Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Collaborative Research Program To Support New Chemical Reviews; Notice of Public Meeting and Request for Comments, 10784-10786 [2022-04039]
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Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 38 / Friday, February 25, 2022 / Notices
and organization of 40 CFR part 171 and
overall program operation. The changes
are intended to ensure that all persons
who use RUPs—i.e., private applicators,
commercial applicators, and
noncertified applicators using RUPs
under the direct supervision of certified
applicators—are competent to use RUPs
in a manner that will not result in
unreasonable adverse effects to
themselves, others, or the environment.
This ICR estimates the burden and
costs of the rule-related information
collection activities, including burden
and cost estimates related to initial rule
familiarization activities.
Form Numbers: None.
Respondents/affected entities:
Agricultural establishments, pest
control officials, pesticide registrants,
pesticide dealers, and administrators of
environmental protection programs,
governmental pest control programs,
pesticide applicator certification
programs (e.g., authorized agencies),
and RUP dealers (only for EPA
administrated programs).
Respondent’s obligation to respond:
Mandatory, FIFRA sections 3 and 11.
Estimated number of respondents:
1,860,974 (total).
Frequency of response: On occasion.
Total estimated burden: 2,280,849
hours (per year). Burden is defined at 5
CFR 1320.3(b).
Total estimated cost: $108,061,898
(per year), includes $0 annualized
capital or operation and maintenance
costs.
Changes in the estimates: Apart from
updating the format of the ICR to meet
current format standards and a few
minor changes, there are no substantive
changes from the ICR currently
approved by OMB.
BILLING CODE 6560–50–P
BILLING CODE 6560–50–P
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
AGENCY
[EPA–HQ–OPPT–2022–0218; FRL–9593–01–
OCSPP]
Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA)
Collaborative Research Program To
Support New Chemical Reviews;
Notice of Public Meeting and Request
for Comments
The Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) is holding a virtual public
meeting to seek individual input on the
proposed Toxic Substances Control Act
(TSCA) New Chemicals Collaborative
Research Program. This virtual meeting
will be held over 2 half days. In
addition, EPA is announcing the
availability of and soliciting public
comment on the draft document entitled
‘‘Modernizing the Process and Bringing
Innovative Science to Evaluate New
Chemicals Under TSCA.’’ The Office of
Chemical Safety and Pollution
Prevention (OCSPP) is proposing to
develop and implement a multi-year
collaborative research program focused
on approaches for performing risk
assessments on new chemical
SUMMARY:
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
AGENCY
[FRL OP–OFA–005]
Environmental Impact Statements;
Notice of Availability
lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with NOTICES1
[FR Doc. 2022–03999 Filed 2–24–22; 8:45 am]
Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice.
[FR Doc. 2022–03989 Filed 2–24–22; 8:45 am]
Responsible Agency: Office of Federal
Activities, General Information 202–
564–5632 or https://www.epa.gov/nepa.
Weekly receipt of Environmental Impact
Statements (EIS)
Filed February 14, 2022 10 a.m. EST
Through February 18, 2022 10 a.m.
EST
Pursuant to 40 CFR 1506.9.
16:44 Feb 24, 2022
Dated: February 18, 2022.
Cindy S. Barger,
Director, NEPA Compliance Division, Office
of Federal Activities.
AGENCY:
Courtney Kerwin,
Director, Regulatory Support Division.
VerDate Sep<11>2014
Notice: Section 309(a) of the Clean Air
Act requires that EPA make public its
comments on EISs issued by other
Federal agencies. EPA’s comment letters
on EISs are available at: https://
cdxnodengn.epa.gov/cdx-enepa-public/
action/eis/search.
EIS No. 20220018, Final, CHSRA, CA,
California High-Speed Rail: San Jose
to Merced Project Section Final
Environmental Impact Report/
Environmental Impact Statement,
Review Period Ends: 03/28/2022,
Contact: Scott Rothenberg 916–403–
6936.
EIS No. 20220019, Final, DOD, ID,
Construction and Demonstration of a
Prototype Mobile Microreactor,
Review Period Ends: 03/28/2022,
Contact: Jeff Waksman 703–812–1980.
