[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 97 (Friday, May 19, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 29152-29153]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-7647]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[FRL-8172-6, Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-ORD-2004-0018]
Draft Air Quality Criteria for Lead
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice of public comment period on a second external review
draft.
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SUMMARY: The EPA is announcing a public comment period for the draft
document titled, ``Air Quality Criteria for Lead; Second External
Review Draft'' (EPA/600/R-05/144aB-bB). The document was prepared by
the National Center for Environmental Assessment within EPA's Office of
Research and Development.
EPA is releasing this draft document solely for the purpose of
seeking public comment. It does not represent and should not be
construed to represent any Agency policy, viewpoint, or determination.
EPA will consider any public comments submitted in accordance with this
notice when revising the document.
DATES: The public comment period begins on or about May 15, 2006, and
ends June 27, 2006. Comments must be received on or before June 27,
2006.
ADDRESSES: The draft ``Air Quality Criteria for Lead; Second External
Review Draft'' will be available primarily via the Internet on the
National Center for Environmental Assessment's home page under the
Recent Additions and Publications menus at http://www.epa.gov/ncea. A
limited number of CD-ROM or paper copies will be available. Contact Ms.
Diane Ray by phone (919-541-3637), fax (919-541-1818), or e-mail
([email protected]) to request either of these, and please provide your
name, your mailing address, and the document title, ``Air Quality
Criteria for Lead; Second External Review Draft,'' (EPA/600/R-05/144aB-
bB) to facilitate processing of your request.
Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-ORD-2004-
0018, 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. 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-
2004-0018. 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 included information is claimed as 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 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 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 http://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-
[[Page 29153]]
1752; facsimile: 202-566-1753; or e-mail: [email protected].
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For information on the public comment
period, contact the Office of Environmental Information Docket;
telephone: 202-566-1752; facsimile: 202-566-1753; or e-mail:
[email protected].
For technical information, contact Lori White, Ph.D., NCEA;
telephone: 919-541-3146; facsimile: 919-541-1818; or e-mail:
[email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 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 requires subsequent 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.
Lead is one of six ``criteria'' pollutants for which EPA has
established air quality criteria and NAAQS. On November 9, 2004 (69 FR
64926), EPA formally initiated its current review of the criteria and
NAAQS for lead, requesting the submission of recent scientific
information on specified topics. One of the next steps in this process
was to prepare a project work plan for revision of the existing ``Air
Quality Criteria for Lead,'' EPA-600/8-83/028aF-dF (published in June
1986) and an associated supplement (EPA-600/8-89/049F) published in
1990. Accordingly, a draft of EPA's ``Project Work Plan for Revised Air
Quality Criteria for Lead'' (NCEA-R-1465) was released on January 7,
2005, for public comment (70 FR 1439) and was discussed by the Clean
Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC) via a publicly accessible
March 28, 2005, teleconference consultation (70 FR 11629). On July 15,
2005 (70 FR 41007), several workshops were announced to discuss, with
invited recognized scientific experts, initial draft materials that
dealt with various lead-related issues being addressed in the draft
AQCD for lead. These workshops were held August 4-5, 16-18, and 17-19,
2005. The first external review draft of the Air Quality Criteria for
Lead (EPA/600/R-05/144aA-bA) was announced in the Federal Register on
December 2, 2005 (70 FR 72300). The CASAC Lead Review Panel reviewed
the first external review draft at a public meeting on February 28 and
March 1, 2006. EPA considered the comments of the CASAC review panel
and of the public in drafting this ``Air Quality Criteria for Lead,
Second External Review Draft.''
After the end of the comment period on the ``Air Quality Criteria
for Lead, Second External Review Draft,'' the CASAC review panel will
review the draft at a public meeting. Public comments received will be
provided to the CASAC review panel. There will be a Federal Register
notice to inform the public of the exact date and time of that CASAC
meeting.
Dated: May 3, 2006.
Peter W. Preuss,
Director, National Center for Environmental Assessment.
[FR Doc. E6-7647 Filed 5-18-06; 8:45 am]
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