Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 189 / Monday, September 29, 2008 / Notices 56571 

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 

AGENCY 

[FRL–8722–3; Docket ID No. EPA–HQ–OAR– 

2007–1145] 

Extension of Public Comment Periods: 

Draft Integrated Science Assessment 

for Oxides of Nitrogen and Sulfur— 

Environmental Criteria and Annexes 

and Draft Risk and Exposure 

Assessment for the Review of the 

Secondary National Ambient Air 

Quality Standards for Oxides of 

Nitrogen and Oxides of Sulfur 

AGENCY: Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA). 

ACTION: Extension of Public Comment 

Periods. 

SUMMARY: The EPA is announcing 

extensions of the public comment 

periods for the draft documents titled, 

‘‘Integrated Science Assessment for 

Oxides of Nitrogen and Sulfur— 

Environmental Criteria; Second External 

Review Draft’’ (EPA 600/R–08/082), 

‘‘Annexes for the Integrated Science 

Assessment for Oxides of Nitrogen and 

Sulfur—Environmental Criteria; Second 

External Review Draft’’ (EPA 600/R–08/ 

083), and ‘‘Risk and Exposure 

Assessment for the Review of the 

Secondary National Ambient Air 

Quality Standards for Oxides of 

Nitrogen and Oxides of Sulfur’’ (EPA– 

452/P–08–005a). 

These documents were prepared as 

part of the Agency’s review of the 

secondary (welfare-based) national 

ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) 

for nitrogen dioxide (NO2.) and sulfur 

dioxide (SO2). EPA is releasing these 

draft documents solely for the purpose 

of seeking comment from the public and 

the Clean Air Scientific Advisory 

Committee (CASAC). The documents 

are being distributed solely for the 

purpose of pre-dissemination review 

under applicable information quality 

guidelines. They do not represent and 

should not be construed to represent 

any Agency policy, viewpoint, or 

determination. EPA will consider any 

public comments submitted in 

accordance with this notice when 

revising the document. 

DATES: The public comment period 

began on August 12, 2008 (73 FR 

46908), for document EPA/600/R–08/ 

082 and August 26, 2008 for document 

EPA 600/R–08/083. This notice 

announces the extension of the deadline 

for public comment from October 1, 

2008, to October 10, 2008, for both of 

these documents. Comments must be 

received on or before October 10, 2008. 

The public comment period began on 

August 29, 2008 (73 FR 50965), for 

document EPA–452/P–08–005a. This 

notice announces the extension of the 

deadline for public comment from 

October 15, 2008, to November 15, 2008. 

Comments must be received on or 

before November 15, 2008. 

ADDRESSES: The ‘‘Integrated Science 

Assessment for Oxides of Nitrogen and 

Sulfur—Environmental Criteria; Second 

External Review Draft’’ (EPA/600/R–08/ 

082) and Annexes (EPA/600/R–08/083) 

will be available primarily via the 

Internet on the National Center for 

Environmental Assessment’s home page 

under the Recent Additions and 

Publications menus at http:// 

www.epa.gov/ncea. A limited number of 

CD–ROM or paper copies will be 

available. Contact Ms. Ellen Lorang by 

phone (919–541–2771), fax (919–541– 

5078), or e-mail (lorang.ellen@epa.gov) 

to request either of these, and please 

provide your name, your mailing 

address, and the document title to 

facilitate processing of your request. 

For information on submitting 

comments to the docket, please see the 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For 

information on the draft ‘‘Integrated 

Science Assessment for Oxides of 

Nitrogen and Sulfur—Environmental 

Criteria’’, contact Dr. Tara Greaver, 

NCEA; telephone: 919–541–2435; fax: 

919–541–5078; or e-mail: 

greaver.tara@epa.gov. 