EIS No. 20220020, Final, USFS, CA,
Social and Ecological Resilience
Across the Landscape (SERAL),
Review Period Ends: 03/28/2022,
Contact: Kathryn Wilkinson 209–288–
6321.
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Sfmt 4703
substances under TSCA. This effort will
be performed in partnership with the
Agency’s Office of Research and
Development (ORD) and other federal
entities to leverage their expertise and
resources. The results of the effort are
expected to bring innovative science to
new chemical reviews, modernize the
approaches used, and increase the
transparency of the information
underpinning the human health and
ecological risk assessment process.
DATES:
Virtual Public Meeting: Will be held
virtually on April 20 and 21, 2022, from
1:00 p.m. to approximately 5:00 p.m.
(EDT) each day. See the additional
details and instructions for registration
that appear in Unit III.
Written Comments: Submit your
written comments on or before April 26,
2022. As described in Unit III., you may
also register to make oral comments
during the virtual public meeting.
Special accommodations: Requests
for special accommodations should be
submitted on or before April 6th, 2022,
to allow EPA time to process these
requests.
ADDRESSES:
Virtual Public Meeting: You must
register online to receive the webcast
meeting link and audio teleconference
information. Please follow the
registration instructions that will be
announced on the New Chemicals
Collaborative Research Program website
available at: https://www.epa.gov/
reviewing-new-chemicals-under-toxicsubstances-control-act-tsca/newchemicals-collaborative by March 14,
2022. For additional instructions related
to this meeting, see Unit III.
Written Comments: Submit written
comments, identified by docket
identification (ID) number EPA–HQ–
OPPT–2022–0218, through the Federal
eRulemaking Portal at https://
www.regulations.gov. Follow the online
instructions for submitting comments.
Do not electronically submit any
information you consider to be
Confidential Business Information (CBI)
or other information whose disclosure is
restricted by statute. Copyrighted
material will not be posted without
explicit permission of the copyright
holder. Members of the public should
also be aware that their personal contact
information, if included in any written
comments, may be posted on the
internet at https://www.regulations.gov.
Additional information on commenting
or visiting the docket, along with more
information about dockets generally, is
available at https://www.epa.gov/
dockets.
E:\FR\FM\25FEN1.SGM
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Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 38 / Friday, February 25, 2022 / Notices
Due to public health concerns related
to COVID–19, the EPA Docket Center
and Reading Room are open to the
public by appointment only. For further
information on the EPA Docket Center
(EPA/DC) services, docket contact
information and the current status of the
EPA/DC and Reading Room, please visit
https://www.epa.gov/dockets.
Special accommodations: For
information on access or services for
individuals with disabilities, and to
request accommodation for a disability,
please contact Sarah Swenson, listed
under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
CONTACT.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Sarah Swenson, Office of Chemical
Safety and Pollution Prevention
(7201M), Environmental Protection
Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave. NW,
Washington, DC 20460–0001; telephone
number: (202) 566–0279; email address:
swenson.sarah@epa.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Executive Summary
A. Does this action apply to me?
This notice is directed to the public
in general. This notice may be of
specific interest to persons who are or
may be interested in risk assessments of
new chemical substances under TSCA
(e.g., submitters of TSCA 5 notices,
industry, non-governmental
organizations (NGOs), and academia).
Since other entities may also be
interested in this notice, the EPA has
not attempted to describe all the specific
entities that may be interested in this
subject.
B. Where can I access information about
this meeting?
Information about this meeting is
available in the docket for this meeting,
identified by docket ID number EPA–
HQ–OPPT–2022–0218, at https://
www.regulations.gov.
lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with NOTICES1
C. What should I consider as I prepare
my comments for EPA?
1. Submitting CBI. Do not submit CBI
information to EPA through
regulations.gov or email. If your
comments contain any information that
you consider to be CBI or otherwise
protected, please contact the individual
listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
CONTACT to obtain special instructions
before submitting your comments.
2. Tips for preparing your comments.
When preparing and submitting your
comments, see Tips for Effective
Comments at https://www.epa.gov/
dockets.
