Draft Scopes of the Risk Evaluations To Be Conducted for Seven Chemical Substances Under the Toxic Substances Control Act; Notice of Availability, 22733-22735 [2020-08613]

Download as PDF Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 79 / Thursday, April 23, 2020 / Notices accordance with 18 CFR 4.34(b) and 385.2010. Locations of Notice of Intent: The Commission provides all interested persons an opportunity to view and/or print the contents of this document via the internet through the Commission’s website at https://www.ferc.gov/docsfiling/elibrary.asp. Enter the docket number (i.e., CD20–4) in the docket number field to access the document. You may also register online at https:// www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/ esubscription.asp to be notified via email of new filings and issuances related to this or other pending projects. Copies of the notice of intent can be obtained directly from the applicant. At this time, the Commission has suspended access to the Commission’s Public Reference Room due to the proclamation declaring a National Emergency concerning the Novel Coronavirus Disease (COVID–19), issued by the President on March 13, 2020. For assistance, call toll-free 1–866–208– 3676 or email FERCOnlineSupport@ ferc.gov. For TTY, call (202) 502–8659. Dated: April 16, 2020. Kimberly D. Bose, Secretary. [FR Doc. 2020–08636 Filed 4–22–20; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 6717–01–P DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY Federal Energy Regulatory Commission [Docket No. AC20–85–000] lotter on DSKBCFDHB2PROD with NOTICES Black Marlin Pipeline LLC; Notice of Filing Take notice that on April 7, 2020 Black Marlin Pipeline LLC submitted a request for a waiver of the reporting requirement to file the FERC Form 2– A—Annual Report for Nonmajor Natural Gas Companies and 3–Q Quarterly Financial Report of Natural Gas Companies for calendar year 2020 and subsequent years. Any person desiring to intervene or to protest this filing must file in accordance with Rules 211 and 214 of the Commission’s Rules of Practice and Procedure (18 CFR 385.211 or 385.214). Protests will be considered by the Commission in determining the appropriate action to be taken, but will not serve to make protestants parties to the proceeding. Any person wishing to become a party must file a notice of intervention or motion to intervene, as appropriate. Such notices, motions, or protests must be filed on or before the comment date. On or before the VerDate Sep<11>2014 19:28 Apr 22, 2020 Jkt 250001 comment date, it is not necessary to serve motions to intervene or protests on persons other than the Applicant. The Commission strongly encourages electronic filings of comments, protests and interventions in lieu of paper using the eFiling link at https://www.ferc.gov. Persons unable to file electronically may mail similar pleadings to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 888 First Street, NE, Washington, DC 20426. Hand delivered submissions in docketed proceedings should be delivered to Health and Human Services, 12225 Wilkins Avenue, Rockville, Maryland 20852. In addition to publishing the full text of this document in the Federal Register, the Commission provides all interested persons an opportunity to view and/or print the contents of this document via the internet through the Commission’s Home Page (https:// ferc.gov) using the eLibrary link. Enter the docket number excluding the last three digits in the docket number field to access the document. At this time, the Commission has suspended access to the Commission’s Public Reference Room, due to the proclamation declaring a National Emergency concerning the Novel Coronavirus Disease (COVID–19), issued by the President on March 13, 2020. For assistance, contact the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission at FERCOnlineSupport@ferc.gov or call toll-free, (886) 208–3676 or TYY, (202) 502–8659. Comment Date: 5 p.m. Eastern Time on May 18, 2020. Dated: April 17, 2020. Kimberly D. Bose, Secretary. [FR Doc. 2020–08633 Filed 4–22–20; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 6717–01–P ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY [EPA–HQ–OPPT–2019–0131; FRL–10008– 05] Draft Scopes of the Risk Evaluations To Be Conducted for Seven Chemical Substances Under the Toxic Substances Control Act; Notice of Availability Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). ACTION: Notice. AGENCY: As required by the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), which was amended by the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act in June 2016, EPA is SUMMARY: PO 00000 Frm 00018 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4703 22733 announcing the availability of the draft scope documents for the risk evaluations to be conducted for 7 of 20 High-Priority Substances designated in December 2019. The draft scope document for each chemical substance includes the conditions of use, hazards, exposures, and the potentially exposed or susceptible subpopulations the EPA plans to consider in conducting the risk evaluation for that chemical substance. EPA is also opening a 45-calendar day comment period on these draft scope documents to allow for the public to provide additional data or information that could be useful to the Agency in finalizing the scope of the risk evaluations; comments may be submitted to this docket and the individual dockets for each of the chemical substances. DATES: Comments must be received on or before June 8, 2020. ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by docket identification (ID) number EPA–HQ–OPPT–2019–0131, or the applicable docket ID number for the individual chemical substances identified in Unit III., by one of the following methods: • Federal eRulemaking Portal: https:// www.regulations.gov. Follow the online instructions for submitting comments. Do not submit electronically any information you consider to be Confidential Business Information (CBI) or other information whose disclosure is restricted by statute. • 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: To make special arrangements for hand delivery or delivery of boxed information, please follow the instructions at https:// www.epa.gov/dockets/contacts.html. Additional instructions on commenting or visiting the docket, along with more information about dockets generally, is available at https:// www.epa.gov/dockets. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For technical information contact: Ross Geredien, Risk Assessment Division, Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics, Environmental Protection Agency (Mailcode 7403M), 1200 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20460–0001; telephone number: (202) 564–1864; email address: geredien.ross@ epa.gov. For general information contact: The TSCA-Hotline, ABVIGoodwill, 422 South Clinton Ave., Rochester, NY 14620; telephone number: (202) 554–1404; email address: TSCA-Hotline@epa.gov. E:\FR\FM\23APN1.SGM 23APN1 22734 Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 79 / Thursday, April 23, 2020 / Notices SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: I. General Information A. Does this action apply to me? This action is directed to the public in general and may be of interest to entities that manufacture (including import) a chemical substance regulated under TSCA (e.g., entities identified under North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS) codes 325 and 324110). The action may also be of interest to chemical processors, distributors in commerce, and users; non-governmental organizations in the environmental and public health sectors; state and local government agencies; and members of the public. Since other entities may also be interested, the Agency has not attempted to describe all the specific entities and corresponding NAICS codes for entities that may be interested in or affected by this action. B. What is the Agency’s authority for taking this action? This action directly implements TSCA section 6(b)(4)(D), 15 U.S.C. 2605(b)(4)(D). C. What action is the Agency taking? EPA is publishing the draft scopes of the risk evaluations for 7 of 20 chemical substances designated as High-Priority Substances for risk evaluation under TSCA. Through the risk evaluation process, EPA will determine whether the chemical substances present an unreasonable risk of injury to health or the environment under the conditions of use, in accordance with TSCA section 6(b)(4). EPA announced the availability of the draft scopes of the risk evaluations for 13 of 20 chemical substances designated as High-Priority Substances for risk evaluation under TSCA on April 6, 2020 (Ref. 1). II. Background TSCA section 6(b)(1) requires EPA to prioritize chemical substances for risk evaluation (15 U.S.C. 2605(b)(1)). Effective December 20, 2019, EPA designated 20 chemical substances as High-Priority Substances for risk evaluation (Ref. 2), which initiated the risk evaluation process for those chemical substances (15 U.S.C. 2605(b)(3)(A); 40 CFR 702.17). The purpose of risk evaluation is to determine whether a chemical substance presents an unreasonable risk to health or the environment, under the conditions of use, including an unreasonable risk to a relevant potentially exposed or susceptible subpopulation (15 U.S.C. 2605(b)(4)(A)). As part of this process, EPA must evaluate both hazard and exposure, exclude consideration of costs or other non-risk factors, use scientific information and approaches in a manner that is consistent with the requirements in TSCA for the best available science, and ensure decisions are based on the weight-of-scientificevidence (15 U.S.C. 2605(b)(4)(F)). This process will culminate in a determination of whether or not the chemical substance presents an unreasonable risk of injury to health or the environment under the conditions of use (40 CFR 702.47). III. Draft Scopes for 7 of 20 Designated High Priority Chemical Substances The 7 chemical substances for which EPA is publishing the draft scopes of the risk evaluations are identified in the following Table, along with the corresponding Chemical Abstract System Registry Number (CASRN) and docket ID numbers. TABLE—DRAFT SCOPES FOR 7 OF 20 DESIGNATED HIGH PRIORITY CHEMICAL SUBSTANCES Chemical substance CASRN lotter on DSKBCFDHB2PROD with NOTICES Butyl benzyl phthalate (BBP) (1,2-Benzenedicarboxylic acid, 1-butyl 2-(phenylmethyl) ester) .... Dibutyl phthalate (DBP) (1,2-Benzenedicarboxylic acid, 1,2-dibutyl ester) ................................... Dicyclohexyl phthalate (1,2-Benzenedicarboxylic acid, 1,2-dicyclohexyl ester) ............................ Di-ethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP) (1,2-Benzenedicarboxylic acid, 1,2-bis(2-ethylhexyl) ester) ....... Di-isobutyl phthalate (DIBP) (1,2-Benzenedicarboxylic acid, 1,2-bis(2-methylpropyl) ester) ........ Formaldehyde ................................................................................................................................. Phthalic anhydride (1,3-Isobenzofurandione) ................................................................................ The draft scope of the risk evaluation for each of these 7 chemical substances includes the conditions of use, hazards, exposures, and the potentially exposed or susceptible subpopulations the EPA plans to consider. Development of the scope is the first step of a risk evaluation. The draft scope of each risk evaluation will include the following components (40 CFR 702.41(c)): • The conditions of use, as determined by the Administrator, that the EPA plans to consider in the risk evaluation. • The potentially exposed populations that EPA plans to evaluate; the ecological receptors that EPA plans to evaluate; and the hazards to health and the environment that EPA plans to evaluate. • A description of the reasonably available information and the science VerDate Sep<11>2014 19:28 Apr 22, 2020 Jkt 250001 approaches that the Agency plans to use. • A conceptual model that will describe the actual or predicted relationships between the chemical substance, the conditions of use within the scope of the evaluation and the receptors, either human or environmental, with consideration of the life cycle of the chemical substance—from manufacturing, processing, distribution in commerce, storage, use, to release or disposal—and identification of human and ecological health hazards EPA plans to evaluate for the exposure scenarios EPA plans to evaluate. • An analysis plan, which will identify the approaches and methods EPA plans to use to assess exposure, hazards, and risk, including associated uncertainty and variability, as well as a PO 00000 Frm 00019 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4703 85–68–7 84–74–2 84–61–7 117–81–7 84–69–5 50–00–0 85–44–9 Docket ID No. EPA–HQ–OPPT–2018–0501 EPA–HQ–OPPT–2018–0503 EPA–HQ–OPPT–2018–0504 EPA–HQ–OPPT–2018–0433 EPA–HQ–OPPT–2018–0434 EPA–HQ–OPPT–2018–0438 EPA–HQ–OPPT–2018–0459 strategy for using reasonably available information and science approaches. • A plan for peer review. With the publication of the draft scopes, EPA is providing a 45-calendar day public comment period. Note that, as a result of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision in Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families v. U.S. EPA, 943 F.3d 397, 425 (9th Cir. 2019), EPA will no longer exclude legacy uses or associated disposal from the definition of ‘‘conditions of use.’’ Rather, when these activities are intended, known, or reasonably foreseen, these activities will be considered uses and disposal, respectively, within the definition of ‘‘conditions of use.’’ EPA encourages commenters to provide information they believe might be missing or may further inform the risk evaluation. EPA will publish a notice in the Federal Register E:\FR\FM\23APN1.SGM 23APN1 Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 79 / Thursday, April 23, 2020 / Notices announcing the availability of the final scopes within six months of the initiation of risk evaluations that occurred on December 20, 2019 (Ref. 2). IV. References The following is a listing of the documents that are specifically referenced in this Federal Register notice. The docket for this action includes these documents and other information considered by EPA, including documents that are referenced within the documents that are included in the docket. For assistance in locating these referenced documents, please consult the technical person listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT. 1. EPA. Draft Scopes of the Risk Evaluations to be Conducted for Thirteen Chemical Substances Under the Toxic Substances Control Act; Notice of Availability. Federal Register. 85 FRxx, April 9, 2020 (FRL–10007–11). 2. EPA. High-Priority Substance Designations Under the Toxic Substances Control Act and Initiation of Risk Evaluation on High-Priority Substances; Availability. Federal Register. 84 FR 71924, December 30, 2019 (FRL–10003–15). Authority: 15 U.S.C. 2601 et seq. Andrew Wheeler, Administrator. [FR Doc. 2020–08613 Filed 4–22–20; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 6560–50–P ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY [EPA–R01–OW–2020–0216; FRL–10008–65– Region 1] Notice of Availability of Proposed Modifications to NPDES General Permits for Stormwater Discharges From Small Municipal Separate Storm Sewer Systems in Massachusetts and New Hampshire Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). ACTION: Notice of Availability of Proposed Permit Modifications; Request for Public Comment. AGENCY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is providing this notice of availability (NOA) for proposed limited modifications to the final