[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 126 (Thursday, June 30, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 38387-38388]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-16487]


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

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-9427-8; Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-ORD-2009-0204]


Draft Toxicological Review of Acrylonitrile: In Support of 
Summary Information on the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS)

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of public comment period and listening session.

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

SUMMARY: EPA is announcing a 60-day public comment period and a public 
listening session for the external review draft human health assessment 
titled, ``Toxicological Review of Acrylonitrile: In Support of Summary 
Information on the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS)'' (EPA/
635/R-08/013A). The draft assessment was prepared by the National 
Center for Environmental Assessment (NCEA) within the EPA's Office of 
Research and Development (ORD). EPA is releasing this draft assessment 
for the purposes of peer review and public comment. This draft 
assessment is not final as described in EPA's information quality 
guidelines, and it does not represent and should not be construed to 
represent Agency policy or views.
    After public review and comment, an EPA contractor will convene an 
expert panel for independent external peer review of this draft 
assessment. The public comment period and external peer review meeting 
are separate processes that provide opportunities for all interested 
parties to comment on the assessment. The external peer review meeting 
will be scheduled at a later date and announced in the Federal 
Register. Public comments submitted during the public comment period 
will be provided to the external peer reviewers before the panel 
meeting and considered by EPA in the revision of the draft document. 
Public 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. The listening session will be held 
on August 10, 2011, during the public comment period for this draft 
assessment. 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 
attending the listening session. 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 
assessment after the independent external peer review. If listening 
session participants would like EPA to share their comments with the 
external peer reviewers, they 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.

DATES: The public comment period begins June 30, 2011, and ends August 
29, 2011. Comments should be in writing and must be received by EPA by 
August 29, 2011.
    The listening session on the draft assessment for acrylonitrile 
will be held on August 10, 2011, beginning at 9 a.m. and ending at 4 
p.m., Eastern Daylight Time, or when the last presentation has been 
completed. To attend the listening session, interested parties should 
register no later than August 3, 2011. To present at the listening 
session, indicate in your registration that you would like to make oral 
comments at the session and provide the length of your presentation. 
The following are instructions for registering: To attend the listening 
session, register by August 3, 2011 online at https://www2.ergweb.com/projects/conferences/peerreview/register-acryl.htm, via e-mail at 
[email protected] (subject line: Acrylonitrile Listening Session), by 
phone: 781-674-7374 or toll free at 800-803-2833, or by faxing a 
registration request to 781-674-2906 (please reference the 
``Acrylonitrile Listening Session'' and include your name, title, 
affiliation, full address and contact information). When you register, 
please indicate if you will need audio-visual equipment (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 August 3, 2011, the listening session will be cancelled, 
and EPA will notify those registered, as observers, of the 
cancellation.

ADDRESSES: The draft ``Toxicological Review of Acrylonitrile: 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 (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 request a paper copy, please provide your name, mailing 
address, and the assessment 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 acrylonitrile assessment will be 
held at the EPA offices at Potomac Yard (North Building), 7th Floor, 
Room 7100, 2733 South Crystal Drive, Arlington, Virginia 22202. 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 a.m., 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 acrylonitrile listening session and 
will make every effort to accommodate

[[Page 38388]]

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.
    Additional information: For information on the docket, 
www.regulations.gov, or 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 Program, 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 assessment, please contact Ambuja 
Bale, IRIS Program, National Center for Environmental Assessment (Mail 
code: 8601P), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania 
Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20460; telephone: 703-347-8643; facsimile: 
703-347-8689; or e-mail: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Information About IRIS

    EPA's IRIS is a human health assessment program that evaluates 
quantitative and qualitative risk information on effects that may 
result from exposure to specific chemical substances found in the 
environment. Through the IRIS Program, EPA provides the highest quality 
science-based human health assessments to support the Agency's 
regulatory activities. The IRIS database contains information for more 
than 540 chemical substances that can be used to support the first two 
steps (hazard identification and dose-response evaluation) of the risk 
assessment process. When supported by available data, IRIS provides 
oral reference doses (RfDs) and inhalation reference concentrations 
(RfCs) for chronic noncancer health effects and cancer assessments. 
Combined with specific exposure information, government and private 
entities use IRIS 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-2009-
0204, 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-
2009-0204. 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: June 24, 2011.
Darrell A. Winner,
Acting Director, National Center for Environmental Assessment.
[FR Doc. 2011-16487 Filed 6-29-11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P