VerDate Sep<11>2014
16:44 Feb 24, 2022
Jkt 256001
II. Background
A. What is the proposed TSCA New
Chemicals Collaborative Research
Program?
OCSPP is proposing to develop and
implement a multi-year collaborative
research program focused on
approaches for performing risk
assessments on new chemical
substances under TSCA. This effort will
be performed in partnership with ORD
and other federal entities to leverage
their expertise and resources. The
results of the effort are expected to bring
innovative science to new chemical
reviews, modernize the approaches
used, and increase the transparency of
the human health and ecological risk
assessment process.
This research program will refine
existing approaches and develop and
implement new approach
methodologies (NAMs) to ensure the
best available science is used in TSCA
new chemical evaluations. Key areas
proposed in the TSCA New Chemicals
Collaborative Research Program include:
• Updating OCSPP’s approach to
using data from structurally-similar
chemicals to determine potential risks
from new chemicals, also known as
read-across. This will increase the
efficiency of new chemical reviews
promoting the use of the best available
data to protect human health and the
environment.
• Digitizing and consolidating
information on chemicals to include
data and studies that currently only
exist in hard copy or in various
disparate TSCA databases. The
information will be combined with
publicly available sources to expand the
amount of information available,
enhancing chemical reviews and
enabling efficient sharing of chemical
information across EPA. Safeguards for
confidential business information will
be maintained as appropriate in this
process.
• Updating and augmenting the
models used for predicting a chemical’s
physical-chemical properties and
environmental fate/transport, hazard,
exposure, and toxicokinetics, to provide
a suite of models to be used for new
chemicals assessments. The goal of this
effort is to update the models to reflect
the best available science, increase
transparency, and establish a process for
updating these models as science
evolves.
• Exploring ways to integrate and
apply NAMs in new chemicals
assessments, reducing the use of animal
testing. As this effort evolves, the goal
is to develop a suite of accepted, fit-forpurpose NAMs that could be used by
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Sfmt 4703
10785
external stakeholders for data
submissions under TSCA as well as
informing and expanding new chemical
categories.
• Developing a decision support tool
that integrates the various information
streams specifically used for new
chemical risk assessments. The decision
support tool will more efficiently
integrate all the data streams (e.g.,
chemistry, fate, exposures, hazards) into
a final risk assessment and transparently
document the decisions and
assumptions made. Simply put, this will
facilitate the new chemicals program
tracking decisions over time and
evaluating consistency within and
across chemistries.
Additional information on each of
these key areas will be provided in draft
collaborative research plan that will be
available in the docket in by March 14,
2022.
B. How is EPA seeking public
comments?
EPA is seeking public comments
through several planned activities
including:
• Through this Federal Register
Notice, EPA is announcing it intends to
have a virtual public meeting on April
20 and 21, 2022, to seek individual
input from the public on the proposed
TSCA New Chemicals Collaborative
Research Program. The agenda and
instructions for registration for this
meeting will be added to the EPA
website and public docket March 14,
2022.
• At the same time, EPA will launch
the website for this collaborative
research program. EPA intends to make
the collaborative research program
document and charge questions
available during the week of March 14,
2022 and will issue a listserv to alert the
public when these documents become
available. The date the documents are
added to the docket will start the official
60 days public comment period.
• Following the virtual public
meeting, EPA intends to update the
draft collaborative research program
document as appropriate, and will place
the document in the relevant docket, ID
number EPA–HQ–OPPT–2022–0218.
• Later in 2022, the Agency is
planning to engage the EPA’s Board of
Scientific Counselors (BOSC), a federal
advisory committee, for peer review;
EPA also intends to issue a Federal
Register Notice announcing the BOSC
meeting and open a docket for public
comments.
• EPA intends to solicit public
comment at various points in the
development and implementation of the
collaborative research program, and
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Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 38 / Friday, February 25, 2022 / Notices
• Conduct additional outreach to
external stakeholders through a variety
of mechanisms as appropriate, to
receive input and enhance transparency.
