[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 28 (Friday, February 10, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 7149-7151]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-3161]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[FRL-9630-1; EPA-HQ-ORD-2012-0093]
Notice of Workshop and Call for Information on Integrated Science
Assessment for Oxides of Nitrogen
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice; call for information.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. EPA Office of Research and Development's National
Center for Environmental Assessment (NCEA) is preparing an Integrated
Science Assessment (ISA) as part of the review of the primary National
Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for oxides of nitrogen
(NOX). The scientific review that informs the ISA will
include evidence for NOX whereas the indicator for
NOX that has been used for the standard is nitrogen dioxide
(NO2). Thus, the ISA is referred to as the NOX
ISA while the standard itself is referred to as the NO2
NAAQS. This ISA is intended to update the scientific assessment
presented in the Integrated Science Assessment for Oxides of Nitrogen--
Health Criteria (EPA 600/R-08/071), published in July 2008. Interested
parties are invited to assist the EPA in developing and refining the
scientific information base for the review of the NO2 NAAQS
by submitting research studies that have been published, accepted for
publication, or presented at a public scientific meeting.
The EPA is also announcing that a workshop entitled ``Kickoff
Workshop to Inform EPA's Review of the Primary NO2 NAAQS''
is being organized by NCEA and the EPA Office of Air and Radiation's
Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards (OAQPS). The workshop will
be held February 29 to March 1, 2012, in Research Triangle Park, North
Carolina. The workshop will be open to attendance by interested public
observers on a first-come, first-served basis up to the limits of
available space.
DATES: The workshop will be held on February 29 to March 1, 2012. All
communications and information submitted in response to the call for
information should be received by EPA by March 9, 2012.
ADDRESSES: The workshop will be held at U.S. EPA, 109 T.W. Alexander
Drive, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. An EPA contractor, ICF
International, is providing logistical support for the workshop. To
register, please send an email to: [email protected] with
``NOx Kickoff Workshop'' in the subject line. The pre-registration
deadline is February 17, 2012. Please direct questions regarding
workshop registration or logistics to Courtney Skuce at (919) 293-1660,
or the email address provided above. For specific questions regarding
technical aspects of the workshop see the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
CONTACT section of this notice.
Information in response to the call for information may be
submitted electronically, by mail, by facsimile, or by hand delivery/
courier. Please follow the detailed instructions as provided in the
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this notice.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For details on the period for
submission of research information from the public, contact the Office
of Research and Development (ORD) Docket; telephone: 202-566-1752;
facsimile: 202-566-1753; or email: [email protected]. For technical
information, contact Tom Luben, Ph.D., NCEA, telephone: (919) 541-5762;
facsimile: (919) 541-2985; or email: [email protected] or Scott
Jenkins, Ph.D., OAQPS, telephone: (919) 541-1167 or email:
[email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Information About the Project
Section 108(a) of the Clean Air Act directs the Administrator to
issue ``air quality criteria'' for certain air pollutants. These air
quality criteria are to ``accurately reflect the latest scientific
knowledge useful in indicating the kind and extent of all identifiable
effects on public health or welfare, which may be expected from the
presence of such pollutant in the ambient air * * *.'' Under section
109 of the Act, EPA is then to establish NAAQS for each
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pollutant for which EPA has issued criteria. Section 109(d) of the Act
subsequently requires periodic review and, if appropriate, revision of
existing air quality criteria to reflect advances in scientific
knowledge on the effects of the pollutant on public health and welfare.
EPA is also to revise the NAAQS, if appropriate, based on the revised
air quality criteria.
NO2 is one of six ``criteria'' pollutants for which EPA
has established NAAQS. Periodically, EPA reviews the scientific basis
for these standards by preparing an ISA. The ISA, along with additional
technical and policy assessments conducted by OAQPS, form the
scientific and technical basis for EPA decisions on the adequacy of
existing NAAQS and the appropriateness of new or revised standards.
