Extension of Comment Period on Peer Review Materials for Perchlorate

In response to stakeholder requests, EPA is extending the comment period for the “Draft Report: Proposed Approaches To Inform the Derivation of a Maximum Contaminant Level Goal for Perchlorate in Drinking Water” (draft MCLG Approaches Report) an additional 21 days, from October 30, 2017, to November 20, 2017. In September, EPA published a Federal Register (82 FR 43354) notice announcing the release of perchlorate materials for public comment. The materials, particularly the draft MCLG Approaches Report, will undergo expert peer review in support of the EPA’s decision making on perchlorate. EPA will consider public comments and peer review recommendations in future revisions to the MCLG Approaches Report. EPA is following an approach to determining an appropriate MCLG that includes the use of Biologically Based Dose Response (BBDR) modeling. This new and complex process is the driver for the extensive peer review. The draft report is available at http://www.regulations.gov (Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OW-2016-0438) and additional information is on EPA’s perchlorate web page.
Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OW-2016-0438, to the Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the online instructions for submitting comments.
This comment extension leads to EPA missing the Agency’s legal deadline for the peer review to be completed by October 18, 2017. EPA will now have to go back to the Court to renegotiate the deadline for completion of the peer review, and it’s likely that the deadlines for the proposal in 2018 and the final rule in 2019 will also need to be renegotiated.