80 FR 27304 - Release of Risk and Exposure Assessment Planning Document for the Review of the Primary National Ambient Air Quality Standards for Nitrogen Dioxide

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

Federal Register Volume 80, Issue 92 (May 13, 2015)

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is reviewing the primary National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for Nitrogen Dioxide (NO<INF>2</INF>). On or about May 4, 2015, the EPA will make available for public review the document titled Review of the Primary National Ambient Air Quality Standards for Nitrogen Dioxide: Risk and Exposure Assessment Planning Document (REA Planning Document). This plan presents considerations and the proposed approach for conducting quantitative analyses of NO<INF>2</INF> exposures or health risks in the current review of the primary NO<INF>2</INF> NAAQS. This planning document is intended to facilitate Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC) advice and public input in advance of reaching decisions on these quantitative analyses.

[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 92 (Wednesday, May 13, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 27304-27306]
From the Federal Register Online  [www.thefederalregister.org]
[FR Doc No: 2015-11566]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[EPA-HQ-OAR-2013-0146; FRL-9927-64-OAR]


Release of Risk and Exposure Assessment Planning Document for the 
Review of the Primary National Ambient Air Quality Standards for 
Nitrogen Dioxide

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of availability.

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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is reviewing the 
primary National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for Nitrogen 
Dioxide (NO2). On or about May 4, 2015, the EPA will make 
available for public review the document titled Review of the Primary 
National Ambient Air Quality Standards for Nitrogen Dioxide: Risk and 
Exposure Assessment Planning Document (REA Planning Document). This 
plan presents considerations and the proposed approach for conducting 
quantitative analyses of NO2 exposures or health risks in 
the current review of the primary NO2 NAAQS. This planning 
document is intended to facilitate Clean Air Scientific Advisory 
Committee (CASAC) advice and public input in advance of reaching 
decisions on these quantitative analyses.

DATES: Comments should be received on or before July 3, 2015.

ADDRESSES: The Risk and Exposure Assessment Planning Document will be 
available primarily via the Internet at http://www.epa.gov/ttn/naaqs/standards/nox/s_nox_2012_pd.html. Submit your comments, identified by 
Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2013-0146, by one of the following methods:
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. 
Follow the on-line instructions for submitting comments.
     Email: [email protected]. Include Docket ID No. EPA-
HQ-OAR-2013-0146 in the subject line of the message.
     Fax: (202) 566-9744.
     Mail: Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2013-0146, Environmental 
Protection Agency (Mail Code: 28221T), 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue NW., 
Washington, DC 20460. Please provide a total of two copies.
     Hand Delivery: EPA Docket Center, EPA/DC, WJC West 
Building, Room 3334, 1301 Constitution Avenue NW., 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-
2013-0146. The EPA's policy is that all comments received will be 
included in the public docket without change and to make the comments 
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 
through http://www.regulations.gov or email that you consider to be CBI 
or otherwise protected. The http://www.regulations.gov Web site is an 
``anonymous access'' system, which means the EPA will not know your 
identity or contact information unless you provide it in the body of 
your comment. If you send an email comment directly to the EPA without 
going through http://www.regulations.gov, your email address will be 
automatically captured and included as part of the comment

[[Page 27305]]

that is placed in the public docket and made available on the Internet. 
If you submit an electronic comment, the 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 the EPA cannot read 
your comment due to technical difficulties and cannot contact you for 
clarification, the 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 the EPA's public docket, visit EPA's Docket Center 
homepage at http://www.epa.gov/epahome/dockets.htm.
    Docket: 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 materials, 
such as copyrighted material, will be made publicly available only in 
hard copy. Publicly available docket materials are available either 
electronically in http://www.regulations.gov or in hard copy at Docket 
ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2013-0146, EPA/DC, WJC West Building, Room 3334, 1301 
Constitution Ave. NW., Washington, DC. The 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, and the telephone number for the Air and Radiation Docket and 
Information Center is (202) 566-1742.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr. Scott Jenkins, Office of Air 
Quality Planning and Standards (Mail Code C504-06), U.S. Environmental 
Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, NC 27711; telephone number: 
919-541-1167; fax number: 919-541-5315; email: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. General Information

