[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 137 (Monday, July 19, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 38668-38670]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-18356]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-6379-7; Docket No. A-99-23]


Petition to Delist Methanol From the List of Hazardous Air 
Pollutants

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of receipt of a complete petition.

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SUMMARY: This notice announces the receipt of a complete petition from 
the American Forest and Paper Association (AF&PA) requesting EPA to 
remove the chemical methanol (CAS No. 67-56-1) from the list of 
hazardous air pollutants HAPs) contained in section 112(b)(1) of the 
1990 Clean Air Act (Act). We have determined that the AF&PA's original 
petition submittal dated March 8, 1996 and the supplemental materials 
provided by AF&PA through February 18, 1999 will support an assessment 
of the human health impacts associated with people living in the 
vicinity of facilities emitting methanol. In addition, the data 
submitted by AF&PA will support an assessment of the environmental 
impacts associated with

[[Page 38669]]

emissions of methanol to the ambient air and deposited onto soil or 
water. Consequently, we have concluded that AF&PA's petition is 
complete as of February 18, 1999, the date of the last supplement, and 
is ready for public comment and the technical review phase of our 
delist petition evaluation process.
    This notice invites the public to comment on the petition and to 
provide additional data, beyond that filed in the petition, on sources, 
emissions, exposure, health effects and environmental impacts 
associated with methanol that may be relevant to our technical review.

DATES: Comments and additional data will be accepted if received on or 
before August 18, 1999.

ADDRESSES:

Documents

    A copy of the complete petition is contained in a docket available 
at the Air and Radiation Docket and Information Office, 401 M Street 
SW, Room M-1500 (6102), Waterside Mall, Washington DC 20460. The docket 
number for this action is A-99-23. The docket is an organized file of 
all the information received and considered in making the decision on 
the completeness of AF&PA's petition. The main purpose of the docket is 
to allow you to readily identify and locate documents that record the 
process we followed in making our decision. You may inspect the 
petition and copy it for offsite review between 8:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. 
EST, Monday through Friday. A reasonable fee may be charged for 
copying.

Comments and Data Submissions

    Comments and additional data should be submitted (in duplicate if 
possible) to: The Docket Clerk, Air and Radiation Docket and 
Information Office, 401 M Street SW, Room M-1500 (Mail Code 6102), 
Waterside Mall, Washington DC 20460.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Chuck French, Emission Standards 
Division (MD-13), Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards, U.S. 
Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, NC 27711, 
telephone (919) 541-0467, electronic mail address: 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Introduction

A. What Is the List of Hazardous Air Pollutants?

    Hazardous air pollutants include a wide variety of organic and 
inorganic substances released from large and small industrial 
operations, fossil fuel combustion, gasoline and diesel-powered 
vehicles, and many other sources. The HAPs have been associated with a 
wide variety of adverse health effects, including cancer, neurological 
effects, reproductive effects, and developmental effects. The health 
effects associated with the various HAPs may differ depending upon the 
toxicity of the individual HAP and the particular circumstances of 
exposure, such as the amount of chemical present, the length of time a 
person is exposed, and the stage in life of the person when the 
exposure occurs. The list of HAPs, which includes methanol, can be 
found in section 112(b)(1) of the Act. The HAPs list provides the basis 
for research, regulation, and other related EPA activities under 
section 112 of the Act.

B. What Is a HAP Delist Petition?

    A HAP delist petition is a formal request to the EPA from an 
individual or group to remove a specific HAP from the HAPs list. The 
removal of a HAP from the list eliminates it from consideration in 
EPA's program to promulgate national, technology-based emissions 
control standards. This technology-based standards program is commonly 
referred to as the maximum achievable control technology (MACT) 
program.
    Petitions to add or delete chemicals from the HAPs list are allowed 
under section 112(b)(3)(A) of the Act. The Act specifies that any 
person may petition the Administrator to modify, by addition or 
deletion, the list of HAPs, and the EPA Administrator is required to 
either grant or deny a petition to delist a specific HAP within 18 
months of the receipt of a complete petition.
    To delete a substance from the HAPs list, section 112(b)(3)(C) 
requires that the petitioner must provide adequate data on the health 
and environmental effects of the substance to determine that emissions, 
ambient concentrations, and bio-accumulation or deposition of the 
substance may not reasonably be anticipated to cause any adverse 
effects to human health or adverse environmental effects.

