Proposed Rule2023-05237
Release of Draft Policy Assessment for the Reconsideration of the Ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standards
Primary source
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Published
March 15, 2023
Issuing agencies
Environmental Protection Agency
Abstract
On or about March 1, 2023, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is making available to the public a revised draft document titled, Policy Assessment for the Reconsideration of the Ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standards, External Review Draft Version 2 (Draft PA). This draft document was prepared as a part of the current reconsideration of the 2020 final decision on the national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) for ozone (O<INF>3</INF>). When final, the PA is intended to "bridge the gap" between the scientific and technical information assessed in the 2020 Integrated Science Assessment for Ozone and Related Photochemical Oxidants (2020 ISA), as well as any air quality, exposure and risk analyses available in the reconsideration, and the judgments required of the Administrator. The primary and secondary O<INF>3</INF> NAAQS are set to protect the public health and the public welfare from O<INF>3</INF> and other photochemical oxidants in ambient air.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 88 Issue 50 (Wednesday, March 15, 2023)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 50 (Wednesday, March 15, 2023)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 15940-15941]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2023-05237]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
40 CFR Part 50
[EPA-HQ-OAR-2018-0279; FRL-9545-04-OAR]
Release of Draft Policy Assessment for the Reconsideration of the
Ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standards
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Draft policy assessment; notice of availability.
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SUMMARY: On or about March 1, 2023, the Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) is making available to the public a revised draft document
titled, Policy Assessment for the Reconsideration of the Ozone National
Ambient Air Quality Standards, External Review Draft Version 2 (Draft
PA). This draft document was prepared as a part of the current
reconsideration of the 2020 final decision on the national ambient air
quality standards (NAAQS) for ozone (O<INF>3</INF>). When final, the PA
is intended to ``bridge the gap'' between the scientific and technical
information assessed in the 2020 Integrated Science Assessment for
Ozone and Related Photochemical Oxidants (2020 ISA), as well as any air
quality, exposure and risk analyses available in the reconsideration,
and the judgments required of the Administrator. The primary and
secondary O<INF>3</INF> NAAQS are set to protect the public health and
the public welfare from O<INF>3</INF> and other photochemical oxidants
in ambient air.
DATES: Comments must be received on or before April 14, 2023.
ADDRESSES: You may send comments on the draft PA, identified by Docket
ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2018-0279, by any of the following methods:
<bullet> Federal eRulemaking Portal: <a href="https://www.regulations.gov/">https://www.regulations.gov/</a>
(our preferred method). Follow the online instructions for submitting
comments.
<bullet> Mail: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, EPA Docket
Center, Office of Air and Radiation Docket, Mail Code 28221T, 1200
Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20460.
<bullet> Hand Delivery or Courier (by scheduled appointment only):
EPA Docket Center, WJC West Building, Room 3334, 1301 Constitution
Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20004. The Docket Center's hours of
operations are 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m., Monday-Friday (except Federal
Holidays).
Instructions: All submissions received must include the Docket ID
No. for this notice. Comments received may be posted without change to
<a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a>, including any personal information
provided. For detailed instructions on sending comments, see the
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this document. The draft document
described here will be available on the EPA's website at <a href="https://www.epa.gov/naaqs/ozone-o3-air-quality-standards">https://www.epa.gov/naaqs/ozone-o3-air-quality-standards</a>. The documents will be
accessible under ``Policy Assessments'' for the current review.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Leigh Meyer, Office of Air Quality
Planning and Standards, (Mail Code C504-06), U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, NC 27711; telephone number:
919-541-5587, fax number: 919-541-0237; or email: <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#28454d514d5a06444d414f40684d5849064f475e"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="e38e869a8691cd8f868a848ba3869382cd848c95">[email protected]</span></a>,
or Mary Hutson, Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards, (Mail
Code C504-06), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle
Park, NC 27711; telephone number: 919-541-0715, fax number: 919-541-
0237; or email: <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#1c7469686f737232717d6e655c796c7d327b736a"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="38504d4c4b57561655594a41785d4859165f574e">[email protected]</span></a>.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. General Information
Written Comments
Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2018-
0279, at <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a> (our preferred method), or the
other methods identified in the ADDRESSES section. Once submitted,
comments cannot be edited or removed from the docket. The EPA may
publish any comment received to its public docket. Do not submit to
EPA's docket at <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a> any information you
consider to be Confidential Business Information (CBI), Proprietary
Business Information (PBI), 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 will generally not consider comments or comment
[[Page 15941]]
contents located outside of the primary submission (i.e., on the web,
cloud, or other file sharing system). Please visit <a href="https://www.epa.gov/dockets/commenting-epa-dockets">https://www.epa.gov/dockets/commenting-epa-dockets</a> for additional submission methods; the
full EPA public comment policy; information about CBI, PBI, or
multimedia submissions; and general guidance on making effective
comments.
II. Information About the Documents
Two sections of the Clean Air Act (CAA or the Act) govern the
establishment and revision of the NAAQS. Section 108 directs the
Administrator to identify and list certain air pollutants and then
issue ``air quality criteria'' for those pollutants. The air quality
criteria are to ``accurately reflect the latest scientific knowledge
useful in indicating the kind and extent of all identifiable effects on
public health or welfare which may be expected from the presence of
such pollutant in the ambient air . . .'' (CAA section 108(a)(2)).
