Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 183 / Wednesday, September 23, 2009 / Notices 48541 

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 OEI Docket in the EPA 

Headquarters Docket Center. 

Dated: August 21, 2009. 

Rebecca Clark, 

Acting Director, National Center for 

Environmental Assessment. 

[FR Doc. E9–22912 Filed 9–22–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6560–50–P 

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 

AGENCY 

[EPA–HQ–OW–2009–0297; FRL–8961–8] 

RIN 2040–AF08 

Drinking Water: Perchlorate 

Supplemental Request for Comments 

AGENCY: Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA). 

ACTION: Reopening of public comment 

period. 

SUMMARY: In an August 19, 2009, 

Federal Register notice, EPA announced 

that it was seeking comments on 

additional approaches to analyzing data 

related to the Agency’s preliminary 

regulatory determination for 

perchlorate. The additional comments 

are sought in an effort to ensure 

consideration of all the potential 

options for evaluating whether there is 

a meaningful opportunity for human 

health risk reduction of perchlorate 

through a national primary drinking 

water rule. In response to requests from 

several stakeholders, this action reopens 

the public comment period for an 

additional 15 days. 

DATES: EPA must receive your 

comments on or before October 8, 2009. 

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, 

identified by Docket ID No. EPA–HQ– 

OW–2009–0297, by one of the following 

methods: 

• http://www.regulations.gov: Follow 

the on-line instructions for submitting 

comments. 

• Mail: Water Docket, Environmental 

Protection Agency, Mailcode: 2822T, 

1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW., 

Washington, DC 20460. 

• Hand Delivery: Water Docket, EPA 

Docket Center (EPA/DC) EPA West, 

Room 3334, 1301 Constitution Ave., 

NW., 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–OW–2009– 

0297. 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 FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Eric 

Burneson, Office of Ground Water and 

Drinking Water, Standards and Risk 

Management Division, at (202) 564– 

5250 or e-mail burneson.eric@epa.gov. 

For general information contact the EPA 

Safe Drinking Water Hotline at (800) 

426–4791 or e-mail: hotlinesdwa@epa.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background 

The statutory and regulatory 

background is described in detail in the 

October 10, 2008, Federal Register 

notice of a preliminary regulatory 

determination for perchlorate (73 FR 

60262) and summarized in the August 

19, 2009, Federal Register notice of 

supplemental request for comments (74 

FR 41883). Briefly, the Safe Drinking 

Water Act (SDWA) section 1412, as 

amended in 1996, requires EPA to make 

a determination whether to regulate at 

least 5 contaminants from its 

contaminant candidate list (CCL) every 

5 years. To regulate a contaminant in 

drinking water, EPA must determine 

that it meets three criteria: (1) The 

contaminant may have an adverse effect 

on human health, (2) the contaminant is 

known to occur or there is a substantial 

likelihood that the contaminant will 

occur in public water systems with a 

frequency and at levels of public health 

concern, and (3) regulation of such 

contaminant presents a meaningful 

opportunity for health risk reduction for 

persons served by public water systems. 

On October 10, 2008, EPA published 

a preliminary regulatory determination 

for perchlorate, requesting public 

comment on its determination that 

perchlorate did not meet the second and 

third criteria for regulation. On 

November 12, 2008, EPA published a 

Federal Register Notice (73 FR 66895) 

reopening the comment period for the 

preliminary regulatory determination 

for an additional 15 days. The Agency 

received 32,795 comment letters on the 

preliminary regulatory determination 

for perchlorate. These comments and 

other supporting materials for the 

October 10, 2008, notice are available 

electronically at http:// 

www.regulations.gov (Docket ID No. 

EPA–HQ–OW–2008–0692). 

On August 19, 2009, EPA published a 

Federal Register notice of supplemental 

request for comment on a broader range 

of alternatives for interpreting the 

available data on: the level of health 

concern, the frequency of occurrence of 

perchlorate in drinking water, and the 

opportunity for health risk reduction 

through a national primary drinking 

water standard. These alternative 

interpretations may impact the Agency’s 

final regulatory determination for 

perchlorate. The supporting materials 

for the August 19, 2009, supplemental 

notice are available electronically at 

http://www.regulations.gov (Docket ID 

No. EPA–HQ–OW–2009–0297). 

Next Steps 

Several stakeholders have requested 

an extension to the September 18, 2009, 

comment deadline specified in the 

August 19, 2009, supplemental notice in 

order to evaluate EPA’s alternative 

analyses and prepare comments. This 

action reopens the comment period for 

an additional 15 days. 

The Agency will consider the 

information and comments submitted in 

response to the August 19, 2009, 

supplemental notice until October 8, 

2009. EPA will also consider the 

comments received on the previous 

mstockstill on DSKH9S0YB1PROD with NOTICES

48542 Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 183 / Wednesday, September 23, 2009 / Notices 

Federal Register Notices pertaining to 

the perchlorate regulatory determination 

and all peer review comments before 

issuing a final regulatory determination 

for perchlorate. EPA intends to issue a 

regulatory determination as 

expeditiously as possible following 

consideration of the comments and 

information received by the Agency. 

Dated: September 17, 2009. 

Michael H. Shapiro, 

Acting Assistant Administrator, Office of 

Water. 

