[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 75 (Thursday, April 17, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 20921-20923]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-8329]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[EPA-HQ-OPPT-2008-0317; FRL-8361-7]


Security and Prosperity Partnership; Notice of Public Meeting

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: EPA will be holding a public meeting to encourage input from 
stakeholders regarding approaches to ensuring success in meeting 2012 
Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP) goals to assess and initiate 
action, if necessary, on thousands of high (HPV) and moderate 
production volume (MPV) chemicals, to engage stakeholders on the 
concept of developing and implementing a HPV Challenge-type program for 
``inorganic'' HPV chemicals, and on options for means to potentially 
reset the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Inventory. Additional 
information on these Chemical Assessment and Management Program (ChAMP) 
efforts can be found on the Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics 
homepage, http://www.epa.gov/oppt, and on the new ChAMP website, http://www.epa.gov/champ. The purpose of this public meeting will be to 
further discussion and development of these initiatives.

DATES: The meeting will be held on May 2, 2008, from 1:30 p.m. to 4:30 
p.m.
    Requests to participate in the meeting must be received on or 
before April 28, 2008.
    To request accommodation of a disability, please contact the 
technical person listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATON CONTACT, 
preferably at least 10 days prior to the meeting, to give EPA as much 
time as possible to process your request.

ADDRESSES: The meeting will be held in the EPA East, Conference Room 
1153, 1201 Constitution Ave., NW., Washington, DC.
    Requests to participate in the meeting and requests for 
accommodation of a disability, identified by docket identification (ID) 
number EPA-HQ-OPPT-2008-0317, may be submitted to the technical person 
listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For general information contact: Colby 
Lintner, Environmental Assistance Division (7408M), Office of Pollution 
Prevention and Toxics, Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 
Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460-0001; telephone number: 
(202) 554-1404; e-mail address: [email protected].
    For technical information contact: Pam Buster, Environmental 
Assistance Division (7408M), Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics, 
Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW., 
Washington, DC 20460-0001; telephone number: (202) 564-8817; e-mail 
address: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

[[Page 20922]]

I. General Information

A. Does this Action Apply to Me?

    You may be potentially affected by this action if you manufacture, 
import, process, or use chemical substances subject to TSCA. 
Potentially affected entities may include, but are not limited to 
chemical manufacturers, e.g., persons manufacturing, importing, 
processing, or using chemicals for commercial purposes. Since other 
entities may also be interested, the Agency has not attempted to 
describe all the specific entities that may have an interest in this 
matter. If you have any questions regarding the applicability of this 
action to a particular entity, consult the technical person listed 
under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.

B. How Can I Get Copies of this Document and Other Related Information?

    1. Docket. EPA has established a docket for this action under 
docket ID number EPA-HQ-OPPT-2008-0317. All documents in the docket are 
listed in the docket's index available at http://www.regulations.gov. 
Although listed in the index, some information is not publicly 
available, e.g., Confidential Business Information (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 
electronically at http://www.regulations.gov, or, if only available in 
hard copy, at the OPPT Docket. The OPPT Docket is located in the EPA 
Docket Center (EPA/DC) at Rm. 3334, EPA West Bldg., 1301 Constitution 
Ave., NW., Washington, DC. The EPA/DC Public Reading Room hours of 
operation are 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding 
Federal holidays. The telephone number of the EPA/DC Public Reading 
Room is (202) 566-1744, and the telephone number for the OPPT Docket is 
(202) 566-0280. Docket visitors are required to show photographic 
identification, pass through a metal detector, and sign the EPA visitor 
log. All visitor bags are processed through an X-ray machine and 
subject to search. Visitors will be provided an EPA/DC badge that must 
be visible at all times in the building and returned upon departure.
    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.

II. Background

A. What are SPP and ChAMP?

    SPP unites the efforts of Canada, Mexico, and the United States in 
an initiative that is committed to accelerating and strengthening the 
national and regional risk-based assessment and management of 
chemicals. This effort is pursuant to a commitment made by President 
Bush, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, and Mexican President 
Felipe Calderon in Montebello, Quebec, in August 2007. SPP builds on 
current work underway in the United States and Canada and will 
complement North American efforts under the Commission on Environmental 
Cooperation's Sound Management of Chemicals project.
    The SPP initiative includes a number of regional and national 
commitments. The partners will share scientific information, technical 
understanding, best practices, and risk management approaches, and will 
better coordinate research on new approaches to chemical testing and 
assessment. When EPA announced the SPP commitment, it stated its 
intention to obtain stakeholder input and the public meeting meets that 
goal in part. ChAMP is the name given by EPA to its efforts to meet the 
SPP commitment to complete initial assessments and take action, if 
necessary, on thousands of chemicals produced above 25,000 lbs/year. 
This commitment includes both HPV and MPV chemicals, builds on the U.S. 
HPV Challenge Program and Canada's work on chemical categorization and 
may also include two new initiatives discussed below.

