[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 236 (Friday, December 9, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 73236-73237]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E5-7125]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[Docket No. EPA-HQ-ORD-2005-0029; FRL-8006-6]
Air Quality Criteria for Oxides of Nitrogen
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice; call for information.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is undertaking
to update and revise, where appropriate, the Air Quality Criteria for
Oxides of Nitrogen, EPA/600/8-91/049aF-cF, published in August 1993 by
the Office of Research and Development, National Center for
Environmental Assessment. Interested parties are invited to assist the
EPA in developing and refining the scientific information base for
updating the Air Quality Criteria for Oxides of Nitrogen by submitting
research studies that have been published, accepted for publication, or
presented at a public scientific meeting. Areas where additional new
information will be particularly useful to EPA for this project are
described in the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this notice.
DATES: All communications and information should be submitted by
January 31, 2006.
ADDRESSES: Information may be submitted electronically, by mail, by
facsimile, or by hand delivery/courier. Please follow the detailed
instructions provided in the section of this notice entitled
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For details on the period for
submission of research information from the public, contact the Office
of Environmental Information Docket; telephone: 202-566-1752;
facsimile: 202-566-1753; or e-mail: [email protected].
For technical information, contact Dennis Kotchmar, MD, facsimile:
919-541-1818 or e-mail: [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Information About the Project
Section 108(a) of the Clean Air Act 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 Act, EPA is then to establish National Ambient
Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for each pollutant for which EPA has
issued criteria. Section 109(d) of the Act 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. EPA is also to revise the
NAAQS, if appropriate, based on the revised criteria.
Oxides of nitrogen (NOX) are one of six principal (or
``criteria'') pollutants for which EPA has established National Ambient
Air Quality Standards (NAAQS). Periodically, EPA reviews the scientific
basis for these standards by preparing an Air Quality Criteria Document
(AQCD). The AQCD provides scientific bases for additional technical and
policy assessments that form the basis for EPA decisions on the
adequacy of a current NAAQS and the appropriateness of new or revised
standards. One of the first steps in this process is to announce the
beginning of this periodic NAAQS review and the start of the
development of the AQCD, by requesting the public to submit scientific
literature that they want to bring to the attention of the Agency. The
Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC), a review committee of
the EPA's Science Advisory Board (SAB), is mandated by the Clean Air
Act with performing an independent expert scientific review of EPA's
draft AQCDs. As the process proceeds, the public will have
opportunities to review and comment on the draft oxides of nitrogen
AQCD. These opportunities will also be announced in the Federal
Register.
Since completion of the 1993 Air Quality Criteria for Oxides of
Nitrogen, EPA has continued to follow the scientific research on oxides
of nitrogen exposure and its effects on health and the environment and
has gathered appropriate studies. The Agency is particularly interested
in additional new information concerning: (a) Toxicological studies of
effects of controlled exposure to nitrogen dioxide or other oxides of
nitrogen on laboratory animals and humans; (b) epidemiologic
(observational) studies of health effects associated with ambient
exposures of
[[Page 73237]]
human populations to nitrogen dioxide or other oxides of nitrogen; and
(c) ecological studies of the effects on agricultural crops and natural
terrestrial and/or aquatic ecosystems of ambient exposures to nitrogen
dioxide or other oxides of nitrogen. These and other selected
literature relevant to a review of the NAAQS for oxides of nitrogen
will be assessed in the forthcoming revised Oxides of Nitrogen AQCD.
One or more drafts of the Oxides of Nitrogen AQCD are expected to be
made available by EPA for public comment and CASAC review during 2006
and 2007. In addition, other opportunities for submission of new peer-
reviewed, published (or in-press) papers will be possible as part of
public comment on the draft documents that will be reviewed by CASAC.
II. How To Submit Information to the Docket
EPA has established an official public docket for information
pertaining to the revision of the oxides of nitrogen criteria document.
Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-ORD-2005-0029,
by one of the following methods:
http://www.regulations.gov: Follow the on-line
instructions for submitting comments.
E-mail: [email protected].
Fax: 202-566-1753; Office of Environmental Information
(OEI) Docket in the Headquarters EPA Docket Center.
Mail: Office of Environmental Information (OEI) Docket in
the Headquarters EPA Docket Center (Mail Code 2822T), U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW.,
Washington, DC 20460. If you provide information in writing, please
submit one unbound original, with pages numbered consecutively, and
three copies. For attachments, provide an index, number pages
consecutively with the main text, and submit an unbound original and
three copies.
Hand Delivery: Office of Environmental Information (OEI)
Docket in the Headquarters EPA Docket Center, EPA West Building, 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
OEI Docket is 202-566-1752. 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-ORD-
2005-0029. Please adhere to the specified submitting period.
Information received or submitted past the closing date will be marked
``late'' and may only be considered if time permits. EPA's policy is
that all comments received will be included in the public docket
without change and may be made available online at http://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 http://www.regulations.gov or e-
mail.
The http://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 http://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 or may delay considering 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 home page at http://www.epa.gov/epahome/dockets.htm.
Docket: All documents in the docket are listed in the http://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 OEI Docket, EPA/DC, EPA
West, Room B102, 1301 Constitution Ave., NW., Washington, DC. The
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 OEI
Docket is 202-566-1752; facsimile: 202-566-1753; or e-mail:
[email protected].
Dated: December 1, 2005.
George Alapas,
Acting Director, National Center for Environmental Assessment.
[FR Doc. E5-7125 Filed 12-8-05; 8:45 am]
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