Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 245 / Friday, December 21, 2018 / Notices 65663 

31, 2018. Public comments were 

previously requested, via the Federal 

Register, on June 29, 2017 during a 60- 

day comment period. This notice allows 

for an additional 30 days for public 

comments. A fuller description of the 

ICR is given below, including its 

estimated burden and cost to the public. 

An agency may neither conduct nor 

sponsor, and a person is not required to 

respond to, a collection of information 

unless it displays a currently valid OMB 

control number. 

DATES: Additional comments may be 

submitted on or before January 22, 2019. 

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, 

referencing Docket ID Number EPA– 

HQ–OECA–2013–0354, to: (1) EPA 

online using www.regulations.gov (our 

preferred method), or by email to 

docket.oeca@epa.gov, or by mail to: EPA 

Docket Center, Environmental 

Protection Agency, Mail Code 28221T, 

1200 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, 

Washington, DC 20460; and (2) OMB via 

email to oira_submission@omb.eop.gov. 

Address comments to OMB Desk Officer 

for EPA. 

EPA’s policy is that all comments 

received will be included in the public 

docket without change including any 

personal information provided, unless 

the comment includes profanity, threats, 

information claimed to be Confidential 

Business Information (CBI), or other 

information whose disclosure is 

restricted by statute. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Patrick Yellin, Monitoring, Assistance, 

and Media Programs Division, Office of 

Compliance, Mail Code 2227A, 

Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 

Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, DC 

20460; telephone number: (202) 564– 

2970; fax number: (202) 564–0050; 

email address: yellin.patrick@epa.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Supporting documents, which explain 

in detail the information that the EPA 

will be collecting, are available in the 

public docket for this ICR. The docket 

can be viewed online at 

www.regulations.gov, or in person at the 

EPA Docket Center, EPA West, Room 

3334, 1301 Constitution Ave. NW, 

Washington, DC. The telephone number 

for the Docket Center is 202–566–1744. 

For additional information about EPA’s 

public docket, visit: http://

www.epa.gov/dockets. 

Abstract: The National Emission 

Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants 

(NESHAP) for Paint Stripping and 

Miscellaneous Surface Coating at Area 

Sources (40 CFR part 63, subpart 

HHHHHH) are part of the EPA 

Integrated Urban Strategy to reduce 

cancer risk from area sources under 

Section 112(k)(3)(C) of the Clean Air Act 

(CAA). These standards apply to 

existing and new sources that conduct 

paint stripping operations using 

methylene chloride (MeCl)-containing 

paint strippers, motor vehicle and 

mobile equipment surface coating 

operations, and miscellaneous surface 

coating operations located at area 

sources. New facilities include those 

that commenced construction, 

modification or reconstruction after the 

date of proposal. In general, all NESHAP 

standards require initial notifications, 

performance tests, and periodic reports 

by the owners/operators of the affected 

facilities. They are also required to 

maintain records of the occurrence and 

duration of any startup, shutdown, or 

malfunction in the operation of an 

affected facility, or any period during 

which the monitoring system is 

inoperative. These notifications, reports, 

and records are essential in determining 

compliance with This information is 

being collected to assure compliance 

with 40 CFR part 63, subpart HHHHHH. 

Form numbers: None. 

Respondents/affected entities: Paint 

stripping and miscellaneous surface 

coating operations. 

Respondent’s obligation to respond: 

Mandatory (40 CFR part 63, subpart 

HHHHHH). 

Estimated number of respondents: 

39,812 (total). 

Frequency of response: Initially and 

annually. 

Total estimated burden: 169,000 

hours (per year). Burden is defined at 5 

CFR 1320.3(b). 

Total estimated cost: $18,500,000 (per 

year), which includes $117,000 in 

annualized capital/startup and/or 

operation & maintenance costs. 

Changes in the estimates: There is an 

adjustment increase in the labor hours 

in this ICR compared to the previous 

ICR. This is due to a change in 

assumption: This ICR assumes all 

existing sources will take time to refamiliarize with the regulations each 

year. 

Courtney Kerwin, 

Director, Regulatory Support Division. 

[FR Doc. 2018–27586 Filed 12–20–18; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6560–50–P 

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 

AGENCY 

[EPA–HQ–OW–2017–0260; FRL–9988–42– 

OW] 

Aquatic Life Ambient Water Quality 

Criteria for Aluminum in Freshwater 

AGENCY: Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA). 

ACTION: Notice of availability. 

SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA) is announcing the 

availability of Aquatic Life Ambient 

Water Quality Criteria for Aluminum in 

Freshwater. The EPA first released 

freshwater criteria for aluminum in 

1988 to protect aquatic life from harmful 

effects of aluminum toxicity. The EPA 

updated its recommended aluminum 

criteria to reflect the latest science and 

to provide users the flexibility to 

develop criteria based on site-specific 

water chemistry. The document 

provides a scientific assessment of 

ecological effects and is not a regulation. 

