[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 250 (Wednesday, December 31, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Pages 75552-75555]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-32209]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-OW-FRL-7605-4]


Notice of Availability of Draft Aquatic Life Criteria Document 
for Copper and Request for Scientific Views

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of availability and request for scientific views.

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SUMMARY: This notice informs the public about the availability of a 
draft document containing updated aquatic life criteria for copper and 
requests scientific views. The Clean Water Act (CWA) requires EPA to 
develop and publish, and, from time to time, revise criteria for water 
quality that accurately reflect the latest scientific knowledge. EPA's 
recommended water quality criteria provide guidance for States and 
authorized Tribes to establish water quality standards under the CWA to 
protect human health and aquatic life.

DATES: EPA will accept scientific views on the draft 2003 Draft Updated 
of Ambient Water Quality Criteria for Copper document on or before 
March 1, 2004.

ADDRESSES: Scientific views may be submitted electronically, by mail or 
through hand-delivery/courier. Follow the detailed instructions as 
provided in section I.C. of the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section. 
Electronic files may be e-mailed to: [email protected]. Scientific 
views may be mailed to the Water Docket, Environmental Protection 
Agency, Mailecode: 4101T, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 
20460, Attention Docket ID No. OW-2003-0079. Instructions for couriers 
and other hand delivery are provided in section I.C.3. The Agency will 
not accept facsimiles (faxes).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Cindy Roberts, Health and Ecological 
Criteria Division (4304T), U.S. EPA, Ariel Rios Building, 1200 
Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460; (202) 566-1124; 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. General Information

A. Interested Entities

    Entities potentially interested in today's notice are those that 
produce, use, or regulate copper. Categories and entities interested in 
today's notice include.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                               Examples of interested
                 Category                             entities
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State/Local/Tribal Government.............  States, Tribes and
                                             municipalities.
Industry..................................  Mining, fabricated metal
                                             products, electric
                                             equipment.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

This table is not intended to be exhaustive, but rather provides a 
guide for readers regarding entities likely to be interested in this 
notice. This table lists the types of entities that EPA is now aware 
could potentially be interested in this notice. Other types of entities 
not listed in the table could also be interested.

B. How Can I Get Copies of This Document and Other Related Information?

    1. Docket. EPA has established an official public docket for this 
notice under Docket ID No. OW-2003-0079. The official public docket 
consists of the documents specifically referenced in this notice, any 
scientific views received, and other information related to this 
notice. Although a part of the official docket, the public docket does 
not include Confidential Business Information (CBI) or other 
information whose disclosure is restricted by statute. The official 
public docket is the collection of materials that is available for 
public viewing at the Water Docket in the EPA Docket Center, (EPA/DC) 
EPA West, Room B102, 1301 Constitution Ave., NW., Washington, DC. The 
EPA Docket Center Public Reading Room is open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 
p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding legal holidays. The telephone 
number for the Public Reading Room is (202) 566-1744, and the telephone 
number for the Water Docket is (202) 566-2426. To view these materials, 
we encourage you to call ahead to schedule an appointment. Every user 
is entitled to copy 266 pages per day before incurring a charge. The 
docket may charge 15 cents a page for each page over the 266-page limit 
plus an administrative fee of $25.00.
    2. Electronic Access. You may access this Federal Register document 
electronically through the EPA Internet under the ``Federal Register'' 
listings at http://www.epa.gov/fedrgstr/.
    An electronic version of the public docket is available through 
EPA's electronic public docket and comment system, EPA Dockets. You may 
use EPA Dockets at http://www.epa.gov/edocket/ to submit or view the 
scientific views, access the index listing of the contents of the 
official public docket, and to access those documents in the public 
docket that are available electronically. Once in the system, select 
``search,'' then key in the appropriate docket identification number.
    Certain types of information will not be placed in the EPA Dockets. 
Information claimed as CBI and other information whose disclosure is 
restricted by statute, which is not included in the official public 
docket will not be available for public viewing in EPA's electronic 
public docket. EPA's policy is that copyrighted material will not be 
placed in EPA's electronic public docket, but will be available only in 
printed, paper form in the official public docket. To the extent 
feasible, publicly available docket materials will be made available in 
EPA's electronic public docket. When a document is selected from the 
index list in EPA Dockets, the system will identify whether the 
document is available for viewing in EPA's electronic public docket. 
Although not all docket materials may be available electronically, you 
may still access any of the publicly available

[[Page 75553]]

docket materials through the docket facility identified in section 
I.B.1.
    For public commenters, it is important to note that EPA's policy is 
that scientific views, whether submitted electronically or in paper, 
will be made available for public viewing in EPA's electronic public 
docket as EPA receives them and without change, unless the views 
contain copyrighted material, CBI, or other information whose 
disclosure is restricted by statute. When EPA identifies a scientific 
view containing copyrighted material, EPA will provide a reference to 
that material in the version of the view that is placed in EPA's 
electronic public docket. The entire printed scientific view, including 
the copyrighted material, will be available in the public docket.
    Scientific views submitted on computer disks that are mailed or 
delivered to the docket will be transferred to EPA's electronic public 
docket. Scientific views that are mailed or delivered to the Docket 
will be scanned and placed in EPA's electronic public docket. Where 
practical, physical objects will be photographed, and the photograph 
will be placed in EPA's electronic public docket along with a brief 
description written by the docket staff.