C. How Does EPA Review a Petition To Delist a HAP?

    The petition review process proceeds in two phases: a completeness 
determination and a technical review. During the completeness 
determination, we conduct a broad review of the petition to determine 
whether or not all the necessary subject areas are addressed and 
whether reasonable information and analyses are presented for each of 
these subject areas. Once the petition is determined to be complete, we 
place a notice of receipt of a complete petition in the Federal 
Register. That Federal Register notice announces a public comment 
period on the petition and starts the technical review phase of our 
decision-making process. The technical review involves a more thorough 
scientific review of the petition to determine whether the data, 
analyses, interpretations, and conclusions in the petition are 
appropriate and technically sound. The technical review will also 
determine whether or not the petition satisfies the necessary 
requirements of section 112(b)(3)(C) and adequately supports a decision 
to delist the HAP. All comments and data submitted during the public 
comment period are considered during the technical review.

D. How Is the Decision To Delist a HAP Made?

    The decision to either grant or deny a petition is made after a 
comprehensive technical review of both the petition and the information 
received from the public to determine whether the petition satisfies 
the requirements of section 112(b)(3)(C) of the Act. If the 
Administrator decides to grant a petition, a notice of proposed 
rulemaking is published in the Federal Register. That notice proposes a 
modification of the HAPs list and presents the reasoning for doing so. 
However, if the Administrator decides to deny a petition, a notice 
setting forth an explanation of the reasons for denial will be 
published instead. A notice of denial constitutes final Agency action 
of nationwide scope and applicability and is subject to judicial review 
as provided in section 307(b) of the Act.

II. Completeness Determination and Request for Public Comment

    On March 8, 1996, we received a petition from the AF&PA to remove 
methanol (methyl alcohol, methyl hydroxide, wood alcohol, wood spirit) 
(CAS No. 67-56-1) from the HAPs list. The petition was presented on 
behalf of the producers and consumers of methanol in the United States. 
After our initial review of the petition, we determined that additional 
information was needed on estimated ambient air concentrations of 
methanol as well as on the derivation of the safe exposure level (SEL) 
for methanol. The petitioner submitted several additional documents in 
1997 and early 1998 to address the information gaps. After further 
review, we determined that the additional documents that AF&PA 
submitted

[[Page 38670]]

improved the petition, but that there were still information gaps, 
particularly in the identification of sources, exposure modeling 
assessment, and atmospheric chemistry. The petitioner submitted 
additional documents in 1998 and early 1999 to address these remaining 
information gaps.
    After reviewing all of the supplemental information, we have now 
determined that the essential subject areas have been addressed and 
that the petition is complete and ready for technical review. The 
AF&PA's last supplement which occurred February 18, 1999 marked the 
start of the 18 months decision period. Today's notice initiates our 
comprehensive technical review of the petition and invites public 
comment on the substance of the petition as described above.

III. Description of the Petition

    The complete petition provided by AF&PA contains the following 
information:

    A. Background data on methanol, including chemical and physical 
properties data and production and use data.
    B. A review of available scientific literature documenting 
human, animal, in vitro, and other toxicity studies concerning 
methanol, with copies of the relevant literature citations.
    C. A review of available scientific literature concerning 
environmental effects of methanol, with copies of the relevant 
literature citations.
    D. An assessment of the human heath and environmental effects of 
methanol including AF&PA's proposed calculation of the air 
inhalation SEL. The petition asserts that the proposed SEL is a 
quantitative estimate of an inhalation exposure to humans that is 
likely to be without appreciable risk of adverse impacts over a 
lifetime.
    E. A characterization of the fate of methanol emitted to the 
atmosphere including atmospheric residence time, solubility, 
information on atmospheric transformations, and potential 
degradation or transformation products.
    F. A screening assessment to demonstrate that only sources 
emitting greater than 500 tons per year (tpy) have a theoretical 
possibility of exceeding the SEL.
    G. Estimated emissions of methanol for sources that emit greater 
than 500 tpy of methanol derived from the toxic release inventory 
(TRI), as well as other data sources such as State air toxics 
emissions inventories. The TRI is an emissions inventory database 
developed under section 313 of the Emergency Planning and Community 
Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) of 1986.
    H. Tiered air dispersion modeling that provides estimates of the 
ambient concentrations of methanol adjacent to facilities that emit 
over 500 tpy of methanol and the potential human exposures to 
methanol due to these emissions. Tiered modeling involves the use of 
successive modeling techniques to move from conservative ``worst 
case'' estimates of the ambient concentrations of a substance 
emitted from a source toward more realistic site specific estimates 
of the ambient concentrations.
    I. Characterization of the potential exposures and risks from 
methanol to human health and the environment.