National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) general permits for discharges of stormwater from small Municipal Separate Storm Sewer Systems (MS4s) in Massachusetts and New Hampshire under the Clean Water Act (CWA). The proposed modifications represent the results of mediation supervised by the lotter on DSKBCFDHB2PROD with NOTICES SUMMARY: VerDate Sep<11>2014 19:28 Apr 22, 2020 Jkt 250001 U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit Mediation Program between EPA and petitioners the National Association of Homebuilders (NAHB), the Home Builders and Remodelers Association of Massachusetts, Inc. (HBRAMA), the New Hampshire Home Builders Association (NHHBA), the Center for Regulatory Reasonableness (CRR), the Massachusetts Coalition for Water Resources Stewardship (MCWRS), the Town of Franklin, Massachusetts (Franklin), the City of Lowell, Massachusetts (Lowell), the Conservation Law Foundation (CLF), and the Charles River Watershed Association (CRWA). EPA and the petitioners have entered into settlement agreements that include commitments for EPA to propose certain modifications to the 2016 Massachusetts Small MS4 General Permit and the 2017 New Hampshire Small MS4 General Permit, and then to take final action on each proposal. DATES: Written comments on the proposed permit modifications must be received by June 8, 2020. ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID number EPA– R01–OW–2020–0216, online at www.regulations.gov (EPA’s preferred method). For comments submitted at www.regulations.gov, follow the online instructions for submitting comments. Once submitted, comments cannot be edited or removed from www.regulations.gov. The EPA may publish any comment received to its public docket. Do not submit electronically any information you consider to be Confidential Business Information (CBI) or other information whose disclosure is restricted by statute. Multimedia submissions (audio, video, etc.) must be accompanied by a written comment. The written comment is considered the official comment and should include discussion of all points you wish to make. The EPA generally will not consider comments or comment contents located outside of the primary submission (i.e. on the web, cloud, or other file sharing system). For additional submission methods, please contact the persons identified in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section. For the full EPA public comment policy, information about CBI or multimedia submissions, and general guidance on making effective comments, please visit https://www2.epa.gov/dockets/ commenting-epa-dockets. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Newton Tedder, Water Division, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 1, 5 Post Office Square, MC 06– PO 00000 Frm 00020 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4703 22735 4 Boston, MA 02109; telephone number: 617–918–1038; email address: tedder.newton@epa.gov; or Suzanne Warner, Water Division, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 1, 5 Post Office Square, MC 06– 4, Boston, MA 02109; telephone number: 617–918–1383; email address: warner.suzanne@epa.gov. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: I. Additional Information About the Proposed Permit Modifications On April 4, 2016, EPA issued a final NPDES general permit for discharges of stormwater from small MS4s in Massachusetts (the MA MS4 Permit) under CWA section 402(p). 33 U.S.C. 1342(p). On July 18, 2016, CRR filed a petition for review of the permit in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. CLF, CRWA, MCWRS, Franklin, NAHB, HBRAMA, and the City of Lowell also filed petitions for review of the permit, all of which were consolidated with CRR’s petition in the D.C. Circuit. Center for Regulatory Reasonableness, et al. v. EPA, No. 16– 1246 (DC Cir.) (2016 Massachusetts Small MS4 General Permit consolidated cases). On January 18, 2017, EPA issued a final NPDES general permit for discharges of stormwater from small MS4s in New Hampshire (the NH MS4 Permit). On February 1, 2017, CLF filed a petition for review of the permit in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. CRR, NAHB, and NHHBA later filed petitions for review in the D.C. Circuit. The First Circuit then transferred the CLF petition to the D.C. Circuit, where the D.C. Circuit consolidated it with the CRR, NAHB, and NHHBA petitions. Center for Regulatory Reasonableness et. al v. EPA, Conservation Law Foundation, Intervenor No. 17–1060 (DC Cir.) (2017 New Hampshire Small MS4 General Permit consolidated cases). The parties to both cases entered into mediation in 2017, and the D.C. Circuit has held the cases in abeyance. On December 27, 2019, EPA published three proposed settlement agreements in the Federal Register for a 30-day public comment period. See ‘‘Proposed Settlement Agreements, Clean Water Act Claims,’’ 84 FR 71407 (Dec. 27, 2019). EPA’s planned proposed permit modifications to the Massachusetts and New Hampshire permits and statements of basis describing those proposed modifications were attached as Exhibits A and B to the Massachusetts and New Hampshire proposed settlement agreements. EPA and the petitioners executed the settlement agreements on April 15, 2020. The first two settlement E:\FR\FM\23APN1.SGM 23APN1

