[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 177 (Thursday, September 13, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 52369-52371]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-18100]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-8467-9; Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-ORD-2007-0925]


Integrated Science Assessment for Carbon Monoxide

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency.

ACTION: Notice; call for information.

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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 preparing an Integrated Science Assessment (ISA) as part of 
the review of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for 
Carbon Monoxide (CO). This is intended to update and revise, where 
appropriate, the scientific assessment presented in the Air Quality 
Criteria for Carbon Monoxide (EPA 600/P-99/001F), published in June 
2000. Interested parties are invited to assist the EPA in developing 
and refining the scientific information base for the review of the CO 
NAAQS by submitting research studies that have been published, accepted 
for publication, or presented at a public scientific meeting.

DATES: All communications and information should be received by EPA by 
December 14, 2007.

ADDRESSES: Information may be submitted electronically, by mail, by

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facsimile, or by hand delivery/courier. Please follow the detailed 
instructions as provided in the section of this notice entitled 
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For details on the period for 
submission of research information from the public, contact the Office 
of Environmental Information (OEI) Docket; telephone: 202-566-1752; 
facsimile: 202-566-1753; or e-mail: [email protected]. For technical 
information, contact Paul Reinhart, PhD, NCEA, telephone, 919-541-1456; 
facsimile: 919-541-1818 or e-mail: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Information About the Project

    Section 108(a) of the Clean Air Act directs the Administrator to 
identify certain pollutants, emissions of which ``may reasonably be 
anticipated to endanger public health and welfare'' and whose presence 
``in the ambient air results from numerous or diverse mobile or 
stationary sources,'' 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 such 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 air quality criteria.
    Carbon monoxide is one of six principal (or ``criteria'') 
pollutants for which EPA has established NAAQS. Periodically, EPA 
reviews the scientific basis for these standards by preparing an 
Integrated Science Assessment (ISA), formerly called an Air Quality 
Criteria Document (AQCD). The ISA and supplementary annexes are the 
scientific basis for the additional technical and policy assessments 
that form the basis for EPA decisions on the adequacy of a current 
NAAQS and the appropriateness of new or revised standards. Early steps 
in this process include announcing the beginning of this periodic NAAQS 
review and the development of the ISA, and NCEA requesting that the 
public submit scientific literature that they want to bring to the 
attention of the Agency as it begins this process. The Clean Air 
Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC), an independent science advisory 
committee mandated by the Clean Air Act and part of the EPA's Science 
Advisory Board (SAB), is charged with independent expert scientific 
review of EPA's draft ISAs. As the process proceeds, the public will 
have opportunities to review and comment on draft CO ISAs. These 
opportunities will also be announced in the Federal Register.
    The Agency is interested in obtaining additional new information, 
particularly concerning toxicological studies of effects of controlled 
exposure to CO on laboratory animals, humans and in vitro systems as 
well as epidemiologic (observational) studies of health effects 
associated with ambient exposures of human populations to CO. EPA also 
seeks recent information in other areas of CO research such as 
chemistry and physics, sources and emissions, analytical methodology, 
transport and transformation in the environment, ambient concentrations 
and effects on public welfare or the environment. This and other 
selected literature relevant to a review of the NAAQS for CO will be 
assessed in the forthcoming CO ISA. As part of this review of the CO 
NAAQS, EPA intends to sponsor a workshop in January 2008 to highlight 
significant new and emerging CO research, and to make recommendations 
to the Agency regarding the design and scope of the review for the 
primary (health-based) CO standards to ensure that it addresses key 
policy-relevant issues and considers the new science that is relevant 
to informing our understanding of these issues. In addition, other 
opportunities for submission of new peer-reviewed, published (or in-
press) papers will be possible as part of public comment on the 
additional draft documents that will be reviewed by CASAC.

II. How To Submit Technical Comments to the Docket at 
www.regulations.gov

    Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-ORD 2007-
0925, by one of the following methods:
     www.regulations.gov: Follow the on-line instructions for 
submitting comments.
     E-mail: [email protected].
     Fax: 202-566-1753.
     Mail: Office of Environmental Information (OEI) Docket 
(Mail Code: 2822T), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 
Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460. The phone number is 202-
566-1752.
     Hand Delivery: The OEI Docket is located in the EPA 
Headquarters Docket Center, Room 3334 EPA West Building, 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. Such deliveries are only accepted during 
the docket's normal hours of operation, and special arrangements should 
be made for deliveries of boxed information.
    If you provide comments by mail or hand delivery, please submit 
three copies of the comments. For attachments, provide an index, number 
pages consecutively with the comments, and submit an unbound original 
and three copies.
    Instructions: Direct your comments to Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-ORD-
2007-0925. Please ensure that your comments are submitted within the 
specified comment period. Comments received after the closing date will 
be marked ``late,'' and may only be considered if time permits. It is 
EPA's policy to include all comments it receives in the public docket 
without change and to make the comments available online at 
www.regulations.gov, including any personal information provided, 
unless a comment includes information claimed to be 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 www.regulations.gov or e-mail. 
The 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 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 in the body of 
your comment and 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 
homepage at http://www.epa.gov/epahome/dockets.htm.
    Docket: Documents in the docket are listed in the 
www.regulations.gov index. Although listed in the index, some

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information is not publicly available, e.g., CBI or other information 
whose disclosure is restricted by statute. Certain other materials, 
such as copyrighted material, are publicly available only in hard copy. 
Publicly available docket materials are available either electronically 
in www.regulations.gov or in hard copy at the OEI Docket in the EPA 
Headquarters Docket Center.

    Dated: September 6, 2007.
Peter W. Preuss,
Director, National Center for Environmental Assessment.
[FR Doc. E7-18100 Filed 9-12-07; 8:45 am]
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