Document ID: EPA-HQ-OW-2004-0019-0231
Agency: epa
Document Type: Notice
Title: Notice of Data Availability: The Toxicity of Selenium to Aquatic Life as Related to Developing a Recommended Aquatic Life Criterion
Posted Date: 2008-10-27T04:00Z

[Federal Register: October 27, 2008 (Volume 73, Number 208)]
[Notices]               
[Page 63706-63707]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr27oc08-55]                         

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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-OW-FRL-8730-5]

 
Notice of Data Availability: The Toxicity of Selenium to Aquatic 
Life as Related to Developing a Recommended Aquatic Life Criterion

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of availability.

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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announces the 
availability of a technical report titled ``Effect of Selenium on 
Juvenile Bluegill Sunfish at Reduced Temperature.'' It describes the 
results from testing the toxicity of selenium to juvenile bluegill 
sunfish under winter temperature conditions. EPA is also making 
available a list of ``References for Selenium Chronic Toxicity Data 
Obtained Since 2004'', indicating other information that EPA has 
recently obtained. EPA may use the information announced here in the 
derivation of a selenium water quality criterion for protection of 
aquatic life.

DATES: Scientific information and views on the material cited herein 
should be submitted by November 26, 2008. Scientific views postmarked 
after this date might not be considered.

ADDRESSES: If you wish to submit information relevant to the material 
announced, you may do so by one of the following methods:
     http://www.regulations.gov: Follow the on-line 
instructions for submitting scientific views.
     E-mail: OW-Docket@epa.gov.
     Mail: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; EPA Docket 
Center (EPA/DC) Water Docket, MC 2822T; 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., 
Washington, DC 20460.
     Hand Delivery: EPA Docket Center, 1301 Constitution Ave., 
NW., EPA West, 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 scientific views to Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-
OW-2004-0019. EPA's policy is that all scientific views received will 
be included in the public docket without change and may be made 
available online at http://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 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

[[Page 63707]]

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. Visit the EPA 
Docket Center homepage at http://www.epa.gov/epahome/dockets.htm for 
additional information about EPA's public docket.
    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 hard copy at the Office of Water 
Docket/EPA/DC, 1301 Constitution Ave., NW., EPA West, Room 3334, 
Washington, DC. This Docket Facility is open from 8:30 a.m. until 4:30 
p.m., EST, Monday through Friday, excluding legal holidays. The 
telephone number for the Public Reading Room is (202) 566-1744, and the 
telephone number for the Office of Water is (202) 566-2426.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Charles Delos, delos.charles@epa.gov 
or postal address, Mail Code 4304T, U.S. EPA, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, 
NW., Washington, DC 20460.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Who might be interested in this information?

    This information may be useful to scientists involved in selenium 
hazard assessment for aquatic life.

II. What is the relationship of this material to water quality 
criteria?

    EPA may use the information announced here in the derivation of a 
water quality criterion for protection of aquatic life. Nevertheless, 
in part because the new information is only a portion of all data 
relevant to deriving a criterion, EPA's future criteria recommendations 
cannot be directly inferred from it.

III. What are EPA recommended water quality criteria?

    EPA recommended water quality criteria are scientifically derived 
numeric values that protect aquatic life or human health from the 
deleterious effects of pollutants in ambient water. Section 304(a)(1) 
of the Clean Water Act requires EPA to develop and publish and, from 
time to time, revise, recommended water quality criteria to accurately 
reflect the latest scientific knowledge. Water quality criteria 
developed under section 304(a) are based solely on data and scientific 
judgments on the relationship between pollutant concentrations and 
environmental and human health effects. Section 304(a) criteria do not 
reflect consideration of economic impacts or the technological 
feasibility of meeting the chemical concentrations in ambient water. 
Section 304(a) criteria provide guidance to States and authorized 
Tribes in adopting water quality standards that ultimately provide a 
basis for controlling discharges or releases of pollutants. The 
criteria also provide guidance to EPA when promulgating federal 
regulations under section 303(c) when such action is necessary. EPA's 
recommended water quality criteria do not substitute for the CWA or 
regulations, nor are they regulations themselves. Thus, EPA's 
recommended criteria do not impose legally binding requirements. States 
and authorized Tribes have the discretion to adopt, where appropriate, 
other scientifically defensible water quality standards that differ 
from these recommendations.

IV. Why did EPA perform the bluegill sunfish toxicity test?

    On December 17, 2004 (69 FR 75541), EPA announced the availability 
of a draft revision of its currently recommended aquatic life water 
quality criteria for selenium, and solicited scientific information, 
data, and views thereon. Some of the responses from the public 
indicated that EPA's interpretation of a key study, involving juvenile 
bluegill sunfish under winter temperature conditions, was problematic 
due to limitations of the study design and lack of corroboration. To 
address these problems, EPA has undertaken and completed a new study, 
designed to establish an unambiguous threshold concentration for the 
effect. The document ``Effect of Selenium on Juvenile Bluegill Sunfish 
at Reduced Temperature'' in the docket for this notice describes this 
work. EPA intends to review any scientific information, data and views 
submitted in response to today's notice, along with the information 
previously submitted to EPA. For additional information on EPA's draft 
aquatic life water quality criterion for selenium, see http://
www.epa.gov/waterscience/criteria/selenium/.

V. Why did EPA obtain the other information in its reference list?

    With the intent that any future revision of the selenium criterion 
reflect the latest scientific information, EPA has searched the 
literature for new data. Interested persons have also submitted data to 
EPA. ``References for Selenium Chronic Toxicity Data Obtained Since 
2004'' lists these studies.

    Dated: October 9, 2008.
Ephraim S. King,
Director, Office of Science and Technology.
 [FR Doc. E8-25519 Filed 10-24-08; 8:45 am]

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