[Federal Register: January 30, 2006 (Volume 71, Number 19)]
[Notices]
[Page 4913-4916]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr30ja06-50]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[EPA-HQ-OPPT-2005-0555; FRL-7758-9]
Review of Chemical Proposals for Addition under the Stockholm
Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants; Solicitation of
Information for the Development of Risk Profiles
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: This notice solicits information relevant to the development
of risk profiles pursuant to the Stockholm Convention on Persistent
Organic Pollutants (POPs Convention) for the following chemicals which
are being reviewed for possible addition to the POPs Convention's
Annexes A, B, and/or C as POPs: Hexabromobiphenyl (HBB) (CAS No. 36355-
01-8); pentabromodiphenyl ether (PBDE) (CAS No. 32534-81-9);
chlordecone (CAS No. 143-50-0); lindane (CAS No. 58-89-9); and
perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS). EPA is issuing this notice to alert
interested and potentially affected persons of these proposals and the
status of their review under the POPs Convention, and to encourage such
persons to provide information relevant to the development of risk
profiles under Article 8 and Annex E of the POPs Convention.
DATES: Comments must be received on or before February 14, 2006.
ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by docket identification
(ID) number EPA-HQ-OPPT-2005-0555, by one of the following methods.
http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the on-line
instructions for submitting comments.
E-mail: oppt.ncic@epa.gov.
Mail: Document Control Office (7407M), Office of Pollution
Prevention and Toxics (OPPT), Environmental Protection Agency, 1200
Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460-0001.
Hand Delivery: OPPT Document Control Office (DCO, EPA East
Bldg., Rm. 6428, 1201 Constitution Ave., NW., Washington, DC.
Attention: Docket ID number EPA-HQ-OPPT-2005-0555. The DCO is open from
8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding legal holidays. The
telephone number for the DCO is (202) 564-8930. 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 number EPA-HQ-OPPT-
[[Page 4914]]
2005-0555. 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 regulations.gov or e-
mail. The regulations.gov website is an ``anonymous access'' systems,
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 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
regulations.gov index. Although listed in the index, some information
is not publicly available, i.e., CBI or other information whose
disclosure is restricted by statute. Certain other material, such as
copyrighted material, is not placed on the Internet and will be
publicly available only in hard copy form. Publicly available docket
materials are available electronically through regulations.gov or in
hard copy at the OPPT Docket, EPA Docket Center (EPA/DC), EPA West, Rm.
B102, 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, and the telephone number for the
OPPT Docket is (202) 566-0280.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For general information contact: Colby
Linter, Regulatory Coordinator, Environmental Assistance Division
(7408M), Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics, Environmental
Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460-
0001; telephone number: (202) 554-1404; e-mail address:
TSCA-Hotline@epa.gov.
For technical information contact: Amy Breedlove, Chemical Control
Division, (7405M), Office Pollution Prevention and Toxics,
Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW.,
Washington, DC 20460-0001; telephone number: (202) 564-9823; e-mail
address: breedlove.amy@epa.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. General Information
A. Does this Action Apply to Me?
This action is directed to the public in general, and may be of
particular interest to chemical substance and pesticide manufacturers,
importers, and processors. Since other entities may also be interested,
the Agency has not attempted to describe all the specific entities that
may be affected by this action. If you have any questions regarding the
applicability of this action to a particular entity, consult the
technical person listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.
B. What Should I Consider as I Prepare My Comments for EPA?
1. Submitting CBI. Do not submit this information to EPA through
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 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. Procedures for preparing confidential information related to
pesticides and industrial chemicals are in Unit I.B.1. Send
confidential information about industrial chemicals using the
submission procedures under ADDRESSES. Send confidential information
about pesticides to: Cathleen McInerney Barnes, International Programs
Manager, Office of Pesticide Programs (7506C), Environmental Protection
Agency, Washington, DC 20460-0001 or hand delivered to: Cathleen
Barnes, Government and International Services Branch, Office of
Pesticide Programs, Rm. 1104G, Crystal Mall 2, 1801 Bell St.,
Arlington, VA.
3. Commenters should note that none of the CBI information received
by EPA will be forwarded to the POPs Secretariat. Information from
submissions containing CBI may be incorporated into larger products by
EPA but CBI will be masked in any such products.
