70840 Federal Register / Vol. 70, No. 225 / Wednesday, November 23, 2005 / Notices 

List of Subjects 

Environmental protection, Pesticides 

and pest. 

Dated: November 10, 2005. 

Janet L. Andersen, 

Director, Biopesticides and Pollution 

Prevention Division, Office of Pesticide 

Programs. 

[FR Doc. 05–23107 Filed 11–22–05; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6560–50–S 

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 

AGENCY 

[FRL–7999–1] 

Proposal of addition of certain 

substances to the 1998 Aarhus 

Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) 

Protocol under the Long-Range 

Transboundary Air Pollution 

Convention of the United Nations 

Economic Commission for Europe 

(UNECE): Notice of Data Availability 

AGENCY: Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA). 

ACTION: Notice of data availability 

(NODA). 

SUMMARY: This notice announces the 

availability of data and information 

concerning dossiers (or proposals) for 

the addition of hexachlorobutadiene, 

octabromo diphenyl ether (octaBDE), 

pentachlorobenzene, polychlorinated 

napthalenes, short-chain chlorinated 

parrafins (SCCPs), dicofol, 

pentabromodiphenyl ether (PeDBE), and 

perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) as 

persistent organic pollutants (POPs) 

submitted to the Secretariat of the 1998 

Aarhus POPs Protocol Under the LongRange Transboundary Air Pollution 

(LRTAP) Convention of the UNECE. We 

are issuing this NODA to alert interested 

and potentially affected parties of these 

proposals; to announce the substances 

proposed for inclusion in the Protocol; 

to provide the Web site where these 

proposals may be reviewed; to provide 

the addresses where comments or 

information may be submitted; and to 

provide the deadline for submitting 

comments and information. We are also 

issuing the NODA to solicit names and 

contact information for those parties 

who would like to be notified when 

proposals under the Aarhus POPs 

Protocol occur. 

DATES: Comments and information on 

these proposals must be received on or 

before December 9, 2005. 

ADDRESSES: The proposals can be found 

at the following Web site: http:// 

www.unece.org/env/popsxg/ 

proposals%20for%20NEW%20pops. 

htm. Comments and information on 

these proposals should be submitted to 

the UNECE Secretariat for the POPs 

Task Force via e-mail at 

air.env@unece.org. Please provide a 

copy of your comments and information 

submitted to Paul Almodo ́var of the U.S. 

EPA, Office of Air Quality Planning and 

Standards via e-mail at 

almodovar.paul@epa.gov. If you are 

interested in being contacted in the 

future when proposals under this 

Protocol occur, please notify Paul 

Almodo ́var directly. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Paul 

Almodo ́var of the U.S. EPA, Office of 

Air Quality Planning and Standards, 

Information Transfer Program 

Implementation Division, C304–03, 

Research Triangle Park, North Carolina 

27711, telephone number (919) 541–

0283, e-mail at 

almodovar.paul@epa.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Outline: The information presented in 

this NODA is organized as follows: 

I. 1998 Aarhus POPs Protocol Under the 

Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution 

Convention of the UNECE 

a. What Is the Long-Range Transboundary 

Air Pollution (LRTAP) Convention of the 

UNECE? 

b. What Is the 1998 Aarhus POPs Protocol? 

II. Proposals for New POPs 

a. Who Are the Nominating Countries? 

b. What Do the Proposals Address? 

c. What Is Involved in the Technical 

Review of These Proposals? 

d. Other Proposals 

I. 1998 Aarhus POPs Protocol Under 

the Long-Range Transboundary Air 

Pollution Convention of the UNECE 

a. What Is the LRTAP Convention of the 

UNECE? 

The LRTAP Convention functions to 

foster intergovernmental cooperation 

and has created the essential framework 

for controlling and reducing the damage 

to human health and the environment 

caused by transboundary air pollution. 

Since entry into force of the Convention 

8 specific Protocols have also been 

completed to address transboundary air 

pollution, one of which is the 1998 

Aarhus POPs Protocol, which today’s 

NODA addresses. The United States is 

a Party to the LRTAP Convention. The 

focus of the Parties to the Convention 

over the next several years will be to 

ensure implementation of these 

protocols. Participation in this 

Convention allows the United States to 

continue to assert its leadership role in 

shaping the substance and structure of 

LRTAP protocols as they continue to 

tackle complex pollution issues and 

serve as models for action in other 

regional bodies, as well as for global 

environmental agreements. 

b. What Is the 1998 Aarhus POPs 

Protocol? 

