[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 126 (Tuesday, July 1, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 35495-35496]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-17177]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[OPPTS-400112A; FRL-5729-9]


Ethylene Glycol; Risk Assessment Peer Review; Extension of Public 
Comment Period

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of risk assessment peer review; extension of comment 
period.

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SUMMARY: In the Federal Register of May 7, 1997, EPA issued a notice of 
its ongoing peer review process for evaluating its risk assessments. 
Several EPA risk assessments will be submitted for external peer review 
including the screening level assessment for ethylene glycol that was 
conducted for purposes of section 313 of the Emergency Planning and 
Community Right-to-Know Act, 42 U.S.C. 11023. In response to a request, 
EPA is extending the comment period by 60 days until September 5, 1997. 
The comment period for the notice was scheduled to close on July 7, 
1997.

DATES: Comments should be submitted by September 5, 1997.

ADDRESSES: Submitted information should be provided in triplicate to: 
OPPT Docket Clerk, TSCA Document Receipt Office (7407), Office of 
Pollution Prevention and Toxics, Environmental Protection Agency, 401 M 
St., SW., Rm. G099, Washington, DC 20460, Attention: Docket Control 
Number OPPTS-400112.
    Comments and data may also be submitted electronically by following 
the instructions under Unit III. of this document. No confidential 
business information (CBI) should be submitted through e-mail.
    Information claimed as confidential must be clearly marked as CBI. 
If CBI is claimed, three additional sanitized copies must also be 
submitted.

[[Page 35496]]

Nonconfidential versions of information on this notice will be placed 
in the public record and will be available for public inspection. 
Submitted information should include the docket control number for the 
document, OPPTS-400112, and the name of the EPA contact for this 
document.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Vanessa Vu, Director, Risk Assessment 
Division (7403), Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics, 
Environmental Protection Agency, 401 M St., SW., Washington, DC 20460, 
Telephone: 202-260-1241, e-mail: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Introduction

    In response to EPA's Risk Characterization Policy (memorandum of 
March 21, 1995 from Carol M. Browner, EPA Administrator) the Agency's 
Science Policy Council (SPC) is sponsoring a series of colloquia to 
provide internal peer review of several EPA risk assessments as case 
studies. After the internal peer review is complete, the SPC plans to 
have several of these case studies externally peer reviewed. As part of 
this process, EPA's Office of Prevention, Pesticides, and Toxic 
Substances will submit the screening level assessment of ethylene 
glycol that was conducted for purposes of section 313 of the Emergency 
Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA), 42 U.S.C. 11023. This 
assessment was published in the Federal Register of May 7, 1997 (62 FR 
24925). As part of its announcement of the peer review process, EPA 
invited the public to submit any scientific information that may impact 
the human health risk assessment of ethylene glycol. EPA is mainly 
seeking information directly pertaining to the human health and 
exposure analyses in this risk assessment conducted for the purposes of 
EPCRA. The notice originally provided that the comment period would 
close on July 7, 1997.

II. Extension of Comment Period

    On May 29, 1997, EPA received a request from the Chemical 
Manufacturers Association (CMA) Ethylene Glycol Panel (Panel) to extend 
the comment period for 60 days. In their request, the Panel noted that, 
because the May 7 Federal Register notice did not specify the type of 
information in which EPA was interested, the original 60-day comment 
period was insufficient to thoroughly analyze the risk assessment and 
provide the Agency with any additional information for consideration.
    EPA has considered CMA's comments and has determined that extending 
the comment period is appropriate, and will not cause a significant 
delay in the peer review process. Therefore, EPA is extending the 
comment period until September 5, 1997.

III. Public Record

    The official record for this notice, as well as the public version, 
has been established for this document under docket control number 
OPPTS-400112 (including comments and data submitted electronically as 
described below). A public version of this record, including printed, 
paper versions of electronic comments, which does not include any 
information claimed as CBI, is available for inspection from noon to 4 
p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding legal holidays. The public 
record is located in the TSCA Nonconfidential Information Center, Rm. 
NE-B607, 401 M St., SW., Washington, DC 20460.
    Electronic comments can be sent directly to EPA at:
    [email protected]
    Electronic comments must be submitted as an ASCII file avoiding the 
use of any special characters and any form of encryption. Comments and 
data will also be accepted on disks in WordPerfect 5.1 file format or 
ASCII file format. All comments and data in electronic form must be 
identified by the docket control number OPPTS-400112. Electronic 
comments on this proposed rule may be filed online at many Federal 
Depository Libraries.

List of Subjects

    Environmental protection.

    Dated: June 24, 1997.

Joseph A. Carra,
Director, Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics.

[FR Doc. 97-17177 Filed 6-30-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-F