Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 246 / Monday, December 23, 2024 / Notices 104535 

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 

AGENCY 

[FRL–12519–01–OA] 

Meeting of the Local Government 

Advisory Committee 

AGENCY: Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA). 

ACTION: Notification of public meeting. 

SUMMARY: Pursuant to the Federal 

Advisory Committee Act (FACA), the 

EPA hereby provides notice of a meeting 

of the Local Government Advisory 

Committee (LGAC) on the date and time 

described below. This meeting will be 

open to the public. For information on 

public attendance and participation, 

please see the registration information 

under SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION. 

DATES: The LGAC will have a virtual 

meeting January 9th, from 2–3 p.m. 

Eastern Standard Time. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Frank Sylvester, Designated Federal 

Officer (DFO) of the Local Government 

Advisory Committee, at 

sylvester.frank.j@epa.gov or 202–564– 

1279. 

Information on Accessibility: For 

information on access or services for 

individuals requiring accessibility 

accommodations, please send an email 

to LGAC@epa.gov. To request 

accommodation, please do so five (5) 

business days prior to the meeting, to 

give EPA as much time as possible to 

process your request. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Content: The LGAC will discuss a 

welcome letter to the incoming 

administration, highlighting the 

committee’s value to the Agency and 

where the committee can best help the 

Administration achieve its priorities. 

Meeting materials and 

recommendations will be posted online 

closer to the meeting dates. 

Registration: Both meetings will be 

held virtually through Microsoft Teams. 

Members of the public who wish to 

participate should register by contacting 

Frank Sylvester, Designated Federal 

Officer (DFO) of the Local Government 

Advisory Committee, at 

sylvester.frank.j@epa.gov or 202–564– 

1279 at least 24 hours of the meeting 

start time. The agenda and other 

supportive meeting materials will be 

available online at https://www.epa.gov/ 

ocir/local-government-advisorycommittee-lgac and can be obtained by 

written request to the DFO. In the event 

of cancellation for unforeseen 

circumstances, please contact the DFO 

or check the website above for 

reschedule information. 

Francis Sylvester, 

Designated Federal Officer, Office of 

Congressional and Intergovernmental 

Relations. 

[FR Doc. 2024–30752 Filed 12–20–24; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6560–50–P 

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 

AGENCY 

[EPA–HQ–OAR–2024–0446; FRL–12501–01– 

OAR] 

Notice of Approval for Other Use of 

Phosphogypsum 

AGENCY: Office of Air and Radiation, 

Environmental Protection Agency 

(EPA). 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection 

Agency (the EPA or the Agency) has 

approved, subject to certain conditions, 

the request for a ‘‘Small-scale Road Pilot 

Project on Private Land in Florida’’ 

submitted by Mosaic Fertilizer, LLC in 

March 2022, and updated by the 

‘‘Revised Request for Approval of Use of 

Phosphogypsum in Small-scale Pilot 

Project’’, submitted in August 2023. The 

Agency’s review found that Mosaic’s 

request is complete per the 

requirements of EPA’s National 

Emissions Standards for Hazardous Air 

Pollutants under the Clean Air Act, and 

that the potential radiological risks from 

conducting the pilot project meet the 

regulatory requirement that the project 

is at least as protective of public health 

as maintaining the phosphogypsum in a 

stack. On October 9, 2024, the EPA 

issued a pending approval of the request 

and solicited public comments on the 

pending approval. While EPA received 

comments raising questions about the 

project, no comments were received 

which led EPA to change the results of 

its risk analyses for this proposed pilot 

project. This approval is only for the 

proposed pilot project, and EPA has 

placed conditions on the approval to 

make sure that the project remains 

within the scope of the application. 

DATES: This decision is effective 

immediately. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Jonathan Walsh, Radiation Protection 

Division, Office of Radiation and Indoor 

Air, Mail Code 6608T, Environmental 

Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania 

Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20460; 

202–343–9238; Walsh.Jonathan@

epa.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Background 

Phosphogypsum is the waste 

byproduct of wet acid phosphorous 

production. It contains elevated 

concentrations of the radionuclide 

radium, which decays to form radon 

gas. The EPA’s regulations under the 

Clean Air Act at 40 CFR part 61, subpart 

R (hereafter ‘‘Subpart R’’) require that 

phosphogypsum must be disposed of in 

engineered piles, called stacks, to limit 

public exposure to its radioactive 

components. Subpart R allows the 

removal of phosphogypsum from stacks 

for outdoor agricultural purposes and 

indoor research and development, 

subject to conditions and restrictions. 

