[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 77 (Tuesday, April 22, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 19573-19575]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-10407]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-5814-6]


Notice of Public Meeting on the Sector Facilities Indexing 
Project

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency.

ACTION: The Enviromental Protection Agency will hold a public meeting 
to take public comments and suggestions on the methodology used to 
measure and display the environmental performance and records of 
individual facilities in context of the Sector Facility Indexing 
Project (SFIP).

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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is announcing a 
public meeting on Wednesday, May 14, 1997 in Alexandria, VA, to hear 
presentations and statements from a cross-section of stakeholders on 
facility profiling methodologies used within the Sector Facility 
Indexing Project.
    Any and all stakeholders (e.g., individuals, or representatives of 
organizations, governments, or academia) are invited to attend as 
members of the audience, or to submit written comments to the OPPT 
Docket Clerk (see ADDRESSES section below). There also will be an 
opportunity for individuals to make brief oral presentations. Please 
note that the number of presenters, as well as time allotted, may be 
limited. If you wish to make a presentation, please request a Fax 
Registration Form by calling (617) 520-3015.

DATES: The meeting will take place on May 14, 1997, beginning promptly 
at 8:30 a.m. and continuing until 6:00 p.m.

ADDRESSES: The public meeting will take place at the Holiday Inn Hotel 
and Suites, 625 First Street, Alexandria, VA 22314 (703-548-6300). 
Written comments should be submitted in triplicate to: US Environmental 
Protection Agency, Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics, OPPT 
Docket Clerk, Mail Code 7407, 401 M Street, SW., Washington, DC 20460, 
and reference administrative record 178. The docket will not 
accommodate confidential business information. Comments and data may 
also be submitted electronically by sending electronic mail (e-mail) 
to: [email protected]. Electronic comments must be submitted as 
an ASCII file avoiding the use of special characters and any form of 
encryption. Comments and data will also be accepted on disks in 
WordPerfect in 5.1 format of ASCII file format. All comments and data 
in electronic form must be identified by the administrative record 
number.
    A record has been established for the SFIP under administrative 
record 178 (including comments and data submitted electronically as 
described below). A public version of this record, including printed, 
paper versions of electronic comments, is available for inspection from 
noon to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding legal holidays. The 
public record is located in the TSCA Nonconfidential Information 
Center, Rm. NE-B607, 401 M St.,SW., Washington, DC 20460. The official 
record for the SFIP as described above will be kept in paper form. 
Accordingly, EPA will transfer all comments received electronically 
into printed, paper form as they are received and will place the paper 
copies in the official record which will also include all comments 
submitted directly in writing. The official record is the paper record 
maintained at the address in ADDRESSES above.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Maria DiBiase Eisemann, U.S. 
Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Compliance, 401 M Street, 
S.W. (2223-A), Washington, D.C., 20460; telephone: (202) 564-7016, fax: 
(202) 564-0050; e-mail: [email protected]. Supplemental 
documents relating to the project and the public meeting will be posted 
at the following Internet address: http://www.epa.gov/envirosense/oeca/
metd/sfi.html

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

    The Sector Facility Indexing Project (SFIP) is a community-right-
to-know

[[Page 19574]]

