[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 198 (Friday, October 14, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 60078-60079]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-20599]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-OW-FRL-7983-6]


Notice of Data Availability and Request for Data and Information 
to Develop Ambient Water Quality Criteria for Protection of Human 
Health for Atrazine and Alachlor

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency.

ACTION: Notice of data availability; request for scientific data and 
information.

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SUMMARY: Section 304(a) of the Clean Water Act (CWA) requires the U.S. 
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to develop and publish, and from 
time to time revise, criteria for water accurately reflecting the 
latest scientific knowledge. Today, EPA is informing the public of data 
currently available to EPA and requesting data and information to 
develop Ambient Water Quality Criteria for Protection of Human Health 
for Atrazine and Alachlor. Lists of references available to the Agency 
for atrazine and alachlor will be posted on EPA's Office of Science and 
Technology's Home-page located at http://www.epa.gov/ost. In addition 
to seeking input on the references known to the Agency, EPA is also 
soliciting any additional pertinent data or information that may be 
useful in developing these criteria.

DATES: Submit data and information on or before November 14, 2005.

ADDRESSES: Data and information may be submitted electronically, by 
mail, or through hand deliver/courier. Follow the detailed instructions 
as provided in Unit B of the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr. Amal Mahfouz, U.S. Environmental 
Protection Agency, Office of Water, Health and Ecological Criteria 
Division (4304T), 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20460; 
(202) 566-1114; [email protected] (Data on toxicity of atrazine and 
alachlor) or Dr. Tala Henry, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 
Office of Water, Health and Ecological Criteria Division (4304T), 1200 
Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20460; (202) 566-1323; 
[email protected] (Data pertaining to bioaccumulation of atrazine and 
alachlor).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. General Information

A. How Can I Get Copies of Related Information?

    1. Docket. EPA has established an official public docket for this 
Notice under Docket ID Nos. OW-2005-0008 for Atrazine and OW-2005-0009 
for Alachlor. 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 West, Room B102, 1301 Constitution Ave., NW., 
Washington, DC. Although a part of official docket, public docket does 
not include Confidential Business Information (CBI) or other 
information whose disclosure is restricted by statute. 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.
    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 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. 
Although not all docket materials may be available electronically, you 
may still access any of the publicly available docket materials through 
the docket facility identified in Section B.1. Once in the system, 
select ``search,'' then key in the appropriate docket identification 
number.

B. How and to Whom Do I Submit Data and Information?

    You may submit data 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. Please ensure that your data are submitted within the 
specified period.
    1. Electronically. If you submit data as prescribed below, EPA 
recommends that you include your name, mailing address, and an e-mail 
address or other contact information. 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 data and allows EPA to contact 
you in case EPA cannot read your data due to technical difficulties or 
needs further information on the substance of your data. EPA's policy 
is that EPA will not edit your data, and any identifying or contact 
information provided in the body of the data will be included as part 
of the data that is placed in the official public docket, and made 
available in EPA's electronic public docket. If EPA cannot read your 
data due to technical difficulties and cannot contact you for 
clarification, EPA may not be able to consider your comment.
    i. EPA Dockets. Your use of EPA's electronic public docket to 
submit data to EPA electronically is EPA's preferred method for 
receiving data. Go directly to EPA Dockets at http://www.epa.gov/edocket, and follow the online instructions. Once in the system, select 
``search,'' and then key in Docket ID Nos. OW-2005-0008 for Atrazine or 
OW-2005-0009 for Alachlor. 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 along with your data.
    ii. E-mail. Data may be sent by electronic mail (e-mail) to [email protected], Attention Docket ID Nos. OW-2005-0008 for Atrazine and 
OW-2005-0009 for Alachlor. 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 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 comment that is 
placed in the official public docket, and made available in EPA's 
electronic public docket.
    iii. Disk or CD ROM. You may submit data on a disk or CD ROM that 
you mail to the mailing address identified in Unit B.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 any data or 
information to: Water Docket, Environmental Protection Agency, 
Mailcode: 4101T, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington, DC, 20460, 
Attention Docket ID Nos. OW-2005-0008 for Atrazine and OW-2005-0009 for 
Alachlor.
    3. By Hand Delivery or Courier. Deliver your comments to: EPA 
Docket

[[Page 60079]]

Center, (EPA/DC) EPA West, Room B102, 1301 Constitution Ave., NW., 
Washington, DC 20460, Attention Docket ID Nos. OW-2005-0008 for 
Atrazine and OW-2005-0009 for Alachlor. Such deliveries are only 
accepted during the Docket's normal hours of operation as identified in 
Section A.1.

