Notice2024-08024
Asbestos Part 2 Supplemental Evaluation Including Legacy Uses and Associated Disposals; Draft Risk Evaluation Under the Toxic Substances Control Act; Notice of Availability, Webinar and Request for Comment
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Published
April 16, 2024
Issuing agencies
Environmental Protection Agency
Abstract
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA or the Agency) is announcing the availability of and seeking public comment on a draft document titled "Draft Risk Evaluation for Asbestos Part 2: Supplemental Evaluation Including Legacy Uses and Associated Disposals of Asbestos" and is announcing a webinar on May 13, 2024. EPA is evaluating legacy uses and associated disposals of asbestos including chrysotile asbestos, five additional fiber types, asbestos-containing talc, and Libby asbestos. EPA has used the best available science to preliminarily determine that asbestos poses unreasonable risk to human health.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 89 Issue 74 (Tuesday, April 16, 2024)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 74 (Tuesday, April 16, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 26878-26879]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2024-08024]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[EPA-HQ-OPPT-2021-0254; FRL-9347-06-OCSPP]
Asbestos Part 2 Supplemental Evaluation Including Legacy Uses and
Associated Disposals; Draft Risk Evaluation Under the Toxic Substances
Control Act; Notice of Availability, Webinar and Request for Comment
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA or the Agency) is
announcing the availability of and seeking public comment on a draft
document titled ``Draft Risk Evaluation for Asbestos Part 2:
Supplemental Evaluation Including Legacy Uses and Associated Disposals
of Asbestos'' and is announcing a webinar on May 13, 2024. EPA is
evaluating legacy uses and associated disposals of asbestos including
chrysotile asbestos, five additional fiber types, asbestos-containing
talc, and Libby asbestos. EPA has used the best available science to
preliminarily determine that asbestos poses unreasonable risk to human
health.
DATES:
Webinar: May 13, 2024, 3-4 p.m. EST. To receive the webcast meeting
link and audio teleconference information before the meeting, you must
register by 12 p.m. on April 25, 2024. To allow EPA time to process
your request for special accommodations before the webinar, please
submit your request to EPA by 5 p.m. EST on May 6, 2024.
Written comments: Submit your comments on or before June 17, 2024.
ADDRESSES:
Webinar: Register online at <a href="https://usepa.zoomgov.com/meeting/register/vJItf-mgrjotGpHKg8v4EMI8cejAiOoZWbI">https://usepa.zoomgov.com/meeting/register/vJItf-mgrjotGpHKg8v4EMI8cejAiOoZWbI</a>.
Special accommodations: Please contact the person listed under FOR
FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.
Written comments: Submit your comments, identified by docket
identification (ID) number EPA-HQ-OPPT-2021-0254, online at <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a>. 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. Additional instructions on
commenting or visiting the docket, along with more information about
dockets generally, is available at <a href="https://www.epa.gov/dockets">https://www.epa.gov/dockets</a>.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
For webinar information: Chloe Durand, Project Management and
Operations Division (7407M), Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution
Prevention, Environmental Protection Agency, 1201 Constitution Ave. NW,
Washington, DC 20004; telephone number: (202) 564-8820; email address:
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#99fdecebf8f7fdb7faf1f5f6fcd9fce9f8b7fef6ef"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="81e5f4f3e0efe5afe2e9edeee4c1e4f1e0afe6eef7">[email protected]</span></a>.
For technical information: Peter Gimlin, Existing Chemical Risk
Management Division (7404M), Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics,
Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington,
DC 20460-0001; telephone number: (202) 566-0515; email address:
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#a5c2ccc8c9cccb8bd5c0d1c0d7e5c0d5c48bc2cad3"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="680f010504010646180d1c0d1a280d1809460f071e">[email protected]</span></a>.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Executive Summary
A. Does this action apply to me?
This action is directed to the public in general and may be of
particular interest to those involved in the manufacture, processing,
distribution, use, and disposal of asbestos,-containing materials
(ACMs) including construction professionals and individuals completing
do-it-yourself (DIY) activities in buildings with ACMs, related
industry trade organizations, non-governmental organizations with an
interest in human and environmental health, state and local
governments, Tribal Nations, and/or those interested in the assessment
of risks involving chemical substances and mixtures regulated under
TSCA. As such, the Agency has not attempted to describe all the
specific entities that this action might apply to. If you need help
determining applicability, consult the technical contact listed under
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.
B. What is the Agency's authority for taking this action?
The draft risk evaluation is issued pursuant to TSCA section 6, 15
U.S.C. 2605, which requires that EPA conduct risk evaluations on
chemical substances and identifies the minimum components EPA must
include in all chemical substance risk evaluations. Each risk
evaluation must be conducted consistent with the best available
science, be based on the weight of the scientific evidence, and
consider reasonably available information. 15 U.S.C. 2625(h), (i), and
(k).
C. What action is the Agency taking?
The Agency is announcing the availability of and soliciting comment
on the document titled ``Draft Risk Evaluation for Asbestos Part 2:
Supplemental Evaluation Including Legacy Uses and Associated Disposals
of Asbestos,'' which is available in the docket. EPA is also announcing
a stakeholder engagement opportunity through a webinar where EPA will
give an informational presentation on the document.
