[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 21 (Wednesday, January 31, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 4480-4481]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-01914]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[EPA-HQ-ORD-2017-0497; FRL-9973-15-ORD]


Availability of the Systematic Review Protocol for the Chloroform 
Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) Assessment.

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of public comment period.

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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is announcing a 30-
day public comment period associated with the Systematic Review 
Protocol for the IRIS Chloroform Assessment. The protocol describes the 
systematic review procedures and other methodology planned for use in 
developing the chloroform assessment. EPA is making this Protocol 
available to the public via the docket and the IRIS website. These 
documents were prepared by the National Center for Environmental 
Assessment (NCEA) within EPA's Office of Research and Development 
(ORD).

DATES: The 30-day public comment period begins January 31, 2018, and 
ends March 2, 2018. Comments must be received on or before March 2, 
2018. The Systematic Review Protocol for chloroform can also be found 
on the chemical landing page on the IRIS website (https://cfpub.epa.gov/ncea/iris2/chemicalLanding.cfm?substance_nmbr=25).

ADDRESSES: The Systematic Review Protocol for the chloroform IRIS 
assessment, will be available via the internet on IRIS website at 
https://cfpub.epa.gov/ncea/iris2/chemicalLanding.cfm?substance_nmbr=25 
and in the public docket at http://www.regulations.gov, Docket ID: EPA-
HQ-ORD-2017-0497.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For information on the docket, contact 
the ORD Docket at the EPA Headquarters Docket Center; telephone: 202-
566-1752; facsimile: 202-566-9744; or email: [email protected].
    For technical information on the protocol, contact Dr. James Avery, 
NCEA; telephone: 202-564-1494; or email: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background Information on the IRIS Program and Systematic Review 
Protocols

    EPA's IRIS Program is a human health assessment program that 
evaluates quantitative and qualitative risk information on effects that 
may result from exposure to chemicals found in the environment. Through 
the IRIS Program, EPA provides the highest quality science-based human 
health assessments to support the Agency's regulatory activities and 
decisions to protect public health. As part of developing a draft IRIS 
assessment, EPA presents a methods document, referred to as the 
protocol, for conducting a chemical-specific systematic review of the 
available scientific literature. Protocols include strategies for 
literature searches, criteria for study inclusion or exclusion, 
considerations for evaluating study methods, information management for 
extracting data, approaches for synthesis within and across lines of 
evidence, and methods for derivation of toxicity values.
    The protocol serves to inform the subsequent development of the 
draft assessment and is made available to the public. EPA may update 
the protocol based on the evaluation of the literature and any updates 
will be posted to the docket and on the IRIS website.

II. How To Submit Technical Comments to the Docket at http://www.regulations.gov

    Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-ORD-2017-
0497 for chloroform, by one of the following methods:
     http://www.regulations.gov: Follow the on-line 
instructions for submitting comments.
     Email: [email protected].
     Fax: 202-566-9744.
     Mail: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, EPA Docket 
Center (ORD Docket), Mail Code: 28221T, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, 
Washington, DC 20460. The phone number is 202-566-1752.
     Hand Delivery: The ORD Docket is located in the EPA 
Headquarters Docket Center, EPA West Building, Room 3334, 1301 
Constitution Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20229.
    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. 
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 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 EPA-HQ-ORD-2017-0497 for 
chloroform. 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 https://www.regulations.gov, including any personal information provided, 
unless a comment includes information claimed to be Confidential 
Business Information (CBI) or other information for which disclosure is 
restricted by statute. Do not submit information through https://www.regulations.gov or email that you consider to be CBI or otherwise 
protected. The https://www.regulations.gov website is an ``anonymous 
access'' system, which means EPA will not know your identity or contact 
information unless you

[[Page 4481]]

provide it in the body of your comment. If you send an email comment 
directly to EPA without going through https://www.regulations.gov, your 
email 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 https://www.epa.gov/dockets.
    Docket: Documents in the docket are listed in the https://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 materials, 
such as copyrighted material, are publicly available only in hard copy. 
Publicly available docket materials are available either electronically 
in https://www.regulations.gov or hard copy at the ORD Docket in the 
EPA Headquarters Docket Center.

    Dated: January 8, 2018.
Tina Bahadori,
Director, National Center for Environmental Assessment.
[FR Doc. 2018-01914 Filed 1-30-18; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6560-50-P


