[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 97 (Thursday, May 21, 2009)]
[Notices]
[Pages 23858-23859]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-11917]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[EPA-HQ-OAR-2007-0352; FRL-8908-6]
Second Draft Risk and Exposure Assessment Report for Sulfur
Dioxide (SO2)
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice of extension of comment period.
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SUMMARY: The EPA is announcing an extension of the public comment
period for the draft document titled ``Risk and Exposure Assessment to
Support the Review of the SO2 Primary National Ambient Air
Quality Standards: Second Draft'' (74 FR 18573). The EPA is extending
the comment period that originally ends on May 20, 2009. The extended
comment period will close on June 11, 2009. The EPA is extending the
comment period to provide stakeholders and the public with adequate
time to conduct appropriate analysis and prepare meaningful comments.
DATES: Comments on the above report must be received on or before June
11, 2009.
ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-
OAR-2007-0352, 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 [email protected], Attention Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2007-
0352.
Fax: Fax your comments to 202-566-9744, Attention Docket
ID. No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2007-0352.
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-2007-0352.
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-
2007-0352. 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. For additional information about EPA's public
docket visit the EPA Docket Center homepage at http://www.epa.gov/epahome/dockets.htm.
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: Dr. Michael Stewart, Office of Air
Quality Planning and Standards (Mailcode C504-06), U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, NC 27711; e-mail:
[email protected]; telephone: 919-541-7524; fax: 919-541-0237.
General Information
A. 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
[[Page 23859]]
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.
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.
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 issues
air quality criteria for 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 National Ambient Air Quality Standards
(NAAQS) for each listed pollutant, with the NAAQS based on the air
quality criteria. 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.
Air quality criteria have been established for the sulfur oxides
(SOX) and NAAQS have been established for sulfur dioxide
(SO2), an indicator for SOX. Presently, EPA is
reviewing the air quality criteria for SOX and the NAAQS for
SO2. As part of its review of the NAAQS, EPA has prepared an
assessment of exposures and characterization of health risks associated
with ambient SO2. Planned approaches to assessing exposures
and characterizing risks were described in the document, Sulfur Dioxide
Health Assessment Plan: Scope and Methods for Exposure and Risk
Assessment. This planning document was released for public review and
comment in November 2007 and was the subject of a consultation with the
Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC) on December 5 and 6,
2007. Comments received from that consultation were considered in
developing the ``Risk and Exposure Assessment to Support the Review of
the SO2 Primary National Ambient Air Quality Standards:
First Draft,'' which was released in July 2008.
The second draft of this document was released in March 2009 and
conveys the approach taken to assess exposures to ambient
SO2 and to characterize associated health risks, as well as
to present the results of those assessments. In addition, this document
also contains a staff policy assessment that considers the evidence
presented in the final Integrated Science Assessment and the exposure
and risk characterization results presented in this second draft
document, as they relate to the adequacy of the current SO2
NAAQS and any potential alternative primary SO2 standards.
This draft document is available online at: http://www.epa.gov/ttn/naaqs/standards/so2/s_so2_cr_rea.html.
Dated: May 14, 2009.
Jenny Noonan Edwards,
Acting Director, Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards.
[FR Doc. E9-11917 Filed 5-20-09; 8:45 am]
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