4. Tips for preparing your comments. When submitting comments,
remember to:
i. Identify the document by docket ID number and other identifying
information (subject heading, Federal Register date and page number).
ii. 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.
iii. Explain why you agree or disagree; suggest alternatives and
substitute language for your requested changes.
iv. Describe any assumptions and provide any technical information
and/or data that you used.
v. If you estimate potential costs or burdens, explain how you
arrived at the estimate.
vi. Provide specific examples to illustrate your concerns, and
suggested alternatives.
vii. Explain your views as clearly as possible, avoiding the use of
profanity or personal threats.
viii. Make sure to submit your comments by the comment period
deadline identified.
II. Background
The POPs Convention is a multilateral environmental agreement
designed to protect human health and the environment from POPs. The
United States signed the POPs Convention in May of 2001 but has not yet
ratified it (and thus is not a Party to the POPs Convention). The POPs
Convention, which went into force in May of 2004, requires the Parties
to reduce or eliminate the production and use of a number of
intentionally produced POPs used as pesticides or industrial chemicals.
The POPs Convention also calls upon Parties to take certain specified
measures to reduce releases of certain unintentionally produced POPs
with the goal of their continuing minimization and, where feasible,
ultimate elimination. It also imposes controls on the handling of POPs
wastes and on trade in POPs chemicals. In addition, there are specific
science-based procedures that Parties to the POPs Convention must use
when adding new chemicals to the POPs Convention's Annexes.
[[Page 4915]]
The first meeting of the committee that reviews proposals for
listing of new chemicals, called the POPs Review Committee (POPRC),
took place November 7-11, 2005, in Geneva, Switzerland. Information
about the POPs Convention and the November POPRC meeting is available
at the POPs Convention website at http://www.pops.int and http://www.pops.int/documents/meetings/poprc
, respectively. The POPRC had
Parties to the POPs Convention, for addition to Annexes A, B, and/or C
of the POPs Convention. Three of the five proposals were for industrial
chemicals:
PBDE.
HBB.
PFOS.
Two of the five proposals were for pesticides:
Lindane.
Chlordecone.
In accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 8 of the POPs
Convention, during the November meeting POPRC examined the proposals
and applied the screening criteria in Annex D of the POPs Convention
(``Information Requirements and Screening Criteria''). With regard to
all five chemicals, POPRC decided that it was satisfied that the
screening criteria had been fulfilled and that further work should
therefore be undertaken in accordance with the provisions of the POPs
Convention.
The next step in the process is for POPRC to prepare a risk profile
for each of the chemicals to, as noted in Annex E of the POPs
Convention, ``evaluate whether the chemical is likely, as a result of
its long-range environmental transport, to lead to significant adverse
human health and/or environmental effects, such that global action is
warranted.'' The risk profile must further evaluate and elaborate on
the information referred to in Annex D of the POPs Convention and
include, as far as possible, the information listed in Annex E of the
POPs Convention (``Information Requirements for the Risk Profile''). A
draft outline of the risk profile has been developed by POPRC,
available at http://www.pops.int/documents/meetings/poprc. As requested
by POPRC through the POPs Convention Secretariat, the risk profile will
take into account information to be submitted by Parties and Observers
(the current step). If, on the basis of the risk profile, POPRC decides
that the chemical is likely, as a result of its long-range
environmental transport, to lead to significant adverse human health
and/or environmental effects, such that global action is warranted, it
will proceed to develop a risk management evaluation. This will include
an analysis of the possible control measures as well as the socio-
economic considerations, and at that stage information relating to
socio-economic considerations will be requested from Parties and
Observers. See Annex F of the POPs Convention (``Information on Socio-
economic Considerations'').
A. What Action is the Agency Taking?
The Agency is issuing this notice to increase awareness of the
proposals concerning the chemicals, and to provide interested persons
with an opportunity to provide relevant information. The POPs
Convention Secretariat's invitation to submit information states that
the POPs Convention Secretariat is only accepting responses from
Parties and Observers. The United States is an Observer. EPA is
requesting that any information be submitted to EPA no later than
February 14, 2006. The United States intends to make an initial
submission by January 27, 2006, to meet the POPs Secretariat's
deadline. However, EPA also plans to make a second submission, as
appropriate, based on information resulting from this notice on or
about mid-to-late February 2006. In addition, EPA will consider the
information during its review of the risk profiles developed by the
POPRC in the coming months. Individuals or organizations that wish to
submit information directly to the POPs Convention Secretariat should
work through their respective observer organizations, if any.
