[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 92 (Wednesday, May 13, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 27304-27306]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-11566]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[EPA-HQ-OAR-2013-0146; FRL-9927-64-OAR]
Release of Risk and Exposure Assessment Planning Document for the
Review of the Primary National Ambient Air Quality Standards for
Nitrogen Dioxide
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice of availability.
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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is reviewing the
primary National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for Nitrogen
Dioxide (NO2). On or about May 4, 2015, the EPA will make
available for public review the document titled Review of the Primary
National Ambient Air Quality Standards for Nitrogen Dioxide: Risk and
Exposure Assessment Planning Document (REA Planning Document). This
plan presents considerations and the proposed approach for conducting
quantitative analyses of NO2 exposures or health risks in
the current review of the primary NO2 NAAQS. This planning
document is intended to facilitate Clean Air Scientific Advisory
Committee (CASAC) advice and public input in advance of reaching
decisions on these quantitative analyses.
DATES: Comments should be received on or before July 3, 2015.
ADDRESSES: The Risk and Exposure Assessment Planning Document will be
available primarily via the Internet at http://www.epa.gov/ttn/naaqs/standards/nox/s_nox_2012_pd.html. Submit your comments, identified by
Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2013-0146, by one of the following methods:
Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov.
Follow the on-line instructions for submitting comments.
Email: [email protected]. Include Docket ID No. EPA-
HQ-OAR-2013-0146 in the subject line of the message.
Fax: (202) 566-9744.
Mail: Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2013-0146, Environmental
Protection Agency (Mail Code: 28221T), 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue NW.,
Washington, DC 20460. Please provide a total of two copies.
Hand Delivery: EPA Docket Center, EPA/DC, WJC West
Building, Room 3334, 1301 Constitution Avenue NW., Washington, DC. Such
deliveries are only accepted during the docket's normal hours of
operation, and special arrangements should be made for deliveries of
boxed information.
Instructions: Direct your comments to Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-
2013-0146. The EPA's policy is that all comments received will be
included in the public docket without change and to make the comments
available online at http://www.regulations.gov, including any personal
information provided, unless the comment includes information claimed
to be Confidential Business Information (CBI) or other information
whose disclosure is restricted by statute. Do not submit information
through http://www.regulations.gov or email that you consider to be CBI
or otherwise protected. The http://www.regulations.gov Web site is an
``anonymous access'' system, which means the 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 the EPA without
going through http://www.regulations.gov, your email address will be
automatically captured and included as part of the comment
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that is placed in the public docket and made available on the Internet.
If you submit an electronic comment, the 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 the EPA cannot read
your comment due to technical difficulties and cannot contact you for
clarification, the 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 the EPA's public docket, visit EPA's Docket Center
homepage at http://www.epa.gov/epahome/dockets.htm.
Docket: 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 materials,
such as copyrighted material, will be made publicly available only in
hard copy. Publicly available docket materials are available either
electronically in http://www.regulations.gov or in hard copy at Docket
ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2013-0146, EPA/DC, WJC West Building, Room 3334, 1301
Constitution Ave. NW., Washington, DC. The 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, and the telephone number for the Air and Radiation Docket and
Information Center is (202) 566-1742.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr. Scott Jenkins, Office of Air
Quality Planning and Standards (Mail Code C504-06), U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, NC 27711; telephone number:
919-541-1167; fax number: 919-541-5315; email: [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. General Information
A. What should I consider as I prepare my comments for the EPA?
1. Submitting CBI. Do not submit this information to the EPA
through http://regulations.gov or email. Clearly mark the part or all
of the information that you claim to be CBI. For CBI information in a
disk or CD-ROM that you mail to the EPA, mark the outside of the disk
or CD-ROM as CBI and then identify electronically within the disk or
CD-ROM the specific information that is claimed as CBI. In addition to
one complete version of the comment that includes information claimed
as CBI, a copy of the comment that does not contain the information
claimed as CBI must be submitted for inclusion in the public docket.
Information so marked will not be disclosed except in accordance with
procedures set forth in 40 CFR part 2.
