[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 7 (Tuesday, January 12, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 1617-1619]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-338]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[FRL-9097-6; Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-ORD-2009-0398]
Draft Toxicological Review of Methanol: In Support of the Summary
Information in the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS)
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice of public comment period and listening session.
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SUMMARY: EPA is announcing a public comment period and a public
listening session for the external review draft document titled
``Toxicological Review of Methanol: In Support of Summary Information
on the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS)'' (EPA/635/R-09/013).
The draft document was prepared by the National Center for
Environmental Assessment (NCEA) within the EPA's Office of Research and
Development (ORD). The public comment period and the EPA Science
Advisory Board (SAB) meeting, which will be scheduled at a later date
and announced in the Federal Register, are separate processes that
provide opportunities for all interested parties to comment on the
document. EPA intends to forward the public comments that are submitted
in accordance with this notice to the SAB peer-review panel prior to
the meeting for their consideration. When finalizing the draft
document, EPA intends to consider any public comments that EPA receives
in accordance with this notice.
EPA is also announcing a listening session to be held on February
23, 2010, during the public comment period for this draft document.
This listening session is a step in EPA's revised IRIS process,
announced on May 21, 2009, to develop human health assessments for
inclusion in the IRIS database. The purpose of the listening session is
to allow all interested parties to present scientific and technical
comments on draft IRIS health assessments to EPA and other interested
parties during the public comment period and before the external peer
review meeting. EPA welcomes the scientific and technical comments that
will be provided to the Agency by the listening session participants.
The comments will be considered by the Agency as it revises the draft
assessment in response to the independent external peer review and the
public comments. All presentations submitted to EPA according to the
instructions below will become part of the official public record.
EPA is releasing this draft document solely for the purpose of pre-
dissemination peer review under applicable information quality
guidelines. This document has not been formally disseminated by EPA. It
does not represent and should not be construed to represent any Agency
policy or determination.
DATES: The public comment period begins January 12, 2010, and ends
March 15, 2010. Technical comments should be in writing and must be
received by EPA by March 15, 2010.
The listening session on the draft IRIS health assessment for
methanol will be held on February 23, 2010, beginning at 9 a.m. and
ending at 4 p.m., Eastern Standard Time. If you would like to make a
presentation at the listening
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session, you should register by February 16, 2010, indicate that you
wish to make oral comments at the session, and indicate the length of
your presentation. When you register, please indicate if you will need
audio-visual aid (e.g., lap top and slide projector). In general, each
presentation should be no more than 30 minutes. If, however, there are
more requests for presentations than the allotted time allows, then the
time limit for each presentation will be adjusted. A copy of the agenda
for the listening session will be available at the meeting. If no
speakers have registered by February 16, 2010, the listening session
will be cancelled and EPA will notify those registered of the
cancellation.
Listening session participants who want EPA to share their comments
with the external peer reviewers should also submit written comments
during the public comment period using the detailed and established
procedures described in the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this
notice. Comments submitted to the docket prior to the end of the public
comment period will be submitted to the external peer reviewers and
considered by EPA in the disposition of public comments. All comments
must be submitted to the docket. Comments received after the public
comment period closes will not be submitted to the external peer
reviewers.
ADDRESSES: The draft ``Toxicological Review of Methanol: In Support of
Summary Information on the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS)''
is available primarily via the Internet on the NCEA home page under the
Recent Additions and Publications menus at http://www.epa.gov/ncea. A
limited number of paper copies are available from the Information
Management Team, NCEA; telephone: 703-347-8561; facsimile: 703-347-
8691. If you are requesting a paper copy, please provide your name,
mailing address, and the document title.
Comments may be submitted electronically via http://www.regulations.gov, by mail, by facsimile, or by hand delivery/
courier. Please follow the detailed instructions as provided in the
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this notice.
The listening session on the draft methanol assessment will be held
at the EPA offices at Two Potomac Yard (North Building), 7th Floor,
Room 7100, 2733 South Crystal Drive, Arlington, Virginia, 22202. To
attend the listening session, register by February 16, 2010, by sending
an e-mail to [email protected], (subject line: Methanol
Listening Session); by calling Christine Ross at 703-347-8592; or by
faxing a registration request to 703-347-8689. Please reference the
``Methanol Listening Session'' and include your name, title,
affiliation, full address and contact information. Please note that to
gain entrance to this EPA building to attend the meeting, attendees
must have photo identification with them and must register at the
guard's desk in the lobby. The guard will retain your photo
identification and will provide you with a visitor's badge. At the
guard's desk, attendees should give the name Christine Ross and the
telephone number, 703-347-8592, to the guard on duty. The guard will
contact Ms. Ross who will meet you in the reception area to escort you
to the meeting room. When you leave the building, please return your
visitor's badge to the guard and you will receive your photo
identification.
A teleconference line will also be available for registered
attendees/speakers. The teleconference number is 866-299-3188 and the
access code is 926-378-7897, followed by the pound sign ().
The teleconference line will be activated at 8:45 am, and you will be
asked to identify yourself and your affiliation at the beginning of the
call.
Information on Services for Individuals with Disabilities: EPA
welcomes public attendance at the Methanol Listening Session and will
make every effort to accommodate persons with disabilities. For
information on access or services for individuals with disabilities,
please contact Christine Ross at 703-347-8592 or
[email protected]. To request accommodation of a disability,
please contact Ms. Ross, preferably at least 10 days prior to the
meeting, to give EPA as much time as possible to process your request.
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 information on the public listening sessions, please contact
Christine Ross, IRIS Staff, National Center for Environmental
Assessment, (8601P), U.S. EPA, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW.,
Washington, DC 20460; telephone: 703-347-8592; facsimile: 703-347-8689;
or e-mail: [email protected].
If you have questions about the document, contact Jeffrey Gift,
Ph.D., National Center for Environmental Assessment (NCEA), U.S. EPA,
109 T.W. Alexander Drive, B243-01, Durham, NC 27711; telephone: 919-
541-4828; facsimile: 919-541-0245; or e-mail: [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Information About IRIS
IRIS is a database that contains potential adverse human health
effects information that may result from chronic (or lifetime) exposure
to specific chemical substances found in the environment. The database
(available on the Internet at http://www.epa.gov/iris) contains
qualitative and quantitative health effects information for more than
540 chemical substances that may be used to support the first two steps
(hazard identification and dose-response evaluation) of a risk
assessment process. When supported by available data, the database
provides oral reference doses (RfDs) and inhalation reference
concentrations (RfCs) for chronic health effects, and oral slope
factors and inhalation unit risks for carcinogenic effects. Combined
with specific exposure information, government and private entities can
use IRIS data to help characterize public health risks of chemical
substances in a site-specific situation and thereby support risk
management decisions designed to protect public health.
II. How To Submit Technical Comments to the Docket at http://www.regulations.gov
Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-ORD-2009-
0398 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.
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, EPA West Building, Room 3334, 1301
Constitution Ave., NW., Washington, DC. The EPA Docket Center's 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
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one unbound original with pages numbered consecutively, and 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-
2009-0398. 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 http://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 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.
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 in the
EPA Headquarters Docket Center.
Dated: December 17, 2009.
Rebecca Clark,
Acting Director, National Center for Environmental Assessment.
[FR Doc. 2010-338 Filed 1-11-10; 8:45 am]
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