C. How can I access the documents?
EPA’s background documents and the
related supporting materials to the draft
are available in the docket established
for this meeting at https://
www.regulations.gov; docket ID number
EPA–HQ–OPPT–2022–0218. In
addition, EPA will provide additional
background documents as the materials
become available. You may obtain
electronic copies of these documents,
and certain other related documents that
might be available, in the docket at
https://www.regulations.gov.
After the virtual public meeting, the
EPA will prepare meeting minutes
summarizing the individual comments
received at the meeting. The meeting
minutes will be posted on the EPA
website and in the relevant docket.
March 28, 2022
prior to the meeting.
B. How can I participate in the virtual
public meeting?
This meeting is virtual and viewed via
webcast. For information on how to first
register and then view the webcast,
please refer to the EPA website available
at: https://www.epa.gov/reviewing-newchemicals-under-toxic-substancescontrol-act-tsca/new-chemicalscollaborative. EPA intends to announce
registration instructions on the EPA
website by March 14, 2022.
Authority: 15 U.S.C. 2601 et seq.
Michal Freedhoff,
Assistant Administrator, Office of Chemicals
Safety and Pollution Prevention.
[FR Doc. 2022–04039 Filed 2–24–22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560–50–P
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
AGENCY
III. Public Participation Instructions
[FRL–9542–01–OAR]
To participate in the virtual public
meeting, please follow the instructions
in this unit.
Preliminary Allocations of Cross-State
Air Pollution Rule Allowances From
New Unit Set-Asides for 2021 Control
Periods
A. How can I provide comments?
lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with NOTICES1
INFORMATION CONTACT
To ensure proper receipt of comments
it is imperative that you identify docket
ID number EPA–HQ–OPPT–2022–0218
in the subject line on the first page of
your request.
1. Written comments. The Agency
encourages written comments for the
virtual public meeting. Comments
should be submitted using the
instructions in ADDRESSES and Unit I.B.
and C, on or before the date set in the
DATES section. Anyone submitting
written comments after this date should
contact the individual listed under FOR
FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT. If you
submit comments after the date set in
the DATES section, those comments will
be provided to the SACC members.
2. Oral comments. The Agency
encourages each individual or group
wishing to make brief oral comments
during the virtual public meeting to
please follow the registration
instructions that will be announced on
the EPA website available at: https://
www.epa.gov/reviewing-new-chemicalsunder-toxic-substances-control-act-tsca/
new-chemicals-collaborative by March
14, 2022.
Oral comments during the virtual
public meeting are limited to 5 minutes
unless arrangements have been made
prior to the date set in the DATES section.
In addition, each speaker should email
a copy of his/her comments to the
individual listed under FOR FURTHER
VerDate Sep<11>2014
16:44 Feb 24, 2022
Jkt 256001
Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice of data availability.
AGENCY:
The Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) is providing notice of the
availability of data on emission
allowance allocations to certain units
under the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule
(CSAPR) trading programs. EPA has
completed preliminary calculations for
the allocations of allowances from the
CSAPR new unit set-asides (NUSAs) for
the 2021 control periods and has posted
spreadsheets containing the calculations
on EPA’s website. EPA will consider
timely objections to the preliminary
calculations (including objections
concerning the identification of units
eligible for allocations) before
determining the final amounts of the
allocations.
DATES: Objections to the information
referenced in this notice must be
received on or before March 28, 2022.
ADDRESSES: Submit your objections via
email to CSAPR_NUSA@epa.gov.
Include ‘‘2021 NUSA allocations’’ in the
email subject line and include your
name, title, affiliation, address, phone
number, and email address in the body
of the email.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Questions concerning this action should
be addressed to Jason Kuhns at (202)
564–3236 or kuhns.jason@epa.gov or
SUMMARY:
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Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
Andrew Reighart at (202) 564–0418 or
reighart.andrew@epa.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under
each CSAPR trading program where
EPA is responsible for determining
emission allowance allocations, a
portion of each state’s emissions budget
for the program for each control period
is reserved in a NUSA (and in an
additional Indian country NUSA in the
case of states with Indian country
within their borders) for allocation to
certain units that would not otherwise
receive allowance allocations. The
procedures for identifying the eligible
units for each control period and for
allocating allowances from the NUSAs
and Indian country NUSAs to these
units are set forth in the CSAPR trading
program regulations at 40 CFR 97.411(b)
and 97.412 (NOX Annual), 97.511(b) and
97.512 (NOX Ozone Season Group 1),
97.611(b) and 97.612 (SO2 Group 1),
97.711(b) and 97.712 (SO2 Group 2),
97.811(b) and 97.812 (NOX Ozone
Season Group 2), and 97.1011(b) and
97.1012 (NOX Ozone Season Group 3).