The EPA submitted the draft document 

for external expert peer review and 

edited the document considering peer 

review comments. The EPA 

subsequently released the draft criteria 

document for a 90-day public comment 

period in July 2017. The EPA has 

considered the public comments and 

revised the document based on 

consideration of those comments. The 

final criteria document provides 

recommendations for states and 

authorized tribes to establish water 

quality standards under the Clean Water 

Act. The recommendations found in this 

document supersede the EPA’s 1988 

national recommended criteria for 

aluminum in ambient water. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Diana Eignor, Health and Ecological 

Criteria Division, Office of Water (Mail 

Code 4304T), Environmental Protection 

Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue 

NW, Washington, DC 20460; telephone: 

(202) 566–1143; or email: eignor.diana@

epa.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. General Information 

A. How can I get copies of this 

document and other related 

information? 

1. Docket. EPA has established a 

docket for this action under Docket ID 

No. EPA–HQ–OW–2017–0260. Publicly 

available docket materials are available 

either electronically through 

www.regulations.gov or in hard copy at 

the Water Docket in the EPA Docket 

Center, (EPA/DC) EPA West, Room 

3334, 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 Water 

Docket is (202) 566–2426. 

2. Electronic Access. You may access 

this Federal Register document 


amozie on DSK3GDR082PROD with NOTICES1
65664 Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 245 / Friday, December 21, 2018 / Notices 

1 40 CFR part 136.3 and Appendix C 

electronically from the Government 

Printing Office under the Federal 

Register listings FDSys (http://

www.gpo.gov/fdsys/browse/collection.

action?collectionCode=FR). 

II. What is aluminum and how does it 

affect aquatic life? 

Aluminum is found in most soils and 

rocks and is the third most abundant 

element and the most common metal in 

the earth’s crust. Aluminum can enter 

the water via natural processes, like 

weathering of rocks and as a result of 

human based activities, such as 

drinking and waste water treatment and 

mining. Aluminum is considered a nonessential metal because fish and other 

aquatic life do not need it to function. 

Elevated levels of aluminum can affect 

some species’ ability to regulate ions 

and inhibit respiratory functions. 

Aquatic plants are generally less 

sensitive than fish and other aquatic life 

to aluminum. 

III. What are EPA’s updated 

recommended criteria for aluminum in 

freshwater? 

The recommended criteria 

concentrations for aluminum in 

freshwater to protect aquatic life 

depends on a site’s water chemistry 

parameters. Bioavailability is the 

measure of whether a substance in the 

environment is available to affect living 

organisms like fish. The bioavailability 

of aluminum is dependent on specific 

water chemistry parameters. The more 

bioavailable the aluminum is, the more 

likely it is to cause a toxic effect. The 

water chemistry parameters that have 

the greatest impact on aluminum’s 

bioavailability are pH, dissolved organic 

carbon (DOC) and total hardness. 

The final 2018 recommended national 

criteria are based upon Multiple Linear 

Regression (MLR) models for fish and 

invertebrate species that use pH, DOC, 

and total hardness to quantify the effects 

of these water chemistry parameters on 

the bioavailability and associated 

toxicity of aluminum to aquatic 

organisms. The MLR models are used to 

normalize the available toxicity data to 

reflect the effects of the water chemistry 

(pH, hardness, DOC) on the toxicity of 

aluminum to tested species. These 

normalized toxicity test data are then 

used in a criteria calculator to generate 

criteria for specific water chemistry 

conditions, yielding the water chemistry 

specific acute and chronic criteria 

concentrations. This flexible approach 

is based on the latest science and allows 

users to develop site-specific aluminum 

criteria for freshwaters that 

appropriately reflect important water 

chemistry parameters. The 

recommended acute criteria (known as 

the criteria maximum concentration or 

CMC) duration is a one-hour average 

and the recommended chronic criteria 

(criteria chronic concentration or CCC) 

duration is a four-day average. The EPA 

recommends that the CMC and CCC not 

be exceeded more than once every three 

years. 

