[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 135 (Friday, July 15, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 41007-41008]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-14059]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-7940-1]


Air Quality Criteria Document for Lead

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency.

ACTION: Notice of workshops.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Office of 
Research and Development's National Center for Environmental Assessment 
(NCEA) is reviewing and, as appropriate, revising the EPA document, 
``Air Quality Criteria for Lead,'' EPA-600/8-83/028aF-dF (published in 
June 1986) and an associated supplement (EPA-600/8-89/049F) published 
in 1990. As part of this process, several workshops are planned to 
discuss, with invited recognized scientific experts, initial draft 
materials that deal with various lead-related issues being addressed in 
the revised ``Lead Air Quality Criteria Document'' (Lead AQCD) now 
being prepared by NCEA.

DATES: The first workshop will be held during August 4-5, 2005, and 
will focus on lead-related ecological issues. Another workshop to be 
held August 16-18, 2005, will deal with sources, emissions, 
environmental distribution, human exposures, biokinetic modeling of 
lead exposure and uptake, and with biological distribution of lead to 
blood, bone, teeth and soft tissues. A third workshop, to be held 
August 17-19, 2005, will deal with lead-related health effects. All the 
workshops will be held at the Carolina Inn in Research Triangle Park, 
NC.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Space is limited at the workshops. 
Please contact Ms. Joanna Hannah at Science Applications International 
Corporation (SAIC), telephone: 443-402-9361, FAX: 443-402-9854, e-mail: 
abingdon.com">HannahJ@SAIC-abingdon.com to register your attendance at the workshops. 
SAIC will provide details on the locations and times of each workshop.
    For technical information, contact Robert Elias, PhD, NCEA, 
facsimile: 919-541-1818 or email: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Section 108(a) of the Clean Air Act directs 
the Administrator to identify certain pollutants which ``may reasonably 
be anticipated to endanger public health and welfare'' and to issue air 
quality criteria for them. These air quality criteria are to 
``accurately reflect the latest scientific knowledge useful in 
indicating the kind and extent of all identifiable effects on public 
health or welfare which may be expected from the presence of [a] 
pollutant in the ambient air * * *'' Under section 109 of the Act, EPA 
is then to establish National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for 
each pollutant for which EPA has issued criteria. Section 109(d) of the 
Act subsequently requires periodic review and, if appropriate, revision 
of existing air quality criteria to reflect advances in scientific 
knowledge on the effects of the pollutant on public health and welfare. 
EPA is also to revise the NAAQS, if appropriate, based on the revised 
criteria.
    Lead is one of six ``criteria'' pollutants for which EPA has 
established air quality criteria and NAAQS. On November 9, 2004 (69 FR 
64926), EPA

[[Page 41008]]

formally initiated its current review of the criteria and NAAQS for 
lead, requesting the submission of recent scientific information on 
specified topics. One of the next steps in this process was to prepare 
a project work plan for the revision of the existing Air Quality 
Criteria Document (AQCD) for lead and to provide for public review of 
that draft plan. Accordingly, a draft of EPA's ``Project Work Plan for 
Revised Air Quality Criteria for Lead'' (NCEA-R-1465) was released in 
January 2005 for public comment and was discussed by the Clean Air 
Science Advisory Committee (CASAC) via a publicly accessible March 28, 
2005, teleconference consultation.
    The purpose of these workshops announced in this notice is to 
obtain peer consultative discussion and feedback from a panel of 
invited experts with regard to the scope of issues addressed, 
completeness of coverage of available pertinent literature, scientific 
accuracy and appropriateness of the assessments of such literature, and 
the soundness of the interpretations and conclusions related to the 
evidence assessed in the initial draft materials being prepared for 
inclusion in the revised Lead AQCD. This includes evaluation of 
scientific research on environmental sources, transport, and 
distribution of ambient lead, human lead exposures and lead health 
effects, ecological impacts, and other impacts related to air quality 
as described in Section 108(a) of the Clean Air Act.

    Dated: July 11, 2005.
Peter W. Preuss,
Director, National Center for Environmental Assessment.
[FR Doc. 05-14059 Filed 7-13-05; 1:24 pm]
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