Each NUSA allowance allocation
process involves allocations to eligible
units, termed ‘‘new’’ units, followed by
the allocation to ‘‘existing’’ units of any
allowances not allocated to new units.1
This notice concerns preliminary
calculations for the NUSA allowance
allocations for the 2021 control periods.
Generally, the allocation procedures call
for each eligible ‘‘new’’ unit to receive
a 2021 NUSA allocation equal to its
2021 control period emissions as
reported under 40 CFR part 75 unless
the total of such allocations to all such
eligible units would exceed the amount
of allowances in the NUSA, in which
case the allocations are reduced on a
pro-rata basis. (EPA notes that, under 40
CFR 97.406(c)(3), 97.506(c)(3),
97.606(c)(3), 97.706(c)(3), 97.806(c)(3),
and 97.1006(c)(3), a unit’s emissions
occuring before its monitor certification
deadline are not considered to have
occurred during a control period and
consequently are not included in the
emission amounts used to determine
NUSA allocations.) Any allowances not
allocated to eligible ‘‘new’’ units are
allocated to the state’s ‘‘existing’’ units
in proportion to such existing units’
previous allocations from the portion of
the respective state’s emissions budget
for the control period that was not
reserved in a NUSA (or Indian country
NUSA).
1 For control periods before 2021, the NUSA
allocation process involved two rounds of
allocations. The current one-round process for all
CSAPR trading programs was adopted in the
Revised CSAPR Update. Refer to 86 FR 23054,
23145–46 (April 30, 2021).
E:\FR\FM\25FEN1.SGM
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]]>Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 38 (Friday, February 25, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 10784-10786]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-04039]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[EPA-HQ-OPPT-2022-0218; FRL-9593-01-OCSPP]
Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Collaborative Research
Program To Support New Chemical Reviews; Notice of Public Meeting and
Request for Comments
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is holding a virtual
public meeting to seek individual input on the proposed Toxic
Substances Control Act (TSCA) New Chemicals Collaborative Research
Program. This virtual meeting will be held over 2 half days. In
addition, EPA is announcing the availability of and soliciting public
comment on the draft document entitled ``Modernizing the Process and
Bringing Innovative Science to Evaluate New Chemicals Under TSCA.'' The
Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention (OCSPP) is proposing
to develop and implement a multi-year collaborative research program
focused on approaches for performing risk assessments on new chemical
substances under TSCA. This effort will be performed in partnership
with the Agency's Office of Research and Development (ORD) and other
federal entities to leverage their expertise and resources. The results
of the effort are expected to bring innovative science to new chemical
reviews, modernize the approaches used, and increase the transparency
of the information underpinning the human health and ecological risk
assessment process.
DATES:
Virtual Public Meeting: Will be held virtually on April 20 and 21,
2022, from 1:00 p.m. to approximately 5:00 p.m. (EDT) each day. See the
additional details and instructions for registration that appear in
Unit III.
Written Comments: Submit your written comments on or before April
26, 2022. As described in Unit III., you may also register to make oral
comments during the virtual public meeting.
Special accommodations: Requests for special accommodations should
be submitted on or before April 6th, 2022, to allow EPA time to process
these requests.
ADDRESSES:
Virtual Public Meeting: You must register online to receive the
webcast meeting link and audio teleconference information. Please
follow the registration instructions that will be announced on the New
Chemicals Collaborative Research Program website available at: https://www.epa.gov/reviewing-new-chemicals-under-toxic-substances-control-act-tsca/new-chemicals-collaborative by March 14, 2022. For additional
instructions related to this meeting, see Unit III.
