[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 152 (Wednesday, August 7, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 48156-48158]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-18954]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL- 9843-5; Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-ORD-2011-0805]


Update to An Inventory of Sources and Environmental Releases of 
Dioxin-Like Compounds in the United States for the Years 1987, 1995, 
and 2000

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of public comment period and letter peer-review.

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SUMMARY: EPA is announcing a 30-day public comment period for the draft 
document entitled, Update to An Inventory of Sources and Environmental 
Releases of Dioxin-Like Compounds in the United States for the Years 
1987, 1995, and 2000, (EPA/600/R-11/005A). EPA also is announcing that 
Versar, Inc., an EPA contractor for external scientific peer review, 
will select a group of experts to conduct a letter peer-review of the 
draft document. The document was prepared by the National Center for 
Environmental Assessment (NCEA) within EPA's Office of Research and 
Development.
    In November 2006, EPA released the report: An Inventory of Sources 
and Environmental Releases of Dioxin-Like Compounds in the United 
States for the Years 1987, 1995, and 2000, (EPA/600/P-03/002F). That 
report presented an evaluation of sources and emissions of dioxins, 
dibenzofurans, and coplanar polychlorinated biphenyls to the air, land, 
and water of the United States. The inventory suggested that there was 
a significant reduction in environmental releases of dioxin-like 
compounds from regulated industrial sources between the years 1987 and 
2000, and that the open burning of residential refuse in backyard burn 
barrels was the largest source in 2000 that could be reliably 
quantified. This revised draft is an update to the 2006 report and 
reflects the additional consideration of pre-2006 peer review. This 
update does not expand the scope of the document beyond the three 
reference years covered in the 2006 document or earlier drafts: 1987, 
1995, and 2000. Changes in the updated report reflect the addition of 
previously unquantified sources and adjustments to emission factors, 
for example those used for municipal and medical waste incinerators. 
The largest source added to the inventory was emissions to air from 
forest fires, a source previously classified as preliminary and not 
included in the quantitative inventory. The updated inventory lists the 
top three air sources in the year 2000 as

[[Page 48157]]

forest fires, backyard barrel burning of refuse, and medical waste 
incinerators.
    EPA intends to forward the public comments that are submitted in 
accordance with this notice to Versar to distribute to the external 
peer-reviewers for their consideration during the letter peer-review. 
When finalizing the draft document, EPA intends to consider any public 
comments received in accordance with this notice. EPA is releasing this 
draft assessment for the purposes of public comment and peer review. 
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.
    The draft document is available via the Internet on the NCEA home 
page under the Recent Additions and the Data and Publications menus at 
www.epa.gov/ncea.

DATES: The 30-day public comment period begins August 7, 2013, and ends 
September 6, 2013. Technical comments should be in writing and must be 
received by EPA by September 6, 2013.

ADDRESSES: The draft document, Update to An Inventory of Sources and 
Environmental Releases of Dioxin-Like Compounds in the United States 
for the Years 1987, 1995, and 2000, is available primarily via the 
Internet on the National Center for Environmental Assessment's home 
page under the Recent Additions and the Data and Publications menus at 
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 www.regulations.gov, 
by mail, by facsimile, or by hand delivery/courier. Please follow the 
detailed instructions provided in the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section 
of this notice.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For information on the public comment 
period, contact the Office of Environmental Information Docket; 
telephone: 202-566-1752; facsimile: 202-566-9744; or email: 
[email protected].
    For technical information, contact Matthew Lorber, NCEA; telephone: 
703-347-8535; facsimile: 703-347-8694; or email: 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Information About the Document

    The purpose of this document is to present a comprehensive 
inventory and an overview of sources and environmental releases of 
dioxin-like compounds in the United States. The major identified 
sources of environmental releases of dioxin-like compounds are grouped 
into six broad categories: combustion sources, metals smelting, 
refining and processing sources, chemical manufacturing sources, 
natural sources, and environmental reservoirs. Estimates of annual 
releases to land, air, and water are presented for each source category 
and summarized for reference years 1987, 1995, and 2000. The 
quantitative results are expressed in terms of the toxicity equivalent 
(TEQ) of the mixture of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxin (CDD) and 
polychlorinated dibenzofuran (CDF) compounds present in environmental 
releases using a procedure sanctioned by the World Health Organization 
(WHO) in 1998. This TEQ procedure translates the complex mixture of 
CDDs and CDFs characteristic of environmental releases into an 
equivalent toxicity concentration of 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-
dioxin (2,3,7,8-TCDD), the most toxic member of this class of 
compounds. The total releases under the national inventory for 1987 in 
g WHO98 TEQDF (grams of dioxin toxic equivalents (TEQs), to include 
only dioxin and furan congeners (not dioxin-like PCB congeners), and 
determined using the 1998 World Health Organization's Toxic Equivalency 
Factors (TEFs)) were 15,000 to air, 2,400 to land, 360 to water, and 36 
to products. For 1995, the releases in g WHO98 TEQDF were 3,400 to air, 
2,500 to land, 30 to water, and 47 to products. For 2000, the releases 
in g WHO98 TEQDF were 2,300 to air, 2,300 to land, 28 to water, and 7 
to products. This document also provides limited estimates for releases 
of dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs).
    In comparison to the version of this document released in 2006, 
estimates of CDD/CDF releases to air increased for all years. The 
changes reflect the addition of new sources and adjustments to emission 
factors used for municipal and medical waste incinerators. The largest 
new source added was forest fires, which was previously classified as 
preliminary and not included in the quantitative inventory. Based on a 
number of new studies, it was decided that sufficient data were now 
available to move this source into the quantitative inventory. The 
forest fire releases in 2000 were about four times higher than in 1987 
and in 1995 (due to more fires) causing a particularly large percent 
increase in that year. The top three air sources in 2000 were forest 
fires (730 g WHO98 TEQDF), backyard barrel burning of refuse (600 g 
WHO98 TEQDF), and medical waste incinerators (400 g WHO98 TEQDF). Other 
new sources added to the present document were secondary zinc smelters, 
glass manufacturers, lime kilns, agricultural burning, outdoor wood 
combustors, aluminum foundries, copper foundries, and septic systems.

II. How to Submit Technical Comments to the Docket at 
www.regulations.gov

    Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-ORD 2011-
0805, by one of the following methods:
     www.regulations.gov: Follow the on-line instructions for 
submitting comments;
     Email: [email protected];
     Fax: 202-566-9744;
     Mail: Office of Environmental Information (OEI) Docket 
(Mail Code: 28221T), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 
Pennsylvania Avenue 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; or
     Hand Delivery: The OEI Docket is located in the EPA 
Headquarters Docket Center, EPA West Building, Room 3334, 1301 
Constitution Avenue 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.
    Instructions: Direct your comments to Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-ORD-
2011-0805. 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

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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, 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 
at www.regulations.gov or in hard copy at the OEI Docket in the EPA 
Headquarters Docket Center.

     Dated: May 2, 2013.
 Debra B. Walsh,
Acting Deputy Director, National Center for Environmental Assessment.
[FR Doc. 2013-18954 Filed 8-6-13; 8:45 am]
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