09-19860. Proposed Acute Exposure Guideline Levels for Hazardous Substances; 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 substances. This notice provides a list of 19 proposed AEGLs that are available for public review and comment. Comments are welcome on both the proposed AEGLs and their Technical Support Documents placed in the docket.

DATES:

Comments must be received on or before September 18, 2009.

ADDRESSES:

Submit your comments, identified by docket identification (ID) number EPA-HQ-OPPT-2009-0001, 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 Bldg., Rm. 6428, 1201 Constitution Ave., NW., Washington, DC. Attention: Docket ID Number EPA-HQ-OPPT-2009-0001. 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-2009-0001. 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 website 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 docket index available at http://www.regulations.gov. 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. The OPPT Docket is located in the EPA Docket Center (EPA/DC) at Rm. 3334, EPA West Bldg., 1301 Constitution Ave., NW., Washington, DC. The EPA/DC Public Reading Room hours of operation are 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding Federal holidays. The telephone number of the EPA/DC Public Reading Room is [phone], and the telephone number for the OPPT Docket is [phone]. Docket visitors are required to show photographic identification, pass through a metal detector, and sign the EPA visitor log. All visitor bags are processed through an X-ray machine and subject to search. Visitors will be provided an EPA/DC badge that must be visible at all times in the building and returned upon departure.

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; 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 AEGLs and their Technical Support Documents. This action may be of particular interest to anyone who may be affected if the AEGLs 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 AEGLs 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 hazardous substances 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 AEGLs and underlying supporting documents for 19 hazardous substances. These AEGLs represent the 12^th set of exposure levels proposed and published by the NAC/AEGL Committee. These 12 sets of AEGLs cover 259 hazardous substances. Background information on the AEGL Program may be found in these earlier Federal Register notices, in the regulations.gov, or on the AEGL webpage (http://www.epa.gov/​oppt/​aegl).

Following public review and comment, the NAC/AEGL Committee will reconvene to consider relevant comments, data, and information that may have an impact on the NAC/AEGL Committees position and will again seek consensus for the establishment of Interim AEGLs. Although the Interim AEGLs will be available to Federal, State and local agencies and to organizations in the private sector as biological reference values, it is intended to have them reviewed by a subcommittee of the National Academies (NAS). The NAS subcommittee will serve as a peer review of the Interim AEGLs and as the final arbiter in the resolution of issues regarding the AEGLs, and the data and basic methodology used for setting AEGLs. Following concurrence, Final AEGLs will be published under the auspices of the NAS.

III. List of Hazardous Substances

On behalf of the NAC/AEGL Committee, EPA is providing an opportunity for public comment on the proposed AEGLs for the 19 hazardous substances identified in the table in this unit. Technical Support Documents are available in the docket for this notice. See ADDRESSES for docket information.

Chemical Name	CAS Number
1,2-Butylene oxide	106-88-7
Bromoacetone	598-31-2
Cyanogen	460-19-5
Ethylbenzene	100-41-4
Ethylisocyanate	109-90-0
Ethylphosphorodichloridate	1498-51-7
Germane	7782-65-2
Malathion	121-75-5
Methylisothiocyanate	556-61-6
Methylparathion	298-00-0
n-Butyl isocyanate	111-36-4
Nitrogentrifluoride	7783-54-2
Nitrogentetroxide	10544-72-6
Parathion	56-38-2
Phenyl isocyanate	103-71-9
Phorate	298-02-2
t-Octyl mercaptan	141-59-3
Tear gas	2698-41-1
Trimethylacetyl chloride	3282-30-2

List of Subjects

• Environmental protection
• Acute Exposure Guideline Levels
• Hazardous substances
• Health

Dated: August 4, 2009.

Stephen A. Owens,

Assistant Administrator, Office of Prevention, Pesticides and Toxic Substances.