These final 2018 recommended 

national aluminum criteria are 

expressed as total recoverable metal 

concentrations. The use of total 

recoverable aluminum includes 

monomeric (both organic and inorganic) 

forms, polymeric and colloidal forms, as 

well as particulate forms and aluminum 

sorbed to clays. However, toxicity data 

comparing toxicity of aluminum using 

total recoverable aluminum and 

dissolved aluminum demonstrated that 

toxic effects increased with increasing 

concentrations of total recoverable 

aluminum even though the 

concentration of dissolved aluminum 

was relatively constant. If aluminum 

criteria were based on dissolved 

concentrations, toxicity would likely be 

underestimated, as colloidal forms and 

hydroxide precipitates of the metal that 

can dissolve under natural conditions 

and become biologically available 

would not be measured. The criteria 

document contains more discussion of 

the studies that informed the choice to 

use total recoverable aluminum as the 

basis for the final 2018 recommended 

national criteria. The current EPAapproved Clean Water Act Test 

Methods 1 for aluminum in natural 

waters and waste waters measure total 

recoverable aluminum. 

The numeric outputs of the 2018 

recommended National Aluminum 

Criteria Calculator will depend on the 

specific pH, DOC, and total hardness 

concentrations entered into the models. 

The model outputs (CMC and CCC) are 

numeric values that are protective for 

the set of input conditions. Criteria can 

be determined in two ways: Use the 

provided Aluminum Criteria Calculator 

V.2.0 to enter the pH, DOC, and total 

hardness conditions at a specific site to 

calculate the numeric aluminum CMC 

and CCC corresponding to those local 

input water-quality conditions, or (2) 

use the look-up tables provided in the 

criteria document, developed using the 

calculator, to find the numeric 

aluminum CMC and CCC most closely 

corresponding to the local conditions 

for pH, DOC, and total hardness. In 

order to calculate numeric water quality 

criteria for aluminum that will protect 

the aquatic life designated uses of a site 

over the full range of ambient 

conditions and toxicity, multiple model 

outputs will need to be considered. 

See Table 1 for a comparison of the 

EPA’s 1988 criteria and the updated 

2018 criteria for aluminum. 

TABLE 1—SUMMARY OF THE EPA NATIONAL RECOMMENDED AQUATIC LIFE CRITERIA FOR ALUMINUM

EPA aquatic life criteria for aluminum 

Freshwater acute a

(1 hour, 

total recoverable 

aluminum) 

Freshwater Chronic a

(4-day, 

total recoverable 

aluminum) 

2018 Updated Criteria (Vary as a function of a site’s pH, total hardness, and DOC) ........... 1–4,800 μg/L b ................ 0.63–3,200 μg/L b. 

1988 Criteria (pH 6.5–9.0, across all total hardness and DOC ranges) ................................ 750 μg/L ......................... 87 μg/L. 

aValues are recommended not to be exceeded more than once every three years on average. 

bValues will be different under differing water chemistry conditions. 

IV. What are recommended water 

quality criteria developed by the EPA? 

Section 304(a)(1) of the Clean Water 

Act directs the EPA to develop and 

publish and, from time to time, revise 

criteria for water quality accurately 

reflecting the latest scientific 

knowledge. Water quality criteria 

developed under section 304(a) are 

based solely on data and scientific 

judgments on the relationship between 

pollutant concentrations and 

environmental and human health 

effects. Section 304(a) criteria do not 

reflect consideration of economic 

impacts or the technological feasibility 

of meeting pollutant concentrations in 

ambient water. 


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Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 245 / Friday, December 21, 2018 / Notices 65665 

Section 304(a) criteria provide 

guidance to states and authorized tribes 

in adopting water quality standards that 

ultimately provide a basis for 

controlling discharges of pollutants. 

Under the Clean Water Act and its 

implementing regulations, states and 

authorized tribes are to adopt water 

quality criteria to protect designated 

uses (e.g., aquatic life, recreational use). 

The EPA water quality criteria 

recommendations are not regulations. 

Thus, the EPA recommended criteria do 

not constitute legally binding 

requirements. States and authorized 

tribes may adopt other scientifically 

defensible water quality criteria that 

differ from these recommendations. As 

part of the water quality standards 

triennial review process defined in 

section 303(c)(1) of the Clean Water Act, 

the states and authorized tribes are 

responsible for maintaining and revising 

water quality standards. Standards 

consist of designated uses, water quality 

criteria to protect those uses, a policy 

for antidegradation, and may include 

general policies for application and 

implementation. Section 303(c)(1) 

requires states and authorized tribes to 

review and modify, if appropriate, their 

water quality standards at least once 

every three years. Consistent with the 

EPA regulations at 40 CFR 131.11(a), 

protective criteria must be based on a 

sound scientific rationale and contain 

sufficient parameters or constituents to 

protect the designated uses. Criteria may 

be expressed in either narrative or 

numeric form. States and authorized 

tribes have four options when adopting 

water quality criteria for which EPA has 

published section 304(a) criteria. They 

may: (1) Establish numerical values 

based on recommended section 304(a) 

criteria; (2) Adopt section 304(a) criteria 

modified to reflect site-specific 

conditions; (3) Adopt criteria derived 

using other scientifically defensible 

methods; or (4) Establish narrative 

criteria where numeric criteria cannot 

be established or to supplement 

numeric criteria (40 CFR 131.11(b)). 