Any other use of phosphogypsum 

requires prior approval from the EPA. 

The EPA may approve a request for a 

specific use of phosphogypsum if it 

determines that the proposed use is at 

least as protective of public health as 

placement of phosphogypsum in a 

stack. The processes for requesting such 

an approval are described in 40 CFR 

61.206. 

Mosaic Fertilizer, LLC submitted a 

request for a Small-scale Road Pilot 

Project on Private Land in Florida in 

March 2022, and submitted a Revised 

Request for Approval of Use of 

Phosphogypsum in Small-scale Pilot 

Project in August 2023. Mosaic has 

proposed to construct a small-scale pilot 

project at its New Wales facility in Polk 

County, Florida. Mosaic’s plan is to 

construct four sections of test road 

having varying mixtures of 

phosphogypsum (PG) in the road base 

‘‘to demonstrate the range of PG road 

construction designs that meet the 

Florida Standard Specifications for 

Road and Bridge construction’’ (Request 

for Approval of Additional Uses of 

Phosphogypsum Pursuant to 40 CFR 

61.206, Small-scale Road Pilot Project 

on Private Land in Florida). The pilot 

project will be constructed in the place 

of an existing facility road near the 

phosphogypsum stack, and the study 

will be conducted in conjunction with 

researchers from the University of 

Florida. 

The EPA performed a complete 

review of Mosaic’s request, documented 

in ‘‘Review of the Small-scale Road Pilot 

Project on Private Land in Florida 

Submitted by Mosaic Fertilizer, LLC’’ 

(www.regulations.gov, Docket ID No. 

EPA–HQ–OAR–2024–0446). The 

Agency’s review found that Mosaic’s 

request is complete per the 

requirements of 40 CFR 61.206(b). 

Further, the review found that Mosaic’s 

risk assessment is technically 

acceptable, and that the potential 

radiological risks from the proposed 


khammond on DSK9W7S144PROD with NOTICES
104536 Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 246 / Monday, December 23, 2024 / Notices 

1https://www.regulations.gov, Docket ID No. 

EPA–HQ–OAR–2024–0446. 

2https://www.epa.gov/radiation/ 

phosphogypsum#aaup. 

project meet the regulatory requirements 

of 40 CFR 61.206(c); that is, the project 

is at least as protective of public health 

as maintaining the phosphogypsum in a 

stack. Therefore, the Agency issued an 

approval of the small-scale pilot project 

per 40 CFR 61.206, subject to terms and 

conditions which limit the project to the 

scope of the application. The terms and 

conditions are included in the approval 

letter to Mosaic, which is available in 

the public docket and on the EPA 

website, https://www.epa.gov/radiation/ 

phosphogypsum. Approval by the 

Agency is specific to the pilot project as 

described in the Mosaic request and 

indicates only that this project meets the 

approval requirements of Subpart R. 

II. Public Comments and Responses 

The EPA’s decision to approve or 

deny a request for other use under 40 

CFR 61.206 is not a rulemaking. In 

December 2005, the EPA issued a 

guidance document, ‘‘Applying to EPA 

for Approval of Other Uses of 

Phosphogypsum: Preparing and 

Submitting a Complete Petition Under 

40 CFR 61.206, A Workbook’’ 

(December 2005). Although this 

guidance is not binding, the EPA sought 

public comment on this pending 

approval using the procedure described 

in Section 2.4 of the Workbook. As 

outlined in the Workbook, the EPA 

published a notice of availability of this 

pending approval in the Federal 

Register on October 9, 2024, and opened 

a 30-day comment period, which was 

extended in response to public requests 

for an additional 15 days to close on 

November 23, 2024. Physical copies of 

the Mosaic request and the EPA’s 

technical evaluation were placed for 

public review in the Mulberry Public 

Library, 905 NE 5th Street, Mulberry, FL 

33860. The EPA also placed notices of 

public availability in local newspapers. 

The EPA has reviewed all comments 

received for their relevance to the 

pending approval. 

Many comments requested an 

extension of the 30-day comment 

period. The EPA extended the comment 

period in response to these requests. 

