Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 139 / Thursday, July 19, 2012 / Notices 42495 

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 

AGENCY 

[EPA–HQ–OAR–2008–0699; FRL–9701–3] 

Release of Draft Documents Related to 

the Review of the National Ambient Air 

Quality Standards for Ozone 

AGENCY: Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA). 

ACTION: Availability of draft documents 

for public comment. 

SUMMARY: On or about July 16, 2012, the 

Office of Air Quality Planning and 

Standards (OAQPS) of the EPA is 

making available for public comment 

two draft assessment documents titled, 

Health Risk and Exposure Assessment 

for Ozone, First External Review Draft 

and Welfare Risk and Exposure 

Assessment for Ozone, First External 

Review Draft. These two draft 

assessment documents describe the 

quantitative analyses the EPA is 

conducting as part of the review of the 

national ambient air quality standards 

(NAAQS) for ozone (O3). In addition, on 

or about August 13, 2012, OAQPS will 

make available for public comment the 

first draft document titled, Policy 

Assessment for the Review of the Ozone 

National Ambient Air Quality 

Standards, First External Review Draft, 

as well as appendices and additional 

technical materials that support the first 

draft Policy Assessment and first draft 

Risk and Exposure Assessments. 

DATES: Comments on all documents 

should be submitted on or before 

September 11, 2012. 

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, 

identified by Docket ID No. EPA–HQ– 

OAR–2008–0699, by one of the 

following methods: 

• www.regulations.gov: Follow the 

on-line instructions for submitting 

comments. 

• Email: Comments may be sent by 

electronic mail (email) to a-and-rdocket@epa.gov, Attention Docket ID 

No. EPA–HQ–OAR–2008–0699. 

• Fax: Fax your comments to 202– 

566–9744, Attention Docket ID. No. 

EPA–HQ–OAR–2008–0699. 

• Mail: Send your comments to: Air 

and Radiation Docket and Information 

Center, Environmental Protection 

Agency, Mailcode: 2822T, 1200 

Pennsylvania Ave. NW., Washington, 

DC 20460, Attention Docket ID No. 

EPA–HQ–OAR–2008–0699. 

• Hand Delivery or Courier: Deliver 

your comments to: EPA Docket Center, 

1301 Constitution Ave. NW., Room 

3334, 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–OAR–2008– 

0699. The 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 email. The www.regulations.gov Web 

site is an ‘‘anonymous access’’ system, 

which means the EPA will not know 

your identity or contact information 

unless you provide it in the body of 

your comment. If you send an email 

comment directly to the EPA without 

going through www.regulations.gov, 

your email address will be captured 

automatically 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, the 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 the EPA cannot read your 

comment due to technical difficulties 

and cannot contact you for clarification, 

the 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. 

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 Docket in the EPA Docket 

Center, EPA West, Room 3334, 1301 

Constitution Ave. NW., Washington, 

DC. This Docket Facility is open from 

8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through 

Friday, excluding legal holidays. The 

Docket telephone number is 202–566– 

1742; fax 202–566–9744. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For 

questions related to the draft document 

titled, Health Risk and Exposure 

Assessment for Ozone, First External 

Review Draft (EPA–452/P–12–001; July 

2012), please contact Ms. Karen Wesson, 

Office of Air Quality Planning and 

Standards (Mail code C504–02), U.S. 

Environmental Protection Agency, 

Research Triangle Park, NC 27711; 

email: wesson.karen@epa.gov; 

telephone: 919–541–3515; fax: 919– 

541–5315. 

For questions related to the draft 

document titled, Welfare Risk and 

Exposure Assessment for Ozone, First 

External Review Draft (EPA–452/P–12– 

004; July 2012), please contact Dr. 

Travis Smith, Office of Air Quality 

Planning and Standards (Mail code 

C539–07), U.S. Environmental 

Protection Agency, Research Triangle 

Park, NC 27711; email: 

smith.jtravis@epa.gov; telephone: 919– 

541–2035; fax: 919–541–5315. 

For questions related to the draft 

document titled, Policy Assessment for 

the Review of the Ozone National 

Ambient Air Quality Standards: First 

External Review Draft (EPA–452/P–12– 

002; August 2012), please contact Ms. 