Agencies

[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 79 (Thursday, April 23, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 22733-22735]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-08613]


=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[EPA-HQ-OPPT-2019-0131; FRL-10008-05]


Draft Scopes of the Risk Evaluations To Be Conducted for Seven 
Chemical Substances Under the Toxic Substances Control Act; Notice of 
Availability

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: As required by the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), which 
was amended by the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st 
Century Act in June 2016, EPA is announcing the availability of the 
draft scope documents for the risk evaluations to be conducted for 7 of 
20 High-Priority Substances designated in December 2019. The draft 
scope document for each chemical substance includes the conditions of 
use, hazards, exposures, and the potentially exposed or susceptible 
subpopulations the EPA plans to consider in conducting the risk 
evaluation for that chemical substance. EPA is also opening a 45-
calendar day comment period on these draft scope documents to allow for 
the public to provide additional data or information that could be 
useful to the Agency in finalizing the scope of the risk evaluations; 
comments may be submitted to this docket and the individual dockets for 
each of the chemical substances.

DATES: Comments must be received on or before June 8, 2020.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by docket identification 
(ID) number EPA-HQ-OPPT-2019-0131, or the applicable docket ID number 
for the individual chemical substances identified in Unit III., by one 
of the following methods:
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: https://www.regulations.gov. 
Follow the online instructions for submitting comments. Do not submit 
electronically any information you consider to be Confidential Business 
Information (CBI) or other information whose disclosure is restricted 
by statute.
     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: To make special arrangements for hand 
delivery or delivery of boxed information, please follow the 
instructions at https://www.epa.gov/dockets/contacts.html.
    Additional instructions on commenting or visiting the docket, along 
with more information about dockets generally, is available at https://www.epa.gov/dockets.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For technical information contact: 
Ross Geredien, Risk Assessment Division, Office of Pollution Prevention 
and Toxics, Environmental Protection Agency (Mailcode 7403M), 1200 
Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20460-0001; telephone number: 
(202) 564-1864; email address: [email protected]. For general 
information contact: The TSCA-Hotline, ABVI-Goodwill, 422 South Clinton 
Ave., Rochester, NY 14620; telephone number: (202) 554-1404; email 
address: [email protected].

