[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 217 (Friday, November 8, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Page 67140]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-26866]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-9902-70-OEI]


Office of Environmental Information; Pause the Development of the 
Draft Quality Standard for Environmental Data Collection, Production, 
and Use by Non-EPA (External) Organizations and Two Associated QA 
Handbooks

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency published a document in 
the Federal Register of December 26, 2012, concerning request for 
comments for the Draft Quality Standard for Environmental Data 
Collection, Production, and Use by Non-EPA (External) Organizations and 
two associated QA Handbooks. EPA has decided to pause the development 
of the draft Quality Standards for Data Collection, Production and Use. 
This decision was made after careful consideration of the comments 
received from external stakeholders and discussion with our internal 
stakeholders.
    This pause will allow the Agency to revise the existing EPA Quality 
Policy and Procedure to integrate the relevant sections of the EPA 
Order 5360.1, EPA Quality Manual and draft Quality Standards. At the 
conclusion of this revision, we will revise the draft Quality Standards 
to align with the revised Quality Policy and Procedure and integrate 
the relevant sections of our existing QA Requirements documents (R-2, 
R-5). Throughout the process, EPA plans to solicit input from both 
internal and external stakeholders and provide frequent status updates. 
We believe this approach will address many of the concerns raised by 
our stakeholders during the public comment period for the Quality 
Standard.

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: Katherine Chalfant, Environmental 
Protection Agency; 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, MC 2811T; Washington, DC 
20460; Phone: 202-564-1511; email address: [email protected].

Monica D. Jones,
Director, Quality Staff.
[FR Doc. 2013-26866 Filed 11-7-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P