2. Tips for Preparing your Comments. When submitting comments,
remember to:
Identify the rulemaking by docket number and other
identifying information (subject heading, Federal Register date and
page number).
Follow directions. The agency may ask you to respond to
specific questions or organize comments by reference a Code of Federal
Regulations (CFR) part or section number.
Explain why you agree or disagree; suggest alternative and
substitute language for your requested changes.
Describe any assumption and provide any technical
information and/or data that you used.
If you estimate potential costs or burdens, explain how
you arrived at your estimate in sufficient detail to allow for it to be
reproduced.
Provide specific examples to illustrate your concerns and
suggest alternatives.
Explain your views as clearly as possible, avoiding the
use of profanity or personal threats.
Make sure to submit your comments by the comment period
deadline identified.
II. Information About the Document
Two sections of the Clean Air Act (CAA) govern the establishment
and revision of the NAAQS. Section 108 (42 U.S.C. 7408) directs the
Administrator to identify and list certain air pollutants and then to
issue air quality criteria for those pollutants. The Administrator is
to list those air pollutants that in her ``judgment, cause or
contribute to air pollution which may reasonably be anticipated to
endanger public health or welfare;'' ``the presence of which in the
ambient air results from numerous or diverse mobile or stationary
source;'' and ``for which * * *. [the Administrator] plans to issue air
quality criteria * * *. '' Air quality criteria are intended 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 [a]
pollutant in the ambient air * * *. '' (42 U.S.C. 7408(b)). Under
section 109 (42 U.S.C. 7409), the EPA establishes primary (health-
based) and secondary (welfare-based) NAAQS for pollutants for which air
quality criteria are issued. Section 109(d) requires periodic review
and, if appropriate, revision of existing air quality criteria. The
revised air quality criteria reflect advances in scientific knowledge
on the effects of the pollutant on public health or welfare. The EPA is
also required to periodically review and revise the NAAQS, if
appropriate, based on the revised criteria. Section 109(d)(2) requires
that an independent scientific review committee ``shall complete a
review of the criteria * * *. and the national primary and secondary
ambient air quality standards * * *. and shall recommend to the
Administrator any new * * *. standards and revisions of the existing
criteria and standards as may be appropriate * * *. .'' Since the early
1980s, this independent review function has been performed by the
CASAC.
Presently, the EPA is reviewing the primary NAAQS for
NO2. The first draft Integrated Science Assessment for
Oxides of Nitrogen (Health Criteria) (ISA) was released on November 22,
2013 (78 FR 70040), and the draft Integrated Review Plan for the
Primary NAAQS for Nitrogen Dioxide (IRP) (79 FR 7184) was released on
February 10, 2014. Both documents were reviewed by CASAC at a public
meeting in March 2014, and announced in a separate notice (79 FR 8701).
The final IRP was released in June 2014 (79 FR 36801), and is available
at http://www.epa.gov/ttn/naaqs/standards/nox/s_nox_2012_pd.html. The
second draft ISA was made available to both CASAC and the public on
January 29, 2015 (80 FR 5110).
The REA Planning Document considers the degree to which important
uncertainties identified in quantitative analyses from previous reviews
have been addressed by newly available scientific evidence, tools, or
information, including those in the second draft ISA. Based on these
considerations, the document reaches preliminary conclusions on the
extent to which updated quantitative analyses of exposures or health
risks are warranted in the current review. For updated analyses that
are supported, this planning document presents anticipated approaches
to conducting such analyses and, where appropriate, preliminary
results. This document is available on the EPA's Technology Transfer
Network Web site at http://www.epa.gov/ttn/naaqs/standards/nox/s_nox_2012_pd.html.
The REA Planning Document has been made available for review by
CASAC and for public comment. Comments should be submitted to the
docket, as described above. The CASAC
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review of this planning document and the second draft ISA is scheduled
for June 2-3, 2015. A separate Federal Register notice will provide
details about this meeting and the process for participation.
Dated: May 4, 2015.
Stephen D. Page,
Director, Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards.
[FR Doc. 2015-11566 Filed 5-12-15; 8:45 am]
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