E6-16908. National Advisory Committee for Acute Exposure Guideline Levels (AEGLs) for Hazardous Substances; Proposed AEGL Values; Notice of Availability

AGENCY:

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION:

Notice.

SUMMARY:

The National Advisory Committee for Acute Exposure Guideline Levels for Hazardous Substances (NAC/AEGL Committee) is developing AEGLs on an ongoing basis to provide Federal, State, and local agencies with information on short-term exposures to hazardous chemicals. This notice provides a list of 46 proposed AEGL chemicals that are available for public review and comment. Comments are welcome on both the AEGL values and the technical support documents placed in the docket.

DATES:

Comments must be received on or before November 13, 2006.

ADDRESSES:

Submit your comments, identified by docket identification (ID) number EPA-HQ-OPPT-2004-0128, by one of the following methods:

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the on-line instructions for submitting comments.
• Mail: Document Control Office (7407M), Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics (OPPT), Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460-0001.
• Hand Delivery: OPPT Document Control Office (DCO), EPA East, Rm. 6428, 1201 Constitution Ave., NW., Washington, DC. Attention: Docket ID Number EPA-HQ-OPPT-2004-0128. The DCO is open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding legal holidays. The telephone number for the DCO is [phone]. Such deliveries are only accepted during the DCO's normal hours of operation, and special arrangements should be made for deliveries of boxed information.

Instructions: Direct your comments to docket ID number EPA-HQ-OPPT-2004-0128. EPA's policy is that all comments received will be included in the docket without change and may be made available on-line 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 regulations.gov or e-mail. The 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 regulations.gov, your e-mail address will be automatically captured and included as part of the comment that is placed in the 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 http://www.epa.gov/​epahome/​dockets.htm.

Docket: All documents in the docket are listed in the 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 electronically at http://www.regulations.gov, or, if only available in hard copy, at the OPPT Docket, EPA Docket Center (EPA/DC). The EPA/DC suffered structural damage due to flooding in June 2006. Although the EPA/DC is continuing operations, there will be temporary changes to the EPA/DC during the clean-up. The EPA/DC Public Reading Room, which was temporarily closed due to flooding, has been relocated in the EPA Headquarters Library, Infoterra Room (Room Number 3334) in EPA West, located at 1301 Constitution Ave., NW., Washington, DC. The EPA/DC Public Reading Room is open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding legal holidays. The telephone number of the EPA/DC Public Reading Room is [phone], and the telephone number for the OPPT Docket is [phone]. EPA visitors are required to show photographic identification and sign the EPA visitor log. Visitors to the EPA/DC Public Reading Room will be provided with an EPA/DC badge that must be visible at all times while in the EPA Building and returned to the guard upon departure. In addition, security personnel will escort visitors to and from the new EPA/DC Public Reading Room location. Up-to-date information about the EPA/DC is on the EPA Web site at http://www.epa.gov/​epahome/​dockets.htm.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

For general information contact: Colby Lintner, Regulatory Coordinator, Environmental Assistance Division (7408M), Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics, Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460-0001; telephone number: [phone]; e-mail address: [e-mail].

For technical information contact: Paul S. Tobin, Designated Federal Officer (DFO), Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics (7406M), Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460-0001; telephone number: [phone]; e-mail address: [e-mail].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. General Information

A. Does this Action Apply to Me?

This action is directed to the general public to provide an opportunity for review and comment on proposed AEGL values and their supporting scientific rationale. This action may be of particular interest to anyone who may be affected if the AEGL values are adopted by government agencies for emergency planning, prevention, or response programs, such as EPAs Risk Management Program under the Clean Air Act and Amendments Section 112r. It is possible that other Federal agencies besides EPA, as well as State and local agencies and private organizations, may adopt the AEGL values for their programs. As such, the Agency has not attempted to describe all the specific entities that may be affected by this action. If you have any questions regarding the applicability of this action to a particular entity, consult the DFO listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.

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

1. Submitting CBI. Do not submit this information to EPA through 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 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:

i. Identify the document by docket ID number and other identifying information (subject heading, Federal Register date and page number).

ii. 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.

iii. Explain why you agree or disagree; suggest alternatives and substitute language for your requested changes.

iv. Describe any assumptions and provide any technical information and/or data that you used.

v. If you estimate potential costs or burdens, explain how you arrived at your estimate in sufficient detail to allow for it to be reproduced.

vi. Provide specific examples to illustrate your concerns and suggest alternatives.

vii. Explain your views as clearly as possible, avoiding the use of profanity or personal threats.

viii. Make sure to submit your comments by the comment period deadline identified.

