[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 38 (Friday, February 26, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 8937-8939]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-4082]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-9119-4; Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-ORD-2010-0047]


Development of a Relative Potency Factor (RPF) Approach for 
Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon (PAH) Mixtures

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of public comment period and listening session.

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SUMMARY: EPA is announcing a 60-day public comment period and a public 
listening session for the external review draft document titled, 
``Development of a Relative Potency Factor (RPF) Approach for 
Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon (PAH) Mixtures'' (EPA/635/R-08/012A). 
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) peer review 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.

[[Page 8938]]

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 April 7, 
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, for developing 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 peer review meeting. 
EPA welcomes the 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 document in response to the independent 
SAB 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 February 26, 2010, and ends 
April 27, 2010. Comments should be in writing and must be received by 
EPA by April 27, 2010.
    The listening session on the draft document for PAH mixtures will 
be held on April 7, 2010, beginning at 9 a.m. and ending at 4 p.m., 
Eastern Standard Time. If you would like to attend the listening 
session, you should register by March 31, 2010. If you would like to 
make a presentation at the listening session, you should register by 
March 31, 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., 
laptop computer 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 March 31, 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 
received will be submitted to the docket, but comments received after 
the public comment period closes will not be submitted to the external 
peer reviewers and will only be considered by EPA if time permits.

ADDRESSES: The draft ``Development of a Relative Potency Factor (RPF) 
Approach for Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon (PAH) Mixtures'' 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 (Address: Information Management Team, National Center 
for Environmental Assessment (Mail Code: 8601P), U.S. Environmental 
Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20460; 
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 e-mail, by mail, by facsimile, or by hand 
delivery/courier. Please follow the detailed instructions provided in 
the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this notice.
    The listening session on the draft PAH Mixtures document will be 
held at the EPA offices at Two Potomac Yard (North Building), Room 
7100, 2733 South Crystal Drive, Arlington, Virginia 22202. To attend or 
give verbal comments at the listening session, register by March 31, 
2010, by sending an e-mail to [email protected] (subject 
line: PAH Mixtures Listening Session), by calling Christine Ross at 
703-347-8592; or by faxing a registration request to 703-347-8689. 
Please reference the ``PAH Mixtures 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 ``PAH Mixtures 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 by phone at 703-347-8592 or 
by e-mail at [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, please contact the Office of Environmental Information (OEI) 
Docket (Mail Code: 2822T), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 
Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460; telephone: 202-566-1752; 
facsimile: 202-566-1753; or e-mail: [email protected].
    For information on the public listening session, please contact 
Christine Ross, IRIS Staff, National Center for Environmental 
Assessment (Mail Code: 8601P), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 
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, please contact Lynn 
Flowers,

[[Page 8939]]

National Center for Environmental Assessment (Mail Code: 8601P), U.S. 
Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., 
Washington, DC 20460; telephone: 703-347-8537; facsimile: 703-347-8689; 
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 Comments to the Docket at http://www.regulations.gov

    Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-ORD-2010-
0047, by one of the following methods:
     http://www.regulations.gov: Follow the on-line 
instructions for submitting comments.
     E-mail: [email protected].
     Facsimile: 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 telephone number is 
202-566-1752. If you provide comments by mail, please submit 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.
     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. 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 
hand delivery, please submit 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.
    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 and cannot contact you for 
clarification, EPA may not be able to consider your comment.
    Instructions: Direct your comments to Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-ORD-
2010-0047. 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 and 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: January 22, 2010.
Rebecca Clark,
Director, National Center for Environmental Assessment.
[FR Doc. 2010-4082 Filed 2-25-10; 8:45 am]
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