Written Comments: Submit written comments, identified by docket
identification (ID) number EPA-HQ-OPPT-2022-0218, through the Federal
eRulemaking Portal at https://www.regulations.gov. Follow the online
instructions for submitting comments. Do not electronically submit any
information you consider to be Confidential Business Information (CBI)
or other information whose disclosure is restricted by statute.
Copyrighted material will not be posted without explicit permission of
the copyright holder. Members of the public should also be aware that
their personal contact information, if included in any written
comments, may be posted on the internet at https://www.regulations.gov.
Additional information on commenting or visiting the docket, along with
more information about dockets generally, is available at https://www.epa.gov/dockets.
[[Page 10785]]
Due to public health concerns related to COVID-19, the EPA Docket
Center and Reading Room are open to the public by appointment only. For
further information on the EPA Docket Center (EPA/DC) services, docket
contact information and the current status of the EPA/DC and Reading
Room, please visit https://www.epa.gov/dockets.
Special accommodations: For information on access or services for
individuals with disabilities, and to request accommodation for a
disability, please contact Sarah Swenson, listed under FOR FURTHER
INFORMATION CONTACT.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Sarah Swenson, Office of Chemical
Safety and Pollution Prevention (7201M), Environmental Protection
Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20460-0001; telephone
number: (202) 566-0279; email address: [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Executive Summary
A. Does this action apply to me?
This notice is directed to the public in general. This notice may
be of specific interest to persons who are or may be interested in risk
assessments of new chemical substances under TSCA (e.g., submitters of
TSCA 5 notices, industry, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and
academia). Since other entities may also be interested in this notice,
the EPA has not attempted to describe all the specific entities that
may be interested in this subject.
B. Where can I access information about this meeting?
Information about this meeting is available in the docket for this
meeting, identified by docket ID number EPA-HQ-OPPT-2022-0218, at
https://www.regulations.gov.
C. What should I consider as I prepare my comments for EPA?
1. Submitting CBI. Do not submit CBI information to EPA through
regulations.gov or email. If your comments contain any information that
you consider to be CBI or otherwise protected, please contact the
individual listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT to obtain
special instructions before submitting your comments.
2. Tips for preparing your comments. When preparing and submitting
your comments, see Tips for Effective Comments at https://www.epa.gov/dockets.
II. Background
A. What is the proposed TSCA New Chemicals Collaborative Research
Program?
OCSPP is proposing to develop and implement a multi-year
collaborative research program focused on approaches for performing
risk assessments on new chemical substances under TSCA. This effort
will be performed in partnership with ORD and other federal entities to
leverage their expertise and resources. The results of the effort are
expected to bring innovative science to new chemical reviews, modernize
the approaches used, and increase the transparency of the human health
and ecological risk assessment process.
This research program will refine existing approaches and develop
and implement new approach methodologies (NAMs) to ensure the best
available science is used in TSCA new chemical evaluations. Key areas
proposed in the TSCA New Chemicals Collaborative Research Program
include:
Updating OCSPP's approach to using data from structurally-
similar chemicals to determine potential risks from new chemicals, also
known as read-across. This will increase the efficiency of new chemical
reviews promoting the use of the best available data to protect human
health and the environment.
Digitizing and consolidating information on chemicals to
include data and studies that currently only exist in hard copy or in
various disparate TSCA databases. The information will be combined with
publicly available sources to expand the amount of information
available, enhancing chemical reviews and enabling efficient sharing of
chemical information across EPA. Safeguards for confidential business
information will be maintained as appropriate in this process.
Updating and augmenting the models used for predicting a
chemical's physical-chemical properties and environmental fate/
transport, hazard, exposure, and toxicokinetics, to provide a suite of
models to be used for new chemicals assessments. The goal of this
effort is to update the models to reflect the best available science,
increase transparency, and establish a process for updating these
models as science evolves.
Exploring ways to integrate and apply NAMs in new
chemicals assessments, reducing the use of animal testing. As this
effort evolves, the goal is to develop a suite of accepted, fit-for-
purpose NAMs that could be used by external stakeholders for data
submissions under TSCA as well as informing and expanding new chemical
categories.