    The petition describes methanol as a simple alcohol containing one 
carbon atom. Methanol is reported to occur naturally as an emission 
resulting from metabolism in vegetation, microorganisms, and insects. 
It has also been found in volcanic gases. Methanol is produced during 
the natural biodegradation of organic wastes of all kinds, including 
sewage and wastewater sludge, by microorganisms normally found in the 
environment.
    In the original petition submittal (dated March 8, 1996), it is 
stated that based on the 1993 TRI, 2,303 facilities reported emissions 
of methanol for a total of 86,155 tons of methanol emitted to the air 
in the United States in 1993. Based on the 1993 TRI data, the paper and 
allied products industry accounted for about 52 percent of the methanol 
emissions. The next largest source category was the chemical and allied 
products industry which accounted for 25 percent of the methanol 
emissions. Six facilities reported emissions over 1,000 tpy, 195 
facilities reported emissions over 100 tpy and 828 facilities reported 
emissions over 10 tpy. Subsequent petition submittals present emissions 
estimates based on more recent data sources (e.g., the 1995 TRI) for 
sources emitting greater than 500 tpy of methanol.
    The petition presents the derivation of a SEL of 83 milligrams of 
methanol per cubic meter of air (i.e., 83 mg/m3). The 
petitioner asserts that exposures below this SEL can be expected to 
produce no potential adverse human effects from lifetime inhalation 
exposures. The petition claims the SEL is based on standard EPA 
methodology, which incorporates the identification of the most 
sensitive toxic endpoint and the corresponding no-observable-adverse-
effect-level (NOAEL) (in this case an exposure level of 1,300 mg/
m3 for pregnant mice), adjustment of the NOAEL from an 
animal exposure concentration to an equivalent human exposure 
concentration, and application of appropriate uncertainty factors. To 
determine the human equivalent concentration of methanol, the petition 
used the NOAEL derived from the mouse study and converted it to a 
human-equivalent NOAEL following EPA guidelines by multiplying the 
animal species NOAEL by the ratio of a breathing rate divided by the 
body weight of the animal species to the same parameters for humans. 
The human-equivalent NOAEL, along with uncertainty factors, was then 
used to determine the SEL.
    The petition asserts that inhalation is the only significant route 
of human exposure to methanol emissions. Since methanol rapidly 
biodegrades and volatilizes in water, it is highly unlikely that humans 
are exposed to significant amounts of methanol through fallout or 
impaction upon soils or directly upon water bodies. Using the TRI data 
as input in a tiered air dispersion modeling approach, the petition 
develops estimates of the maximum annual and 24-hour concentrations 
anticipated to occur at the boundaries of facilities known to emit 
methanol in excess of 500 tpy. The maximum predicted 24-hour 
concentration for any of these facilities was about 7.5 mg/
m3. After comparing the estimated exposure levels to the 
SEL, the AF&PA concludes that concentrations of methanol anticipated to 
occur due to emissions from these sources cannot reasonably be 
anticipated to cause either acute or chronic adverse health effects to 
people living nearby these facilities.
    The petition also provides data to support the AF&PA's position 
that in the concentrations expected to occur in the environment, 
methanol is nontoxic to plants and animals. It is readily degradable 
through natural process and does not tend to accumulate in living 
organism.

    Dated: July 9, 1999.
Robert Perciasepe,
Assistant Administrator for Air and Radiation.
[FR Doc. 99-18356 Filed 7-16-99; 8:45 am]
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