For information on the draft ‘‘Risk 

and Exposure Assessment for the 

Review of the Secondary National 

Ambient Air Quality Standards for 

Oxides of Nitrogen and Oxides of 

Sulfur’’, contact Dr. Anne Rea, OAQPS; 

telephone: 919–541–0053; fax: 919– 

541–0840; or e-mail: rea.anne@epa.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Information About the Documents 

Section 108(a) of the Clean Air Act 

directs the Administrator to identify 

certain pollutants that ‘‘may reasonably 

be anticipated to endanger public health 

and welfare’’ and to issue air quality 

criteria for them. These 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.’’ 

Under section 109 of the Act, EPA is 

then to establish national ambient air 

quality standards (NAAQS) for each 

pollutant for which EPA has issued 

criteria. Section 109(d) of the Act 

subsequently requires periodic review 

and, if appropriate, revision of existing 

air quality criteria to reflect advances in 

scientific knowledge on the effects of 

the pollutant on public health and 

welfare. EPA is also to revise the 

NAAQS, if appropriate, based on the 

revised air quality criteria. 

Oxides of nitrogen and sulfur are two 

of six principal (or ‘‘criteria’’) pollutants 

for which EPA has established air 

quality criteria and NAAQS. EPA 

periodically reviews the scientific basis 

for these standards by preparing an 

Integrated Science Assessment (ISA) 

(formerly called an Air Quality Criteria 

Document). The ISA and supplementary 

annexes, in conjunction with additional 

technical and policy assessments, 

provide the scientific basis for EPA 

decisions on the adequacy of a current 

NAAQS and the appropriateness of new 

or revised standards. The Clean Air 

Scientific Advisory Committee 

(CASAC), an independent science 

advisory committee established 

pursuant to section 109 of the Clean Air 

Act and part of the EPA’s Science 

Advisory Board (SAB), provides 

independent scientific advice on 

NAAQS matters, including advice on 

EPA’s draft ISAs. 

EPA formally initiated its current 

review of the criteria for oxides of 

nitrogen and sulfur in December 2005 

(70 FR 73236) and May 2006 (71 FR 

28023) respectively, requesting the 

submission of recent scientific 

information on specified topics. In the 

initial stages of the criteria reviews, EPA 

recognized the merit of integrating the 

science assessment for these two 

pollutants due to their combined effects 

on atmospheric chemistry, deposition 

processes, and environment-related 

public welfare effects. In July 2007 (72 

FR 34004), a workshop was held to 

discuss, with invited scientific experts, 

initial draft materials prepared in the 

development of the ISA and 

supplementary annexes for oxides of 

nitrogen and sulfur. EPA’s ‘‘Draft Plan 

for Review of the Secondary National 

Ambient Air Quality Standards for 

Nitrogen Dioxide and Sulfur Dioxide’’ 

was made available in September 2007 

for public comment and was discussed 

by the CASAC via a publicly accessible 

teleconference consultation on October 

30, 2007 (72 FR 57568). The Plan was 

made available on EPA’s Web site 

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

standards/no2so2sec/cr_pd.html. The 

draft ‘‘Integrated Science Assessment for 

Oxides of Nitrogen and Sulfur— 

Environmental Criteria; First External 

Review Draft’’ was released for review 

on December 21, 2007 (72 FR 72719). 

The CASAC reviewed the draft 

document at a public peer review 

meeting on April 2–3, 2008; comments 

from the CASAC and the public have 

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56572 Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 189 / Monday, September 29, 2008 / Notices 

been addressed in this second external 

review draft document. The draft 

‘‘Integrated Science Assessment for 

Oxides of Nitrogen and Sulfur— 

Environmental Criteria; Second External 

Review Draft’’ and the draft ‘‘Risk and 

Exposure Assessment for the Review of 

the Secondary National Ambient Air 

Quality Standards for Oxides of 

Nitrogen and Oxides of Sulfur’’ will be 

discussed by CASAC at a public peer 

review meeting on October 1–2, 2008; 

public comments that have been 

received prior to the public meeting will 

be provided to the CASAC review panel. 

II. How To Submit Technical Comments 

to the Docket at www.regulations.gov 

Submit your comments, identified by 

Docket ID No. Docket ID EPA–HQ– 

OAR–2007–1145 by one of the following 

methods: 

• http://www.regulations.gov: Follow 

the online instructions for submitting 

comments. 