A. What should I consider as I prepare my comments for the EPA?

    1. Submitting CBI. Do not submit this information to the EPA 
through http://regulations.gov or email. 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 the 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 reference a Code of Federal 
Regulations (CFR) part or section number.
     Explain why you agree or disagree; suggest alternative and 
substitute language for your requested changes.
     Describe any assumption 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.
     Explain your views as clearly as possible, avoiding the 
use of profanity or personal threats.
     Make sure to submit your comments by the comment period 
deadline identified.

II. Information About the Document

    Two sections of the Clean Air Act (CAA) govern the establishment 
and revision of the NAAQS. Section 108 (42 U.S.C. 7408) directs the 
Administrator to identify and list certain air pollutants and then to 
issue air quality criteria for those pollutants. The Administrator is 
to list those air pollutants that in her ``judgment, cause or 
contribute to air pollution which may reasonably be anticipated to 
endanger public health or welfare;'' ``the presence of which in the 
ambient air results from numerous or diverse mobile or stationary 
source;'' and ``for which * * *. [the Administrator] plans to issue air 
quality criteria * * *. '' Air quality criteria are intended 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 * * *. '' (42 U.S.C. 7408(b)). Under 
section 109 (42 U.S.C. 7409), the EPA establishes primary (health-
based) and secondary (welfare-based) NAAQS for pollutants for which air 
quality criteria are issued. Section 109(d) 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. Section 109(d)(2) requires 
that an independent scientific review committee ``shall complete a 
review of the criteria * * *. and the national primary and secondary 
ambient air quality standards * * *. and shall recommend to the 
Administrator any new * * *. standards and revisions of the existing 
criteria and standards as may be appropriate * * *. .'' Since the early 
1980s, this independent review function has been performed by the 
CASAC.
    Presently, the EPA is reviewing the primary NAAQS for 
NO2. The first draft Integrated Science Assessment for 
Oxides of Nitrogen (Health Criteria) (ISA) was released on November 22, 
2013 (78 FR 70040), and the draft Integrated Review Plan for the 
Primary NAAQS for Nitrogen Dioxide (IRP) (79 FR 7184) was released on 
February 10, 2014. Both documents were reviewed by CASAC at a public 
meeting in March 2014, and announced in a separate notice (79 FR 8701). 
The final IRP was released in June 2014 (79 FR 36801), and is available 
at http://www.epa.gov/ttn/naaqs/standards/nox/s_nox_2012_pd.html. The 
second draft ISA was made available to both CASAC and the public on 
January 29, 2015 (80 FR 5110).
    The REA Planning Document considers the degree to which important 
uncertainties identified in quantitative analyses from previous reviews 
have been addressed by newly available scientific evidence, tools, or 
information, including those in the second draft ISA. Based on these 
considerations, the document reaches preliminary conclusions on the 
extent to which updated quantitative analyses of exposures or health 
risks are warranted in the current review. For updated analyses that 
are supported, this planning document presents anticipated approaches 
to conducting such analyses and, where appropriate, preliminary 
results. This document is available on the EPA's Technology Transfer 
Network Web site at http://www.epa.gov/ttn/naaqs/standards/nox/s_nox_2012_pd.html.
    The REA Planning Document has been made available for review by 
CASAC and for public comment. Comments should be submitted to the 
docket, as described above. The CASAC

[[Page 27306]]

review of this planning document and the second draft ISA is scheduled 
for June 2-3, 2015. A separate Federal Register notice will provide 
details about this meeting and the process for participation.

    Dated: May 4, 2015.
Stephen D. Page,
Director, Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards.
[FR Doc. 2015-11566 Filed 5-12-15; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6560-50-P