Under section 109 of the Act, the EPA is then to establish primary
(health-based) and secondary (welfare-based) NAAQS for each pollutant
for which the EPA has issued air quality criteria. Section 109(d)(1) of
the Act requires periodic review and, if appropriate, revision of
existing air quality criteria. Revised air quality criteria are to
reflect advances in scientific knowledge on the effects of the
pollutant on public health and welfare. Under the same provision, the
EPA is also to periodically review and, if appropriate, revise the
NAAQS, based on the revised air quality criteria.
The Act additionally requires appointment of an independent
scientific review committee that is to periodically review the existing
air quality criteria and NAAQS and to recommend any new standards and
revisions of existing criteria and standards as may be appropriate (CAA
section 109(d)(2)(A)-(B)). Since the early 1980s, the requirement for
an independent scientific review committee has been fulfilled by the
Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC).
In December 2020, the EPA announced its decision to retain the
primary and secondary O<INF>3</INF> standards, without revision (85 FR
87256, December 31, 2020). On October 29, 2021, the Agency announced
its decision to reconsider the 2020 O<INF>3</INF> NAAQS final
action.\1\ In its announcement of the reconsideration, the Agency
explained that it would reconsider the 2020 decision to retain 2015
standards based on the existing scientific record. In support of the
reconsideration, the EPA is developing an updated PA. The PA, when
final, serves to ``bridge the gap'' between the scientific and
technical information in the 2020 ISA and any air quality, exposure and
risk analyses available in the reconsideration, and the judgements
required of the Administrator.
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\1\ The press release for this announcement is available at
<a href="https://www.epa.gov/ground-level-ozone-pollution/epa-reconsider-previous-administrations-decision-retain-2015-ozone">https://www.epa.gov/ground-level-ozone-pollution/epa-reconsider-previous-administrations-decision-retain-2015-ozone</a>.
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In April 2022, the EPA made available to the public and to the
CASAC Ozone Review Panel a prior version of this draft PA. After
receiving a briefing from the EPA on the draft document (87 FR 19501,
April 4, 2022), the Panel issued a memo indicating that the Panel would
pause its review to deliberate on whether a fuller discussion of the
science was needed prior to its review of the draft PA.\2\ Following
that deliberation, the Panel engaged in a fuller discussion of the
scientific information at a number of public meetings (87 FR 41309,
July 12, 2022; 87 FR 60394, October 5, 2022). Based on this discussion,
the CASAC determined ``that the existing scientific evidence summarized
in the 2020 ISA provides a scientifically sound foundation for the
Agency's reconsideration of the 2020 Ozone NAAQS decision'' and that it
was not recommending that the 2020 ISA be reopened or revised.\3\ The
CASAC's letter to the Agency regarding its review of the 2020 ISA
included comments that referenced the PA. Consideration of those
comments led to the development of this second version of the draft PA
for the reconsideration, which is announced in this notice of
availability. The draft PA largely builds upon the information
presented in the 2020 ISA, the 2020 PA and additional analyses that
informed the 2020 decision. This draft PA will be available on or about
March 1, 2023, on the EPA's website at <a href="https://www.epa.gov/naaqs/ozone-o3-air-quality-standards">https://www.epa.gov/naaqs/ozone-o3-air-quality-standards</a>. The EPA is soliciting advice and
recommendations from the CASAC by means of a review of this draft
document in an upcoming public meeting of the CASAC. Information about
this public meeting, including the dates and location, was published as
a separate notice in the Federal Register on February 13, 2023 (88 FR
9275). Following the CASAC meeting, the EPA will consider comments
received from the CASAC and the public in preparing the final PA.
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\2\ May 13, 2022, letter from Elizabeth A. Sheppard, Chair,
Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee, to CASAC Ozone Review Panel
Members. Re: CASAC Ozone Review Panel Meeting. Available at: <a href="https://casac.epa.gov/ords/sab/f?p=105:19:17341438189034:::19:P19_ID:972#materials">https://casac.epa.gov/ords/sab/f?p=105:19:17341438189034:::19:P19_ID:972#materials</a>.
\3\ November 22, 2022, letter from Elizabeth A. Sheppard, Chair,
Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee, to Administrator Michael S.
Regan. Re: CASAC Review of the EPA's Integrated Science Assessment
(ISA) for Ozone and Related Photochemical Oxidants (Final Report--
April 2020). EPA-CASAC-23-001. Available at: <a href="https://casac.epa.gov/ords/sab/f?p=105:18:8476900499267:::RP,18:P18_ID:2614">https://casac.epa.gov/ords/sab/f?p=105:18:8476900499267:::RP,18:P18_ID:2614</a>.
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The draft document briefly described above does not represent and
should not be construed to represent any final EPA policy, viewpoint,
or determination. The EPA will consider any public comments submitted
in response to this notice when revising the document.
Panagiotis Tsirigotis,
Director, Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards.
[FR Doc. 2023-05237 Filed 3-14-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P
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