Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 224 / Monday, November 20, 2000 / Notices 69771

Utility, Lawn and Garden Engine (ULGE)

regulations. The new amendments, among other

things, renamed the ULGE regulations as the SORE

regulations.

12CARB Notice of Public Hearing with attached

Staff Report, Docket A–2000–09, entry II-B–2, p. 2.

13Letter from CARB to EPA requesting within the

scope confirmation for amendments to SORE Rule,

dated October 4, 1999, Docket A–2000–09, entry IIB–1, p.3.

14 Decision Document for California Nonroad

Engine Regulations Amendments, Dockets A–2000–

05 to 08, entry V–B.

SORE Rule, which applies to all

gasoline, diesel, and other fueled utility

and lawn and garden equipment engines

25 horsepower and under, with certain

exceptions established two ‘‘tiers’’ of

exhaust emission standards for these

engines (Tier 1 from 1995 through 1998

model years, and Tier 2 for model year

1999 and beyond), as well as numerous

other requirements. By letter dated

October 4, 1999, CARB notified EPA

that it had adopted numerous

amendments to its SORE Regulations

which were first approved at a public

hearing on March 26, 1998. These

amendments are the product of CARB’s

continuing reviews of industry efforts to

comply with the requirements of the

CARB nonroad program. The Board

directed the CARB staff to review the

industry progress in developing the

technology required to comply with the

Tier 2 standards, and to consider issues

raised by the industry in this process.

The staff recommended to the Board

that the SORE regulations ‘‘be modified

to reflect the realities of the small

engine market and the technological

capabilities of the industry.’’ 12 These

recommended amendments which

CARB adopted consequently reduce

compliance burdens on manufacturers

while also ‘‘preserving most of the

emission reductions—including most

reductions in excess of comparable

federal program—that U.S.E.P.A.

previously authorized.’’ 13

In its request letter, CARB asked EPA

to confirm the CARB determination that

the amendments to the SORE

regulations set forth in its request

package are within the scope of the

209(e) authorization of the original

authorization granted by EPA for the

SORE Rule in July 1995. EPA has made

such a determination for most of the

regulation amendments included in the

CARB request.14 EPA also has

determined, on the other hand, that one

set of regulation amendments in this

request cannot be considered within the

scope of the previous authorization

because these particular amendments

set brand new, more stringent standards

and therefore properly should be

reviewed as a new authorization

request. These amendments set useful

life standards for covered engines

(where before there were none).

Accordingly, EPA announces this

opportunity for a public hearing on

these new standards.

III. Procedures for Public Participation

Any party desiring to make an oral

statement on the record should file ten

(10) copies of its proposed testimony

and other relevant material with John

Guy Doyle at the address listed above no

later than December 20, 2000. In

addition, the party should submit 25

copies, if feasible, of the planned

statement to the presiding officer at the

time of the hearing.

In recognition that a public hearing is

designed to give interested parties an

opportunity to participate in this

proceeding, there are no adverse parties

as such. Statements by participants will

not be subject to cross-examination by

other participants without special

approval by the presiding officer. The

presiding officer is authorized to strike

from the record statements that he or

she deems irrelevant or repetitious and

to impose reasonable time limits on the

duration of the statement of any

participant.

If a hearing is held, the Agency will

make a verbatim record of the

proceedings. Interested parties may

arrange with the reporter at the hearing

to obtain a copy of the transcript at their

own expense. Regardless of whether a

public hearing is held, EPA will keep

the record open until December 22,

2000. Upon expiration of the comment

period, the Administrator will render a

decision on CARB’s request based on

the record of the public hearing, if any,

relevant written submissions, and other

information that she deems pertinent.

All information will be available for

inspection at EPA Air Docket, in Docket

No. A–2000–09.

Persons with comments containing

proprietary information must

distinguish such information from other

comments to the greatest possible extent

and label it as ‘‘Confidential Business

Information’’ (CBI). If a person making

comments wants EPA to base its

decision in part on a submission labeled

CBI, then a nonconfidential version of

the document that summarizes the key

data or information should be submitted

for the public docket. To ensure that

proprietary information is not

inadvertently placed in the docket,

submissions containing such

information should be sent directly to

the contact person listed above and not

to the public docket. Information

covered by a claim of confidentiality

will be disclosed by EPA only to the

extent allowed and by the procedures

set forth in 40 CFR Part 2. If no claim

of confidentiality accompanies the

submission when EPA receives it, EPA

will make it available to the public

without further notice to the person

making comments.