B. What Information is Being Requested?
The EPA is seeking information that is supplementary to the
information in the proposals on the chemicals and POPRC's evaluation of
the proposals against Annex D of the POPs Convention's screening
criteria. The proposals and the evaluations are available at the POPs
Convention website at http://www.pops.int/documents/meetings/poprc/default.htm
.
EPA has previously solicited information through the Lindane
Reregistration Eligibility Document (RED) and through its participation
in the draft North American Regional Action Plan (NARAP) on Lindane and
other Hexachlorocyclohexane Isomers. Consequently, EPA is only
interested in any new information on lindane that may have been
developed since those activities.
Commenters are invited to provide information they deem relevant to
POPRC's development of risk profiles, such as that specified in Annex E
of the POPs Convention and other related information, as described
below:
1. Sources, including as appropriate:
i. Production data, including quantity and location.
ii. Uses.
iii. Releases, such as discharges, losses, and emissions.
2. Hazard assessment for the endpoint or endpoints of concern (as
identified in the proposals and/or POPRC's evaluation of the proposals
against the screening criteria of Annex D of the POPs Convention),
including a consideration of toxicological interactions involving
multiple chemicals.
3. Environmental fate, including data and information on the
chemical and physical properties of a chemical as well as its
persistence and how they are linked to its environmental transport,
transfer within and between environmental compartments, degradation,
and transformation to other chemicals. (POPRC is to make a
determination of the bioconcentration factor or bio-accumulation
factor, based on measured values, available, except when monitoring
data are judged to meet this need.)
4. Monitoring data.
5. Exposure in local areas and, in particular, as a result of long-
range environmental transport, and including information regarding bio-
availability.
In addition, POPRC has identified some additional types of
information on several of the chemicals that would be useful in the
development of the risk profiles. That information can be found in the
Letter of Invitation on the POPs Convention website at http://www.pops.int/documents/meetings/poprc/default.htm
.
C. How Should the Information be Provided?
1. EPA requests that commenters, where possible, use the form
developed by POPRC to provide their information. The form can be found
on the POPs Convention website at http://www.pops.int/documents/meetings/poprc.
Commenters are requested to include clear and precise
references for all sources. Without the exact source of the
information, POPRC will not be able to use the information. If the
information is not readily available in the public literature,
commenters may consider attaching the original source of the
information to their submission. Commenters should indicate clearly on
the form which chemical the information concerns and use one form per
chemical. If for some reason the form does not provide an adequate
[[Page 4916]]
mechanism for a type of comment or information, EPA requests that such
comment or information be submitted using a similar format; this will
increase the likelihood of the relevant information being considered.
2. Although POPRC has developed provisional arrangements for the
treatment of confidential information, as mentioned in Unit I.B.3. no
CBI will be forwarded to the POPs Convention Secretariat. EPA will,
however, consider such information in development of the U.S. response
to the POPs Convention Secretariat. Instructions on where and how to
submit comments and confidential information can be found in Unit
I.B.2. and ADDRESSES.
3. Anyone wishing to have an opportunity to communicate with EPA
orally on this issue should consult the technical person listed under
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.
D. What is the Agency's Authority for Taking this Action?
EPA is requesting comment and information under the authority of
section 102(2)(F) of the National Environmental Policy Act, 42 U.S.C.
section 4321 et seq., which directs all agencies of the Federal
Government to ``[r]ecognize the worldwide and long-range character of
environmental problems and, where consistent with the foreign policy of
the United States, lend appropriate support to initiatives, resolutions
and programs designed to maximize cooperation in anticipating and
preventing a decline in the quality of mankind's world environment.''
Section 17(d) of Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act
(FIFRA) also provides additional support in that it directs the
Administrator of EPA ``in cooperation with the Department of State and
any other appropriate Federal agency, [to] participate and cooperate in
any international efforts to develop improved pesticide research and
regulations.''
List of Subjects
Environmental protection, Chemicals, Hazardous substances.
Dated: January 23, 2006.
Charles M. Auer,
Director, Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics.
[FR Doc. E6-1107 Filed 1-27-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-S