Environmental Protection Agency September 30, 2011 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

EPA is announcing a 60-day public comment period and a public listening session for the external review draft human health assessment entitled, ``Toxicological Review of Vanadium Pentoxide: In Support of Summary Information on the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS)'' (EPA/635/R-11/004A). The draft assessment was prepared by the National Center for Environmental Assessment (NCEA) within the EPA Office of Research and Development (ORD). EPA is releasing this draft assessment solely for the purpose of pre-dissemination peer review under applicable information quality guidelines. This draft assessment has not been formally disseminated by EPA. It does not represent and should not be construed to represent any Agency policy or determination. After public review and comment, an EPA contractor will convene an expert panel for independent external peer review of this draft assessment. The public comment period and external peer review meeting are separate processes that provide opportunities for all interested parties to comment on the assessment. The external peer review meeting will be scheduled at a later date and announced in the Federal Register. Public comments submitted during the public comment period will be provided to the external peer reviewers before the panel meeting and considered by EPA in the disposition of public comments. Public comments received after the public comment period closes will not be submitted to the external peer reviewers and will only be considered by EPA if time permits. The listening session will be held on Thursday, November 17, 2011, during the public comment period for this draft assessment. The purpose of the listening session is to allow all interested parties to present scientific and technical comments on draft IRIS health assessments to EPA and other interested parties attending the listening session. EPA welcomes the comments that will be provided to the Agency by the listening session participants. The comments will be considered by the Agency as it revises the draft assessment after the independent external peer review. If listening session participants would like EPA to share their comments with the external peer reviewers, they should also submit written comments during the public comment period using the detailed and established procedures described in the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this notice.

EPA is finalizing uses that qualify for the 2011 critical use exemption and the amount of methyl bromide that may be produced, imported, or supplied from existing pre-phaseout inventory for those uses in 2011. EPA is taking this action under the authority of the Clean Air Act to reflect a recent consensus decision taken by the Parties to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer at the Twenty-First Meeting of the Parties.

This action proposes to: require TRI reporting facilities located in Indian country to report to the appropriate Tribal government for the relevant area instead of the State; and improve and clarify certain opportunities allowing Tribal governments to participate more fully in the TRI Program. In 1990, EPA finalized regulations in the Federal Register (FR) requiring facilities in Indian country to submit annual TRI reports to EPA and the appropriate Tribal government. These amendments, however, were inadvertently omitted from the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), and the relevant provisions were later overwritten by a subsequent final rule, thus resulting in the exclusion of the intended requirement from the CFR. EPA intends to correct that inadvertent result by proposing this rule. Further, because Tribal governmental structures may vary, EPA is proposing to update its terminology to refer to the principal elected official of the Tribe as the ``Tribal chairperson or equivalent elected official.'' EPA is also amending its definition of ``State'' for purposes of 40 CFR part 372 to no longer include Indian country, so as to avoid any confusing overlap in terminology with the proposed express discussion of facilities in Indian country. With regard to the procedures for EPA to modify the list of covered chemicals and TRI reporting facilities, EPA proposes to clarify the opportunities available to Tribal governments. In particular, EPA proposes to include within the relevant provision an opportunity for the Tribal Chairperson or equivalent elected official to request that EPA apply the TRI reporting requirements to a specific facility located within the Tribe's Indian country. Secondly, EPA is proposing that the Tribal Chairperson or equivalent elected official may petition EPA to add or delete a particular chemical respectively to or from the list of chemicals covered by TRI. By increasing the participation and engagement of Tribal governments in the TRI program, EPA is helping to increase awareness of toxic releases within Tribal communities, thereby increasing the understanding of potential human health and ecological impacts from these hazardous chemicals.