[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 22 (Wednesday, February 3, 1999)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 5258-5259]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-2674]


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 ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

 40 CFR Part 745

 [OPPTS-62156G; FRL-6060-9]
 RIN 2070-AC63


 Lead; Identification of Dangerous Levels of Lead; Notice of 
Public Meeting

 AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

 ACTION: Proposed rule; notice of public meeting.

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 SUMMARY:  EPA will be holding a public meeting on a proposed rule for 
managing lead in paint, dust, and soil in residences and child-occupied 
facilities. This public meeting is in response to requests from various 
parties to provide for additional participation by the environmental 
justice community in the development of the proposed rule.

 DATES:  The public meeting will be held on February 16, 1999, from 9 
a.m. to 12 noon. Written comments on the proposed rule must be received 
on or before March 1, 1999.

 ADDRESSES: The meeting will be held at the Hyatt Regency Washington--
Capitol Hill, 400 New Jersey Ave., NW., Washington D.C.
     Each written comment must bear the docket control number OPPTS-
62156G. All comments should be sent in triplicate to: OPPT Document 
Control Officer (7407), Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics, 
Environmental Protection Agency, 401 M St., SW., Rm. G-099, East Tower, 
Washington, DC 20460.
     Written comments and data may also be submitted electronically to: 
[email protected]. Follow the instructions in Unit II. of this 
document. No Confidential Business Information (CBI) should be 
submitted through e-mail.
     All written comments which contain information claimed as CBI must 
be clearly marked as such. Three copies, sanitized of any comments 
containing information claimed as CBI, must also be submitted and will 
be placed in the public record for this rulemaking. Persons submitting 
information, any portion of which they believe is entitled to treatment 
as CBI by EPA, must assert a business confidentiality claim in 
accordance with 40 CFR 2.203(b) for each such portion. This claim must 
be made at the time that the information is submitted to EPA. If a 
submitter does not assert a confidentiality claim at the time of 
submission, EPA will consider this as a waiver of any confidentiality 
claim and the information may be made available to the public by EPA 
without further notice to the submitter.

 FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:  For general information:  National 
Lead Information Center's Clearinghouse, 1-800-424-LEAD (5323).  For 
technical and policy questions: Jonathan Jacobson; telephone: (202) 
260-3779; e-mail address: [email protected].

 SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

 I. Background

     In the Federal Register of June 3, 1998 (63 FR 30302) (FRL-5791-
9), EPA published a proposed rule under section 403 of TSCA (15 U.S.C. 
2683). This proposed rule identifies lead-based paint hazards, lead-
contaminated dust, and lead-contaminated soil in residences and child-
occupied facilities. Section 402 of TSCA (15 U.S.C. 2682) directs EPA 
to promulgate regulations governing lead-based paint activities. 
Section 404 of TSCA (15 U.S.C. 2684) requires that any State that seeks 
to administer and enforce the requirements established by the Agency 
under section 402 of TSCA must submit to the Administrator a request 
for authorization of such a program.
     On October 1 and November 5, 1998, EPA announced in the Federal 
Register two extensions to the comment period for this proposed rule 
(63 FR 52662 (FRL-6037-7) and 63 FR 59754 (FRL-6044-9), respectively). 
The latest extension was until December 31, 1998. EPA has received 
additional comments from various parties involved with environmental 
justice to extend the comment period and to provide additional 
participation by this community in the development of the

[[Page 5259]]

proposed rule. In response, EPA reopened the public comment period 
until March 1, 1999, in order to ensure that all parties, including 
those that may lack access to the various publications in which EPA has 
publicized the issuance of the proposal, have sufficient opportunity to 
submit their comments. Notice of this extension was published in the 
Federal Register of January 14, 1999 (43 FR 2460) (FRL-6056-1).
     EPA has also decided to hold a public meeting with interested 
members of the Agency's National Environmental Justice Advisory Council 
(NEJAC) and the public to offer additional opportunity for 
representatives of the environmental justice community to participate 
in the rulemaking process. During the first hour of the meeting, EPA 
officials will provide an overview of the proposal, focusing on 
environmental justice-related. In the second hour of the meeting, NEJAC 
members will have the opportunity to offer oral comments on the 
proposed rule. Other members of the public may offer oral comment on a 
first come, first served basis. Individuals interested in speaking must 
register at the meeting and are requested to limit their presentations 
to 3 minutes in order to allow as many persons as possible a fair 
chance to participate.

 II. Public Record and Electronic Submissions

     The official record for this rulemaking, as well as the public 
version, has been established for this rulemaking under docket control 
number OPPTS-62156G (including comments and data submitted 
electronically as described in this unit). 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 12 noon to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding 
legal holidays. The official rulemaking record is located in the TSCA 
Nonconfidential Information Center, Rm. NE-B607, 401 M St., SW., 
Washington, DC. Electronic comments can be sent directly to EPA at:

    [email protected].

     Electronic comments must be submitted as an ASCII file avoiding 
the use of special characters and any form of encryption. Comments and 
data will also be accepted on disks in WordPerfect 5.1/6.1 or ASCII 
file format. All comments and data in electronic form must be 
identified by the docket control number OPPTS-62156G. Electronic 
comments on this proposed rule may be filed online at many Federal 
Depository Libraries.

 List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 745

     Environmental protection, Hazardous substances, Lead-based paint, 
Lead poisoning, Reporting and recordkeeping requirements.

    Dated: January 28, 1999.
William H. Sanders, III,
 Director, Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics.
[FR Doc. 99-2674 Filed 2-1-99; 2:55 pm]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-F