Notice of Public Comment/Workshop for Draft Air Toxics Hot Spots Guidance Manual for Preparation of Health Risk Assessments 2002

The Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) is releasing a draft document, Air Toxics Hot Spots Program Guidance Manual for the Preparation of Risk Assessments to solicit public comment. This draft Guidance Manual has been developed by OEHHA, in conjunction with the Air Resources Board, for use in implementing the Air Toxics Hot Spots Program (Health and Safety Code Section 44360). OEHHA is required to develop guidelines for conducting health risk assessments under the Air Toxics Hot Spots Program (Health and Safety Code Section 44360 (b) (2)). OEHHA developed four Technical Support Documents (TSDs) in response to this statutory requirement which provided the scientific basis for values used in assessing risk from exposure to facility emissions. The four TSDs describe acute Reference Exposure Levels (RELs), chronic RELs, cancer potency factors, point estimates and distributions for exposure parameters, and the general exposure assessment methodology. These TSDs underwent public and peer review, were approved by the State's Scientific Review Panel on Toxic Air Contaminants, and adopted by OEHHA for use in the Air Toxics Hot Spots program. The draft Guidance Manual combines the critical information from the four TSDs onto a guidance manual for the preparation of health risk assessments. We are seeking comment on the guidance itself including clarity and ease of use. We are not seeking comments on the information in the guidance Manual that has already undergone public and peer review, approval by the Scientific Review Panel, and adoption by OEHHA. The Guidance Manual will also undergo review by the state's Scientific Review Panel on Toxic Air Contaminants.

The Guidance Manual becomes available on the OEHHA Home Page at http://www.oehha.ca.gov on June 1, 2002. The distribution of the document will commence a 30-day public review period that will end on July 1, 2002. (Note: Due to late posting, the public comment period has been extended until July 6, 2002.) Public workshops will be held June 19th in Diamond Bar and June 25th in Oakland.

Location information is as follows:

Information about dates and agenda for meetings of the Scientific Review Panel can be obtained from the ARB web page at http://www.arb.ca.gov/srp/srp.htm.