The 1998 Aarhus POPs Protocol 

under the LRTAP Convention was 

established with the objective of 

controlling, reducing or eliminating 

discharges, emissions, and losses of 

POPs. POPs are defined in the Protocol 

as organic substances that (i) possess 

toxic characteristics; (ii) are persistent; 

(iii) bioaccumulate; (iv) are prone to 

long-range transboundary atmospheric 

transport and deposition; and (v) are 

likely to cause significant adverse 

human health or environmental effects 

near to and distant from their sources. 

The Protocol outlines basic obligations 

for countries that are Parties to the 

Protocol (have ratified the Protocol) for 

achieving this objective, and includes 

methods by which Parties to the 

Protocol can fulfill the basic obligations, 

including identifying best available 

techniques and emission limit values for 

stationary sources of POPs, and effective 

measures to control POPs emissions 

from mobile sources. The Protocol 

identifies POPs that have been targeted 

and scheduled for elimination (aldrin, 

chlorodane, clordecone, DDT, deildrin, 

endrin, heptachlor, hexabromobiphenyl, 

hexachlorobenzene, mirex, PCB, and 

toxaphene; Annex I of the Protocol); for 

use restrictions (DDT, HCH, PCB; Annex 

II of the Protocol); and for annual 

reductions in emissions from a specified 

reference year, achieved by taking 

effective measures as appropriate 

(polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons 

(PAHs), Dioxins/furans, and 

hexachlorobenzene). The Protocol in its 

entirety can be viewed at the LRTAP 

POPs Web site at http://www.unece.org/ 

env/lrtap/pops_h1.htm. The United 

States is currently not a Party to the 

Aarhus POPs Protocol. Legislation is 

being developed that would allow the 

United States to become Parties to, and 

implement the protocol. 

II. Proposals To Include Substances as 

POPs 

a. Who Are the Nominating Countries? 

The Protocol provides procedures by 

which Parties to the Protocol can 

propose to amend annex I, II, or III by 

adding substances to the Protocol. These 

procedures are outlined in Article 14 of 

the Protocol. 

This year, the European Commission 

has submitted proposals for 

hexachlorobutadiene, OctaBDE, 

pentachlorobenzene, polychlorinated 

napthalenes, and SCCPs, and the 

Netherlands has submitted a proposal 

for dicofol. 

Federal Register / Vol. 70, No. 225 / Wednesday, November 23, 2005 / Notices 70841 

b. What Do the Proposals Address? 

The proposals need to provide 

information that allows a determination 

of whether the substance is a POP in the 

context of the Protocol. The proposals 

(e.g., risk profiles) are described as a 

comprehensive review of the scientific 

information related to the determination 

of general human health and 

environmental risks associated with the 

uses and releases of a substance. 

Specifically, the proposals document 

the following characteristics: potential 

for long-range transport; toxicity; 

persistence; and bioaccumulation. The 

POPs Protocol provides guidance on 

numerical descriptors, as appropriate, to 

assist in the evaluation of the above 

characteristics in the context of the 

program. In addition to individual 

determinations, the evaluation includes 

a consideration as to whether sufficient 

information exists to suggest that the 

substance is likely to have significant 

adverse human health and/or 

environmental effects as a result of its 

long-range transboundary atmospheric 

transport (LRAT). The protocol also 

provides guidance to assist in the 

evaluation of socio-economic 

information to help frame the strategy 

for reducing risks from the proposed 

substances. The proposal must include, 

as available, information on release to 

the environment, including production, 

uses, and emissions, plus socioeconomic factors related to the 

alternatives and/or techniques available 

to reduce emissions of the proposed 

substance. At this time, the proposals 

are available for public review and 

submission of comments and 

information (see the ADDRESSES section 

of this NODA for where to find these 

proposals) to supplement information 

contained in the dossiers. All relevant 

comments and information will be 

considered during the technical reviews 

of these proposals. 

c. What Is Involved in the Technical 

Review of These Proposals? 

The Executive Body (EB) (which is 

the Convention’s ‘‘conference of the 

parties’’), has decided that the Task 

Force on POPs shall prepare technical 

reviews of such proposals when 

requested to do so, and present relevant 

documentation on the proposals to the 

Working Group on Strategies and 

Review (WGSR). The WGSR is the group 

under the Convention which amongst 

other activities, develops ‘‘strategies 

(i.e., negotiates) for action on substances 

and proposes such actions for adoption 

by the EB. Membership of the Task 

Force is open to experts from all Parties 

to the Convention, and to authorized 

representatives of intergovernmental or 

accredited non-governmental 

organizations. The Task Force on POPs 

receives its instructions from the annual 

work plan of the EB, but reports to the 

WGSR. 