Dated: November 9, 2000.

Robert Perciasepe,

Assistant Administrator for Air and

Radiation.

[FR Doc. 00–29502 Filed 11–17–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6560–50–P

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

AGENCY

[FRL 6904–4]

Science Advisory Board; Notification

of Public Advisory Committee Meeting

Pursuant to the Federal Advisory

Committee Act, Public Law 92–463,

notice is hereby given that The Research

Strategies Advisory Committee (RSAC)

of the US EPA Science Advisory Board

(SAB), will meet on December 12 and

13, 2000 at the One Washington Circle

Hotel located at One Washington Circle,

NW, Washington, D.C. The meeting will

begin by 8:30 a.m. and adjourn no later

than 5:00 p.m. Eastern Standard time on

both days. The meeting is open to the

public, however, seating is limited and

available on a first come basis.

Purpose of the Meeting—The purpose

of the meeting is to discuss the FY 2002

Agency Budget Process and Schedule as

a prelude to the Committee’s formal

review of the Science and Technology

(S&T) portion of that budget in

February. The Committee will be briefed

on the Agency’s Science Plan and

Inventory, and it will consider how to

conduct the second phase of its review

of the implementation of EPA’s Peer

Review Process. The Committee will

also spend part of the meeting planning

its activities for the next year.

For Further Information—Any

member of the public wishing further

information concerning this meeting or

wishing to submit brief oral comments

(10 minutes or less) must contact Dr.

John ‘‘Jack’’ R. Fowle III, Designated

Federal Officer, Science Advisory Board

(1400A), U.S. Environmental Protection

Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue,

NW, Washington, DC 20460; telephone

(202) 564–4547; FAX (202) 501–0323; or

via e-mail at fowle.jack@epa.gov.

Requests for oral comments must be in

writing (e-mail, fax or mail) and

received by Dr. Fowle no later than

noon Eastern Standard Time on

December 7, 2000.

69772 Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 224 / Monday, November 20, 2000 / Notices

Providing Oral or Written Comments at

SAB Meetings

It is the policy of the Science

Advisory Board to accept written public

comments of any length, and to

accommodate oral public comments

whenever possible. The Science

Advisory Board expects that public

statements presented at its meetings will

not be repetitive of previously

submitted oral or written statements.

Oral Comments: In general, each

individual or group requesting an oral

presentation at a face-to-face meeting

will be limited to a total time of ten

minutes. For teleconference meetings,

opportunities for oral comment will

usually be limited to no more than three

minutes per speaker and no more than

fifteen minutes total. Deadlines for

getting on the public speaker list for a

meeting are given above. Speakers

should bring at least 35 copies of their

comments and presentation slides for

distribution to the reviewers and public

at the meeting. Written Comments:

Although the SAB accepts written

comments until the date of the meeting

(unless otherwise stated), written

comments should be received in the

SAB Staff Office at least one week prior

to the meeting date so that the

comments may be made available to the

committee for their consideration.

Comments should be supplied to the

appropriate DFO at the address/contact

information noted above in the

following formats: one hard copy with

original signature, and one electronic

copy via e-mail (acceptable file format:

WordPerfect, Word, or Rich Text files

(in IBM-PC/Windows 95/98 format).

Those providing written comments and

who attend the meeting are also asked

to bring 25 copies of their comments for

public distribution.

General Information—Additional

information concerning the Science

Advisory Board, its structure, function,

and composition, may be found on the

SAB Website (http://www.epa.gov/sab)

and in The FY1999 Annual Report of

the Staff Director which is available

from the SAB Publications Staff at (202)

564–4533 or via fax at (202) 501–0256.

Committee rosters, draft Agendas and

meeting calendars are also located on

our website.

Meeting Access—Individuals

requiring special accommodation at this

meeting, including wheelchair access to

the conference room, should contact the

DFO at least five business days prior to

the meeting so that appropriate

arrangements can be made.

Dated: November 9, 2000.

Donald G. Barnes,

Staff Director, Science Advisory Board.

