[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 157 (Monday, August 17, 2009)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 41359-41361]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-19466]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 80

[EPA-HQ-OAR-2005-0161; FRL-8945-6]
RIN 2060-A081


Regulation of Fuels and Fuel Additives: Changes to Renewable Fuel 
Standard Program; Notice of Availability of Expert Peer Review Record

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (``EPA'') announces 
the availability of documents pertaining to the expert peer review 
record completed on the Renewable Fuel Standard Program (RFS2) 
Lifecycle Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Analysis. On May 5, 2009, EPA announced 
proposed revisions to the National Renewable Fuel Standard program 
(commonly known as the RFS program) as required by the Energy 
Independence and Security Act (EISA) of 2007. EISA established new 
renewable fuel categories and eligibility requirements, including 
setting the first ever mandatory GHG reduction thresholds for the 
various categories of renewable fuels. EISA also defined the term 
lifecycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. As part of proposed revisions 
to the RFS program and in accordance with the EISA definition of GHG 
emissions, EPA examined the GHG impacts associated with different types 
of renewable fuels. Several new pieces of analysis were developed to 
support this lifecycle assessment. EPA decided to initiate an 
independent peer review to help respond to stakeholder concerns and to 
ensure that the Agency makes decisions based on the best science 
available. The Agency, in accordance

[[Page 41360]]

with the Office of Management and Budget and EPA peer review guidance 
contracted with independent, third party sources to conduct an external 
expert peer review of this work. The results of the expert peer review 
are being made available to the public for notice and comment to 
supplement the current record.

DATES: Written comments must be received on or before September 25, 
2009.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-
OAR-2005-0161, by one of the following methods:
    <bullet> www.regulations.gov: Follow the on-line instructions for 
submitting comments.
    <bullet> E-mail: <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#244509454a40095609404b474f4150644154450a434b52"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="6e0f430f000a431c430a010d050b1a2e0b1e0f40090118">[email protected]</span></a>.
    <bullet> Mail: Air and Radiation Docket and Information Center, 
Environmental Protection Agency, Mailcode: 2822T, 1200 Pennsylvania 
Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460. In addition, please mail a copy of 
your comments on the information collection provisions to the Office of 
Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget 
(OMB), Attn: Desk Officer for EPA, 725 17th St., NW., Washington, DC 
20503.
    <bullet> Hand Delivery: EPA Docket Center, EPA West Building, Room 
3334, 1301 Constitution Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20004. 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-
2005-0161. EPA's policy is that all comments received will be included 
in the public docket without change and may be made available online at 
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 www.regulations.gov or e-mail. 
The 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 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. For additional 
instructions on submitting comments, please refer to the notice of 
proposed rulemaking (Section XI, Public Participation, of the 
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of the proposed rulemaking document).

How Can I Access the Docket?

    All documents in the docket are listed in the 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 
www.regulations.gov or in hard copy at the Air and Radiation Docket and 
Information Center, EPA/DC, EPA West, Room 3334, 1301 Constitution 
Ave., NW., Washington, DC. The 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 Air Docket is (202) 566-1742.

How Can I Get Copies of This Document, the Proposed Rule, and Other 
Related Information?

    The EPA has established a docket for this action under Docket ID 
No. EPA-HQ-OAR- 2005-0161. The EPA has also developed a Web site for 
the proposed RFS2 rule, including the notice of proposed rulemaking, 
at: http://www.epa.gov/otaq/renewablefuels/index.htm. Please refer to 
the notice of proposed rulemaking for detailed information on accessing 
information related to the proposal, including the expert peer review 
record.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Julia MacAllister, Office of 
Transportation and Air Quality, Assessment and Standards Division, 
Environmental Protection Agency, 2000 Traverwood Drive, Ann Arbor, MI 
48105; telephone number: (734) 214-4131; Fax number: (734) 214-4816; E-
mail address: <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#f69b9795979a9a9f85829384d89c839a9f97b6938697d8919980"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="aac7cbc9cbc6c6c3d9decfd884c0dfc6c3cbeacfdacb84cdc5dc">[email protected]</span></a>, or Assessment and Standards 
Division Hotline; telephone number (734) 214-4636; E-mail address: 
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#cfaebcaba6a1a9a08faabfaee1a8a0b9"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="375644535e5951587752475619505841">[email protected]</span></a>.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Background: To meet the lifecycle 
requirements as defined by the Energy Independence and Security Act of 
2007 (EISA), EPA, in consultation with the U.S. Department of 
Agriculture (USDA) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), developed a 
comprehensive methodology, including an assessment of significant 
indirect land use impacts. EPA has specifically relied on a number of 
expert peer reviewed models and data sources for individual components 
of the analysis. This methodology is described in detail in both the 
Preamble and Draft Regulatory Impact Analysis of EPA's Notice of 
Proposed Rulemaking available at: http://www.epa.gov/OMS/renewablefuels/#regulations.
    In addition, several new pieces of analysis were developed to 
support this lifecycle assessment and these new pieces underwent 
scientific expert peer review contemporaneously with the public comment 
period of the rulemaking. The new pieces of analysis presented for 
expert peer review were: (1) Land use modeling (use of satellite data/
land conversion GHG emission factors); (2) Methods to account for the 
variable timing of GHG emissions; (3) EPA estimates of GHG emissions 
from foreign crop production (modeling and data used); (4) How the 
models EPA relied upon are used together to provide overall lifecycle 
estimates (not a review of models themselves but how the results of 
each have been used together).
    The reviews were conducted following the Office of Management and 
Budget's (OMB) expert peer review guidance that ensures consistent 
government-wide implementation of expert peer review and according to 
EPA's longstanding and rigorous expert peer review policies.
    In accordance with this guidance, EPA used independent, third-party 
contractors to conduct the external expert peer review. The contractor 
was responsible for identifying a list of expert reviewers and checking 
for possible conflict of interest. EPA provided the contractor with a 
description of expertise required and examples of experts that fit the 
expertise needed for each review. EPA also provided a list of names, 
submitted from several external sources, for the contractor to consider 
during the selection process. Further, EPA provided charge questions 
for each

[[Page 41361]]

review which guided the review process. For these particular expert 
peer reviews, the charge questions were reviewed by OMB. As part of the 
review process, the Contractor also developed the expert peer review 
record which EPA is now publicly available. The expert peer reviewers 
were charged with working independently and were not asked to reach a 
consensus decision.
    Notice of Availability: The expert peer review records completed in 
this process are now available in the public docket and available at 
http://www.epa.gov/otaq/renewablefuels/index.htm.
    The docket includes: Materials provided to the expert peer 
reviewers; list of names and affiliations of the expert peer reviewers; 
a summary of comments, as well as comments attributable to individual 
reviewers.

    Dated: August 7, 2009.
Margo T. Oge,
Director, Office of Transportation and Air Quality.
[FR Doc. E9-19466 Filed 8-14-09; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P


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