A definitive description of the process 

for technical reviews of the proposals 

can be found at the following Web site: 

http://www.unece.org/env/popsxg/ 

proposals%20for%20NEW%20pops. 

htm. 

The proposals submitted by the 

European Commission and the 

Netherlands will be considered by the 

EB of the Convention at its session on 

December 12–15, 2005 for acceptability 

and referral to the Task Force on POPs 

for technical review. These proposals 

can be reviewed at the website listed 

above in the ADDRESSES section of this 

NODA. Comments and information may 

be submitted until December 9, 2005 to 

the entities listed in the ADDRESSES

section. 

d. Other Proposals 

Last year Norway submitted a 

proposal for pentbromodiphenyl ether 

(PeBDE) and Sweden submitted a 

proposal for perfluorocotane sulfonate 

(PFOS). These proposals were referred 

by the EB of the Convention for 

technical review to the Task Force on 

POPs in its session in December 2004. 

Both of these substances underwent the 

first stage of technical review by the 

Task Force on POPs, and have been 

recommended by the WGSR as POPs, as 

defined under the POPs Protocol to the 

EB of the Convention. (http:// 

www.unece.org/env/documents/2005/ 

eb/wg5/eb.air.wg.5.2005.1.e.pdf). 

Based on the recommendation of the 

WGSR, the Task Force on POPs is 

expected to be asked by the EB to 

develop proposed management 

strategies for both PeBDE and PFOS. To 

develop these management strategies, 

information on production/uses/ 

emissions, measured environmental 

levels in areas distant from sources, 

abiotic and biotic degradation processes, 

and rates, degradation products, bioavailability; and socio-economic factors 

related to the alternatives and/or the 

techniques available to reduce the 

emissions of the proposed substance 

including: Alternatives to the existing 

uses and their efficacy; any known 

adverse environmental or human health 

effects associated with the alternatives; 

process changes, control technologies, 

operating practices, and other pollution 

prevention techniques which can be 

used to reduce the emissions of the 

substance, and their applicability and 

effectiveness; and the non-monetary 

costs and benefits as well as the 

quantifiable costs and benefits 

associated with the use of these 

alternatives and/or techniques is being 

sought. This information may be 

submitted until December 9, 2005 to the 

entities listed in the ADDRESSES section. 

Dated: November 14, 2005. 

William L. Wehrum, 

Acting Assistant Administrator for Air and 

Radiation. 

[FR Doc. 05–23227 Filed 11–22–05; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6560–50–P 

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 

AGENCY 

[FRL–8001–6] 

Adequacy of Illinois Municipal Solid 

Waste Landfill Program 

AGENCY: Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA). 

ACTION: Notice of proposed 

determination of adequacy. 

SUMMARY: The U.S. Environmental 

Protection Agency (EPA) Region 5 is 

proposing to approve a modification to 

Illinois’ approved municipal solid waste 

landfill (MSWLF) permit program. The 

modification allows the State to issue 

research, development and 

demonstration (RD&D) permits to 

owners and operators of MSWLF units 

in accordance with its State law and 

regulations. 

DATES: All comments on Illinois’

application for approval of its research, 

development and demonstration permit 

modification must be received by close 

of business on December 23, 2005. 

ADDRESSES: Written comments should 

be sent to Donna Twickler, Waste 

Management Branch (Mail code: DW–

8J), U.S. EPA Region 5, 77 West Jackson 

Boulevard, Chicago, IL 60604, 

telephone: (312) 886–6184. Comments 

may also be submitted electronically to: 

twickler.donna@epa.gov or by facsimile 

at (312) 353–4788. You may examine 

copies of the relevant portions of 

Illinois’ regulations during normal 

business hours at U.S. EPA Region 5. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Donna Twickler, Waste Management 

Branch (Mail code DW–8J), U.S. EPA 

Region 5, 77 West Jackson Boulevard, 

Chicago, Illinois 60604, telephone (312) 

886–6184, twickler.donna@epa.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

A. Background 

On March 22, 2004, U.S. EPA issued 

a final rule amending the municipal 

solid waste landfill criteria in 40 CFR 

part 258 to allow for research,