[Federal Register: October 27, 2008 (Volume 73, Number 208)]
[Notices]
[Page 63706-63707]
[DOCID:fr27oc08-55]

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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-OW-FRL-8730-5]

Notice of Data Availability: The Toxicity of Selenium to Aquatic
Life as Related to Developing a Recommended Aquatic Life Criterion

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of availability.

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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announces the
availability of a technical report titled ``Effect of Selenium on
Juvenile Bluegill Sunfish at Reduced Temperature.'' It describes the
results from testing the toxicity of selenium to juvenile bluegill
sunfish under winter temperature conditions. EPA is also making
available a list of ``References for Selenium Chronic Toxicity Data
Obtained Since 2004'', indicating other information that EPA has
recently obtained. EPA may use the information announced here in the
derivation of a selenium water quality criterion for protection of
aquatic life.

DATES: Scientific information and views on the material cited herein
should be submitted by November 26, 2008. Scientific views postmarked
after this date might not be considered.

ADDRESSES: If you wish to submit information relevant to the material
announced, you may do so by one of the following methods:
     http://www.regulations.gov: Follow the on-line
instructions for submitting scientific views.
     E-mail<EMAIL_ADDRESS>     Mail: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; EPA Docket
Center (EPA/DC) Water Docket, MC 2822T; 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW.,
Washington, DC 20460.
     Hand Delivery: EPA Docket Center, 1301 Constitution Ave.,
NW., EPA West, Room 3334, Washington, DC. Such deliveries are only
accepted during the Docket's normal hours of operation, and special
arrangements should be made for deliveries of boxed information.
    Instructions: Direct your scientific views to Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-
OW-2004-0019. EPA's policy is that all scientific views received will
be included in the public docket without change and may be made
available online at http://www.regulations.gov, including any personal
information provided, unless the comment includes information claimed
to be Confidential Business Information (CBI) or other information
whose disclosure is restricted by statute. Do not submit information
that you consider to be CBI or otherwise protected through http://
www.regulations.gov or e-mail. The http://www.regulations.gov Web site
is an ``anonymous access'' system, which means EPA will not know your
identity or contact information unless you provide it in the body of
your comment.
    If you send an e-mail comment directly to EPA without going through
http://www.regulations.gov your e-mail address will be automatically
captured and included as part of the comment that is placed in the
public docket and made available on the Internet. If you submit an
electronic comment, EPA recommends that you include your name and other
contact information in the body of your comment and with any disk or
CD-ROM you submit. If EPA cannot read your comment due to technical
difficulties and cannot contact

you for clarification, EPA may not be able to consider your comment.
Electronic files should avoid the use of special characters, any form
of encryption, and be free of any defects or viruses. Visit the EPA
Docket Center homepage at http://www.epa.gov/epahome/dockets.htm for
additional information about EPA's public docket.
    Docket: All documents in the docket are listed in the http://
www.regulations.gov index. Although listed in the index, some
information is not publicly available, e.g., CBI or other information
whose disclosure is restricted by statute. Certain other material, such
as copyrighted material, will be publicly available only in hard copy.
Publicly available docket materials are available either electronically
in http://www.regulations.gov or in hard copy at the Office of Water
Docket/EPA/DC, 1301 Constitution Ave., NW., EPA West, Room 3334,
Washington, DC. This Docket Facility is open from 8:30 a.m. until 4:30
p.m., EST, Monday through Friday, excluding legal holidays. The
telephone number for the Public Reading Room is<PHONE_NUMBER>, and the
telephone number for the Office of Water is<PHONE_NUMBER>.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Charles Delos<EMAIL_ADDRESS>or postal address, Mail Code 4304T, U.S. EPA, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue,
NW., Washington, DC 20460.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Who might be interested in this information?

    This information may be useful to scientists involved in selenium
hazard assessment for aquatic life.

II. What is the relationship of this material to water quality
criteria?

    EPA may use the information announced here in the derivation of a
water quality criterion for protection of aquatic life. Nevertheless,
in part because the new information is only a portion of all data
relevant to deriving a criterion, EPA's future criteria recommendations
cannot be directly inferred from it.

III. What are EPA recommended water quality criteria?

    EPA recommended water quality criteria are scientifically derived
numeric values that protect aquatic life or human health from the
deleterious effects of pollutants in ambient water. Section 304(a)(1)
of the Clean Water Act requires EPA to develop and publish and, from
time to time, revise, recommended water quality criteria to accurately
reflect the latest scientific knowledge. Water quality criteria
developed under section 304(a) are based solely on data and scientific
judgments on the relationship between pollutant concentrations and
environmental and human health effects. Section 304(a) criteria do not
reflect consideration of economic impacts or the technological
feasibility of meeting the chemical concentrations in ambient water.
Section 304(a) criteria provide guidance to States and authorized
Tribes in adopting water quality standards that ultimately provide a
basis for controlling discharges or releases of pollutants. The
criteria also provide guidance to EPA when promulgating federal
regulations under section 303(c) when such action is necessary. EPA's
recommended water quality criteria do not substitute for the CWA or
regulations, nor are they regulations themselves. Thus, EPA's
recommended criteria do not impose legally binding requirements. States
and authorized Tribes have the discretion to adopt, where appropriate,
other scientifically defensible water quality standards that differ
from these recommendations.

IV. Why did EPA perform the bluegill sunfish toxicity test?

    On December 17, 2004 (69 FR 75541), EPA announced the availability
of a draft revision of its currently recommended aquatic life water
quality criteria for selenium, and solicited scientific information,
data, and views thereon. Some of the responses from the public
indicated that EPA's interpretation of a key study, involving juvenile
bluegill sunfish under winter temperature conditions, was problematic
due to limitations of the study design and lack of corroboration. To
address these problems, EPA has undertaken and completed a new study,
designed to establish an unambiguous threshold concentration for the
effect. The document ``Effect of Selenium on Juvenile Bluegill Sunfish
at Reduced Temperature'' in the docket for this notice describes this
work. EPA intends to review any scientific information, data and views
submitted in response to today's notice, along with the information
previously submitted to EPA. For additional information on EPA's draft
aquatic life water quality criterion for selenium, see http://
www.epa.gov/waterscience/criteria/selenium/.

V. Why did EPA obtain the other information in its reference list?

    With the intent that any future revision of the selenium criterion
reflect the latest scientific information, EPA has searched the
literature for new data. Interested persons have also submitted data to
EPA. ``References for Selenium Chronic Toxicity Data Obtained Since
2004'' lists these studies.

    Dated: October 9, 2008.
Ephraim S. King,
Director, Office of Science and Technology.
 [FR Doc. E8-25519 Filed 10-24-08; 8:45 am]

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