Susan Lyon Stone, Office of Air Quality 

Planning and Standards (Mail code 

C504–06), U.S. Environmental 

Protection Agency, Research Triangle 

Park, NC 27711; email: 

stone.susan@epa.gov; telephone: 919– 

541–1146; fax: 919–541–0237. 

General Information 

A. What should I consider as I prepare 

my comments for the EPA? 

1. Submitting CBI. Do not submit this 

information to the EPA through 

www.regulations.gov or email. Clearly 

mark the part or all of the information 

that you claim to be CBI. For CBI 

information in a disk or CD–ROM that 

you mail to the EPA, mark the outside 

of the disk or CD–ROM as CBI and then 

identify electronically within the disk or 

CD–ROM the specific information that 

is claimed as CBI. In addition to one 

complete version of the comment that 

includes information claimed as CBI, a 

copy of the comment that does not 

contain the information claimed as CBI 

must be submitted for inclusion in the 

public docket. Information so marked 

will not be disclosed except in 

accordance with procedures set forth in 

40 CFR part 2. 

2. Tips for Preparing Your Comments. 

When submitting comments, remember 

to: 

• Identify the rulemaking by docket 

number and other identifying 

information (subject heading, Federal 

Register date and page number). 

• Follow directions—The agency may 

ask you to respond to specific questions 

or organize comments by referencing a 

Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) part 

or section number. 


emcdonald on DSK67QTVN1PROD with NOTICES
42496 Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 139 / Thursday, July 19, 2012 / Notices 

1EPA 452/R–11–006; April 2011; Available: 

http://www.epa.gov/ttn/naaqs/standards/ozone/ 

data/2011_04_OzoneIRP.pdf. 

2See http://yosemite.epa.gov/sab/sabproduct.nsf/ 

WebProjectsbyTopicCASAC!OpenView for more 

information on CASAC activities related to the 

current O3 NAAQS review. 

3See http://www.epa.gov/ttn/naaqs/review.html 

for more information on the NAAQS review 

process. 

4EPA–452/P–11–001 and -002; April 2011; 

Available: http://www.epa.gov/ttn/naaqs/ 

standards/ozone/s_o3_2008_pd.html. 

5U.S. EPA. Integrated Science Assessment of 

Ozone and Related Photochemical Oxidants (Third 

External Review Draft). U.S. Environmental 

Protection Agency, Washington, DC, EPA/600/R– 

10/076C, 2012; Available: http://cfpub.epa.gov/ 

ncea/isa/recordisplay.cfm?deid=242490#Download. 

• Explain why you agree or disagree; 

suggest alternatives and substitute 

language for your requested changes. 

• Describe any assumptions and 

provide any technical information and/ 

or data that you used. 

• If you estimate potential costs or 

burdens, explain how you arrived at 

your estimate in sufficient detail to 

allow for it to be reproduced. 

• Provide specific examples to 

illustrate your concerns, and suggest 

alternatives. 

• Make sure to submit your 

comments by the comment period 

deadline identified. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under 

section 108(a) of the Clean Air Act 

(CAA), the Administrator identifies and 

lists certain pollutants which ‘‘cause or 

contribute to air pollution which may 

reasonably be anticipated to endanger 

public health or welfare.’’ The EPA then 

issues air quality criteria for these listed 

pollutants, which are commonly 

referred to as ‘‘criteria pollutants.’’ The 

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, in varying 

quantities.’’ Under section 109 of the 

CAA, the EPA establishes primary 

(health-based) and secondary (welfarebased) NAAQS for pollutants for which 

air quality criteria are issued. Section 

109(d) of the CAA requires periodic 

review and, if appropriate, revision of 

existing air quality criteria. The revised 

air quality criteria reflect advances in 

scientific knowledge on the effects of 

the pollutant on public health or 

welfare. The EPA is also required to 

periodically review and, if appropriate, 

revise the NAAQS based on the revised 

air quality criteria. 

