Petition to Remove 4,4′-Methylene Diphenyl Diisocyanate From the List of Hazardous Air Pollutants, 30407-30409 [05-10579]

Agencies

• ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 101 (Thursday, May 26, 2005)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 30407-30409]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-10579]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 63

[OAR-2005-0085; FRL-7918-5]


Petition to Remove 4,4'-Methylene Diphenyl Diisocyanate From the 
List of Hazardous Air Pollutants

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of receipt of a complete petition to delist 4,4'-
methylene diphenyl diisocyanate from the list of hazardous air 
pollutants.

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SUMMARY: The EPA is announcing the receipt of a complete petition from 
the Diisocyanates Panel of the American Chemistry Council (ACC) 
requesting EPA to remove the chemical 4,4'-methylene diphenyl 
diisocyanate (MDI)(Chemical Abstract Service No. 101-68-8) from the 
list of hazardous air pollutants (HAP) contained in section 112(b)(1) 
of the Clean Air Act (CAA). We have determined that the ACC's original 
petition dated December 23, 2002, and the addenda provided by the ACC 
through March 7, 2005, will support an assessment of the human health 
impacts associated with people living in the vicinity of facilities 
emitting MDI. In addition, the data submitted by the ACC will support 
an assessment of the environmental impacts associated with emissions of 
MDI to the ambient air and deposited onto soil or water. Consequently, 
we have concluded that ACC's petition is complete as of March 7, 2005, 
the date that the last addendum was received, and is ready for public 
comment and the technical review phase of our delisting procedure.
    The EPA invites the public to comment on the petition and to 
provide additional data, beyond that filed in the petition, on sources, 
emissions, exposure, health effects and environmental impacts 
associated with MDI that may be relevant to our technical review. The 
petition is available through Docket ID OAR-2005-0085.

DATES: Written comments must be received on or before June 27, 2005.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID OAR-2005-0085, 
by one of the following methods:
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: https://www.regulations.gov. 
Follow the on-line instructions for submitting comments.
     Agency Web site: https://www.epa.gov/edocket. EDOCKET, 
EPA's electronic public docket and comment system, is EPA's preferred 
method for receiving comments. Follow the on-line instructions for 
submitting comments.
     Mail: Air and Radiation Docket and Information Center 
(Mail Code 6102T), Room B108, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington, 
DC 20460].
     Hand Delivery: Air and Radiation Docket and Information 
Center (Mail Code 6102T), Room B102, U.S. EPA, 1301 Constitution 
Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20460. 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. OAR-2005-0085. 
The EPA's policy is that all comments received will be included in the 
public docket without change and may be made available online at http:/
/www.epa.gov/edocket, 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 EDOCKET, regulations.gov, or e-
mail. The EPA EDOCKET and the Federal regulations.gov Web sites are 
``anonymous access'' systems, 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 EDOCKET or regulations.gov, your e-mail 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 instructions on submitting 
comments, go to the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this document.
    Docket: All documents in the docket are listed in the EDOCKET index 
at https://www.epa.gov/edocket. Although listed in the index, some 
information is not publicly available, i.e., CBI or other information 
whose disclosure is restricted by statute. Certain other information, 
such as copyrighted material, is not placed on the Internet

[[Page 30408]]

and will be publicly available only in hard copy form. Publicly 
available docket materials are available either electronically in 
EDOCKET or in hard copy form at the Air and Radiation Docket, Docket ID 
No. 2005-0085, EPA/DC, EPA West, Room B102, 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 is (202) 566-1742.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr. Scott Jenkins, Office of Air 
Quality Planning and Standards, Emission Standards Division (Mailcode 
C404-01), EPA, Research Triangle Park, NC 27711; telephone number: 
(919) 541-1167; fax number: (919) 541-0840; e-mail address: 
jenkins.scott@epa.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. General Information

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

    1. Submitting CBI. Do not submit this information to EPA through 
EDOCKET, 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 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 referencing a Code of 
Federal Regulations (CFR) part or section number.
     Explain why you agree or disagree; suggest alternatives 
and substitute language for your requested changes.
     Describe any assumptions 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. Petitions To Delist a Hazardous Air Pollutant

A. What Is the List of Hazardous Air Pollutants?

    The list of HAP includes a wide variety of organic and inorganic 
substances released from large and small industrial operations, fossil 
fuel combustion, gasoline and diesel-powered vehicles, and many other 
sources. The HAP have been associated with a wide variety of adverse 
health effects, including cancer, neurological effects, reproductive 
effects, and developmental effects. The health effects associated with 
the various HAP may differ depending upon the toxicity of the 
individual HAP and the particular circumstances of exposure, such as 
the amount of chemical present, the length of time a person is exposed, 
and the stage in life of the person when the exposure occurs. The list 
of HAP, which includes MDI, can be found in section 112(b)(1) of the 
CAA. The HAP list provides the basis for research, regulation, and 
other related EPA activities under the CAA.