Dated: December 14, 2018. 

Anna J. Wildeman, 

Acting Assistant Administrator, Office of 

Water. 

[FR Doc. 2018–27745 Filed 12–20–18; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6560–50–P 

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 

AGENCY 

[EPA–HQ–OPP–2018–0139; FRL–9988–13– 

OEI] 

Agency Information Collection 

Activities; Submitted to OMB for 

Review and Approval; Comment 

Request; Labeling Requirements for 

Certain Minimum Risk Pesticides 

Under FIFRA Section 25(b) (Renewal) 

AGENCY: Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA). 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA) has submitted the 

following information collection request 

(ICR) to the Office of Management and 

Budget (OMB) for review and approval 

in accordance with the Paperwork 

Reduction Act (PRA): ‘‘Labeling 

Requirements for Certain Minimum Risk 

Pesticides under FIFRA Section 25(b),’’ 

identified by EPA ICR No. 2475.03 and 

OMB Control No. 2070–0187. This is a 

request to renew the approval of an 

existing ICR. The ICR, which is 

available in the docket along with other 

related materials, provides a detailed 

explanation of the collection activities 

and the burden estimate that is only 

briefly summarized in this document. 

EPA received one comment in response 

to the previously provided public 

review opportunity issued in the 

Federal Register on May 30, 2018; 

however, the comment submitted to the 

docket did not pertain to this ICR. With 

this submission, EPA is providing an 

additional 30 days for public review and 

comment. 

DATES: Comments must be received on 

or before January 22, 2019. 

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, 

identified by docket identification (ID) 

number EPA–HQ–OPP–2018–0139 and 

OMB Control No. 2070–0187, to both 

EPA and OMB as follows: 

• To EPA online using http://

www.regulations.gov (our preferred 

method) or by mail to: EPA Docket 

Center, Environmental Protection 

Agency, Mail Code 28221T, 1200 

Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, DC 

20460. 

• To OMB via email to oira_

submission@omb.eop.gov. Address 

comments to OMB Desk Officer for EPA. 

EPA’s policy is that all comments 

received will be included in the docket 

without change, including any personal 

information provided, unless the 

comment includes profanity, threats, 

information claimed to be Confidential 

Business Information (CBI), or other 

information whose disclosure is 

restricted by statute. Do not submit 

electronically any information you 

consider to be CBI or other information 

whose disclosure is restricted by statute. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Ryne Yarger, Field and External Affairs 

Division (7506P), Office of Pesticide 

Programs, Environmental Protection 

Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, 

Washington, DC 20460–0001; telephone 

number: (703) 605–1193; email address: 

yarger.ryne@epa.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Docket: Supporting documents, 

including the ICR that explains in detail 

the information collection activities and 

the related burden and cost estimates 

that are summarized in this document, 

are available in the docket for this ICR. 

The docket can be viewed online at 

http://www.regulations.gov or in person 

at the EPA Docket Center, West William 

Jefferson Clinton Bldg., Rm. 3334, 1301 

Constitution Ave. NW, Washington, DC. 

The telephone number for the Docket 

Center is (202) 566–1744. For additional 

information about EPA’s public docket, 

visit http://www.epa.gov/dockets. 

ICR status: This ICR is currently 

scheduled to expire on February 28, 

2019. Under OMB regulations, the 

Agency may continue to conduct or 

sponsor the collection of information 

while this submission is pending at 

OMB. Under PRA, 44 U.S.C. 3501 et 

seq., an agency may not conduct or 

sponsor, and a person is not required to 

respond to, a collection of information, 

unless it displays a currently valid OMB 

control number. The OMB control 

numbers are displayed either by 

publication in the Federal Register or 

by other appropriate means, such as on 

the related collection instrument or 

form, if applicable. The display of OMB 

control numbers for certain EPA 

regulations is consolidated in 40 CFR 

part 9. 

Abstract: This information collection 

request documents the PRA burden for 

the labeling requirements for certain 

minimum risk pesticide products 

exempt from Federal Insecticide, 

Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) 

registration under 40 CFR 152.25(f). 

Under 40 CFR 152.25(f), EPA has 

exempted from the requirement of 

FIFRA registration certain pesticide 

products if they are composed of 

specified ingredients and labeled 

accordingly. EPA created the exemption 

for minimum risk pesticides to 

eliminate the need for industry or 

business to expend significant resources 

to apply for and maintain regulated 

products that are deemed to be of 

minimum risk to human health and the 

environment. In addition, exempting 


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