[[Page 22734]]


SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. General Information

A. Does this action apply to me?

    This action is directed to the public in general and may be of 
interest to entities that manufacture (including import) a chemical 
substance regulated under TSCA (e.g., entities identified under North 
American Industrial Classification System (NAICS) codes 325 and 
324110). The action may also be of interest to chemical processors, 
distributors in commerce, and users; non-governmental organizations in 
the environmental and public health sectors; state and local government 
agencies; and members of the public. Since other entities may also be 
interested, the Agency has not attempted to describe all the specific 
entities and corresponding NAICS codes for entities that may be 
interested in or affected by this action.

B. What is the Agency's authority for taking this action?

    This action directly implements TSCA section 6(b)(4)(D), 15 U.S.C. 
2605(b)(4)(D).

C. What action is the Agency taking?

    EPA is publishing the draft scopes of the risk evaluations for 7 of 
20 chemical substances designated as High-Priority Substances for risk 
evaluation under TSCA. Through the risk evaluation process, EPA will 
determine whether the chemical substances present an unreasonable risk 
of injury to health or the environment under the conditions of use, in 
accordance with TSCA section 6(b)(4). EPA announced the availability of 
the draft scopes of the risk evaluations for 13 of 20 chemical 
substances designated as High-Priority Substances for risk evaluation 
under TSCA on April 6, 2020 (Ref. 1).

II. Background

    TSCA section 6(b)(1) requires EPA to prioritize chemical substances 
for risk evaluation (15 U.S.C. 2605(b)(1)). Effective December 20, 
2019, EPA designated 20 chemical substances as High-Priority Substances 
for risk evaluation (Ref. 2), which initiated the risk evaluation 
process for those chemical substances (15 U.S.C. 2605(b)(3)(A); 40 CFR 
702.17). The purpose of risk evaluation is to determine whether a 
chemical substance presents an unreasonable risk to health or the 
environment, under the conditions of use, including an unreasonable 
risk to a relevant potentially exposed or susceptible subpopulation (15 
U.S.C. 2605(b)(4)(A)). As part of this process, EPA must evaluate both 
hazard and exposure, exclude consideration of costs or other non-risk 
factors, use scientific information and approaches in a manner that is 
consistent with the requirements in TSCA for the best available 
science, and ensure decisions are based on the weight-of-scientific-
evidence (15 U.S.C. 2605(b)(4)(F)). This process will culminate in a 
determination of whether or not the chemical substance presents an 
unreasonable risk of injury to health or the environment under the 
conditions of use (40 CFR 702.47).

III. Draft Scopes for 7 of 20 Designated High Priority Chemical 
Substances

    The 7 chemical substances for which EPA is publishing the draft 
scopes of the risk evaluations are identified in the following Table, 
along with the corresponding Chemical Abstract System Registry Number 
(CASRN) and docket ID numbers.