• E-mail: a-and-r-Docket@epa.gov. 

• Fax: 202–566–9744. 

• Mail: Office of Environmental 

Information (OEI) Docket (Mail Code: 

2822T), U.S. Environmental Protection 

Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW., 

Washington, DC 20460. The phone 

number is 202–566–1752. 

• Hand Delivery: The OEI Docket is 

located in the EPA Headquarters Docket 

Center, EPA West Building, Room 3334, 

1301 Constitution Avenue, NW., 

Washington, DC. The EPA Docket 

Center Public Reading Room is open 

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

through Friday, excluding legal 

holidays. The telephone number for the 

Public Reading Room is 202–566–1744. 

Such deliveries are only accepted 

during the docket’s normal hours of 

operation, and special arrangements 

should be made for deliveries of boxed 

information. 

If you provide comments by mail or 

hand delivery, 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. 

Instructions: Direct your comments to 

Docket ID No. EPA–HQ–OAR–2007– 

1145. Please ensure that your comments 

are submitted within the specified 

comment period. Comments received 

after the closing date will be marked 

‘‘late’’, and may only be considered if 

time permits. It is EPA’s policy to 

include all comments it receives in the 

public docket without change and to 

make the comments available online at 

http://www.regulations.gov, including 

any personal information provided, 

unless a 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 additional information 

about EPA’s public docket visit the EPA 

Docket Center homepage at http:// 

www.epa.gov/epahome/dockets.htm. 

Docket: All documents in the docket 

are listed in the 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 hardcopy at 

the OEI Docket in the EPA Headquarters 

Docket Center. 

Dated: September 23, 2008. 

Rebecca Clark, 

Acting Director, National Center for 

Environmental Assessment. 

[FR Doc. E8–22798 Filed 9–26–08; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6560–50–P 

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 

AGENCY 

[FRL–8720–7; EPA–HQ–OW–2005–0007] 

Final National Pollutant Discharge 

Elimination System (NPDES) General 

Permit for Stormwater Discharges 

From Industrial Activities 

AGENCY: Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA). 

ACTION: Notice of availability. 

SUMMARY: EPA Regions 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 9, 

and 10 today are finalizing EPA’s 

NPDES general permit for stormwater 

discharges from industrial activity, also 

referred to as the Multi-Sector General 

Permit (MSGP). The MSGP consists of 

thirty four (34) separate Regional EPA 

permits that may vary from each other 

based on State or Tribal water qualitybased requirements. This permit 

replaces the existing permits that 

expired on October 30, 2005. As with 

the earlier permits, this permit 

authorizes the discharge of stormwater 

associated with industrial activities in 

accordance with the terms and 

conditions described therein. Industrial 

dischargers have the choice to seek 

coverage under an individual permit. 

An individual permit may be necessary 

if the discharger cannot meet the terms 

and conditions or eligibility 

requirements in the permit. 

DATES: This permit is effective today, 

September 29, 2008. This effective date 

is necessary to provide dischargers with 

the immediate opportunity to comply 

with Clean Water Act requirements in 

light of the expiration of the MSGP 2000 

on October 30, 2005. In accordance with 

40 CFR Part 23, this permit shall be 

considered issued for the purpose of 

judicial review on October 13, 2008. 

Under section 509(b) of the Clean Water 

Act, judicial review of this general 

permit can be had by filing a petition for 

review in the United States Court of 

Appeals within 120 days after the 

permit is considered issued for purposes 

of judicial review. Under section 

509(b)(2) of the Clean Water Act, the 

requirements in this permit may not be 

challenged later in civil or criminal 

proceedings to enforce these 

requirements. In addition, this permit 

may not be challenged in other agency 

proceedings. Deadlines for submittal of 

notices of intent are provided in Part 1.4 

of the MSGP. This permit also provides 

additional dates for compliance with the 

terms of these permits. 

EPA will host a Web cast presentation 

on Wednesday, November 5 from 12 

noon to 2 p.m. (Eastern Standard Time) 

to explain the new permit requirements. 

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