[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 139 (Thursday, July 19, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 42495-42496]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-17626]
[[Page 42495]]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[EPA-HQ-OAR-2008-0699; FRL-9701-3]
Release of Draft Documents Related to the Review of the National
Ambient Air Quality Standards for Ozone
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Availability of draft documents for public comment.
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SUMMARY: On or about July 16, 2012, the Office of Air Quality Planning
and Standards (OAQPS) of the EPA is making available for public comment
two draft assessment documents titled, Health Risk and Exposure
Assessment for Ozone, First External Review Draft and Welfare Risk and
Exposure Assessment for Ozone, First External Review Draft. These two
draft assessment documents describe the quantitative analyses the EPA
is conducting as part of the review of the national ambient air quality
standards (NAAQS) for ozone (O3). In addition, on or about
August 13, 2012, OAQPS will make available for public comment the first
draft document titled, Policy Assessment for the Review of the Ozone
National Ambient Air Quality Standards, First External Review Draft, as
well as appendices and additional technical materials that support the
first draft Policy Assessment and first draft Risk and Exposure
Assessments.
DATES: Comments on all documents should be submitted on or before
September 11, 2012.
ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-
OAR-2008-0699, by one of the following methods:
www.regulations.gov: Follow the on-line instructions for
submitting comments.
Email: Comments may be sent by electronic mail (email) to
a-and-r-docket@epa.gov, Attention Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2008-0699.
Fax: Fax your comments to 202-566-9744, Attention Docket
ID. No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2008-0699.
Mail: Send your comments to: Air and Radiation Docket and
Information Center, Environmental Protection Agency, Mailcode: 2822T,
1200 Pennsylvania Ave. NW., Washington, DC 20460, Attention Docket ID
No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2008-0699.
Hand Delivery or Courier: Deliver your comments to: EPA
Docket Center, 1301 Constitution Ave. NW., Room 3334, 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-
2008-0699. 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 email. The www.regulations.gov Web site is an ``anonymous access''
system, which means the EPA will not know your identity or contact
information unless you provide it in the body of your comment. If you
send an email comment directly to the EPA without going through
www.regulations.gov, your email address will be captured automatically
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, the 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 the EPA cannot read your comment due to technical
difficulties and cannot contact you for clarification, the 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.
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 Air Docket in the EPA
Docket Center, EPA West, Room 3334, 1301 Constitution Ave. NW.,
Washington, DC. 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; fax 202-566-9744.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For questions related to the draft
document titled, Health Risk and Exposure Assessment for Ozone, First
External Review Draft (EPA-452/P-12-001; July 2012), please contact Ms.
Karen Wesson, Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards (Mail code
C504-02), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park,
NC 27711; email: wesson.karen@epa.gov; telephone: 919-541-3515; fax:
919-541-5315.
For questions related to the draft document titled, Welfare Risk
and Exposure Assessment for Ozone, First External Review Draft (EPA-
452/P-12-004; July 2012), please contact Dr. Travis Smith, Office of
Air Quality Planning and Standards (Mail code C539-07), U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, NC 27711;
email: smith.jtravis@epa.gov; telephone: 919-541-2035; fax: 919-541-
5315.
For questions related to the draft document titled, Policy
Assessment for the Review of the Ozone National Ambient Air Quality
Standards: First External Review Draft (EPA-452/P-12-002; August 2012),
please contact Ms. Susan Lyon Stone, Office of Air Quality Planning and
Standards (Mail code C504-06), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency,
Research Triangle Park, NC 27711; email: stone.susan@epa.gov;
telephone: 919-541-1146; fax: 919-541-0237.
General Information
A. What should I consider as I prepare my comments for the EPA?
1. Submitting CBI. Do not submit this information to the EPA
through www.regulations.gov or email. 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 the 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.
[[Page 42496]]
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.
Make sure to submit your comments by the comment period
deadline identified.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under section 108(a) of the Clean Air Act
(CAA), the Administrator identifies and lists certain pollutants which
``cause or contribute to air pollution which may reasonably be
anticipated to endanger public health or welfare.'' The EPA then issues
air quality criteria for these listed pollutants, which are commonly
referred to as ``criteria pollutants.'' The 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, in varying quantities.'' Under section
109 of the CAA, the EPA establishes primary (health-based) and
secondary (welfare-based) NAAQS for pollutants for which air quality
criteria are issued. Section 109(d) of the CAA requires periodic review
and, if appropriate, revision of existing air quality criteria. The
revised air quality criteria reflect advances in scientific knowledge
on the effects of the pollutant on public health or welfare. The EPA is
also required to periodically review and, if appropriate, revise the
NAAQS based on the revised air quality criteria.