C. How and To Whom Do I Submit My Scientific Views?

    You may submit scientific views electronically, by mail, or through 
hand delivery/courier. To ensure proper receipt by EPA, identify the 
appropriate docket identification number in the subject line on the 
first page of your views. Please ensure that your views are submitted 
within the specified time period. Scientific views received after the 
close of the stated time period will be marked ``late.'' EPA is not 
required to consider these late submittals. If you wish to submit CBI 
or information that is otherwise protected by statute, please follow 
the instructions in section I.B.2. Do not use EPA Dockets or e-mail to 
submit CBI or information protected by statute.
    1. Electronically. If you submit electronic scientific views as 
prescribed below, EPA recommends that you include your name, mailing 
address, and an e-mail address or other contact information in the body 
of your scientific views. Also include this contact information on the 
outside of any disk or CD-ROM you submit, and in any cover letter 
accompanying the disk or CD-ROM. This ensures that you can be 
identified as the submitter of the scientific views and allows EPA to 
contact you in case EPA cannot read your views due to technical 
difficulties or needs further information on the substance of your 
views. EPA's policy is that EPA will not edit your scientific views, 
and any identifying or contact information provided in the body of a 
view will be included as part of the scientific views that are placed 
in the official public docket, and made available in EPA's electronic 
public docket. If EPA cannot read your views due to technical 
difficulties and cannot contact you for clarification, EPA may not be 
able to consider your views.
    i. EPA Dockets. Your use of EPA's electronic public docket to 
submit scientific views to EPA electronically is EPA's preferred method 
for receiving scientific views. Go directly to EPA Dockets at http://www.epa.gov/edocket and follow the online instructions for submitting 
scientific views. To access EPA's electronic public docket from the EPA 
Internet Home Page, select ``Information Sources,'' ``Dockets,'' and 
``EPA Dockets.'' Once in the system, select ``search,'' and then key in 
Docket ID No. OW-2003-0079. The system is an ``anonymous access'' 
system, which means EPA will not know your identity, e-mail address, or 
other contact information unless you provide it in the body of your 
input.
    ii. E-mail. Scientific views may be sent by electronic mail (e-
mail) to: [email protected], Attention Docket ID No. OW-2003-0079. In 
contrast to EPA's electronic public docket, EPA's e-mail system is not 
an ``anonymous access'' system. If you send an e-mail scientific view 
directly to the Docket without going through EPA's electronic public 
docket, EPA's e-mail system automatically captures your e-mail address. 
E-mail addresses that are automatically captured by EPA's e-mail system 
are included as part of the scientific views that are placed in the 
official public docket, and made available in EPA's electronic public 
docket.
    iii. Disk or CD-ROM. You may submit scientific views on a disk or 
CD-ROM that you mail to the mailing address identified in section 
I.C.2. These electronic submissions will be accepted in WordPerfect, or 
ASCII file format. Avoid the use of special characters and any form of 
encryption.
    2. By Mail. Send an original and three copies of all scientific 
views, enclosures, or references, to the Water Docket, Environmental 
Protection Agency, Mailcode MC-4101T, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., 
Washington, DC 20460, Attention Docket ID No. OW-2003-0079.
    3. By Hand Delivery or Courier. Deliver your scientific views to: 
EPA Docket Center, (EPA/DC) EPA West, Room B102, 1301 Constitution 
Ave., NW., Washington, DC, Attention Docket ID No. OW-2003-0079. Such 
deliveries are only accepted during the Docket's normal hours of 
operation as identified in section I.B.1.

D. What Should I Consider as I Prepare My Scientific Views for EPA?

    You may find these suggestions helpful for preparing your 
scientific views:
    1. Explain your scientific views as clearly as possible.
    2. Describe any assumptions that you used.
    3. Provide any technical information and/or data you used that 
support your scientific views.
    4. Provide specific examples to illustrate your concerns.
    5. Offer alternatives.
    6. Make sure to submit your scientific views by the time period 
deadline identified.
    7. To ensure proper receipt by EPA, identify the appropriate docket 
identification number in the subject line on the first page of your 
response. It would also be helpful if you provided the name, date, and 
Federal Register citation related to your views.