Developing a decision support tool that integrates the
various information streams specifically used for new chemical risk
assessments. The decision support tool will more efficiently integrate
all the data streams (e.g., chemistry, fate, exposures, hazards) into a
final risk assessment and transparently document the decisions and
assumptions made. Simply put, this will facilitate the new chemicals
program tracking decisions over time and evaluating consistency within
and across chemistries.
Additional information on each of these key areas will be provided
in draft collaborative research plan that will be available in the
docket in by March 14, 2022.
B. How is EPA seeking public comments?
EPA is seeking public comments through several planned activities
including:
Through this Federal Register Notice, EPA is announcing it
intends to have a virtual public meeting on April 20 and 21, 2022, to
seek individual input from the public on the proposed TSCA New
Chemicals Collaborative Research Program. The agenda and instructions
for registration for this meeting will be added to the EPA website and
public docket March 14, 2022.
At the same time, EPA will launch the website for this
collaborative research program. EPA intends to make the collaborative
research program document and charge questions available during the
week of March 14, 2022 and will issue a listserv to alert the public
when these documents become available. The date the documents are added
to the docket will start the official 60 days public comment period.
Following the virtual public meeting, EPA intends to
update the draft collaborative research program document as
appropriate, and will place the document in the relevant docket, ID
number EPA-HQ-OPPT-2022-0218.
Later in 2022, the Agency is planning to engage the EPA's
Board of Scientific Counselors (BOSC), a federal advisory committee,
for peer review; EPA also intends to issue a Federal Register Notice
announcing the BOSC meeting and open a docket for public comments.
EPA intends to solicit public comment at various points in
the development and implementation of the collaborative research
program, and
[[Page 10786]]
Conduct additional outreach to external stakeholders
through a variety of mechanisms as appropriate, to receive input and
enhance transparency.
C. How can I access the documents?
EPA's background documents and the related supporting materials to
the draft are available in the docket established for this meeting at
https://www.regulations.gov; docket ID number EPA-HQ-OPPT-2022-0218. In
addition, EPA will provide additional background documents as the
materials become available. You may obtain electronic copies of these
documents, and certain other related documents that might be available,
in the docket at https://www.regulations.gov.
After the virtual public meeting, the EPA will prepare meeting
minutes summarizing the individual comments received at the meeting.
The meeting minutes will be posted on the EPA website and in the
relevant docket.
III. Public Participation Instructions
To participate in the virtual public meeting, please follow the
instructions in this unit.
A. How can I provide comments?
To ensure proper receipt of comments it is imperative that you
identify docket ID number EPA-HQ-OPPT-2022-0218 in the subject line on
the first page of your request.
1. Written comments. The Agency encourages written comments for the
virtual public meeting. Comments should be submitted using the
instructions in ADDRESSES and Unit I.B. and C, on or before the date
set in the DATES section. Anyone submitting written comments after this
date should contact the individual listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
CONTACT. If you submit comments after the date set in the DATES
section, those comments will be provided to the SACC members.
2. Oral comments. The Agency encourages each individual or group
wishing to make brief oral comments during the virtual public meeting
to please follow the registration instructions that will be announced
on the EPA website available at: https://www.epa.gov/reviewing-new-chemicals-under-toxic-substances-control-act-tsca/new-chemicals-collaborative by March 14, 2022.
Oral comments during the virtual public meeting are limited to 5
minutes unless arrangements have been made prior to the date set in the
DATES section. In addition, each speaker should email a copy of his/her
comments to the individual listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT
March 28, 2022 prior to the meeting.
B. How can I participate in the virtual public meeting?
This meeting is virtual and viewed via webcast. For information on
how to first register and then view the webcast, please refer to the
EPA website available at: https://www.epa.gov/reviewing-new-chemicals-under-toxic-substances-control-act-tsca/new-chemicals-collaborative.
EPA intends to announce registration instructions on the EPA website by
March 14, 2022.
Authority: 15 U.S.C. 2601 et seq.
Michal Freedhoff,
Assistant Administrator, Office of Chemicals Safety and Pollution
Prevention.
[FR Doc. 2022-04039 Filed 2-24-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P
