
[Federal Register: March 5, 2010 (Volume 75, Number 43)]
[Notices]               
[Page 10252-10253]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr05mr10-64]                         


[[Page 10252]]

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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[EPA-HQ-OAR-2008-0015; FRL-9119-7]

 
Release of Draft Documents Related to the Review of the National 
Ambient Air Quality Standards for Carbon Monoxide

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Availability of draft documents for public comment.

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SUMMARY: On or about February 22, 2010, the Office of Air Quality 
Planning and Standards (OAQPS) of EPA is making available for public 
comment a draft assessment document: Risk and Exposure Assessment to 
Support the Review of the Carbon Monoxide Primary National Ambient Air 
Quality Standards--Second External Review Draft. This draft document 
describes the quantitative analyses that are being conducted as part of 
the review of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for 
carbon monoxide (CO). In addition, on or about March 1, 2010, OAQPS is 
making available for public comment another draft assessment document: 
Policy Assessment for the Review of the Carbon Monoxide National 
Ambient Air Quality Standards: External Review Draft.

DATES: Comments should be submitted on or before April 2, 2010.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-
OAR-2008-0015, by one of the following methods:
     http://www.regulations.gov: Follow the on-line 
instructions for submitting comments.
     E-mail: Comments may be sent by electronic mail (e-mail) 
to a-and-r-docket@epa.gov, Attention Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2008-
0015.
     Fax: Fax your comments to 202-566-9744, Attention Docket 
ID. No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2008-0015.
     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-2008-0015.
     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-
2008-0015. 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 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 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.
    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 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 both of these draft documents, titled Risk 
and Exposure Assessment to Support the Review of the Carbon Monoxide 
Primary National Ambient Air Quality Standards--Second External Review 
and Policy Assessment for the Review of the Carbon Monoxide National 
Ambient Air Quality Standards: External Review Draft, please contact 
Dr. Ines Pagan, Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards (Mail code 
C504-06), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, 
NC 27711; e-mail: pagan.ines@epa.gov; telephone: 919-541-5469; fax: 
919-541-0237.

General Information

A. What Should I Consider as I Prepare My Comments for EPA?

    1. Submitting CBI. Do not submit this information to EPA through 
http://www.regulations.gov or e-mail. 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 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.
     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

[[Page 10253]]

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, EPA establishes primary (health-based) and secondary 
(welfare-based) 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 revise the NAAQS, if appropriate, 
based on the revised criteria.
    Presently, EPA is reviewing the air quality criteria and NAAQS for 
CO. The EPA's overall plan and schedule for this review is presented in 
the Plan for Review of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards for 
Carbon Monoxide.\1\ A draft of this integrated review plan was released 
for public review and comment in March 2008 and was the subject of a 
consultation with the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC) 
on April 8, 2008 (73 FR 12998). 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.
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    \1\ EPA 452R-08-005; August 2008; Available: http://www.epa.gov/
ttn/naaqs/standards/co/s_co_cr_pd.html.
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    As part of EPA's review of the primary (health-based) CO NAAQS, the 
Agency is conducting qualitative and quantitative assessments 
characterizing the health risks associated with exposure to ambient CO. 
The EPA's plans for conducting these assessments, including the 
proposed scope and methods of the analyses, were presented in a 
planning document titled, Carbon Monoxide National Ambient Air Quality 
Standards: Scope and Methods Plan for Health Risk and Exposure 
Assessment (Scope and Methods Plan). This planning document was 
released for public comment in April 2009 and was the subject of a 
consultation with the CASAC on May 13, 2009 (74 FR 15265).
    The draft exposure and risk assessment document announced today 
conveys the approaches taken to assess exposures to ambient CO and to 
characterize associated health risks, as well as present the initial 
key results, observations, and related uncertainties associated with 
the quantitative analyses performed. An earlier draft of the exposure 
and risk assessment document was released for CASAC review and public 
comment in October 2009 (74 FR 55843; October 29, 2009), and was the 
subject of a CASAC review meeting on November 16 and 17, 2009 (74 FR 
54042). This draft document will be available on or about February 22, 
2010, through the Agency's Technology Transfer Network (TTN) Web site 
at http://www.epa.gov/ttn/naaqs/standards/co/s_co_index.html. This 
document may be accessed in the ``Documents from Current Review'' 
section under ``Risk and Exposure Assessments.''
    In addition, on or about March 1, 2010, EPA will make available a 
second draft document: Policy Assessment for the Review of the Carbon 
Monoxide National Ambient Air Quality Standards: External Review Draft. 
The development of this document is a result of recent changes to the 
NAAQS review process which included reinstating a policy assessment 
document that contains staff analyses of the scientific bases for 
alternative policy options for consideration by senior Agency 
management prior to rulemaking. This document, which builds upon the 
historical ``Staff Paper,'' 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. In conjunction with this change, EPA will no 
longer issue a policy assessment in the form of an Advance Notice of 
Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR).\2\
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    \2\ See http://www.epa.gov/ttn/naaqs/review.html for a copy of 
Administrator Jackson's May 21, 2009 memorandum and for additional 
information on the NAAQS review process.
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    The draft Policy Assessment (PA) builds upon information presented 
in the Integrated Science Assessment for Carbon Monoxide and the draft 
assessment document described above. This draft document will be 
available on or about March 1, 2010, through the Agency's Technology 
Transfer Network (TTN) Web site at http://www.epa.gov/ttn/naaqs/
standards/co/s_co_index.html. This document may be accessed in the 
``Documents from Current Review'' section under ``Policy Assessments.''
    The EPA is soliciting advice and recommendations from the CASAC by 
means of a review of both draft documents at an upcoming public meeting 
of the CASAC. Information about this public meeting, including the date 
and location, will be published as a separate notice in an upcoming 
edition of the Federal Register. Following the CASAC meeting, 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: February 19, 2010.
Jennifer Noonan Edmonds,
Acting Director, Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards.
[FR Doc. 2010-4702 Filed 3-4-10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P