II. What Are Water Quality Criteria?

    Water quality criteria are scientifically-derived concentrations of 
a pollutant that protect aquatic life or human health from the harmful 
effects of pollutants in ambient water. Section 304(a)(1) of the Clean 
Water Act requires EPA to develop and publish and, from time to time, 
revise criteria for water quality to accurately reflect the latest 
scientific knowledge. Water quality criteria developed under section 
304(a) are based solely on data and scientific judgments on the 
relationship between pollutant concentrations and environmental and 
human health effects. Section 304(a) criteria do not consider economic 
impacts or the technological feasibility of meeting the chemical 
concentrations in ambient water. Section 304(a) criteria help States 
and authorized Tribes adopt water quality standards that ultimately 
provide a basis for controlling discharges or releases of pollutants. 
The criteria also help EPA promulgate federal regulations under section 
303(c) when such action is necessary.
    Once established, an EPA water quality criterion does not 
substitute for the CWA or EPA regulations; nor is it a regulation. It 
cannot impose legally binding requirements on the EPA, States, 
authorized Tribes or the regulated community. State and Tribal 
decision-makers have the discretion to

[[Page 75554]]

adopt approaches that differ from EPA's guidance on a case-by-case 
basis.

III. How Did EPA Involve the Public in the Criteria Update Process?

    EPA solicited the public for data and information that would be 
useful in updating its copper criteria in the1999 Federal Register 
notice titled, Notice of Intent To Revise Aquatic Life Criteria for 
Copper, Silver, Lead, Cadmium, Iron and Selenium; Notice of Intent To 
Develop Aquatic Life Criteria for Atrazine, Diazinon, Nonylphenol, 
Methyl Tertiary-Butyl Ether (MtBE), Manganese and Saltwater Dissolved 
Oxygen (Cape Cod to Cape Hatteras); Notice of Data Availability; 
Request for Data and Information (64 FR 58409, October 29, 1999). In 
this notice, EPA also notified the public that it was assessing the use 
of the biotic ligand model for updating its copper criteria.

IV. What's New About the Updated Criteria?

    The draft aquatic life criteria document, titled 2003 Draft Update 
of Ambient Water Quality Criteria for Copper (EPA-822-R-03-026), 
contains updated freshwater and saltwater aquatic life criteria for 
copper. These criteria revisions are based in part on new data that 
have become available since EPA's last comprehensive criteria updates 
for copper: (Ambient Water Quality Criteria for Copper--1985 (EPA 440/
5-84-031) and Ambient Water Quality Criteria Saltwater Copper Addendum 
(April 14, 1995)). We derived both the freshwater and saltwater 
criteria recommendations presented in this draft document based on the 
principles set forth in EPA's 1985 Guidelines for Deriving Numerical 
National Aquatic Life Criteria for Protection of Aquatic Organisms and 
Their Uses. In addition to incorporating new data, the freshwater 
criterion maximum concentration (CMC or ``acute criterion'') also uses 
the biotic ligand model (BLM) in the criteria derivation procedures. 
The freshwater criterion continuous concentration (CCC or ``chronic 
criterion'') is based on a BLM-derived acute value divided by a final 
acute-chronic ratio.

V. How Do BLM-Derived Criteria Differ From Hardness-Dependent Criteria?

    The biotic ligand model is a metal bioavailability model based on 
the latest information about chemical and physiological effects of 
metals in aquatic environments. Earlier freshwater aquatic life 
criteria for copper published by the Agency were based on empirical 
relationships of toxicity to water hardness. That is, a relationship 
was established linking the criteria concentrations with water 
hardness. These hardness-dependent criteria, however, represented 
combined effects of different water quality variables (such as pH and 
alkalinity) correlated with hardness. Unlike the empirically derived 
hardness-dependent criteria, the BLM explicitly accounts for individual 
water quality variables and addresses variables that were not factored 
into the hardness relationship. Where the previous freshwater aquatic 
life criteria were hardness-dependent, these updated criteria are 
dependent on a number of water quality parameters (e.g., calcium, 
magnesium, dissolved organic carbon) described in the document.
    You can find more detailed information on the development and 
application of the biotic ligand model in the criteria document as well 
as in Draft Biotic Ligand Model: Technical Support Document for Its 
Application to the Evaluation of Water Quality Criteria for Copper (EPA 
822-R-03-027) and Integrated Approach to Assessing the Bioavailability 
and Toxicity of Metals in Surface Waters and Sediments (EPA-822-E-99-
001).

