[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 180 (Tuesday, September 19, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 43756-43757]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-19823]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[EPA-HQ-OAR-2013-0566; FRL-9965-64-OAR]


Release of Draft Documents Related to the Review of the Primary 
National Ambient Air Quality Standard for Sulfur Oxides

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of availability.

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SUMMARY: On or about August 25, 2017, the Environmental Protection 
Agency (EPA) will make available for public comment two draft documents 
titled, Risk and Exposure Assessment for the Review of the Primary 
National Ambient Air Quality Standard for Sulfur Oxides, External 
Review Draft (Draft REA) and Policy Assessment for the Review of the 
Primary National Ambient Air Quality Standard for Sulfur Oxides, 
External Review Draft (Draft PA). These draft documents were prepared 
as part of the current review of the primary National Ambient Air 
Quality Standard (NAAQS) for Sulfur Oxides (SOX). The Draft 
REA describes draft quantitative exposure and risk analyses for this 
NAAQS review. The PA, when final, serves to ``bridge the gap'' between 
the currently available scientific information and the judgments 
required of the Administrator in determining whether to retain or 
revise the existing primary NAAQS for SOX.

DATES: Comments should be received on or before October 18, 2017.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-
OAR-2013-0566, to the Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the online instructions for submitting 
comments. Once submitted, comments cannot be edited or withdrawn. The 
EPA may publish any comment received to its public docket. Do not 
submit electronically any information you consider to be Confidential 
Business Information (CBI) or other information whose disclosure is 
restricted by statute. Multimedia submissions (audio, video, etc.) must 
be accompanied by a written comment. The written comment is considered 
the official comment and should include discussion of all points you 
wish to make. The EPA will generally not consider comments or comment 
contents located outside of the primary submission (i.e., on the Web, 
Cloud, or other file sharing system). For additional submission 
methods, the full EPA public comment policy, information about CBI or 
multimedia submissions, and general guidance on making effective 
comments, please visit http://www2.epa.gov/dockets/commenting-epa-dockets. The draft REA and draft PA will be available primarily via the 
Internet at https://www.epa.gov/naaqs/sulfur-dioxide-so2-primary-air-quality-standards.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr. Nicole Hagan, Office of Air 
Quality Planning and Standards (Mail Code C504-06), U.S. Environmental 
Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, NC 27711; telephone number: 
919-541-3153; 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 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 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 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) part 2.
    2. Tips for Preparing your Comments. When submitting comments, 
remember to:
     Identify the notice 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 referencing a 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 his ``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 
sources''; and ``for which . . . [the Administrator] plans to issue air 
quality criteria . . .'' (42 U.S.C. 7408(a)(1)(A)-(C)). 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(a)(2)). 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 Clean Air

[[Page 43757]]

Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC).
    Presently, the EPA is reviewing the air quality criteria and 
primary NAAQS for SOX.\1\ The EPA's overall plan for this 
review is presented in the Integrated Review Plan for the Primary NAAQS 
for Sulfur Dioxide (IRP).\2\ As described in the IRP, the EPA is 
preparing an Integrated Science Assessment for Sulfur Oxides--Health 
Criteria (ISA), the second draft \3\ of which was reviewed by the 
CASAC, along with the Risk and Exposure Assessment Planning Document 
for the Review of the Primary National Ambient Air Quality Standards 
for Sulfur Oxides (REA Planning Document),\4\ at a public meeting in 
March 2017 (82 FR 11449). The draft REA announced today describes the 
approaches taken to assess SO2 exposures and associated 
health risks, as well as presents the initial key results, 
observations, and related uncertainties associated with the 
quantitative analyses performed. The PA, when final, serves to ``bridge 
the gap'' between the scientific and technical information in the final 
ISA and REA, and the judgments required of the Administrator in 
determining whether to retain or revise the existing primary NAAQS for 
SOX. The draft PA builds upon information presented in the 
second draft ISA and the draft REA. The draft REA and PA documents will 
be available on or about August 25, 2017, on the EPA's Technology 
Transfer Network Web site at https://www.epa.gov/naaqs/sulfur-dioxide-so2-primary-air-quality-standards.
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    \1\ The indicator for the current standard is SO2.
    \2\ The IRP (EPA-452/R-14-007, October 2014) is available at 
https://www.epa.gov/naaqs/sulfur-dioxide-so2-primary-standards-planning-documents-current-review.
    \3\ The second draft ISA was made available to both the CASAC 
and the public in December 2016 (81 FR 89097) and is available at: 
https://www.epa.gov/naaqs/sulfur-dioxide-so2-primary-standards-integrated-science-assessments-current-review.
    \4\ The REA Planning Document was made available to both the 
CASAC and the public in February 2017 (82 FR 11356) and is available 
at: https://www.epa.gov/naaqs/sulfur-dioxide-so2-primary-standards-planning-documents-current-review.
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    The EPA is soliciting advice and recommendations from the CASAC by 
means of a review of these draft documents at an upcoming public 
meeting of the CASAC. Information about this public meeting, including 
the dates and location, will be published as a separate notice in the 
Federal Register. Following the CASAC meeting, the EPA will consider 
comments received from the CASAC and the public in preparing revisions 
to these documents.
    The draft documents briefly described above do not represent and 
should not be construed to represent any final EPA policy, viewpoint, 
or determination. The EPA will consider any public comments submitted 
in response to this notice when revising the documents.

    Dated: August 14, 2017.
Stephen Page,
Director, Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards.
[FR Doc. 2017-19823 Filed 9-18-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6560-50-P