[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 187 (Thursday, September 26, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 50836-50838]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-20925]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[EPA-HQ-ORD-2018-0274; FRL-10000-35-ORD]
Integrated Science Assessment for Ozone and Related Photochemical
Oxidants (External Review Draft)
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice of public comment period.
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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is announcing a
public comment period for the draft document titled, ``Integrated
Science Assessment for Ozone and Related Photochemical Oxidants
(External Review Draft)'' (EPA/600/R-19/093). The draft document was
prepared by the National Center for Environmental Assessment (NCEA)
within EPA's Office of Research and Development (ORD) as part of the
review of the primary (health-based)
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and secondary (welfare-based) ozone national ambient air quality
standards (NAAQS). The Integrated Science Assessment (ISA), in
conjunction with additional technical and policy assessments, provides
the scientific basis for EPA's decisions on the adequacy of the current
review of the ozone NAAQS and the appropriateness of possible
alternative standards.
EPA is releasing this draft document to seek review by the Clean
Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC) and the public. In addition,
the date and location of a public meeting for CASAC review of this
document will be specified in a separate Federal Register document.
This draft document is not final, and it does not represent, and should
not be construed to represent, any final Agency policy or views. When
revising the document, EPA will consider any public comments submitted
during the public comment period specified in this document.
DATES: The public comment period begins on September 26, 2019 and ends
December 2, 2019. Comments must be received on or before December 2,
2019.
ADDRESSES: The ``Integrated Science Assessment for Ozone and Related
Photochemical Oxidants (External Review Draft)'' will be available
primarily via the internet on EPA's Integrated Science Assessment for
Ozone page at https://www.epa.gov/isa/integrated-science-assessment-isa-ozone-and-related-photochemical-oxidants or the public docket at
https://www.regulations.gov, Docket ID: EPA-HQ-ORD-2018-0274. A limited
number of CD-ROM copies will be available. Contact Ms. Marieka Boyd by
phone: 919-541-0031; fax: 919-541-5078; or email: [email protected]
to request a CD-ROM, and please provide your name, your mailing
address, and the document title, ``Integrated Science Assessment for
Ozone and Related Photochemical Oxidants (External Review Draft)'' to
facilitate processing of your request.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For information on the public comment
period, contact the ORD Docket at the EPA Headquarters Docket Center;
phone: 202-566-1752; fax: 202-566-9744; or email: [email protected].
For technical information, contact Dr. Thomas Luben, NCEA; phone:
919-541-5762; fax: 919-541-1818; or email: [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Information About the Document
Section 108(a) of the Clean Air Act directs the Administrator to
identify and list certain air pollutants and to issue air quality
criteria for those pollutants. The Administrator is to list those
pollutants ``emissions of which, 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
he ``plans to issue air quality criteria. . . .'' (42 U.S.C.
7408(a)(1)). The 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 [a] pollutant in the ambient air. . . .''
(42 U.S.C. 7408(a)(2)). Under section 109 of the Act, EPA is then to
establish NAAQS for each pollutant for which EPA has issued criteria.
Section 109(d)(1) 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 or welfare. Under the same provision, EPA is also
required to periodically review and, if appropriate, revise the NAAQS,
based on the revised air quality criteria (for more information on the
NAAQS review process, see https://www.epa.gov/criteria-air-pollutants/process-reviewing-national-ambient-air-quality-standards).
Ozone is one of six criteria pollutants for which EPA has
established NAAQS and is the current indicator for related
photochemical oxidants. Periodically, EPA reviews the scientific basis
for these standards by preparing an ISA (formerly called an Air Quality
Criteria Document). The ISA, in conjunction with additional technical
and policy assessments, provides the scientific basis for EPA's reviews
of these standards NAAQS. Section 109(d)(2) of the Act requires
appointment of an independent scientific review committee that is,
among other things, to review at five-year intervals the existing air
quality criteria and to recommend any revisions of those criteria as
may be appropriate. Since the early 1980s, the requirement for an
independent scientific review committee has been fulfilled by the Clean
Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC).
On June 26, 2018 (83 FR 13716), EPA formally initiated its current
review of the air quality criteria for the health and welfare effects
of ozone and related photochemical oxidants and the primary (health-
based) and secondary (welfare-based) ozone NAAQS, requesting the
submission of scientific and policy-relevant information on specified
topics. This information was incorporated into EPA's ``Integrated
Review Plan for the Review of the Ozone National Ambient Air Quality
Standards (External Review Draft),'' which was available for public
comment (83 FR 24037) and discussion by the CASAC via publicly
accessible teleconference consultation (83 FR 24269). The final
``Integrated Review Plan for the Review of the Ozone National Ambient
Air Quality Standards'' was posted to the EPA website in August 2019
(https://www.epa.gov/naaqs/ozone-o3-air-quality-standards).
In the development of the draft ISA, webinar workshops were held on
October 29 and 31, 2018, and November 1 and 5, 2018, to discuss initial
draft materials with invited EPA and external scientific experts (83 FR
23126). The input received during these webinar workshops aided in the
development of the materials presented in the ``Integrated Science
Assessment for Ozone and Related Photochemical Oxidants (External
Review Draft).''
The ``Integrated Science Assessment for Ozone and Related
Photochemical Oxidants (External Review Draft)'' will be discussed at a
public meeting for review by CASAC. In addition to the public comment
period announced in this notice, the public will have an opportunity to
address CASAC at this meeting. A separate Federal Register document
will inform the public of the exact date and time of the CASAC meeting
and of the procedures for public participation.
II. How To Submit Technical Comments to the Docket at https://www.regulations.gov
Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-ORD-2018-
0274, by one of the following methods:
https://www.regulations.gov: Follow the online
instructions for submitting comments.
Email: [email protected].
Fax: 202-566-9744.
Mail: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, EPA Docket
Center (ORD Docket), Mail Code: 28221T, 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, EPA West Building, Room 3334, 1301
Constitution Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20004.
The EPA Docket Center Public Reading Room is open from 8:30 a.m. to
4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding legal holidays. The phone
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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-
2018-0274. Please ensure that your comments are submitted within the
specified comment period. Comments received after the closing date will
be marked ``late.'' EPA will attempt to consider late comments to the
extent it is practical to do so, but time constraints may not permit
consideration of late comments. 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 https://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 through https://www.regulations.gov or email that
you consider to be CBI or otherwise protected. The https://www.regulations.gov website 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 https://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 https://www.epa.gov/dockets.
Docket: Documents in the docket are listed in the https://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
on https://www.regulations.gov or in hard copy at the ORD Docket in the
EPA Headquarters Docket Center.
Dated: September 10, 2019.
Tina Bahadori,
Director, National Center for Environmental Assessment.
[FR Doc. 2019-20925 Filed 9-25-19; 8:45 am]
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