[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 93 (Friday, May 12, 2000)]
[Notices]
[Pages 30589-30591]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-12021]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-6700-1]


Science Advisory Board Notification of Public Advisory Committee 
Meetings

    Pursuant to the Federal Advisory Committee Act, Public Law 92-463, 
notice is hereby given of three meetings of Committees of the US EPA 
Science Advisory Board on the dates and times noted below. All times 
noted are Eastern Daylight Time. All meetings are open to the public; 
however, seating is limited and available on a first come basis. 
Important Notice: Documents that are the subject of SAB reviews are 
normally available from the originating EPA office and are not 
available from the SAB Office--information concerning availability of 
documents from the relevant Program Office is included below.

1. SAB Executive Committee (EC) Teleconference--May 30, 2000

    The Executive Committee (EC) of US EPA's Science Advisory Board 
will conduct a public teleconference meeting on Tuesday, May 30, 2000, 
between the hours of 1 and 3 pm Eastern Daylight Time. The meeting will 
be coordinated through a conference call connection in Room 6013 in the 
USEPA, Ariel Rios Building North, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, 
Washington, DC. The public is encouraged to attend the meeting in the 
conference room noted above. However, the public may also attend 
through a telephonic link, to the extent that lines are available. 
Additional instructions about how to participate in the conference call 
can be obtained by calling Ms. Priscilla Tillery-Gadsen no earlier than 
one week prior to the meeting (beginning on May 23) at (202) 564-4533, 
or via e-mail at [email protected].
    Purpose of the Meeting--In this meeting, the Executive Committee 
plans to review reports from some of its Committees/Subcommittee, most 
likely including the following:
    (a) Drinking Water Committee (DWC): ``Science Advisory Board Report 
on EPA's Draft Proposal on a Groundwater Rule''
    (b) Environmental Economics Advisory Committee (EEAC): ``Benefits 
Adjustments for Long-Term Effects''
    (c) Environmental Engineering Committee (EEC): ``Review of the 
Agency's Environmental Technology Verification (ETV) Program''
    Availability of Review Materials: Drafts of the reports that will 
be reviewed at the meeting should be available to the public at the SAB 
website (http://www.epa.gov/sab) by close-of-business on May 19, 2000.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Any member of the public wishing 
further information concerning this meeting or wishing to submit brief 
oral comments must contact Dr. Donald Barnes, Designated Federal 
Officer, Science Advisory Board (1400A), U.S. Environmental Protection 
Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20460; telephone 
(202) 564-4533; FAX (202) 501-0323; or via e-mail at 
[email protected]. Requests for oral comments must be in writing (e-
mail preferred) and received by Dr. Barnes no later than noon Eastern 
Time on May 26, 2000.

2. Drinking Water Committee (DWC) Meeting--June 5-7, 2000

    The Drinking Water Committee of the US EPA Science Advisory Board 
(SAB), will meet from June 5 through 7, 2000. Days one and two of the 
meeting, June 5 and 6, 2000, will be held at the Holiday Inn 
Georgetown, 2101 Wisconsin Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20007, phone: 
(202) 338-4600 . On day three, June 7, 2000, the Committee will meet in 
conference room 6013, USEPA, Ariel Rios Building North, 1200 
Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20004; phone: (202) 564-4533. 
The meeting will begin by 9 a.m. on June 5 and adjourn no later than 3 
p.m. on June 7, 2000.
    Purpose of the Meeting--The Drinking Water Committee will conduct a 
review of EPA's proposed drinking water regulation for arsenic. The 
Committee will conduct this review in fulfillment of its 
responsibilities under Section 1412(e) of the Safe Drinking Water Act 
(SDWA as amended in August 1996) which states that:
    The Administrator shall request comments from the Science Advisory 
Board (established under the Environmental Research, Development, and 
Demonstration Act of 1978) prior to proposal of a maximum contaminant 
level goal and national primary drinking water regulation. The Board 
shall respond, as it deems appropriate, within the time period 
applicable for promulgation of the national primary drinking water 
standard concerned. This subsection shall, under no circumstances, be 
used to delay final promulgation of any national primary drinking water 
standard.
    Background--The current National Primary Drinking Water Regulation 
for arsenic is 50 g/Liter (0.05 milligrams per liter--mg/L). 
This regulatory level has been in effect since 1976 and is based on a 
U.S. Public Health Service standard whose origins date back to 1942. 
The 1996 Amendments to the Safe Drinking Water Act required the Agency 
to proceed on two tracks to update the standard: on the one hand, the 
Agency was directed to develop an arsenic research strategy by February 
1997 designed to serve as roadmap for filling gaps in our understanding 
of the scientific issues surrounding arsenic and, at the same time, to 
work toward proposing a new primary drinking water regulation by 
January 1, 2000 and to promulgate a final rule by January 1, 2001.
    In response, the Agency met its deadline for developing the 
research plan and is currently implementing the plan, together with 
external partners. EPA has also been updating and assembling the 
various risk management components that will be needed to propose a 
revised regulation: risk characterization, analytical methods, 
occurrence, treatment technologies, costs, and benefits. The most 
challenging of these has been the risk characterization and the 
underlying risk assessment of the health effects of arsenic. To assist 
the Agency in its efforts, EPA asked the National Academy of Sciences' 
National Research Council (NRC) to evaluate all relevant national and 
international literature concerning the health effects of arsenic and 
to provide the Agency with its assessment of these data and 
information. The NRC published its report, Arsenic in Drinking Water in 
March, 1999. That report concluded that studies in Taiwan, Chile, and 
Argentina link arsenic to skin, bladder and lung

[[Page 30590]]

cancer and to noncancer effects. The NRC report recommended that EPA 
lower its MCL.

Charge to the Committee--A. Arsenic Health Effects

    Charge Question 1: Concentration of inorganic arsenic as principal 
form causing health effects--Does the SAB have perspectives on this 
issue that it believes EPA should consider in developing its risk 
assessment?
    EPA has identified inorganic arsenic as the principal form causing 
health effects, and the literature indicates that most arsenic in 
drinking water is inorganic. EPA's MCLG and MCL do not distinguish 
between arsenate and arsenite.
    Charge Question 2: Implications of natural arsenic exposure through 
food--Does SAB agree with the implied NRC perspective that relative 
source contribution of food should be taken into consideration in the 
setting of the drinking water standard and how might we consider this 
and communicate it to the public?
    The 1999 NRC report estimated the daily inorganic food intake by 
assuming that 10% of the arsenic in seafood is inorganic, and all other 
foods are 100% inorganic arsenic. NRC noted that these assumptions set 
an upper bound on the contribution from food, which is about 10 
g a day for adults. The NRC report stated that ``The 
significance of the intake of inorganic arsenic from food increases as 
the concentration of arsenic in water decreases. If [drinking] water 
contains 50 g/L of inorganic arsenic, arsenic in food might 
not be significant. However, if [drinking] water contains 5 g/
L of arsenic and 2 L per day is consumed, the contribution of inorganic 
arsenic from diet and water are comparable (NRC report).'' Further, 
``The public health significance of daily ingestion of a given amount 
of arsenic in drinking water will be influenced by the background 
levels of arsenic consumed in food (NRC report).'' ``Consideration of 
arsenic in food might affect both the dose-response relationship for 
arsenic in drinking water in the study population and the implications 
for risk from arsenic in drinking water in the United States where 
dietary arsenic might differ from that in the study population in 
Taiwan (NRC report)''.
    Charge Question 3: Accounting for Cardiovascular Health End Point--
Is precautionary advice on use of low-arsenic water in preparation of 
infant formula appropriate given the available information?
    The NRC report was inconclusive about the health risks to the 
pregnant woman, developing fetus, infants, lactating women, and 
children. Given the potential for cardiovascular disease (as evidenced 
by EPA's Utah studies and extensive other data) and uncertainty about 
risks to infants, EPA plans to issue a health advisory to recommend use 
of low-arsenic water in preparation of infant formula.