and data integration pilot project that provides environmental 
performance data for facilities within five industrial sectors. The 
industrial sectors profiled within the SFIP are automobile assembly, 
petroleum refining, pulp mills, iron and steel, and primary nonferrous 
metal production (aluminum, copper, lead and zinc). The SFIP is part of 
an overall EPA Reinvention initiative to improve data integration, 
public access to information, and methods for examining risk factors. 
This initiative brings together existing data from a wide range of 
databases to allow the user to view facility-specific environmental 
information in one place. The ultimate goal of the SFIP is to publish 
information regarding each profiled facility, and provide a publicly 
accessible database of current information which would allow for 
customized data searches. The purpose of the public meeting is to take 
comment on the methodology used within the SFIP, and determine how it 
can be improved using available information, methodologies, and 
measures.
    EPA has traditionally stored information regarding facility-level 
environmental records in separate databases that relate to individual 
statutes and programs. To a large extent, comprehensive facility-level 
records that cut across multiple programs are not available. The Sector 
Facility Indexing Project (SFIP) consolidates this information in a way 
that makes it easier to make cross-program comparisons and connections. 
For example, the project allows users to examine the compliance records 
of facilities under air, water, and solid/hazardous waste regulations. 
In the past, interested users could not access this cross-program 
information without examining each database separately. The information 
contained within the SFIP is organized by industrial category to allow 
comparisons across facilities that manufacture similar products.
    The performance measures used in the project are related to the 
following categories--production or capacity of the facility, 
compliance and enforcement history, chemical release data, toxicity of 
chemicals released, and population/demographic statistics of the 
surrounding area. The project encompasses raw data directly from public 
data sources, and statistical data that provides information aggregated 
directly from the raw data. This ``layered'' approach allows the user 
to examine both comparative statistics, and actual raw data relating to 
the events that have occurred or indicators that are measured. The 
methodology used to measure the categories examined under the SFIP are 
contained in supplemental documents that are available from the 
following Internet site (http://www.epa.gov/envirosense/oeca/metd/
sfi.html) or upon request from the EPA contact listed above. EPA 
recommends that commenters review this background documentation to 
better understand the methodologies used within the project.
    The SFIP does not create new policies or definitions, but uses 
existing information. To the extent that these definitions and 
associated data elements are refined, changed, or improved through 
other processes, SFIP will make use of the most current and best 
information available. SFIP uses existing data, but the project as a 
whole is not a forum for making fundamental changes project as a whole 
is not a forum for making fundamental changes to existing data 
definitions or reporting requirements. There is another forum, the 
National Performance Measures Strategy, which is a stakeholder process 
designed to identify and implement an enhanced set of performance 
measures for EPA's enforcement and compliance assurance program. While 
SFIP is not the vehicle for broader changes to underlying data systems, 
the project may help stakeholders understand what is collected now, and 
how it can be presented. While future improvements to data collection 
and reporting methodologies are important topics, EPA is most 
interested in using the public meeting to solicit comments and 
suggestions relating to how existing data can be better organized and 
presented within the SFIP.

II. Information for Participants

    EPA is interested in focusing the public meeting on the questions 
presented below in Section III. Speakers may be asked clarifying 
questions regarding their presentations by an EPA panel. EPA encourages 
speakers to supplement their oral presentations with formal written 
comment as time constraints may not allow speakers to address all 
issues of interest. Persons wishing to sign-up for a presentation at 
the public meeting must pre-register by calling 617-520-3015 and 
requesting a meeting registration form. Speakers will be notified of 
their time slots once the final format is determined. The meeting is 
open to the public as space permits, and a summary of the proceedings 
will be prepared and entered into the SFIP docket. EPA also encourages 
those unable to attend the public meeting to submit formal written 
comments to the docket.
    Please note that EPA has developed a separate public review process 
through EPA's Science Advisory Board (scheduled for April 29) on the 
topic of using toxicity weighting information in conjunction with 
Toxics Release Inventory data. Because this issue is being handled 
through the SAB process, it is not reflected in the focus topics for 
the public meeting. Stakeholders interested in getting more information 
or providing comments during the Science Advisory Board process can 
refer to the EPA contact, or the SFIP Internet site.

III. Focus Topics for Public Meeting

    During the public meeting, EPA is interested in getting public 
comment on the following topics and questions.
    Category 1--Public Access. How do you or your organization believe 
that EPA can best implement projects and policies to improve the 
public's ability to access facility-specific environmental data such as 
compliance records?
    Category 2--Sector Approach. Is it useful for you or your 
organization to have the ability to compare facility records across 
plants that manufacture similar products (sector-based presentation of 
data)?
    Category 3--Appropriate Measurement Categories. Are the overall 
categories of information presented (compliance, chemical releases, 
toxicity, production/capacity, demographics) appropriate for facility-
level profiling, and should other categories be added? Please refer to 
supplemental documents for a discussion of methodology used for these 
categories.
    Category 4--Alternatives. Given that the project is constrained to 
currently available information, are there particular facets of the 
project that you or your organization think should be improved, 
modified or added, and what proposals do you have for these changes?
    Category 5--Longer-term Improvements. In the future, as EPA 
examines improvements to facility-profiling methodologies, are there 
any new categories or measurement techniques that should be considered 
that may require changes to existing data collection and management 
practices? Please provide details and an indication of whether your 
organization is willing to support collection or maintenance of this 
information?
    Category 6--Public Access Methods. What format or formats are the 
most useful to your organization in terms of accessing facility-level 
environmental data (e.g., Internet standard reports, Internet 
searchable databases, written

[[Page 19575]]

reports and tables, direct access into integrated databases * * *)?
    Category 7--Uses of SFIP data. If you or your organization plans to 
use the information contained within the project, what are the benefits 
of having this information and potential uses for you or your 
organization?
    Please refer to the EPA contact, or the SFIP web site for 
supplemental documents that provide substantive detail on the 
methodology used within the project. Some of these documents may not be 
immediately available, but will be in place no later than April 28, 
1997.

    Dated: April 16, 1997.
Elaine G. Stanley,
Director, Office of Compliance.
[FR Doc. 97-10407 Filed 4-21-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-M