Air quality criteria and NAAQS have 

been established for O3 to provide 

protection of public health and welfare 

from O3 and other photochemical 

oxidants. Presently, the EPA is 

reviewing the air quality criteria and 

NAAQS for O3. The EPA’s overall plan 

and schedule for this review is 

presented in the Integrated Review Plan 

for the Ozone National Ambient Air 

Quality Standards.1 A draft of the 

integrated review plan was released for 

public review and comment in 

September 2009 and was the subject of 

a consultation with the Clean Air 

Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC) 

on November 13, 2009 (74 FR 54562; 

October 22, 2009).2 Comments received 

from that consultation and from the 

public were considered in finalizing the 

plan and in beginning the review of the 

air quality criteria. 

As part of the EPA’s review of the 

primary and secondary O3 NAAQS,3 the 

Agency is conducting quantitative 

assessments characterizing the: (1) 

Health risks associated with exposure to 

ambient O3; (2) welfare risks associated 

with exposure to ambient O3; and, (3) 

associated ambient air quality analyses. 

On or about July 16, 2012, the EPA is 

making available for public comment 

two draft assessment documents titled, 

Health Risk and Exposure Assessment 

for Ozone, First External Review Draft 

and Welfare Risk and Exposure 

Assessment for Ozone, First External 

Review Draft. These draft assessments 

may be accessed online through the 

EPA’s TTN Web site at http:// 

www.epa.gov/ttn/naaqs/standards/ 

ozone/s_o3_index.html. 

The EPA’s plans for conducting these 

assessments, including the proposed 

scope and methods of the analyses, were 

presented in two planning documents 

titled, Ozone National Ambient Air 

Quality Standards: Scope and Methods 

Plan for Health Risk and Exposure 

Assessment and Ozone National 

Ambient Air Quality Standards: Scope 

and Methods Plan for Welfare Risk and 

Exposure Assessment (henceforth, 

Scope and Methods Plans).4 These 

documents were released for public 

comment in April 2011, and were the 

subject of a consultation with the 

CASAC on May 19–20, 2011 (76 FR 

23809; April 28, 2011). In May 2012, a 

memo titled, Updates to information 

presented in the Scope and Methods 

Plans for the Ozone NAAQS Health and 

Welfare Risk and Exposure 

Assessments, was made available that 

described changes to elements of the 

scope and methods plans and provided 

a brief explanation of each change and 

the reason for it. 

The draft assessment documents 

announced today convey the 

approaches taken to assess exposures to 

ambient O3 and to characterize 

associated health and welfare risks, as 

well as present the initial key results, 

observations, and related uncertainties 

associated with the quantitative 

analyses performed. 

In addition, on or about August 13, 

2012, the EPA will make available the 

first draft document titled Policy 

Assessment for the Review of the Ozone 

National Ambient Air Quality 

Standards, First External Review Draft. 

This document will serve to ‘‘bridge the 

gap’’ between the scientific information 

and the judgments required of the 

Administrator in determining whether it 

is appropriate to retain or revise the 

standards. The Policy Assessment will 

build upon information presented in the 

Integrated Science Assessment of Ozone 

and Related Photochemical Oxidants 

(Third draft) 5 and the two draft 

assessment documents described above. 

At the same time, the EPA will make 

available appendices and additional 

technical materials that support the first 

draft Policy Assessment and first draft 

Risk and Exposure Assessments. The 

first draft Policy Assessment, 

appendices, and additional technical 

materials may be accessed online 

through EPA’s TTN Web site at http:// 

www.epa.gov/ttn/naaqs/standards/ 

ozone/s_o3_index.html. 

The EPA is soliciting advice and 

recommendations from the CASAC by 

means of a review of these three draft 

documents at an upcoming public 

meeting of the CASAC that will be held 

in September 2012. Information about 

these public meetings, including the 

dates and locations, will be published as 

a separate notice in the Federal 

Register. Following the CASAC 

meeting, the EPA will consider 

comments received from the CASAC 

and the public in preparing revisions to 

these documents. 

The draft documents briefly described 

above do not represent and should not 

be construed to represent any final EPA 

policy, viewpoint, or determination. 

The EPA will consider any public 

comments submitted in response to this 

notice when revising the documents. 

Dated: July 11, 2012. 

Mary Henigin, 

Acting Director, Office of Air Quality Planning 

and Standards. 

[FR Doc. 2012–17626 Filed 7–18–12; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6560–50–P 


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