B. What Is a Delisting Petition?

    A delisting petition is a formal request to EPA from an individual 
or group to remove a specific HAP from the HAP list. The removal of a 
HAP from the list eliminates it from consideration in EPA's program to 
promulgate national, technology-based emissions control standards. This 
technology-based standards program is commonly referred to as the 
maximum achievable control technology (MACT) program.
    Petitions to add or delete chemicals from the HAP list are allowed 
under section 112(b)(3)(A) of the CAA. The CAA specifies that any 
person may petition the Administrator to modify, by addition or 
deletion, the list of HAP. The EPA Administrator is required under 
section 112(b)(3)(A) of the CAA to either grant or deny a petition to 
delist a specific HAP within 18 months of the receipt of a complete 
petition.
    To delete a substance from the HAP list, CAA section 112(b)(3)(C) 
requires that the petitioner must provide adequate data on the health 
and environmental effects of the substance to determine that emissions, 
ambient concentrations, bio-accumulation or deposition of the substance 
may not reasonably be anticipated to cause any adverse effects to human 
health or adverse environmental effects.

C. How Does EPA Review a Petition To Delist a HAP?

    The petition review process proceeds in two phases: A completeness 
determination and a technical review. During the completeness 
determination, we conduct a broad review of the petition to determine 
whether all of the necessary subject areas are addressed. In addition, 
we determine if adequate data, analyses, and evaluation are included 
for each subject area. Once the petition is determined to be complete, 
we place a notice of receipt of a complete petition in the Federal 
Register. That notice announces a public comment period on the petition 
and starts the technical review phase of our decision-making process. 
The technical review determines whether the petition has satisfied the 
necessary requirements and can support a decision to delist the HAP. 
All comments and data submitted during the public comment period are 
considered during the technical review.

D. How Is the Decision To Delist a HAP Made?

    The decision to either grant or deny a petition is made after a 
comprehensive technical review of both the petition and the information 
received from the public to determine whether the petition satisfies 
the requirements of section 112(b)(3)(C) of the CAA. If the 
Administrator decides to grant a petition, a proposal will be published 
in the Federal Register announcing that decision and the opportunity 
for public comment. That notice would propose a modification of the HAP 
list and present the reasoning for doing so. However, if the 
Administrator decides to deny a petition, a notice setting forth an 
explanation of the reasons for denial will be published instead. A 
notice of denial constitutes final Agency action of nationwide scope 
and applicability and is subject to judicial review as provided in 
section 307(b) of the CAA.

III. Completeness Determination and Request for Public Comment

    On December 23, 2002, we received a petition from the ACC's 
Diisocyanates Panel to remove MDI from the HAP list. Because of 
incomplete documentation of emissions information and modeling 
procedures, EPA determined that the

[[Page 30409]]

petition was incomplete and requested that the petitioner provide 
additional information. The petitioner submitted an addendum on 
September 2, 2004, addressing EPA's concerns regarding the completeness 
of the petition. We identified a need for additional information 
supporting the MDI emissions estimates and the modeling performed. The 
petitioner submitted a second addendum dated February 28, 2005, to 
address these issues. We received one of the appendices to this 
addendum, in the form of a CD-ROM, on March 7, 2005.
    After reviewing the original petition and the addenda, we have 
determined that all of the necessary subject areas for a human health 
and environmental risk assessment have been addressed. Therefore, the 
petition is complete and ready for technical review. The ACC's last 
submission, received March 7, 2005, marked the start of the 18-month 
technical review and decision period. Today's notice initiates our 
comprehensive technical review of the petition and invites public 
comment on the substance of the petition as described above.

IV. Description of Petition

    The original petition and addenda provided by the ACC contain the 
following information:
     Background data on MDI including chemical properties, 
physical properties, production data, and use data;
     Identification and location of facilities that emit MDI;
     Estimated emission rates of MDI for each facility;
     Toxicological data describing the human health and 
environmental effects of MDI;
     Atmospheric dispersion modeling that provide estimates of 
MDI concentrations adjacent to facilities that emit it;
     Environmental effects data characterizing the fate of MDI 
emitted to the atmosphere; and
     Characterization of risks to human health and the 
environment due to emissions of MDI.
    The petitioners revised the estimates of MDI emissions contained in 
the 1996 National Emissions Inventory (NEI) using a method described by 
William Robert and colleagues in the article titled, ``Developing a 
National Emissions Inventory for MDI,'' (Environmental Manager, 
October, 2001). Many of these changes were incorporated into the 1999 
NEI. The petitioners have continued to revise emissions estimates for 
MDI since the 1999 NEI. The petition presents their revised MDI 
emissions inventory which, according to the petitioners, represents an 
improvement over the 1999 NEI. These revisions resulted in a 400 
percent increase in the number of facilities that emit MDI and a 75 
percent decrease in national MDI emissions.
    Based on the chemical and physical properties of MDI, the 
petitioner claims that inhalation is the only significant route of 
human exposure to MDI emissions. Using their revised MDI emissions 
inventory and some site-specific data as input for air dispersion 
modeling, the petition develops estimates of the maximum annual and 24-
hour concentrations anticipated to occur at the boundaries of 
facilities that emit MDI. The petition compares modeling output to 
available health data and concludes that, given the low concentrations 
anticipated to occur at facility boundaries, MDI emissions cannot 
reasonably be anticipated to cause chronic or acute adverse health 
impacts in people living near MEI-emitting facilities.
    The petition also claims that MDI is not expected to adversely 
impact the environment. Work supporting MDI's low environmental 
toxicity, lack of environmental persistence, and its low potential for 
bioaccumulation is presented.
    We invite the public to comment on the technical merits of this 
petition and to submit any information that may impact EPA's ultimate 
decision to grant or deny the petitioner's request.

    Dated: May 18, 2005.
Robert Brenner,
Acting Assistant Administrator for Air and Radiation.
[FR Doc. 05-10579 Filed 5-25-05; 8:45 am]
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