[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 24 (Tuesday, February 5, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 6723-6724]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-2063]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[EPA-HQ-RCRA-2006-0796; FRL-8524-4]
RIN 2050-AE81


Notice of Data Availability on the Disposal of Coal Combustion 
Wastes in Landfills and Surface Impoundments; Reopening of Comment 
Period

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of Data Availability; Reopening of Comment Period.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is reopening the 
comment period for the Notice of Data Availability (NODA) entitled 
``Notice of Data Availability on the Disposal of Coal Combustion Wastes 
in Landfills and Surface Impoundments.'' This NODA announces the 
availability of new information and data concerning the management of 
coal combustion wastes (CCW) in landfills and surface impoundments that 
will be used by the Agency to inform its decisionmaking regarding its 
Regulatory Determination for CCW disposed of in landfills and surface 
impoundments. This NODA was published on August 29, 2007 (72 FR 49714), 
and the comment period was scheduled to close on November 27, 2007. 
However, a number of environmental groups requested additional time to 
respond to the issues raised in the NODA and its accompanying 
documents. Consequently, the Agency extended the comment period an 
additional 60 days to January 28, 2008 (72 FR 57572). The same group of 
commenters then requested a short amount of additional time to finish 
gathering information that they believe is necessary to complete their 
comments. Therefore, we are reopening the comment period from the date 
of publication of this notice to close on February 11, 2008.

DATES: The comment period is reopened from the date of publication of 
this notice to close on February 11, 2008.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-
RCRA-2006-0796, by one of the following methods:
     http://www.regulations.gov: Follow the on-line 
instructions for submitting comments.
     E-mail: Comments may be sent by electronic mail (e-mail) 
to: [email protected], Attention Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-RCRA-2006-0796. 
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 comment 
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.
     Fax: Comments may be faxed to 202-566-9744. Attention 
Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-RCRA-2006-0796.
     Mail: Send two copies of your comments to Notice of Data 
Availability on the Disposal of Coal Combustion Wastes in Landfills and 
Surface Impoundments, Environmental Protection Agency, Mailcode: 5305T, 
1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460. Attention Docket ID 
No. EPA-HQ-RCRA-2006-0796.
     Hand Delivery: Deliver two copies of your comments to the 
Notice of Data Availability on the Disposal of Coal Combustion Wastes 
in Landfills and Surface Impoundments Docket, EPA/DC, EPA West, Room 
3334, 1301 Constitution Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460. Attention 
Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-RCRA-2006-0796. Such deliveries are only accepted 
during the docket's normal hours of operation (8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., 
Monday through Friday, excluding legal holidays), and special 
arrangements should be made for deliveries of boxed information.
    Instructions: Direct your comments to Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-RCRA-
2006-0796. EPA's policy is that all comments

[[Page 6724]]

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 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 
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 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. We also request that interested parties who would 
like information they previously submitted to EPA to be considered as 
part of this action, identify the relevant information by docket entry 
numbers and page numbers. For additional instructions on submitting 
comments, go to the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this document.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Alexander Livnat, Office of Solid 
Waste (5306P), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Ariel Rios 
Building, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20460-0002, 
telephone (703) 308-7251, e-mail address [email protected]. For 
more information on this rulemaking, please visit http://www.epa.gov/epaoswer/other/fossil/index.htm/.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The NODA that is the subject of this notice, 
and which was published in the Federal Register on August 29, 2007 (72 
FR 49714), announces the availability of new information and data 
contained in three documents that the Agency is requesting public 
comments on, concerning the management of CCW in landfills and surface 
impoundments. The three documents that the Agency is requesting 
comments on are: A joint U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and EPA report 
entitled, Coal Combustion Waste Management at Landfills and Surface 
Impoundments, 1994-2004; a draft risk assessment conducted by EPA on 
the management of CCW in landfills and surface impoundments; and EPA's 
damage case assessment. The Agency is soliciting comments on the extent 
to which the damage case information, the results of the risk 
assessment, and the new liner and ground water monitoring information 
from the DOE/EPA report should affect the Agency's decisions. EPA is 
also requesting direct comment on the draft risk assessment document to 
help inform a planned peer review. In addition, the Agency has included 
in the docket to the NODA a rulemaking petition submitted by a number 
of citizens' groups, as well as two approaches regarding the management 
of CCW, one prepared by the electric utility industry and the other 
prepared by a number of citizens' groups. The Agency will consider all 
the information provided through the NODA, the comments and new 
information submitted on the NODA, as well as the results of a 
subsequent peer review of the risk assessment, as it continues to 
follow-up on its Regulatory Determination for CCW disposed of in 
landfills and surface impoundments.
    The comment period for the NODA was scheduled to close on November 
27, 2007. However, a number of environmental groups requested that EPA 
extend the comment period by 75 days, noting that additional time was 
needed in order to comment meaningfully on the information contained in 
the NODA and to perform extensive analysis on several documents, some 
of which are highly technical. The commenters also noted that, due to 
the length and complexity of the draft risk assessment (Human and 
Ecological Risk Assessment of Coal Combustion Wastes), it would be 
necessary to engage expert review that will consequently increase the 
time necessary to prepare their comments.
    EPA believed that the 90-day public comment period originally 
established was reasonable. However, since the Agency will be 
considering all the information provided through the comments and new 
information submitted on the NODA, as well as the results of a 
subsequent peer review of the risk assessment, we believed it was 
important that commenters have adequate time to analyze the data 
noticed in the NODA so that they may provide informed and meaningful 
comments to the Agency. Therefore, we decided to extend the comment 
period by 60 days, thereby extending the comment period to 150 days. We 
believed an additional 60 days was adequate for commenters to analyze 
the data noticed in the NODA and available in the docket to the NODA. 
Because the 60-day extension would have ended on January 26, 2008, 
which is a Saturday, the comment period was extended until the 
following Monday, January 28, 2008.
    The same group of commenters, noted above, requested a short amount 
of additional time to finish gathering information that is necessary to 
complete their comments. We believe this request is reasonable given 
the nature and volume of materials provided for comment; therefore, we 
are reopening the comment period from the date of publication of this 
notice to close on February 11, 2008.

    Dated: January 29, 2008.
Susan Parker Bodine,
Assistant Administrator, Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response.
[FR Doc. E8-2063 Filed 2-4-08; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P