC Ozone Review Panel consists of the
members of the chartered CASAC, is supplemented by subject-matter
experts, and complies with the provisions of FACA.
Ozone is one of six ``criteria'' pollutants for which EPA has
established air quality criteria and NAAQS. Presently, EPA is reviewing
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the criteria and NAAQS for ozone. This review includes preparation of
two key documents, the Air Quality Criteria for Ozone and Related
Photochemical Oxidants (``Criteria Document'') and a related ``Staff
Paper.'' The purpose of the Staff Paper is to evaluate the policy
implications of the key scientific and technical information contained
in the Criteria Document and identify critical elements that EPA staff
believe should be considered in reviewing the NAAQS. The Staff Paper is
intended to ``bridge the gap'' between the scientific review contained
in the Criteria Document and the public health and welfare policy
judgments required of the Administrator in reviewing the NAAQS.
In January 2005, a first external review draft of the Criteria
Document was released by EPA for public review and comment and for
review by the CASAC of EPA's Science Advisory Board (70 FR 4850,
January 31, 2005) at a public meeting held in May 2005. Comments
received from review of the first draft document were considered in
preparing the second draft Criteria Document released for public review
and comment in August 2005 (70 FR 51810, August 31, 2005). Based on
this document, the first Draft Staff Paper was released in November
2005 (70 FR 69761, November 17, 2005), and reviewed at a public meeting
on December 8, 2005. Based on the information contained in the final
Criteria Document, released in March 2006 (71 FR 10030, February 28,
2006), the second Draft Staff Paper includes assessments and analyses
related to: (1) Air quality characterization; (2) integration and
evaluation of health information; (3) exposure analysis; (4) health
risk assessment; and (5) evaluation of information on vegetation damage
and other welfare effects. The second Draft Staff Paper contains staff
conclusions and options with respect to possible retention or revision
of the current primary (health-based) and secondary (welfare-based)
standards and identifies alternative standards for consideration by the
Administrator.
The draft Exposure Analysis, Risk Assessment and Environmental
Assessment technical support documents describe and present the results
from an ozone exposure analysis and health risk assessment in several
urban areas, and the impact of ozone on the environment. Draft plans
upon which these assessments are based, the Ozone Health Assessment
Plan: Scope and Methods for Exposure Analysis and Risk Assessment and
the Scope and Methods for Environmental Assessment Plan, were
previously reviewed by CASAC and the public. Comments received on those
plans have been considered in developing the draft Exposure Analysis,
Risk Assessment and Environmental Assessment technical support
documents being released at this time. The exposure analysis, risk
assessment, and environmental assessment methodologies and results are
also discussed in the second Draft Staff Paper.
The EPA is soliciting advice and recommendations from the CASAC by
means of a peer review of the second Draft Staff Paper and drafts of
the Exposure Analysis, Risk Assessment, and Environmental Assessment at
an upcoming public meeting of the CASAC scheduled for August 24 and 25,
2006. A Federal Register notice will inform the public of the location
of that meeting. Following the CASAC meeting, EPA will consider
comments received from CASAC and the public in preparing a final Staff
Paper and final Exposure Analysis, Risk Assessment, and Environmental
Assessment technical support documents.
Dated: July 13, 2006.
Mary E. Henigin,
Acting Director, Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards.
[FR Doc. E6-11343 Filed 7-17-06; 8:45 am]
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