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[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 190 (Friday, September 30, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 60820-60822]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-25298]

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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-9473-6; Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-ORD-2011-0050]

Draft Integrated Science Assessment for Ozone and Related 
Photochemical Oxidants

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency.

ACTION: Notice of Public Comment Period.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is announcing 
the availability of the second external review draft of a document 
titled, ``Second External Review Draft Integrated Science Assessment 
for Ozone and Related Photochemical Oxidants'' (EPA/600/R-10/076B). The 
document was prepared by the National Center for Environmental 
Assessment (NCEA) within EPA's Office of Research and Development as 
part of the review of the national ambient air quality standards 
(NAAQS) for ozone.
    EPA is releasing this draft document to seek review by the Clean 
Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC) and the public (meeting date 
and location to be specified in a separate Federal Register notice). 
The draft document does not represent and should not be construed to 
represent any final EPA policy, viewpoint, or determination. EPA will 
consider any public comments submitted in response to this notice when 
revising the document.

[[Page 60821]]

DATES: Comments must be received on or before November 29, 2011.

ADDRESSES: The ``Second External Review Draft Integrated Science 
Assessment for Ozone and Related Photochemical Oxidants'' will be 
available primarily via the Internet on the National Center for 
Environmental Assessment's home page under the Recent Additions and 
Publications menus at http://www.epa.gov/ncea. A limited number of CD-
ROM or paper copies will be available. Contact Ms. Marieka Boyd by 
telephone: 919-541-0031; fax: 919-541-5078; or e-mail: boyd.marieka 
@epa.gov to request either of these. Please provide your name, your 
mailing address, and the document title, ``Second External Review Draft 
Integrated Science Assessment for Ozone and Related Photochemical 
Oxidants'' (EPA/600/R-10/076B) to facilitate processing of your 
request.
    Comments may be submitted electronically via http://www.regulations.gov, by mail, by facsimile, or by hand delivery/
courier. Please follow the detailed instructions provided in the 
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this notice.

FURTHER INFORMATION:  For information on the public comment period, 
contact the Office of Environmental Information Docket; telephone: 202-
566-1752; facsimile: 202-566-1756; or e-mail: ORD.Docket@epa.gov.
    For technical information, contact Dr. James Brown, National Center 
for Environmental Assessment; telephone: 919-541-0765; facsimile: 919-
541-1818; or e-mail: Brown.James@epa.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Information About the Document

    Section 108 (a) of the Clean Air Act directs the Administrator to 
identify certain pollutants which, among other things, ``cause or 
contribute to air pollution which may reasonably be anticipated to 
endanger public health or welfare'' 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 [a] 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 or welfare. EPA is also to revise the 
NAAQS, if appropriate, based on the revised air quality criteria.
    Ozone (O3) 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). The ISA, in conjunction with additional technical 
and policy assessments, provides the scientific basis for EPA decisions 
on the adequacy of the current NAAQS and the appropriateness of 
possible alternative standards. The Clean Air Scientific Advisory 
Committee (CASAC), an independent science advisory committee whose 
existence and whose review and advisory functions are mandated by 
Section 109 (d) (2) of the Clean Air Act, is charged with the 
independent scientific review of EPA's air quality criteria.
    On September 29, 2008 (73 FR 56581), EPA formally initiated its 
current review of the air quality criteria for ozone, requesting the 
submission of recent scientific information on specified topics. A 
draft of EPA's ``Integrated Review Plan for the Ozone National Ambient 
Air Quality Standards Review'' (EPA/452/P-09/001) was made available in 
September 2009 for public comment and was discussed by the CASAC via a 
publicly accessible teleconference on November 13, 2009 (74 FR 54562). 
In August 2010, EPA held a workshop with invited scientific experts to 
discuss initial draft materials prepared in the development of the ISA 
(75 FR 42085). The first external review draft ISA for Ozone and 
Related Photochemical Oxidants was released on March 4, 2011 (http://cfpub.epa.gov/ncea/isa/recordisplay.cfm?deid=217463). The CASAC panel 
held a public meeting on May 19, 2011 to review the draft ISA (76 FR 
23809). Subsequently, on August 10, 2011, the CASAC panel provided a 
consensus review to the Administrator of the EPA (http://
yosemite.epa.gov/sab/sabproduct.nsf/4620a620d0120f93852572410080d786/
45A59F1BC8912FEE852578E80066021C/$File/EPA-CASAC-11-009-unsigned.pdf).
    The second external review draft ``Integrated Science Assessment 
for Ozone and Related Photochemical Oxidants'' will be discussed at a 
public meeting for review by the CASAC, and public comments received 
will be provided to the CASAC review panel. A future Federal Register 
notice will inform the public of the exact date and time of that CASAC 
meeting.

II. How To Submit Technical Comments to the Docket at 
www.regulations.gov

    Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-ORD-2011-
0050 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 Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20460. The telephone number is 
202-566-1752; or
     Hand Delivery: The OEI Docket is located in the EPA 
Headquarters Docket Center, Room 3334 EPA West Building, 1301 
Constitution Avenue, 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. 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-
2011-0050. 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 through http://www.regulations.gov or e-mail that you consider to be CBI or otherwise 
protected. 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

[[Page 60822]]

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 
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 20, 2011.
Darrell A. Winner,
Acting Director, National Center for Environmental Assessment.
[FR Doc. 2011-25298 Filed 9-29-11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P
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