II. What Action is the Agency Taking?

EPAs Office of Prevention, Pesticides and Toxic Substances (OPPTS) provided notice on October 31, 1995 (60 FR 55376) (FRL-4987-3) of the establishment of the NAC/AEGL Committee with the stated charter objective as “the efficient and effective development of AEGLs and the preparation of supplementary qualitative information on the hazardous substances for Federal, State, and Local agencies and organizations in the private sector concerned with [chemical] emergency planning, prevention, and response.” The NAC/AEGL Committee is a discretionary Federal advisory committee formed with the intent to develop AEGLs for chemicals through the combined efforts of stakeholder members from both the public and private sectors in a cost-effective approach that avoids duplication of efforts and provides uniform values, while employing the most scientifically sound methods available.

This action provides notice of availability, for public review and comment, of proposed AEGL values and underlying supporting documents for 46 hazardous substances. These values represent the ninth set of exposure levels proposed and published by the NAC/AEGL Committee. EPA published the first “proposed” AEGLs for 12 chemicals from the initial priority list in the Federal Register of October 30, 1997 (62 FR 58840-58851) (FRL-5737-3); for 10 chemicals in the Federal Register of March 15, 2000 (65 FR 14186-14197) (FRL-6492-4); for 14 chemicals in the Federal Register of June 23, 2000 (65 FR 39263-39277 ) (FRL-6591-2); for 7 chemicals in the Federal Register of December 13, 2000 (65 FR 77866-77874) (FRL-6752-5); for 18 chemicals in the Federal Register of May 2, 2001 (66 FR 21940-21964) (FRL-6776-3); for 8 chemicals in the Federal Register of February 15, 2002 (67 FR 7164-7176) (FRL-6815-8); for 10 chemicals in the Federal Register of July 18, 2003 (68 FR 42710-42726) (FRL-7189-8); and for 15 chemicals in the Federal Register of September 7, 2004 (69 FR 54144-54148) (FRL-7350-2) in order to provide an opportunity for public review and comment. Background information on the AEGL Program may be found in these earlier Federal Register notices, in regulations.gov, or on the AEGL Web site at http://www.epa.gov/​oppt/​aegl.

Chemical name	CAS No.
Acetaldehyde	75-07-0
Acetonitrile	75-05-8
Benzene	71-43-2
Benzonitrile	100-47-0
Bromine pentafluoride	7789-30-2
Bromine trifluoride	7787-71-5
Butadiene	106-99-0
Butane	106-97-8
Butyl acrylate	141-32-2
Chlorine pentafluoride	13637-63-3
Chloroacetaldehye	107-20-0
Chloroacetone	78-95-5
Chloroacetonitrile	107-14-2
Chloroacetyl chloride	79-04-9
Cumene	98-82-8
Dichloroacetyl chloride	79-36-7
Dimethyl sulfate	77-78-1
Disulfur dichloride	10025-67-9
Ethyl acrylate	140-88-5
Ethyl mercaptan	75-08-1
Formaldehyde	50-00-0
Hexane	110-54-3
Hydrogen bromide	10035-10-6
Hydrogen iodide	10034-85-2
Hydrogen selenide	7783-07-5
Isobutyronitrile	78-82-0
Lewisite L-1	541-25-3
Lewisite L-2	40334-69-8
Lewisite L-3	40334-70-1
Malononitrile	109-77-3
Methacrylic acid	79-41-4
Methacrylonitrile	126-98-7
Methyl bromide	74-83-9
Methyl chloride	74-87-3
Methyl methacrylate	80-62-6
Methylene chloride	75-09-2
Oleum	8014-95-7
Piperidine	110-89-4
Propane	74-98-6
Propionaldehyde	123-38-6
Proprionitrile	107-12-0
Styrene	110-42-5
Sulfur trioxide	7446-11-9
Sulfuric acid	7664-93-9
Titanium tetrachloride	7550-45-0
Vinyl chloride	75-01-4

List of Subjects

• Environmental protection
• Acute Exposure Guideline Levels (AEGLs)
• Hazardous substances

Dated: October 5, 2006.

Charles M. Auer,

Director, Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics.