[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 145 (Thursday, July 27, 2000)]
[Notices]
[Pages 46166-46167]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-19012]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-6842-1]


Regulatory Reinvention (XLC) Pilot Projects

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of availability of City of Columbus, Ohio Project XL for 
Communities (XLC) Draft Final Project Agreement and Safe Drinking Water 
Act (SDWA) Draft Variance.

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SUMMARY: EPA is today requesting comments on a draft Project XLC Final 
Project Agreement (FPA) and draft SDWA Variance for the City of 
Columbus, OH. The FPA is a voluntary agreement developed by the City of 
Columbus and the State of Ohio Department of Health, the Ohio 
Environmental Protection Agency, project stakeholders, and U.S. EPA. 
The SDWA Variance would be the federal legal mechanism used to provide 
regulatory flexibility to the City of

[[Page 46167]]

Columbus in the event of a Lead Action Level (LAL) exceedence under the 
Lead and Copper Rule (LCR). The SDWA Variance would not be effective 
and the City of Columbus would not be considered to be operating under 
a SDWA Variance unless and until the City exceeded the LAL.

DATES: The period for submission of comments ends on August 28, 2000.

ADDRESSES: All comments on the draft Final Project Agreement and draft 
SDWA Variance should be sent to: Miguel Del Toral, Water Division, WD-
15J, US EPA Region 5, 77 West Jackson Boulevard, Chicago, IL 60604-
3507, or Kristina Heinemann, U.S. EPA, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., 
Mail Code 1802, Washington, DC 20460. Comments may also be faxed to Mr. 
Del Toral at (312) 886-6171 or Ms. Heinemann at (202) 260-7875. 
Comments will also be received via electronic mail sent to: 
[email protected] or [email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: To obtain a copy of the draft Final 
Project Agreement or draft SDWA Variance, contact: Miguel Del Toral 
Water Division, WD-15J, U.S. EPA Region 5, 77 West Jackson Boulevard, 
Chicago, IL 60604-3507, or Kristina Heinemann, U.S. EPA, 1200 
Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Mail Code 1802, Washington, DC 20460. The 
documents are also available via the Internet at the following 
location: ``http://www.epa.gov/ProjectXL''. In addition, public files 
on the Project are located at U.S. EPA Region 5 in Chicago, IL. 
Questions to EPA regarding the documents can be directed to Miguel Del 
Toral at (312) 886-5253 or Kristina Heinemann at (202) 260-5355. 
Additional information on Project XL and XLC, including documents 
referenced in this notice, other EPA policy documents related to 
Project XL and XLC, application information, and descriptions of 
existing XL and XLC projects and proposals, is available via the 
Internet at ``http://www.epa.gov/ProjectXL''.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Project XLC, announced in the Federal 
Register on November 1, 1995 (60 FR 55569), gives regulated sources the 
flexibility to develop alternative strategies that will replace or 
modify specific regulatory requirements on the condition that they 
produce greater environmental benefits.
    In the past, the City of Columbus made certain changes to the 
method it uses to treat drinking water. Inadvertently, the treatment 
change caused an increase in the level of lead in the drinking water. 
Under the Federal and State drinking water regulations, if the lead 
levels rise above the limit established by U.S. EPA and OEPA, the Lead 
Action Level, the City must begin sampling lead service lines (LSL) 
immediately and replacing those lines that contribute high levels of 
lead. See 40 CFR 141.84 and Ohio Administrative Code Rule 3745-81-84.
    If implemented, the draft FPA would carry out an XLC project in the 
City of Columbus to test a potentially more effective means of 
addressing health concerns from lead through a program run by the 
Columbus Departments of Health and Trade and Development, the Lead Safe 
Columbus Program (LSCP), in addition to closer coordination on drinking 
water treatment issues. Through this Agreement, the US EPA would 
suspend the LSL sampling and replacement provisions for up to three 
years beginning if and when the City exceeds the lead limit, provided 
this occurs within six years of making a drinking water treatment 
change. In exchange for this regulatory flexibility, the Columbus 
Division of Water proposes to contribute $300,000 a year for 15 years 
to the LSCP.
    The LSCP provides free blood testing, public education, medical 
intervention for lead-poisoned children, and grants and loans for lead 
abatement to residents of Columbus in high-risk areas. The LSCP targets 
an area consisting of twenty-five high-risk census tracts within ten 
zip codes in older, predominantly low-income, minority neighborhoods in 
Columbus, where 84% of all elevated blood lead levels in the City were 
found.
    Under the Safe Drinking Water Act, 42 U.S.C. 300f-300j-26, EPA 
promulgates national primary drinking water regulations (NPDWRs) which 
specify for certain drinking water contaminants either a maximum level 
or treatment technique with which public water systems must comply. EPA 
has promulgated a NPDWR for lead and copper that consists of a 
treatment technique requiring public water systems to take various 
steps to ensure that users of public water systems are not exposed to 
levels of lead and copper in drinking water that would result in 
adverse health effects.
    The State of Ohio has primary enforcement responsibility for 
administering the Lead and Copper Rule (LCR) because it has adopted 
regulations that are at least as stringent as the federal regulation. 
The State regulation currently applies to the City of Columbus's public 
water system. The federal government however has the authority to grant 
a variance under section 1415(a)(3) of the SDWA, 42 U.S.C. 300g-4 and 
believes that a variance would be the appropriate legal mechanism for 
this XLC project.
    U.S. EPA has determined that the Columbus XLC Project has merit, 
and believes that a SDWA variance would be the appropriate legal 
mechanism for providing the City of Columbus the regulatory flexibility 
the City has requested through Project XLC.
    The SDWA Variance, which will become effective only if the City of 
Columbus actually experiences a Lead AL exceedence, will provide the 
City with a temporary suspension of the LSL sampling and replacement 
requirements while it makes water treatment modifications. EPA has 
tentatively determined that the City's approach of enhanced 
coordination under the Lead and Copper Rule will be at least as 
efficient in lowering the level of lead delivered to users of the 
public water system as the current regulation. In addition the LSCP 
would provide additional public health benefits by providing free blood 
testing, public education, medical intervention for lead poisoned 
children, and grants and loans for lead abatement to residents of 
Columbus in high risk areas.

    Dated: July 21, 2000.
Christopher Knopes,
Acting Director, Office of Environmental Policy Innovation.
[FR Doc. 00-19012 Filed 7-26-00; 8:45 am]
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