The majority of comments were 

generally opposed to the use of 

phosphogypsum in public roads, and 

critical of the current state of 

phosphogypsum management; these 

comments were determined to be 

outside the scope of this action, which 

is specific to the small-scale pilot 

project as it is described in Mosaic’s 

request. The EPA’s approval applies 

only to the proposed pilot project and 

not any broader use. Any other use 

would require a separate application, 

risk assessment, and approval. 

Comments related to EPA’s 

management of phosphogypsum and its 

non-radiological contaminants under 

the Resource Conservation and 

Recovery Act and other statutes 

similarly fell outside the scope of the 

current decision. EPA has documented 

other regulatory issues in its supporting 

documents, but EPA’s decision is only 

a determination of the permissibility of 

the project under the Clean Air Act 

National Emissions Standards for 

Hazardous Air Pollutants for 

Radionuclides. It does not imply any 

other regulatory approval or 

determinations of compliance. These 

must be obtained or made separately 

from this decision. 

Some commenters indicated that EPA 

established a legal ban on the use of 

phosphogypsum in road construction by 

considering but not issuing a categorical 

approval in 1992. Road use is not 

prohibited by the regulation as amended 

in 1992 and is eligible to be considered 

as an ‘‘other use.’’ 

Commenters were critical of many 

aspects of the risk assessment. 

Commenters questioned the EPA’s 

overall ability to perform radiological 

risk assessment, use of fatal radiogenic 

cancers as a health endpoint, selection 

of dose and risk coefficients, selection of 

models, and selection of exposure 

scenarios and whether current risk data 

was used. Specifically, several 

commenters believed that greater 

emphasis should be placed on the 

consideration of a future resident at the 

site of the pilot project. These comments 

represent disagreements with decisions 

that EPA has made in its evaluation of 

potential risks associated with the 

proposed pilot project, rather than new 

information that the Agency has not 

previously considered. After reviewing 

the comments, the EPA continues to 

believe that the risk assessments 

associated with this pilot project are 

consistent with current radiological risk 

assessment methodologies and 

precedent, and sufficient to evaluate the 

project per the requirements of 40 CFR 

61.206. Results from multiple modeling 

efforts indicate that risks due to the 

proposed pilot project are low. EPA 

believes that for this existing site, it is 

most appropriate to consider the 

potential risk to site workers and the 

nearest residents to the site when 

determining whether the pilot project is 

as protective as leaving the 

phosphogypsum in the stack. No 

comments raised topics which EPA did 

not consider in its technical evaluation 

or lead to a concern for human health 

or environmental impacts not 

previously considered. 

The Agency’s response to comments 

document is available in the public 

docket 1 and on the EPA 

phosphogypsum website,2 together with 

electronic copies of the application, the 

EPA’s review, and relevant background 

materials. 

Joseph Goffman, 

Assistant Administrator, Office of Air and 

Radiation. 

[FR Doc. 2024–30508 Filed 12–20–24; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6560–50–P 

FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS 

COMMISSION 

[OMB 3060–1155; FR ID 269133] 

Information Collection Being Reviewed 

by the Federal Communications 

Commission 

AGENCY: Federal Communications 

Commission. 

ACTION: Notice and request for 

comments. 

SUMMARY: As part of its continuing effort 

to reduce paperwork burdens, and as 

required by the Paperwork Reduction 

Act (PRA) of 1995, the Federal 

Communications Commission (FCC or 

the Commission) invites the general 

public and other Federal agencies to 

take this opportunity to comment on the 

following information collection. 

Comments are requested concerning: 

whether the proposed collection of 

information is necessary for the proper 

performance of the functions of the 

Commission, including whether the 

information shall have practical utility; 

the accuracy of the Commission’s 

burden estimate; ways to enhance the 

quality, utility, and clarity of the 

information collected; ways to minimize 

the burden of the collection of 

information on the respondents, 

including the use of automated 

collection techniques or other forms of 

information technology; and ways to 

further reduce the information 

collection burden on small business 

concerns with fewer than 25 employees. 

DATES: Written PRA comments should 

be submitted on or before February 21, 

2025. If you anticipate that you will be 

submitting comments, but find it 

difficult to do so within the period of 

time allowed by this notice, you should 

advise the contact listed below as soon 

as possible. 


khammond on DSK9W7S144PROD with NOTICES