[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 190 (Friday, September 30, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 60827-60829]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-25289]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[FRL-9473-9; Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-ORD-2011-0739]
Draft Toxicological Review of Biphenyl: In Support of Summary
Information on the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS)
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
ACTION: Notice of Public Comment Period and Listening Session
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SUMMARY: EPA is announcing a 60-day public comment period and a public
listening session for the external review draft human health assessment
titled, ``Toxicological Review of Biphenyl: In Support of Summary
Information on the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS)'' (EPA/
635/R-11/005C). The draft assessment was prepared by the National
Center for Environmental Assessment (NCEA) within the EPA Office of
Research and Development (ORD). EPA is releasing this draft assessment
solely for the purpose of pre-dissemination peer review under
applicable information quality guidelines. This draft assessment has
not been formally disseminated by EPA. It does not represent and should
not be construed to represent any Agency policy or determination. After
public review and comment, an EPA contractor will convene an expert
panel for independent external peer review of this draft assessment.
The public comment period and external peer review meeting are separate
processes that provide opportunities for all interested parties to
comment on the assessment. The external peer review meeting will be
scheduled at a later date and announced in the Federal Register. Public
comments submitted during the public comment period will be provided to
the external peer reviewers before the panel meeting and considered by
EPA in the disposition of public comments. Public comments received
after the public comment period closes will not be submitted to the
external peer reviewers and will only be considered by EPA if time
permits.
The listening session will be held on Wednesday, November 16, 2011,
during the public comment period for this draft assessment. The purpose
of the listening session is to allow all interested parties to present
scientific and technical comments on draft IRIS health assessments to
EPA and other interested parties attending the listening session. EPA
welcomes the comments that will be provided to the Agency by the
listening session participants. The comments will be considered by the
Agency as it revises the draft assessment after the independent
external peer review. If listening session participants would like EPA
to share their comments with the external peer reviewers, they should
also submit written comments during the public comment period using the
detailed and established procedures described in the SUPPLEMENTARY
INFORMATION section of this notice.
DATES: The public comment period begins September 30, 2011, and ends
November 29, 2011. Comments should be in writing and must be received
by EPA by November 29, 2011.
The listening session on the draft assessment for biphenyl will be
held on Wednesday, November 16, 2011, beginning at 9 a.m. and ending at
4 p.m., Eastern Standard Time, or when all presentations have been
completed. To attend the listening session, interested parties should
register no later than Wednesday, November 9, 2011. To present at the
listening session, indicate in your registration that you would like to
make oral comments at the session and provide the length of your
presentation. The following are instructions for registering: To attend
the listening session, register by contacting Ms. Bethzaida Colon of
Versar, Inc. via e-mail at [email protected] (subject line: Biphenyl
Listening Session), or by phone: 703-642-6727 (please reference the
``Biphenyl Listening Session'' and mention you name, title,
affiliation, full address and contact information). When you register,
please indicate if you will need audio-visual equipment (e.g., laptop
computer and slide projector). In general, each presentation should be
no more than 30 minutes. If, however, there are more requests for
presentations than the allotted time allows, then the time limit for
each presentation will be adjusted. A copy of the agenda for the
listening session will be available at the meeting. If no speakers have
registered by Wednesday, November 9, 2011, the listening session will
be cancelled, and EPA will notify those registered of the cancellation.
ADDRESSES: The draft ``Toxicological Review of Biphenyl: In Support of
Summary Information on the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS)''
is available primarily via the Internet on the NCEA home page under the
Recent Additions and Publications menus at http://www.epa.gov/ncea. A
limited number of paper copies are available from the Information
Management Team (Address: Information Management Team, National Center
for Environmental Assessment (Mail Code: 8601P), U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20460;
telephone: 703-347-8561; facsimile: 703-347-8691). If you request a
paper copy, please provide your name, mailing address, and the draft
assessment title.
Comments may be submitted electronically via http://www.regulations.gov, by e-mail, by mail, by facsimile, or by hand
delivery/courier. Please follow the detailed instructions provided in
the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this notice.