II. Background

A. What Are National Recommended Water Quality Criteria?
B. What Type of Information Does EPA Want from the Public?
C. Where Can I Find More Information on EPA's Revised Process for 
Developing New or Revised Criteria?

A. What Are National Recommended Water Quality Criteria?

    Section 304(a) of the Clean Water Act requires the EPA to develop, 
publish, and from time to time revise criteria for water that 
accurately reflect the latest scientific knowledge. Water quality 
criteria developed under section 304(a) are based solely on data and 
scientific judgements; economic impacts or the technological 
feasibility of meeting the criteria in ambient water are not 
considered. Section 304(a) criteria are guidance to States and Tribes 
for adopting water quality standards. The criteria also provide a 
scientific basis for EPA to develop federal regulations under section 
303(c).

B. What Type of Information Does EPA Want From the Public?

    EPA recently completed a comprehensive review of the available 
toxicity data for Atrazine and Alachlor. The list of pertinent 
references identified by the Agency for these two chemicals is 
available from EPA's electronic public docket under Docket ID Nos. OW-
2005-0008 for Atrazine and OW-2005-0009 for Alachlor. EPA is soliciting 
additional pertinent new toxicity data or information it might use to 
develop the Ambient Water Quality Criteria for these two chemicals. In 
particular, EPA is interested in acquiring from the public any new 
data, not identified by the Agency's literature review, on the toxicity 
and human exposure to these chemicals from ambient water bodies as well 
as the bioaccumulation of each of these two chemicals in aquatic 
organisms to calculate trophic level specific bioaccumulation factors; 
in addition to seeking input on the references known to the Agency, EPA 
is also soliciting any additional pertinent data or information that 
may be useful in developing these criteria, particularly new data on 
the toxicity of these two chemicals. You should adequately document any 
data you submit. It should also contain enough supporting information 
to show that acceptable test procedures were used.
    Please refer to the EPA's ``Methodology for Deriving Ambient Water 
Quality Criteria for the Protection of Human Health--2000'' (EPA-822-B-
00-004, October 2000 and EPA-822-R-03-030, December 2003); for guidance 
on data suitability. These documents are available at the EPA website 
under using the following link, http://www.epa.gov/waterscience/criteria/humanhealth/method/index.html. It is also available from EPA's 
electronic public docket at http://www.epa.gov/edocket/.

C. Where Can I Find More Information on EPA's Revised Process for 
Developing New or Revised Criteria?

    The Agency published detailed information about its revised process 
for developing and revising criteria in the Federal Register on 
December 10, 1998 (63 FR 68354) and in the EPA documents entitled 
``Methodology for Deriving Ambient Water Quality Criteria for the 
Protection of Human Health'' (vol 1 on Risk Assessment, EPA-822-B-00-
004, October 2000; and vol 2 on Bioaccumulation, EPA-822-R-03-030, 
December 2003). The revised process provides greater opportunities for 
public input and makes the criteria development process more efficient. 
A copy of the technical information that will be used to derive the 
atrazine and alachlor criteria are available in the EPA's Interim 
Registration Eligibility Document (IRED) for Atrazine (2003) that is 
available at http://www.epa.gov/oppsrrd1/reregistration/atrazine and 
the Registration Eligibility Document (RED) for Alachlor (1998) that is 
available at http://cfpub.epa.gov/oppref/rereg/status.cfm?show=rereg.

    Dated: October 7, 2005.
Ephraim S. King,
Director, Office of Science and Technology.
[FR Doc. 05-20599 Filed 10-13-05; 8:45 am]
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