VI. What Are the Updated Criteria?

    The procedures described in the Guidelines for Deriving Numerical 
National Water Quality Criteria for the Protection of Aquatic Organisms 
and Their Uses indicate that, except where a locally important species 
is very sensitive, freshwater aquatic organisms and their uses should 
not be affected unacceptably if:
    [sbull] The 4-day average concentration of dissolved copper does 
not exceed the BLM-derived site-water LC50 (i.e., Final Acute Value 
(FAV)) divided by the final acute-chronic ratio more than once every 3 
years on the average (i.e., the CCC) and if:
    [sbull] The 24-hour average dissolved copper concentration does not 
exceed the BLM-derived site-LC50 (or FAV) divided by two, more than 
once every 3 years on the average (i.e., the CMC).
    The procedures described in the Guidelines for Deriving Numerical 
National Water Quality Criteria for the Protection of Aquatic Organisms 
and Their Uses indicate that, except where a locally important species 
is very sensitive, saltwater aquatic organisms and their uses should 
not be affected unacceptably if:
    [sbull] The 4-day average concentration of dissolved copper does 
not exceed 1.9 ug/L more than once every 3 years on the average (i.e., 
the CCC) and if:
    [sbull] The 24-hour average dissolved copper concentration does not 
exceed 3.1 ug/L more than once every 3 years on the average (i.e., the 
CMC).

VII. What Specific Questions of Science Does EPA Want Views on?

    Though the public is welcome to submit scientific views on any 
component of the copper aquatic life criteria document, EPA is 
specifically interested in scientific views on the following issues of 
science:
    [sbull] The freshwater criteria presented in this document were 
developed utilizing the biotic ligand model (BLM). Are the procedures 
used to incorporate the model apt? Is the establishment of the chronic 
criterion through the BLM-calculated FAV and the assigned acute-
chronic-ratio (ACR) appropriate?
    [sbull] Measurements were not available for all input parameters, 
for all studies used to derive the criteria. In some cases therefore, 
input parameters were estimated. A detailed description of the methods 
used to estimate these missing parameters is included in the updated 
draft copper criteria document's Appendix, Estimation of Water 
Chemistry Parameters for Acute Copper Toxicity Tests. Are the 
estimation procedures for the parameters appropriate or could other 
methods be used to improve the estimations?
    [sbull] To calculate the saltwater final chronic value (FCV) the 
Mytilus spp. species mean acute value (SMAV) was divided by a final 
acute-chronic ratio (FACR) derived from both freshwater and saltwater 
species, implying that a ``5th percentile'' ACR was applicable for use 
in conjunction with the M. spp.-FAV. Submit scientific views on the 
appropriateness of this calculation procedure.

VIII. What Is the Relationship Between the Water Quality Criteria and 
Your State or Tribal Water Quality Standards?

    Section 303(c)(1) requires States and authorized Tribes to review 
and modify, if appropriate, their water quality standards at least once 
every three years. Water quality standards consist of designated uses, 
water quality criteria to protect those uses, a policy for 
antidegradation, and general policies for application and 
implementation.
    States and authorized Tribes must adopt water quality criteria that 
protect designated uses. Protective criteria, based on a sound 
scientific rationale, contain appropriate factors to protect the 
designated uses. Criteria may be either narrative or numeric. States 
and authorized Tribes have four options when adopting water quality 
criteria for which EPA has published section 304(a) criteria. They can:

[[Page 75555]]

    (1) Establish numerical values based on recommended section 304(a) 
criteria;
    (2) Adopt section 304(a) criteria, modified to reflect site-
specific conditions;
    (3) Adopt criteria derived using other scientifically defensible 
methods; or
    (4) Establish narrative criteria where numeric criteria cannot be 
determined (40 CFR 131.11).
    Consistent with 40 CFR 131.21 (see: EPA Review and Approval of 
State and Tribal Water Quality Standards (65 FR 24641, April 27, 
2000)), water quality criteria that States and authorized Tribes 
adopted before May 30, 2000, are in effect for CWA purposes unless 
Federal regulations superseded them (see, for example, the National 
Toxics Rule, 40 CFR 131.36; Water Quality Standards for Idaho, 40 CFR 
131.33). New or revised water quality criteria that States and 
authorized Tribes adopted into law or regulation on or after May 30, 
2000, are in effect for CWA purposes only after EPA approves them.

IX. What Is the Status of Existing Recommended Criteria While They Are 
Being Revised?

    Water quality criteria published by EPA are the Agency's 
recommended water quality criteria until EPA revises or withdraws the 
criteria. EPA supports using the current section 304(a) criteria for 
those chemicals for which criteria are being updated and considers them 
to be scientifically sound until the Agency publishes revised 304(a) 
criteria.

    Dated: December 22, 2003.
G. Tracy Mehan III,
Assistant Administrator, Office of Water.
[FR Doc. 03-32209 Filed 12-30-03; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P