At the start of a NAAQS review, EPA issues an announcement of the
review and notes the initiation of the development of the ISA. At that
time, EPA also issues a request that the public submit scientific
literature that they want to bring to the attention of the Agency for
consideration in the review process. The Clean Air Scientific Advisory
Committee (CASAC), an independent scientific advisory committee
mandated by the Clean Air Act, is charged with independent expert
scientific review of EPA's draft ISAs. As the process proceeds, the
public will have opportunities to review and comment on draft
NOX ISAs. These opportunities will also be announced in the
Federal Register.
For the review of the NO2 NAAQS being initiated by this
notice, the Agency is interested in obtaining additional new
information, particularly concerning toxicological studies of effects
of controlled exposure to NO2 on laboratory animals, humans,
and in vitro systems, as well as, epidemiologic (observational) studies
of health effects associated with ambient exposures of human
populations to NO2. EPA also seeks recent information in
other areas of NO2 research such as chemistry and physics,
sources and emissions, analytical methodology, transport and
transformation in the environment, and ambient concentrations. This and
other selected literature relevant to a review of the NAAQS for
NO2 will be assessed in the forthcoming NOX ISA.
As part of this review of the NO2 NAAQS, EPA intends to
sponsor a workshop on February 29 to March 1, 2012, to highlight
significant new and emerging NOX research, and to make
recommendations to the Agency regarding the design and scope of the
review for the primary (health-based) NO2 standards to
ensure that it addresses key policy-relevant issues and considers the
new science that is relevant to informing our understanding of these
issues. In addition, other opportunities for submission of new peer-
reviewed, published (or in-press) papers will be possible as part of
public comment on the draft ISAs that will be reviewed by CASAC. We
intend that workshop discussions will build upon three prior
publications or events (please see http://www.epa.gov/ttn/naaqs/standards/nox/s_nox_index.html to obtain a copy of these and other
related documents): (1) Primary National Ambient Air Quality Standards
for Nitrogen Dioxide; Final Rule (40 CFR Parts 50 and 58, February 9,
2010). The preamble to the final rule included detailed discussions of
policy-relevant issues central to the last review; (2) Integrated
Science Assessment for Oxides of Nitrogen--Health Criteria (EPA 600/R-
08/071, July 2008); and (3) Risk and Exposure Assessment to Support the
Review of the NO2 Primary National Ambient Air Quality
Standard (EPA 452/R-08/008a, November 2008).
Based in large part on the input received during this workshop, EPA
will develop a draft integrated NO2 NAAQS review plan that
will outline the schedule, process, and approaches for evaluating the
relevant scientific information and addressing the key policy-relevant
issues to be considered in this review. The CASAC will be asked to
conduct a consultation with the Agency on the draft integrated review
plan, and the public will have the opportunity to comment on it as
well. The final integrated review plan will be used to frame each of
the major elements of the NO2 review under the NAAQS review
process: an integrated science assessment document, a risk/exposure
assessment report, and a policy assessment.
II. How to Submit Technical Comments to the Docket at
www.regulations.gov
Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-ORD-2012-
0093 by one of the following methods:
www.regulations.gov: Follow the on-line instructions for
submitting comments.
Email: [email protected].
Fax: 202-566-1753.
Mail: Office of Research and Development (ORD) Docket
(Mail Code: 2822T), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 1200
Pennsylvania Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20460. The phone number is 202-
566-1752.
Hand Delivery: The ORD Docket is located in the EPA
Headquarters Docket Center, Room 3334, EPA West Building, 1301
Constitution Avenue NW., Washington, DC. The EPA Docket Center Public
Reading Room is open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through
Friday, excluding Federal 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 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-
2012-0093. 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
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 www.regulations.gov or email. The
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 email comment
directly to EPA without going through www.regulations.gov, your email
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 www.epa.gov/epahome/dockets.htm.
Docket: Documents in the docket are listed in the
www.regulations.gov index. Although listed in the index, some
information is not publicly available,
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e.g., CBI or other information whose disclosure is restricted by
statute. Certain other materials, such as copyrighted material, are
publicly available only in hard copy. Publicly available docket
materials are available either electronically in www.regulations.gov or
in hard copy at the ORD Docket in the EPA Headquarters Docket Center.
Dated: February 6, 2012.
Rebecca Clark,
Acting Director, National Center for Environmental Assessment.
[FR Doc. 2012-3161 Filed 2-9-12; 8:45 am]
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