Air quality criteria and NAAQS have been established for
O3 to provide protection of public health and welfare from
O3 and other photochemical oxidants. Presently, the EPA is
reviewing the air quality criteria and NAAQS for O3. The
EPA's overall plan and schedule for this review is presented in the
Integrated Review Plan for the Ozone National Ambient Air Quality
Standards.\1\ A draft of the integrated review plan was released for
public review and comment in September 2009 and was the subject of a
consultation with the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC)
on November 13, 2009 (74 FR 54562; October 22, 2009).\2\ Comments
received from that consultation and from the public were considered in
finalizing the plan and in beginning the review of the air quality
criteria.
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\1\ EPA 452/R-11-006; April 2011; Available: http://www.epa.gov/ttn/naaqs/standards/ozone/data/2011_04_OzoneIRP.pdf.
\2\ See http://yosemite.epa.gov/sab/sabproduct.nsf/WebProjectsbyTopicCASAC!OpenView for more information on CASAC
activities related to the current O3 NAAQS review.
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As part of the EPA's review of the primary and secondary
O3 NAAQS,\3\ the Agency is conducting quantitative
assessments characterizing the: (1) Health risks associated with
exposure to ambient O3; (2) welfare risks associated with
exposure to ambient O3; and, (3) associated ambient air
quality analyses. On or about July 16, 2012, the EPA is making
available for public comment two draft assessment documents titled,
Health Risk and Exposure Assessment for Ozone, First External Review
Draft and Welfare Risk and Exposure Assessment for Ozone, First
External Review Draft. These draft assessments may be accessed online
through the EPA's TTN Web site at http://www.epa.gov/ttn/naaqs/standards/ozone/s_o3_index.html.
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\3\ See http://www.epa.gov/ttn/naaqs/review.html for more
information on the NAAQS review process.
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The EPA's plans for conducting these assessments, including the
proposed scope and methods of the analyses, were presented in two
planning documents titled, Ozone National Ambient Air Quality
Standards: Scope and Methods Plan for Health Risk and Exposure
Assessment and Ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standards: Scope and
Methods Plan for Welfare Risk and Exposure Assessment (henceforth,
Scope and Methods Plans).\4\ These documents were released for public
comment in April 2011, and were the subject of a consultation with the
CASAC on May 19-20, 2011 (76 FR 23809; April 28, 2011). In May 2012, a
memo titled, Updates to information presented in the Scope and Methods
Plans for the Ozone NAAQS Health and Welfare Risk and Exposure
Assessments, was made available that described changes to elements of
the scope and methods plans and provided a brief explanation of each
change and the reason for it.
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\4\ EPA-452/P-11-001 and -002; April 2011; Available: http://www.epa.gov/ttn/naaqs/standards/ozone/s_o3_2008_pd.html.
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The draft assessment documents announced today convey the
approaches taken to assess exposures to ambient O3 and to
characterize associated health and welfare risks, as well as present
the initial key results, observations, and related uncertainties
associated with the quantitative analyses performed.
In addition, on or about August 13, 2012, the EPA will make
available the first draft document titled Policy Assessment for the
Review of the Ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standards, First
External Review Draft. This document will serve to ``bridge the gap''
between the scientific information and the judgments required of the
Administrator in determining whether it is appropriate to retain or
revise the standards. The Policy Assessment will build upon information
presented in the Integrated Science Assessment of Ozone and Related
Photochemical Oxidants (Third draft) \5\ and the two draft assessment
documents described above. At the same time, the EPA will make
available appendices and additional technical materials that support
the first draft Policy Assessment and first draft Risk and Exposure
Assessments. The first draft Policy Assessment, appendices, and
additional technical materials may be accessed online through EPA's TTN
Web site at http://www.epa.gov/ttn/naaqs/standards/ozone/s_o3_index.html.
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\5\ U.S. EPA. Integrated Science Assessment of Ozone and Related
Photochemical Oxidants (Third External Review Draft). U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, EPA/600/R-10/076C,
2012; Available: http://cfpub.epa.gov/ncea/isa/recordisplay.cfm?deid=242490#Download.
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The EPA is soliciting advice and recommendations from the CASAC by
means of a review of these three draft documents at an upcoming public
meeting of the CASAC that will be held in September 2012. Information
about these public meetings, including the dates and locations, will be
published as a separate notice in the Federal Register. Following the
CASAC meeting, the EPA will consider comments received from the CASAC
and the public in preparing revisions to these documents.
The draft documents briefly described above do not represent and
should not be construed to represent any final EPA policy, viewpoint,
or determination. The EPA will consider any public comments submitted
in response to this notice when revising the documents.
Dated: July 11, 2012.
Mary Henigin,
Acting Director, Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards.
[FR Doc. 2012-17626 Filed 7-18-12; 8:45 am]
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