                  Table--Draft Scopes for 7 of 20 Designated High Priority Chemical Substances
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
             Chemical substance                   CASRN                         Docket ID No.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Butyl benzyl phthalate (BBP) (1,2-                  85-68-7  EPA-HQ-OPPT-2018-0501
 Benzenedicarboxylic acid, 1-butyl 2-
 (phenylmethyl) ester).
Dibutyl phthalate (DBP) (1,2-                       84-74-2  EPA-HQ-OPPT-2018-0503
 Benzenedicarboxylic acid, 1,2-dibutyl
 ester).
Dicyclohexyl phthalate (1,2-                        84-61-7  EPA-HQ-OPPT-2018-0504
 Benzenedicarboxylic acid, 1,2-dicyclohexyl
 ester).
Di-ethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP) (1,2-               117-81-7  EPA-HQ-OPPT-2018-0433
 Benzenedicarboxylic acid, 1,2-bis(2-
 ethylhexyl) ester).
Di-isobutyl phthalate (DIBP) (1,2-                  84-69-5  EPA-HQ-OPPT-2018-0434
 Benzenedicarboxylic acid, 1,2-bis(2-
 methylpropyl) ester).
Formaldehyde...............................         50-00-0  EPA-HQ-OPPT-2018-0438
Phthalic anhydride (1,3-Isobenzofurandione)         85-44-9  EPA-HQ-OPPT-2018-0459
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The draft scope of the risk evaluation for each of these 7 chemical 
substances includes the conditions of use, hazards, exposures, and the 
potentially exposed or susceptible subpopulations the EPA plans to 
consider. Development of the scope is the first step of a risk 
evaluation. The draft scope of each risk evaluation will include the 
following components (40 CFR 702.41(c)):
     The conditions of use, as determined by the Administrator, 
that the EPA plans to consider in the risk evaluation.
     The potentially exposed populations that EPA plans to 
evaluate; the ecological receptors that EPA plans to evaluate; and the 
hazards to health and the environment that EPA plans to evaluate.
     A description of the reasonably available information and 
the science approaches that the Agency plans to use.
     A conceptual model that will describe the actual or 
predicted relationships between the chemical substance, the conditions 
of use within the scope of the evaluation and the receptors, either 
human or environmental, with consideration of the life cycle of the 
chemical substance--from manufacturing, processing, distribution in 
commerce, storage, use, to release or disposal--and identification of 
human and ecological health hazards EPA plans to evaluate for the 
exposure scenarios EPA plans to evaluate.
     An analysis plan, which will identify the approaches and 
methods EPA plans to use to assess exposure, hazards, and risk, 
including associated uncertainty and variability, as well as a strategy 
for using reasonably available information and science approaches.
     A plan for peer review.
    With the publication of the draft scopes, EPA is providing a 45-
calendar day public comment period. Note that, as a result of the Ninth 
Circuit Court of Appeals' decision in Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families 
v. U.S. EPA, 943 F.3d 397, 425 (9th Cir. 2019), EPA will no longer 
exclude legacy uses or associated disposal from the definition of 
``conditions of use.'' Rather, when these activities are intended, 
known, or reasonably foreseen, these activities will be considered uses 
and disposal, respectively, within the definition of ``conditions of 
use.''
    EPA encourages commenters to provide information they believe might 
be missing or may further inform the risk evaluation. EPA will publish 
a notice in the Federal Register

[[Page 22735]]

announcing the availability of the final scopes within six months of 
the initiation of risk evaluations that occurred on December 20, 2019 
(Ref. 2).

IV. References

    The following is a listing of the documents that are specifically 
referenced in this Federal Register notice. The docket for this action 
includes these documents and other information considered by EPA, 
including documents that are referenced within the documents that are 
included in the docket. For assistance in locating these referenced 
documents, please consult the technical person listed under FOR FURTHER 
INFORMATION CONTACT.

1. EPA. Draft Scopes of the Risk Evaluations to be Conducted for 
Thirteen Chemical Substances Under the Toxic Substances Control Act; 
Notice of Availability. Federal Register. 85 FRxx, April 9, 2020 
(FRL-10007-11).
2. EPA. High-Priority Substance Designations Under the Toxic 
Substances Control Act and Initiation of Risk Evaluation on High-
Priority Substances; Availability. Federal Register. 84 FR 71924, 
December 30, 2019 (FRL-10003-15).


    Authority:  15 U.S.C. 2601 et seq.

Andrew Wheeler,
Administrator.
[FR Doc. 2020-08613 Filed 4-22-20; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6560-50-P
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