B. What Action is the Agency Taking?

    In accordance with U.S. SPP commitments, by 2012, EPA under ChAMP 
will assess and initiate action, if necessary, on the over 6,750 
existing chemicals produced above 25,000 lbs/year in this country. 
These efforts will position the United States to take action to ensure 
that these chemicals are produced and used in ways that do not present 
unacceptable risks to health and the environment. The approximately 
6,750 chemicals encompassed by the SPP commitment and ChAMP include 
2,750 organic HPV chemicals produced at or above 1 million lbs/year. In 
assessing these chemicals, the Agency will prepare screening-level 
characterizations of hazard, exposure, and risk, and will use those 
characterizations to develop an initial risk-based prioritization 
(RBP). HPV Challenge submissions will generally provide the base hazard 
data used in the hazard characterizations, while the 2006 Inventory 
Update Reporting (IUR) will provide the bulk of the use and exposure 
information used in the exposure characterizations. These screening-
level hazard and exposure characterizations will be combined to develop 
screening-level risk characterizations, which summarize EPA's current 
thinking regarding the potential risks of HPV chemicals or categories. 
Together, these characterization documents will support an initial RBP 
identifying the relative priorities of these chemicals and informing 
risk management options. More detail on the RBP process, including 
characterization and prioritization documents, can be found at http://
www.epa.gov/CHAMP by following the RBP links.
    In addition to the 2,750 organic HPV chemicals, the United States 
committed under SPP to assess and initiate action, if necessary, on an 
additional 4,000 organic MPV chemicals. MPV chemicals are produced at 
or greater than 25,000 lbs/year but at less than 1 million lbs/year. 
The Agency generally does not have the same degree of hazard and 
exposure data on these chemicals, therefore, the assessment scheme will 
differ from that applied to the HPV chemicals. For MPV chemicals, EPA 
intends to develop health and environmental hazard and environmental 
fate characterizations using available data, Canadian categorization 
results, EPA Structure Activity Relationship (SAR) analysis input, and 
knowledge gained under the HPV Challenge Program, including on 
categories of chemicals. The hazard and fate characterizations will be 
used to support development of hazard based prioritizations to identify 
MPV chemicals that may need follow-up (e.g., hazard/fate testing, 
exposure information, risk management, etc.). As with HPV chemicals, 
the Agency envisions employing both voluntary and regulatory actions 
for MPV chemicals.
    As mentioned in this unit, ChAMP may include two new initiatives 
identified by EPA. The first of these concerns approximately 750 
inorganic HPV chemicals, which were first reported under the 2006 IUR 
cycle. Recognizing the value of the original HPV Challenge Program 
published in the Federal Register issue of December 26, 2000 (65 FR 
81686) (FRL-6754-6) in making available to EPA and the public basic 
screening level data on many organic HPV chemicals, EPA believes there 
is value in extending the approach to inorganic HPV chemicals. Several 
domestic and international activities provide a starting point for 
development of an Inorganics High Production

[[Page 20923]]

Volume (IHPV) Challenge Program in the near future. The Agency is 
considering applying the general approach used in the HPV Challenge 
Program (sponsorship commitments, development of test plans, public 
review step, completion of data package, and submission to EPA) as well 
as the inorganics guidance developed by the Organization for Economic 
Cooperation and Development (OECD) for use in its HPV Program. 
Additional information on OECD's guidance on inorganics can be found 
at: http://www.oecd.org/document/7/0,3343,en_2649_34379_1947463_1_1_1_1,00.html.
    It is anticipated that an IHPV Challenge Program, if started in 
2008, could be completed by approximately 2011-2012. The 2011 IUR 
reporting cycle will include exposure/use data for inorganic HPV 
chemicals which would allow for EPA to consider both hazard and 
exposure elements and develop RBPs for these chemicals. An assessment 
approach similar to that for organic MPV chemicals could be applied to 
inorganic medium production volume (IMPV) chemicals at a later date.
    The second new initiative concerns an effort to potentially 
``reset'' the TSCA Inventory. The original TSCA Inventory was compiled 
in 1979 consisting of 62,000 chemicals. Since then approximately 21,000 
new chemicals have been added to the TSCA Inventory. Under TSCA section 
8(b), EPA is required to ``compile, keep current, and publish a list of 
each chemical substance which is manufactured or processed in the 
United States.'' Pursuant to this authority, and in an effort to better 
understand the universe of chemicals actually in commerce at present, 
EPA is considering an effort to reset the TSCA Inventory. While there 
are a number of issues and questions that would need to be resolved if 
EPA does move forward with this effort it necessarily will need to 
obtain information on currently manufactured and/or imported chemicals. 
Additional information on ChAMP and EPA's current thinking can be found 
at: http://www.epa.gov/CHAMP.

C. Why is EPA Taking This Action?

    EPA believes that ChAMP provides a sound basis for realizing 
further progress by EPA on assessing and managing chemicals. The SPP 
effort has great potential to achieve greater public health and 
environmental protection by promoting a more integrated approach to 
chemicals assessment and management in North America. By sharing 
information and the assessment burden North America will be able to 
more quickly, efficiently, and cost-effectively determine the need for, 
and possibly take, risk management actions on a greater number of 
chemicals. Work done by the U.S. to meet its 2012 SPP commitment 
represents an important contribution to this effort and to meeting U.S. 
domestic chemical assessment and management needs. The two new 
initiatives being considered complement and strengthen ChAMP by 
expanding EPA's efforts to include inorganic HPV chemicals and an 
effort focused on resetting the TSCA Inventory.

III. How Can I Request to Participate in this Meeting?

    You may submit a request to participate in this meeting to the 
technical person listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT. Do not 
submit any information in your request that is considered CBI. Requests 
to participate in the meeting, identified by docket ID number EPA-HQ-
OPPT-2008-0317, must be received on or before April 28, 2008.

List of Subjects

    Environmental protection, Chemicals, European Union, Hazardous 
chemicals, High Production Volume (HPV) chemicals, Medium Production 
Volume (MPV) chemicals, TSCA Inventory.


    Dated: April 11, 2008.
Wendy C. Hamnett,
Acting Director, Office Pollution Prevention and Toxics.
[FR Doc. E8-8329 Filed 4-16-08; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-S