[FR Doc. 00–29644 Filed 11–17–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6560–50–P

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

AGENCY

[FRL–6904–7]

Draft Benchmark Dose Technical

Guidance Document

AGENCY: Environmental Protection

Agency.

ACTION: Notice of Peer-Review

Workshop and Public Comment Period.

SUMMARY: The U.S. Environmental

Protection Agency (EPA) is announcing

that Eastern Research Group, Inc. (ERG),

an EPA contractor for external scientific

peer review, will organize, convene, and

conduct an external peer-review

workshop to review the draft document

titled: ‘‘Benchmark Dose Technical

Guidance Document’’ (EPA/630/R–00/

001). The EPA is also announcing a 30-

day public comment period for the draft

document. The document was prepared

by an EPA Risk Assessment Forum

Technical Panel. The Technical Panel

will consider the peer-review and

public comment submissions in

finalizing the document.

DATES: The peer-review workshop will

begin on Thursday, December 7, 2000,

at 8:30 a.m. and end at 5:00 p.m., then

reconvene Friday, December 8, 2000,

from 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Members of

the public may attend as observers, and

there will be a limited time for

comments from the public. The 30-day

public comment period begins

November 20, 2000, and ends December

20, 2000.

ADDRESSES: The external peer-review

workshop will be held at the Holiday

Inn Capital, 550 C Street SW,

Washington DC 20024. To attend the

workshop register by November 30,

2000 by calling ERG at (781) 674–7374

or send a facsimile to (781) 674–2906.

You may also register on the Internet at

http://www.erg.com/conferences/

index.htm, or by E-mail at

confmail@erg.com. Space is limited, and

reservations will be accepted on a firstcome, first-served basis. There will be a

limited time for comments from the

public during the workshop. Please let

ERG know if you wish to make

comments.

The draft ‘‘Benchmark Dose Technical

Guidance Document’’ is available

primarily via the Internet at http://

www.epa.gov/ncea/bnchmrk/bmds—

peer.htm. A limited number of paper

copies are available from the Technical

Information Staff (8623D), NCEA–W;

telephone: 202–564–3261; facsimile:

202–565–0050. If you are requesting a

paper copy, please provide your name,

mailing address, and the document title,

draft ‘‘Benchmark Dose Technical

Guidance Document.’’ Copies are not

available from ERG. Comments may be

mailed to the Technical Information

Staff (8623D), NCEA–W, U.S.

Environmental Protection Agency, 1200

Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington,

DC 20460, or delivered to the Technical

Information Staff at 808 17th Street,

NW, 5th Floor, Washington, DC 20006;

telephone: 202–564–3261; facsimile:

202–565–0050. Comments should be in

writing and must be postmarked by

December 20, 2000. Please submit one

unbound original with pages numbered

consecutively, and three copies of the

comments. For attachments, provide an

index, number pages consecutively with

the comments, and submit an unbound

original and three copies. Electronic

comments may be emailed to:

nceadc.comment@epa.gov.

Please note that all technical

comments received in response to this

notice will be placed in a public record.

For that reason, commentors should not

submit personal information (such as

medical data or home address),

Confidential Business Information, or

information protected by copyright. Due

to limited resources, acknowledgments

will not be sent.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For

workshop information, registration, and

logistics, contact ERG, 110 Hartwell

Avenue, Lexington, Massachusetts

02173; telephone: (781) 674–7374;

facsimile: (781) 674–2906.

For information on the public

comment period, contact Marilyn

Brower, Risk Assessment Forum Staff;

telephone: 202–564–3363; facsimile:

202–565–0062; or email:

brower.marilyn@epa.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The U.S.

EPA conducts risk assessments for an

array of health effects that may result

from exposure to environmental agents

and that require an analysis of the

relationship between exposure and

health-related outcomes. The doseresponse assessment can be approached

as a two-step process, the first being the

definition of a point of departure (POD)

and the second extrapolation from the

POD to low environmentally-relevant

exposure levels. The benchmark dose

(BMD) approach provides a more

quantitative alternative to the first step

in the dose-response assessment than

the current no-observed-adverse-effectVerDate 11<MAY>2000 17:50 Nov 17, 2000 Jkt 194001 PO 00000 Frm 00044 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4703 E:\FR\FM\20NON1.SGM pfrm01 PsN: 20NON1