Draft Documents: Review of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards for Carbon Monoxide
Federal Register: March 5, 2010 (Volume 75, Number 43)
Notices
Page 10252-10253
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
DOCID:fr05mr10-64
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
EPA-HQ-OAR-2008-0015; FRL-9119-7
Release of Draft Documents Related to the Review of the National
Ambient Air Quality Standards for Carbon Monoxide
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Availability of draft documents for public comment.
SUMMARY: On or about February 22, 2010, the Office of Air Quality
Planning and Standards (OAQPS) of EPA is making available for public comment a draft assessment document: Risk and Exposure Assessment to
Support the Review of the Carbon Monoxide Primary National Ambient Air
Quality Standards--Second External Review Draft. This draft document describes the quantitative analyses that are being conducted as part of the review of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for carbon monoxide (CO). In addition, on or about March 1, 2010, OAQPS is making available for public comment another draft assessment document:
Policy Assessment for the Review of the Carbon Monoxide National
Ambient Air Quality Standards: External Review Draft.
DATES: Comments should be submitted on or before April 2, 2010.
ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-
OAR-2008-0015, by one of the following methods: http://www.regulations.gov: Follow the on-line instructions for submitting comments.
E-mail: Comments may be sent by electronic mail (e-mail) to a-and-r-docket@epa.gov, Attention Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2008- 0015.
Fax: Fax your comments to 202-566-9744, Attention Docket
ID. No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2008-0015.
Mail: Send your comments to: Air and Radiation Docket and
Information Center, Environmental Protection Agency, Mailcode: 2822T, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460, Attention Docket ID
No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2008-0015.
Hand Delivery or Courier: Deliver your comments to: EPA
Docket Center, 1301 Constitution Ave., NW., Room 3334, 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- 2008-0015. The EPA's policy is that all comments received will be included in the public docket without change and may be made 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 that you consider to be CBI or otherwise protected through http:// www.regulations.gov or e-mail. The http://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 e-mail comment directly to EPA without going through http://www.regulations.gov, your e-mail 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.
Docket: All 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 material, such as copyrighted material, will be publicly available only in hard copy.
Publicly available docket materials are available either electronically in http://www.regulations.gov or in hard copy at the Air Docket in the
EPA Docket Center, EPA West, Room 3334, 1301 Constitution Ave., NW.,
Washington, DC. This Docket Facility is open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, excluding legal holidays. The Docket telephone number is 202-566-1742; fax 202-566-9744.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
For questions related to both of these draft documents, titled Risk and Exposure Assessment to Support the Review of the Carbon Monoxide
Primary National Ambient Air Quality Standards--Second External Review and Policy Assessment for the Review of the Carbon Monoxide National
Ambient Air Quality Standards: External Review Draft, please contact
Dr. Ines Pagan, Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards (Mail code
C504-06), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park,
NC 27711; e-mail: pagan.ines@epa.gov; telephone: 919-541-5469; fax: 919-541-0237.
General Information
-
What Should I Consider as I Prepare My Comments for EPA? 1. Submitting CBI. Do not submit this information to EPA through http://www.regulations.gov or e-mail. 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 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 referencing a Code of
Federal Regulations (CFR) part or section number.
Explain why you agree or disagree; suggest alternatives and substitute language for your requested changes.
Describe any assumptions 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.
Make sure to submit your comments by the comment period deadline identified.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under section 108(a) of the Clean Air Act
(CAA), the Administrator identifies and lists certain pollutants which
``cause or contribute to air pollution which may reasonably be anticipated to endanger public health or welfare.'' The EPA then
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issues air quality criteria for these listed pollutants, which are commonly referred to as ``criteria pollutants.'' 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, in varying quantities.'' Under section 109 of the CAA, EPA establishes primary (health-based) and secondary
(welfare-based) NAAQS for pollutants for which air quality criteria are issued. Section 109(d) of the CAA 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.
Presently, EPA is reviewing the air quality criteria and NAAQS for
CO. The EPA's overall plan and schedule for this review is presented in the Plan for Review of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards for
Carbon Monoxide.\1\ A draft of this integrated review plan was released for public review and comment in March 2008 and was the subject of a consultation with the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC) on April 8, 2008 (73 FR 12998). Comments received from that consultation and from the public were considered in finalizing the plan and in beginning the review of the air quality criteria.
\1\ EPA 452R-08-005; August 2008; Available: http://www.epa.gov/ ttn/naaqs/standards/co/s_co_cr_pd.html.
As part of EPA's review of the primary (health-based) CO NAAQS, the
Agency is conducting qualitative and quantitative assessments characterizing the health risks associated with exposure to ambient CO.
The EPA's plans for conducting these assessments, including the proposed scope and methods of the analyses, were presented in a planning document titled, Carbon Monoxide National Ambient Air Quality
Standards: Scope and Methods Plan for Health Risk and Exposure
Assessment (Scope and Methods Plan). This planning document was released for public comment in April 2009 and was the subject of a consultation with the CASAC on May 13, 2009 (74 FR 15265).
The draft exposure and risk assessment document announced today conveys the approaches taken to assess exposures to ambient CO and to characterize associated health risks, as well as present the initial key results, observations, and related uncertainties associated with the quantitative analyses performed. An earlier draft of the exposure and risk assessment document was released for CASAC review and public comment in October 2009 (74 FR 55843; October 29, 2009), and was the subject of a CASAC review meeting on November 16 and 17, 2009 (74 FR 54042). This draft document will be available on or about February 22, 2010, through the Agency's Technology Transfer Network (TTN) Web site at http://www.epa.gov/ttn/naaqs/standards/co/s_co_index.html. This document may be accessed in the ``Documents from Current Review'' section under ``Risk and Exposure Assessments.''
In addition, on or about March 1, 2010, EPA will make available a second draft document: Policy Assessment for the Review of the Carbon
Monoxide National Ambient Air Quality Standards: External Review Draft.
The development of this document is a result of recent changes to the
NAAQS review process which included reinstating a policy assessment document that contains staff analyses of the scientific bases for alternative policy options for consideration by senior Agency management prior to rulemaking. This document, which builds upon the historical ``Staff Paper,'' will serve to ``bridge the gap'' between the scientific information and the judgments required of the
Administrator in determining whether it is appropriate to retain or revise the standards. In conjunction with this change, EPA will no longer issue a policy assessment in the form of an Advance Notice of
Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR).\2\
\2\ See http://www.epa.gov/ttn/naaqs/review.html for a copy of
Administrator Jackson's May 21, 2009 memorandum and for additional information on the NAAQS review process.
The draft Policy Assessment (PA) builds upon information presented in the Integrated Science Assessment for Carbon Monoxide and the draft assessment document described above. This draft document will be available on or about March 1, 2010, through the Agency's Technology
Transfer Network (TTN) Web site at http://www.epa.gov/ttn/naaqs/ standards/co/s_co_index.html. This document may be accessed in the
``Documents from Current Review'' section under ``Policy Assessments.''
The EPA is soliciting advice and recommendations from the CASAC by means of a review of both draft documents at an upcoming public meeting of the CASAC. Information about this public meeting, including the date and location, will be published as a separate notice in an upcoming edition of the Federal Register. Following the CASAC meeting, 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: February 19, 2010.
Jennifer Noonan Edmonds,
Acting Director, Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards.
FR Doc. 2010-4702 Filed 3-4-10; 8:45 am
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