[FR Doc. E9–22927 Filed 9–22–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6560–50–P 

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 

AGENCY 

[EPA–HQ–OPP–2009–0218; FRL–8421–5] 

Estimating the Drinking Water 

Component of a Dietary Exposure 

Assessment; Science Policy, Notice of 

Withdrawal 

AGENCY: Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA). 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: EPA hereby withdraws the 

pesticide science policy document 

entitled ‘‘Estimating the Drinking Water 

Component of a Dietary Exposure 

Assessment,’’ that was issued in 

November 1999. This science policy 

was developed during the 

implementation of the new safety 

standard in section 408 of the Federal 

Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, as 

amended by the Food Quality Protection 

Act of 1996. EPA’s assessment of 

exposure to residues in drinking water 

no longer involves performing screening 

level assessments as described in this 

policy paper. Instead, the Agency now 

routinely develops estimates of 

exposure to pesticides in drinking after 

using the more advanced methods that 

EPA has described in other science 

policy papers. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Elizabeth Behl, Environmental Fate and 

Effects Division, Office of Pesticide 

Programs (7507P), Environmental 

Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania 

Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460– 

0001; telephone number: 703–305–6128; 

fax number: 703–305–6309; e-mail 

address: behl.betsy@epa.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. General Information 

A. Does this Action Apply to Me? 

This action is directed to the public 

in general. This action, however, may be 

of interest to persons who produce or 

formulate pesticides or who register 

pesticide products. 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 person 

listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION

CONTACT. 

B. How Can I Get Copies of this 

Document and Other Related 

Information? 

EPA has established a docket for this 

action under docket identification (ID) 

number EPA–HQ–OPP–2009–0218. 

Publicly available docket materials are 

available either in the electronic docket 

at http://www.regulations.gov, or, if only 

available in hard copy, at the Office of 

Pesticide Programs (OPP) Regulatory 

Public Docket in Rm. S–4400, One 

Potomac Yard (South Bldg.), 2777 S. 

Crystal Dr., Arlington, VA. The hours of 

operation of this Docket Facility are 

from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday 

through Friday, excluding legal 

holidays. The Docket Facility telephone 

number is (703) 305–5805. 

II. Background 

The Food Quality Protection Act of 

1996 (FQPA) significantly amended the 

Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and 

Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) and the 

Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act 

(FFDCA). Among other changes, FQPA 

established a stringent health-based 

standard (‘‘a reasonable certainty of no 

harm’’) for pesticide residues in foods to 

assure protection from unacceptable 

pesticide exposure and strengthened 

health protections for infants and 

children from pesticide risks. 

During 1998 and 1999, EPA and the 

United States Department of Agriculture 

(USDA) established a subcommittee of 

the National Advisory Council for 

Environmental Policy and Technology 

(NACEPT), the Tolerance Reassessment 

Advisory Committee (TRAC), to address 

FFDCA issues and implementation. 

TRAC was comprised of more than 50 

representatives of affected user, 

producer, consumer, public health, 

environmental, states, and other 

interested groups. The TRAC met from 

May 27, 1998, through April 29, 1999. 

In order to continue the constructive 

discussions about FFDCA, EPA and 

USDA established, under the auspices 

of NACEPT, the Committee to Advise on 

Reassessment and Transition (CARAT). 

The CARAT provided a forum for a 

broad spectrum of stakeholders to 

consult with and advise the Agency and 

the Secretary of Agriculture on pest and 

pesticide management transition issues 

related to the tolerance reassessment 

process. The CARAT was intended to 

further the valuable work initiated by 

earlier advisory committees toward the 

use of sound science and greater 

transparency in regulatory decisionmaking, increase stakeholder 

participation, and advise on reasonable 

transition strategies that reduce risks 

without jeopardizing American 

agriculture and farm communities. 

As a result of the 1998 and 1999 

TRAC process, EPA decided that the 

implementation process and related 

policies would benefit from providing 

notice and comment on major science 

policy issues. The TRAC identified nine 

science policy areas it believed were key 

to implementation of tolerance 

reassessment. EPA agreed to provide 

one or more documents for comment on 

each of the nine issues by announcing 

their availability in the Federal 

Register. In a notice published in the 

Federal Register of October 29, 1998 (63 

FR 58038) (FRL–6041–5), EPA described 

its intended approach. Since then, EPA 

has issued a series of draft and revised 

documents concerning the nine science 

policy issues. Publication of this notice 

is intended to update the public on the 

status of the science paper ‘‘Estimating 

the Drinking Water Component of a 

Dietary Exposure Assessment.’’ 

III. Summary: Why this Policy is No 

Longer Needed 

As a result of the new procedures for 

estimating concentrations of pesticide 

residues in drinking water, this notice 

announces the withdrawal of 

‘‘Estimating the Drinking Water 

Component of a Dietary Exposure 

Assessment,’’ http://www.epa.gov/ 

fedrgstr/EPA-PEST/1999/November/ 

Day-10/6044.pdf. 

In assessing the risks of pesticide 

exposure, scientists frequently use 

mathematical models to predict 

pesticide concentrations in food, water, 

residential, and occupational 

environments. This notice pertains to 

how the Agency determines pesticide 

risk from drinking water. (For more 

information on the models the Agency 

uses to estimate concentrations of 

pesticides in drinking water see http:// 

www.epa.gov/oppefed1/models/water/ 

models4.htm). The current approach 

provides a more realistic estimate of 

exposure through drinking water since 

actual drinking water consumption data 

and reported body weight from the 

Combined Survey of Food Intake by 

Individuals (CSFII) are used, rather than 

the standard assumptions used in the 

approach discussed in ‘‘Estimating the 

Drinking Water Component of a Dietary 

Exposure Assessment.’’ 

mstockstill on DSKH9S0YB1PROD with NOTICES