For more information about the TSCA risk evaluation process, which
is the second phase of the EPA three phase process for ensuring the
safety of existing chemicals, go to <a href="https://www.epa.gov/assessing-and-managing-chemicals-under-tsca/how-epa-evaluates-safety-existing-chemicals">https://www.epa.gov/assessing-and-managing-chemicals-under-tsca/how-epa-evaluates-safety-existing-chemicals</a>.
D. What should I consider as I prepare my comments?
1. Submitting CBI
Do not submit CBI to EPA through <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a> or
email. If you wish to include CBI in your comment, please follow the
applicable instructions at <a href="https://www.epa.gov/dockets/commenting-epa-dockets#rules">https://www.epa.gov/dockets/commenting-epa-dockets#rules</a> and clearly mark the information that you claim to be
CBI. Information so marked will not be disclosed except in
[[Page 26879]]
accordance with procedures set forth in 40 CFR parts 2 and 703, as
applicable.
2. Tips for preparing your comments
When preparing and submitting your comments, see the commenting
tips at <a href="https://www.epa.gov/dockets/commenting-epa-dockets">https://www.epa.gov/dockets/commenting-epa-dockets</a>.
II. Background
When EPA designated asbestos as one of the first 10 existing
chemicals to undergo risk evaluation under TSCA, as amended in 2016,
the risk evaluation focused on chrysotile asbestos, the only type of
asbestos fiber where manufacture (including import), processing, and
distribution in commerce for use was known, intended, or reasonably
foreseen in the U.S. In Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families v. EPA, 943
F.3d 397 (9th Cir. 2019) the court held that EPA's Risk Evaluation
Procedural Rule (82 FR 33726, July 20, 2017 (FRL-9964-38)) should not
have excluded ``legacy uses'' (i.e., uses without ongoing or
prospective manufacturing, processing, or distribution) and
``associated disposals'' (i.e., future disposal of legacy uses) from
the definition of conditions of use. As a result, the risk evaluation
for asbestos was split into two parts.
1. Asbestos (Part 1: Chrysotile Asbestos). The final risk
evaluation for Asbestos (Part 1: Chrysotile Asbestos) was released in
January 2021 (86 FR 89, January 4, 2021; FRL-10017-43), covering all
intended, known, or reasonably foreseen import, processing, and
distribution of chrysotile asbestos; uses of chrysotile asbestos that
have been imported, processed, and distributed; and disposal of such
chrysotile asbestos uses. The final rule to address the unreasonable
risk identified in the Asbestos Part 1 risk evaluation was issued in
March 2024 (89 FR 21970, March 28, 2024; FRL-8332-01-OCSPP).
2. Asbestos Part 2: Supplemental Evaluation Including Legacy Uses
and Associated Disposals of Asbestos. Legacy uses and associated
disposals of chrysotile asbestos, 5 additional fiber types, asbestos-
containing talc, and Libby asbestos are the subject of the ``Draft Risk
Evaluation for Asbestos Part 2: Supplemental Evaluation Including
Legacy Uses and Associated Disposals of Asbestos'' (also referred to as
the Asbestos Part 2 Draft Risk Evaluation), which is scheduled to be
finalized on or before December 1, 2024, per the consent decree in the
case Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization et al v. Regan et al,
4:21- cv-03716 (N.D. Cal.).
In the Asbestos Part 2 Draft Risk Evaluation, EPA preliminarily
concludes that asbestos, as a chemical substance and as evaluated in
part 1 and part 2 of the risk evaluation, presents an unreasonable risk
of injury to health under its conditions of use. This single
unreasonable risk determination for asbestos would replace the previous
unreasonable risk determinations made for asbestos by individual
conditions of use and supersede the determinations (and withdraw the
associated order) of no unreasonable risk for the conditions of use
identified in the TSCA section 6(i)(1) no unreasonable risk order. This
draft determination does not alter any of the underlying technical or
scientific information that informs the risk characterization in part
1, and as such the hazard, exposure, and risk characterization sections
of part 1 are not changed by this revision.
III. Request for Public Comment
EPA seeks feedback on the assessment of risk for asbestos as
presented in the Asbestos Part 2 Draft Risk Evaluation and welcomes
specific input on each section of the Asbestos Part 2 Draft Risk
Evaluation. EPA is also seeking input on the take-home exposure
scenarios, as well as the non-cancer endpoints used to characterize
risk. EPA also specifically seeks public comment on the draft single
risk determination for asbestos where the Agency intends to determine
that asbestos, as a chemical substance, presents an unreasonable risk
of injury to health when evaluated under its conditions of use.
However, EPA is not requesting public comment on the hazard, exposure,
or risk characterization sections of part 1, as those sections remain
unchanged.
EPA encourages all potentially interested parties, including
individuals, governmental and non-governmental organizations, non-
profit organizations, academic institutions, research institutions, and
private sector entities to comment on the Asbestos Part 2 Draft Risk
Evaluation.
To the extent possible, the Agency asks commenters to please cite
any public data related to or that supports responses, and to the
extent permissible, describe any supporting data that is not publicly
available.
Authority: 15 U.S.C. 2601 et seq.
Dated: April 9, 2024.
Michal Freedhoff,
Assistant Administrator, Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution
Prevention.
[FR Doc. 2024-08024 Filed 4-15-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P
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