B. Arsenic Treatment Charge for the SAB

    Charge Question 4: Decision tree for waste disposal options for 
arsenic treatment brines and spent media--Based upon a review of the 
submitted materials, does the SAB believe that the EPA produced an 
accurate projection of the likely disposal options for arsenic 
residuals and the distribution of these options by treatment type? What 
are the SAB's views on the advantages and the limitations of the 
various waste disposal options? What effect, if any, would the SAB's 
analysis of these advantages and limitations have on the probabilities 
assigned? What are the SAB's views on which options will be more likely 
used by small systems (less than 10,000 people), and which will be more 
likely used by larger ones?
    EPA identified waste disposal options that will likely be used for 
arsenic treatment residuals. EPA considered three types or residuals: 
brines or liquid wastes, sludges, and solid wastes. Ultimately, liquid 
wastes would be disposed at sanitary sewers, evaporation ponds, or be 
directly discharged. Chemical precipitation is assumed to be an 
intermediate step for the disposal of some brines. Sludges would be 
either mechanically, or non-mechanically dewatered prior to ultimate 
disposal at a landfill. Solid wastes would typically be disposed at 
non-hazardous landfills. EPA assigned national selection probabilities 
to each of these options in a decision tree. These probabilities are an 
estimation of the likelihood of a treatment plant opting for a 
particular disposal option given the size of the system, whether it is 
surface water or groundwater, and the type of arsenic removal treatment 
technology used.
    The Toxicity Characteristic (TC) that identifies wastes as 
hazardous waste used 100 times the interim primary drinking water 
standards for eight metals. Although six of the drinking water 
standards have changed, the TC values have not. However, some people 
are concerned that after the drinking water MCL is lowered, the TC for 
arsenic will be lowered to 100 times the new MCL, and that many 
drinking water treatment residuals will be subject to costly hazardous 
waste management regulations even though the Office of Solid Waste has 
stated that the simple 100 times criterion will not be used when the TC 
regulatory levels are revised, but rather, more sophisticated modeling 
tools would be used. Consequently, the important questions relating to 
waste disposal do not relate to hazardous waste disposal. Rather, for 
brines, they relate to questions such as TDS (total dissolved solids) 
restrictions in waters receiving brine, and restrictions on sanitary 
sewer discharge due to TBLLs (technically based local limits). For 
sludge disposal, they relate to restrictions that may be placed on land 
application, which may result in more systems using landfills.
    Charge Question 5: Decision tree for ground water treatment 
technologies--Does the SAB agree with the principal ``branches'' of 
EPA's decision tree described in the submitted documents and the 
likelihood that these options will be used for systems of various sizes 
with various source water characteristics? What views does the SAB have 
on EPA's description of the advantages and limitations of these 
treatment technologies? Would the SAB's views on the these advantages 
and limitations affect the probabilities assigned?
    EPA has identified treatment technologies that will likely be used 
to treat arsenic in groundwater systems. These include ion exchange, 
activated alumina, reverse osmosis, coagulation-assisted 
microfiltration, greensand filtration, and point-of-use and point-of-
entry devices. The EPA has also identified non-treatment options such 
as regionalization and alternate source. EPA consulted with small 
utilities and AWWA in order to identify issues which would affect 
selection of treatment technologies for small systems, which included 
cost, complexity of operation, chemical handling issues, and frequency 
of maintenance on point-of-use devices. EPA has assigned selection 
probabilities to each of these options in a decision tree that form the 
basis for the Agency's overall cost projections.
    Availability of Review Materials--Additional information on the 
materials provided to the Committee for this review can be obtained by 
contacting Ms. Irene Dooley, US EPA Office of Water by telephone at 
(202) 260-9531 or by e-mail at [email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Any member of the public wishing 
further information concerning this meeting or wishing to submit brief 
oral comments (10 minutes or less) must contact Thomas O. Miller, 
Designated Federal Officer, Science Advisory Board

[[Page 30591]]

(1400A), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania 
Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20460; telephone (202) 564-4558; FAX (202) 
501-0582; or via e-mail at [email protected]. Requests for oral 
comments must be in writing (e-mail, fax or mail) and received by Mr. 
Miller no later than noon Eastern Time on May 30, 2000.

