[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 97 (Friday, May 19, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 29152-29153]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-7647]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-8172-6, Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-ORD-2004-0018]


Draft Air Quality Criteria for Lead

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of public comment period on a second external review 
draft.

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SUMMARY: The EPA is announcing a public comment period for the draft 
document titled, ``Air Quality Criteria for Lead; Second External 
Review Draft'' (EPA/600/R-05/144aB-bB). The document was prepared by 
the National Center for Environmental Assessment within EPA's Office of 
Research and Development.
    EPA is releasing this draft document solely for the purpose of 
seeking public comment. It does not represent and should not be 
construed to represent any Agency policy, viewpoint, or determination. 
EPA will consider any public comments submitted in accordance with this 
notice when revising the document.

DATES: The public comment period begins on or about May 15, 2006, and 
ends June 27, 2006. Comments must be received on or before June 27, 
2006.

ADDRESSES: The draft ``Air Quality Criteria for Lead; Second External 
Review Draft'' will be available primarily via the Internet on the 
National Center for Environmental Assessment's home page under the 
Recent Additions and Publications menus at http://www.epa.gov/ncea. A 
limited number of CD-ROM or paper copies will be available. Contact Ms. 
Diane Ray by phone (919-541-3637), fax (919-541-1818), or e-mail 
([email protected]) to request either of these, and please provide your 
name, your mailing address, and the document title, ``Air Quality 
Criteria for Lead; Second External Review Draft,'' (EPA/600/R-05/144aB-
bB) to facilitate processing of your request.
    Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-ORD-2004-
0018, by one of the following methods:
     http://www.regulations.gov: Follow the on-line 
instructions for submitting comments.
     E-mail: [email protected].
     Fax: 202-566-1753; Office of Environmental Information 
(OEI) Docket in the Headquarters EPA Docket Center.
     Mail: Office of Environmental Information (OEI) Docket in 
the Headquarters EPA Docket Center (Mail Code 2822T), U.S. 
Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., 
Washington, DC 20460. If you provide information in writing, please 
submit one unbound original, with pages numbered consecutively, and 
three copies. For attachments, provide an index, number pages 
consecutively with the main text, and submit an unbound original and 
three copies.
     Hand Delivery: Office of Environmental Information (OEI) 
Docket in the Headquarters EPA Docket Center, EPA West Building, 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 
OEI Docket is 202-566-1752. Deliveries are only accepted during the 
Docket's normal hours of operation, and special arrangements should be 
made for deliveries of boxed information.
    Instructions: Direct your comments to Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-ORD-
2004-0018. EPA's policy is that all comments received will be included 
in the public docket without change and may be made available online at 
http://www.regulations.gov, including any personal information 
provided, unless the included information is claimed as Confidential 
Business Information (CBI) or other information whose disclosure is 
restricted by statute. Do not submit information that you consider to 
be CBI or otherwise protected through http://www.regulations.gov or e-
mail. The http://www.regulations.gov Web site is an ``anonymous 
access'' system, which means EPA will not know your identity or contact 
information unless you provide it in the body of your comment. If you 
send an e-mail comment directly to EPA without going through http://www.regulations.gov, your e-mail address will be automatically captured 
and included as part of the comment that is placed in the public docket 
and made available on the Internet. If you submit an electronic 
comment, EPA recommends that you include your name and other contact 
information with any disk or CD-ROM you submit. If EPA cannot read your 
comment due to technical difficulties and cannot contact you for 
clarification, EPA may not be able to consider your comment. Electronic 
files should avoid the use of special characters, any form of 
encryption, and be free of any defects or viruses. For additional 
information about EPA's public docket, visit the EPA Docket Center home 
page at http://www.epa.gov/epahome/dockets.htm.
    Docket: All documents in the docket are listed in the http://www.regulations.gov index. Although listed in the index, some 
information is not publicly available, e.g., CBI or other information 
whose disclosure is restricted by statute. Certain other material, such 
as copyrighted material, will be publicly available only in hard copy. 
Publicly available docket materials are available either electronically 
in http://www.regulations.gov or in hard copy at the OEI Docket, EPA/
DC, EPA West, Room B102, 1301 Constitution Ave., NW., Washington, DC. 
The 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 
OEI Docket is 202-566-

[[Page 29153]]

1752; facsimile: 202-566-1753; or e-mail: [email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For information on the public comment 
period, contact the Office of Environmental Information Docket; 
telephone: 202-566-1752; facsimile: 202-566-1753; or e-mail: 
[email protected].
    For technical information, contact Lori White, Ph.D., NCEA; 
telephone: 919-541-3146; facsimile: 919-541-1818; or e-mail: 
[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 requires subsequent 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 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 revision of the existing ``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. Accordingly, a draft of EPA's ``Project Work Plan for Revised Air 
Quality Criteria for Lead'' (NCEA-R-1465) was released on January 7, 
2005, for public comment (70 FR 1439) and was discussed by the Clean 
Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC) via a publicly accessible 
March 28, 2005, teleconference consultation (70 FR 11629). On July 15, 
2005 (70 FR 41007), several workshops were announced to discuss, with 
invited recognized scientific experts, initial draft materials that 
dealt with various lead-related issues being addressed in the draft 
AQCD for lead. These workshops were held August 4-5, 16-18, and 17-19, 
2005. The first external review draft of the Air Quality Criteria for 
Lead (EPA/600/R-05/144aA-bA) was announced in the Federal Register on 
December 2, 2005 (70 FR 72300). The CASAC Lead Review Panel reviewed 
the first external review draft at a public meeting on February 28 and 
March 1, 2006. EPA considered the comments of the CASAC review panel 
and of the public in drafting this ``Air Quality Criteria for Lead, 
Second External Review Draft.''
    After the end of the comment period on the ``Air Quality Criteria 
for Lead, Second External Review Draft,'' the CASAC review panel will 
review the draft at a public meeting. Public comments received will be 
provided to the CASAC review panel. There will be a Federal Register 
notice to inform the public of the exact date and time of that CASAC 
meeting.

    Dated: May 3, 2006.
Peter W. Preuss,
Director, National Center for Environmental Assessment.
[FR Doc. E6-7647 Filed 5-18-06; 8:45 am]
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