[Federal Register: September 13, 2007 (Volume 72, Number 177)]
[Notices]
[Page 52369-52371]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr13se07-37]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[FRL-8467-9; Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-ORD-2007-0925]
Integrated Science Assessment for Carbon Monoxide
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency.
ACTION: Notice; call for information.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Office of
Research and Development's National Center for Environmental Assessment
(NCEA) is preparing an Integrated Science Assessment (ISA) as part of
the review of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for
Carbon Monoxide (CO). This is intended to update and revise, where
appropriate, the scientific assessment presented in the Air Quality
Criteria for Carbon Monoxide (EPA 600/P-99/001F), published in June
2000. Interested parties are invited to assist the EPA in developing
and refining the scientific information base for the review of the CO
NAAQS by submitting research studies that have been published, accepted
for publication, or presented at a public scientific meeting.
DATES: All communications and information should be received by EPA by
December 14, 2007.
ADDRESSES: Information may be submitted electronically, by mail, by
[[Page 52370]]
facsimile, or by hand delivery/courier. Please follow the detailed
instructions as provided in the section of this notice entitled
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For details on the period for
submission of research information from the public, contact the Office
of Environmental Information (OEI) Docket; telephone: 202-566-1752;
facsimile: 202-566-1753; or e-mail: ORD.Docket@epa.gov. For technical
information, contact Paul Reinhart, PhD, NCEA, telephone, 919-541-1456;
facsimile: 919-541-1818 or e-mail: reinhart.paul@epa.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Information About the Project
Section 108(a) of the Clean Air Act directs the Administrator to
identify certain pollutants, emissions of which ``may reasonably be
anticipated to endanger public health and welfare'' and whose presence
``in the ambient air results from numerous or diverse mobile or
stationary sources,'' and to issue air quality criteria for them. These
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 such pollutant in the ambient air * * *.'' Under section
109 of the Act, EPA is then to establish National Ambient Air Quality
Standards (NAAQS) for each pollutant for which EPA has issued criteria.
Section 109 (d) 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 and welfare. EPA is also to revise the NAAQS, if
appropriate, based on the revised air quality criteria.
Carbon monoxide is one of six principal (or ``criteria'')
pollutants for which EPA has established NAAQS. Periodically, EPA
reviews the scientific basis for these standards by preparing an
Integrated Science Assessment (ISA), formerly called an Air Quality
Criteria Document (AQCD). The ISA and supplementary annexes are the
scientific basis for the additional technical and policy assessments
that form the basis for EPA decisions on the adequacy of a current
NAAQS and the appropriateness of new or revised standards. Early steps
in this process include announcing the beginning of this periodic NAAQS
review and the development of the ISA, and NCEA requesting that the
public submit scientific literature that they want to bring to the
attention of the Agency as it begins this process. The Clean Air
Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC), an independent science advisory
committee mandated by the Clean Air Act and part of the EPA's Science
Advisory Board (SAB), is charged with independent expert scientific
review of EPA's draft ISAs. As the process proceeds, the public will
have opportunities to review and comment on draft CO ISAs. These
opportunities will also be announced in the Federal Register.
The Agency is interested in obtaining additional new information,
particularly concerning toxicological studies of effects of controlled
exposure to CO on laboratory animals, humans and in vitro systems as
well as epidemiologic (observational) studies of health effects
associated with ambient exposures of human populations to CO. EPA also
seeks recent information in other areas of CO research such as
chemistry and physics, sources and emissions, analytical methodology,
transport and transformation in the environment, ambient concentrations
and effects on public welfare or the environment. This and other
selected literature relevant to a review of the NAAQS for CO will be
assessed in the forthcoming CO ISA. As part of this review of the CO
NAAQS, EPA intends to sponsor a workshop in January 2008 to highlight
significant new and emerging CO research, and to make recommendations
to the Agency regarding the design and scope of the review for the
primary (health-based) CO standards to ensure that it addresses key
policy-relevant issues and considers the new science that is relevant
to informing our understanding of these issues. In addition, other
opportunities for submission of new peer-reviewed, published (or in-
press) papers will be possible as part of public comment on the
additional draft documents that will be reviewed by CASAC.
II. How To Submit Technical Comments to the Docket at
http://www.regulations.gov
Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-ORD 2007-
0925, by one of the following methods:
http://www.regulations.gov: Follow the on-line instructions for
submitting comments.
E-mail: ORD.Docket@epa.gov.
Fax: 202-566-1753.
Mail: Office of Environmental Information (OEI) Docket
(Mail Code: 2822T), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 1200
Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460. The phone number is 202-
566-1752.
Hand Delivery: The OEI Docket is located in the EPA
Headquarters Docket Center, Room 3334 EPA West Building, 1301
Constitution Ave., NW., Washington, DC. 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 telephone 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-
2007-0925. Please ensure that your comments are submitted within the
specified comment period. Comments received after the closing date will
be marked ``late,'' and may only be considered if time permits. 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
http://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 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. For additional
information about EPA's public docket visit the EPA 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
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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
in http://www.regulations.gov or in hard copy at the OEI Docket in the EPA
Headquarters Docket Center.
Dated: September 6, 2007.
Peter W. Preuss,
Director, National Center for Environmental Assessment.
[FR Doc. E7-18100 Filed 9-12-07; 8:45 am]
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