3. SAB Executive Committee (EC) Teleconference--June 12, 2000

    The Executive Committee (EC) of US EPA's Science Advisory Board 
will conduct a public teleconference meeting on Monday, June 12, 2000 
between the hours of 1 and 3 pm Eastern Daylight Time. The meeting will 
be coordinated through a conference call connection in Room 6013 in the 
USEPA, Ariel Rios Building North, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, 
Washington, DC. The public is encouraged to attend the meeting in the 
conference room noted above. However, the public may also attend 
through a telephonic link, to the extent that lines are available. 
Additional instructions about how to participate in the conference call 
can be obtained by calling Ms. Priscilla Tillery-Gadsen no earlier than 
one week prior to the meeting (beginning on May 29) at (202) 564-4533, 
or via e-mail at [email protected].
    Purpose of the Meeting--In this meeting, the Executive Committee 
plans to review reports from some of its Committees/Subcommittee, most 
likely including the following:
    (a) EC Subcommittee on Data from the Testing of Human Subjects: 
``Report on Data from the Testing of Human Subjects''
    (b) EC Subcommittee on Review of Cancer Guidelines: ``Applicability 
of the Agency's Cancer Risk assessment Guidelines to Children''
    (c) Environmental Engineering Committee (EEC): ``Commentary on 
Measures of Environmental Technology Performance.''
    Availability of Review Materials--Drafts of the reports that will 
be reviewed at the meeting should be available to the public at the SAB 
website (http://www.epa.gov/sab) by close-of-business on May 25, 2000.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Any member of the public wishing 
further information concerning this meeting or wishing to submit brief 
oral comments must contact Dr. Donald Barnes, Designated Federal 
Officer, Science Advisory Board (1400A), U.S. Environmental Protection 
Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20460; telephone 
(202) 564-4533; FAX (202) 501-0323; or via e-mail at 
[email protected]. Requests for oral comments must be in writing (e-
mail preferred) and received by Dr. Barnes no later than noon Eastern 
Time on June 5, 2000.

Providing Oral or Written Comments at SAB Meetings

    It is the policy of the Science Advisory Board to accept written 
public comments of any length, and to accommodate oral public comments 
whenever possible. The Science Advisory Board expects that public 
statements presented at its meetings will not be repetitive of 
previously submitted oral or written statements. Oral Comments: In 
general, each individual or group requesting an oral presentation at a 
face-to-face meeting will be limited to a total time of ten minutes. 
For teleconference meetings, opportunities for oral comment will 
usually be limited to no more than three minutes per speaker and no 
more than fifteen minutes total. Deadlines for getting on the public 
speaker list for a meeting are given above. Speakers should bring at 
least 35 copies of their comments and presentation slides for 
distribution to the reviewers and public at the meeting. Written 
Comments: Although the SAB accepts written comments until the date of 
the meeting (unless otherwise stated), written comments should be 
received in the SAB Staff Office at least one week prior to the meeting 
date so that the comments may be made available to the committee for 
their consideration. Comments should be supplied to the appropriate DFO 
at the address/contact information noted above in the following 
formats: One hard copy with original signature, and one electronic copy 
via e-mail (acceptable file format: WordPerfect, Word, or Rich Text 
files (in IBM-PC/Windows 95/98 format). Those providing written 
comments and who attend the meeting are also asked to bring 25 copies 
of their comments for public distribution.
    General Information--Additional information concerning the Science 
Advisory Board, its structure, function, and composition, may be found 
on the SAB Website (http://www.epa.gov/sab) and in The FY1999 Annual 
Report of the Staff Director which is available from the SAB 
Publications Staff at (202) 564-4533 or via fax at (202) 501-0256. 
Committee rosters, draft Agendas and meeting calendars are also located 
on our website.
    Meeting Access--Individuals requiring special accommodation at this 
meeting, including wheelchair access to the conference room, should 
contact the DFO at least five business days prior to the meeting so 
that appropriate arrangements can be made.

    Dated: May 5, 2000.
Donald G. Barnes,
Staff Director, Science Advisory Board.
[FR Doc. 00-12021 Filed 5-11-00; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P