[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 183 (Wednesday, September 23, 2009)]
[Notices]
[Pages 48541-48542]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-22927]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[EPA-HQ-OW-2009-0297; FRL-8961-8]
RIN 2040-AF08
Drinking Water: Perchlorate Supplemental Request for Comments
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Reopening of public comment period.
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SUMMARY: In an August 19, 2009, Federal Register notice, EPA announced
that it was seeking comments on additional approaches to analyzing data
related to the Agency's preliminary regulatory determination for
perchlorate. The additional comments are sought in an effort to ensure
consideration of all the potential options for evaluating whether there
is a meaningful opportunity for human health risk reduction of
perchlorate through a national primary drinking water rule. In response
to requests from several stakeholders, this action reopens the public
comment period for an additional 15 days.
DATES: EPA must receive your comments on or before October 8, 2009.
ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OW-
2009-0297, by one of the following methods:
http://www.regulations.gov: Follow the on-line
instructions for submitting comments.
Mail: Water Docket, Environmental Protection Agency,
Mailcode: 2822T, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460.
Hand Delivery: Water Docket, EPA Docket Center (EPA/DC)
EPA West, Room 3334, 1301 Constitution Ave., NW., Washington, DC. Such
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-OW-2009-
0297. 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 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 FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Eric Burneson, Office of Ground Water
and Drinking Water, Standards and Risk Management Division, at (202)
564-5250 or e-mail [email protected]. For general information
contact the EPA Safe Drinking Water Hotline at (800) 426-4791 or e-
mail: [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
The statutory and regulatory background is described in detail in
the October 10, 2008, Federal Register notice of a preliminary
regulatory determination for perchlorate (73 FR 60262) and summarized
in the August 19, 2009, Federal Register notice of supplemental request
for comments (74 FR 41883). Briefly, the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA)
section 1412, as amended in 1996, requires EPA to make a determination
whether to regulate at least 5 contaminants from its contaminant
candidate list (CCL) every 5 years. To regulate a contaminant in
drinking water, EPA must determine that it meets three criteria: (1)
The contaminant may have an adverse effect on human health, (2) the
contaminant is known to occur or there is a substantial likelihood that
the contaminant will occur in public water systems with a frequency and
at levels of public health concern, and (3) regulation of such
contaminant presents a meaningful opportunity for health risk reduction
for persons served by public water systems.
On October 10, 2008, EPA published a preliminary regulatory
determination for perchlorate, requesting public comment on its
determination that perchlorate did not meet the second and third
criteria for regulation. On November 12, 2008, EPA published a Federal
Register Notice (73 FR 66895) reopening the comment period for the
preliminary regulatory determination for an additional 15 days. The
Agency received 32,795 comment letters on the preliminary regulatory
determination for perchlorate. These comments and other supporting
materials for the October 10, 2008, notice are available electronically
at http://www.regulations.gov (Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OW-2008-0692).
On August 19, 2009, EPA published a Federal Register notice of
supplemental request for comment on a broader range of alternatives for
interpreting the available data on: the level of health concern, the
frequency of occurrence of perchlorate in drinking water, and the
opportunity for health risk reduction through a national primary
drinking water standard. These alternative interpretations may impact
the Agency's final regulatory determination for perchlorate. The
supporting materials for the August 19, 2009, supplemental notice are
available electronically at http://www.regulations.gov (Docket ID No.
EPA-HQ-OW-2009-0297).
Next Steps
Several stakeholders have requested an extension to the September
18, 2009, comment deadline specified in the August 19, 2009,
supplemental notice in order to evaluate EPA's alternative analyses and
prepare comments. This action reopens the comment period for an
additional 15 days.
The Agency will consider the information and comments submitted in
response to the August 19, 2009, supplemental notice until October 8,
2009. EPA will also consider the comments received on the previous
[[Page 48542]]
Federal Register Notices pertaining to the perchlorate regulatory
determination and all peer review comments before issuing a final
regulatory determination for perchlorate. EPA intends to issue a
regulatory determination as expeditiously as possible following
consideration of the comments and information received by the Agency.
Dated: September 17, 2009.
Michael H. Shapiro,
Acting Assistant Administrator, Office of Water.
[FR Doc. E9-22927 Filed 9-22-09; 8:45 am]
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