[[Page 60828]]
The listening session on the draft biphenyl assessment will be held
at the EPA offices at Two Potomac Yard (North Building), Rm. 7100, 2733
South Crystal Drive, Arlington, Virginia 22202. Please note that to
gain entrance to this EPA building to attend the meeting, you must have
photo identification and must register at the guard's desk in the
lobby. The guard will retain your photo identification and will provide
you with a visitor's badge. At the guard's desk, you should provide the
name Christine Ross and the telephone number 703-347-8592 to the guard
on duty. The guard will contact Ms. Ross who will meet you in the
reception area to escort you to the meeting room. When you leave the
building, please return your visitor's badge to the guard and you will
receive your photo identification.
A teleconference line will also be available for registered
attendees/speakers. The teleconference number is 866-299-3188, and the
access code is 926-378-7897, followed by the pound sign ().
The teleconference line will be activated at 8:45 a.m., and you will be
asked to identify yourself and your affiliation at the beginning of the
call.
Information on Services for Individuals with Disabilities: EPA
welcomes public attendance at the biphenyl listening session and will
make every effort to accommodate persons with disabilities. For
information on access or services for individuals with disabilities,
please contact Christine Ross by phone at 703-347-8592 or by e-mail at
[email protected]. To request accommodation for a
disability, please contact Ms. Ross, preferably at least 10 days prior
to the meeting, to give EPA as much time as possible to process your
request.
Additional Information: For information on the docket,
www.regulations.gov, or the public comment period, please contact the
Office of Environmental Information (OEI) Docket (Mail Code: 2822T),
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW.,
Washington, DC 20460; telephone: 202-566-1752; facsimile: 202-566-1753;
or e-mail: [email protected].
For information on the public listening session, please contact
Christine Ross, IRIS Staff, National Center for Environmental
Assessment (Mail Code: 8601P), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency,
1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20460; telephone: 703-
347-8592; facsimile: 703-347-8689; or e-mail:
[email protected].
For information on the draft assessment, please contact Zheng
(Jenny) Li, National Center for Environmental Assessment (Mail code:
8601P), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue,
NW., Washington, DC 20460; telephone: 703-347-8577; facsimile: 703-347-
8689; or e-mail: [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Information About IRIS
EPA's IRIS is a human health assessment program that evaluates
quantitative and qualitative risk information on effects that may
result from exposure to chemical substances 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. The IRIS database contains information for more than 540
chemical substances that can be used to support the first two steps
(hazard identification and dose-response evaluation) of the risk
assessment process. When supported by available data, IRIS provides
oral reference doses (RfDs) and inhalation reference concentrations
(RfCs) for chronic noncancer health effects and cancer assessments.
Combined with specific exposure information, government and private
entities use IRIS to help characterize public health risks of chemical
substances in a site-specific situation and thereby support risk
management decisions designed to protect public health.
II. How to Submit Comments to the Docket at http://www.regulations.gov
Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-ORD-2011-
0739, by one of the following methods:
http://www.regulations.gov: Follow the on-line
instructions for submitting comments.
E-mail: [email protected].
Facsimile: 202-566-1753.
Mail: Office of Environmental Information (OEI) Docket
(Mail Code: 2822T), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 1200
Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460. The telephone number is
202-566-1752. If you provide comments by mail, 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.
Hand Delivery: The OEI Docket is located in the EPA
Headquarters Docket Center, EPA West Building, Room 3334, 1301
Constitution Ave., 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. 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
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-ORD-
2011-0739. 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 comments include 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 website is an ``anonymous access'' system,
which means that EPA will not know your identity or contact information
unless you provide it in the body of your comments. If you send e-mail
comments directly to EPA without going through http://www.regulations.gov, your e-mail address will be automatically captured
and included as part of the comments that are placed in the public
docket and made available on the Internet. If you submit electronic
comments, EPA recommends that you include your name and other contact
information in the body of your comments and with any disk or CD-ROM
you submit. If EPA cannot read your comments due to technical
difficulties and cannot contact you for clarification, EPA may not be
able to consider your comments. Electronic files should avoid the use
of special characters and 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
[[Page 60829]]
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 at http://www.regulations.gov or in
hard copy at the OEI Docket in the EPA Headquarters Docket Center.
Dated: September 27, 2011.
Darrell A. Winner,
Acting Director, National Center for Environmental Assessment.
[FR Doc. 2011-25289 Filed 9-29-11; 8:45 am]
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