[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 228 (Wednesday, November 26, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Page 63162]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-31298]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[OPPTS-400120; FRL-5758-8]


Toxics Data Reporting Committee of the National Advisory Council 
for Environmental Policy and Technology; Notice of Public Meeting

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of public meeting.

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SUMMARY: Under the Federal Advisory Committee Act, EPA gives notice of 
a 2-day meeting of the Toxics Data Reporting Committee of the National 
Advisory Council for Environmental Policy and Technology. This will be 
the second meeting of the Toxics Data Reporting (TDR) Committee, whose 
mission is to provide advice to EPA regarding the Agency's Toxics 
Release Inventory (TRI) Program.

DATES: The public meeting will take place on December 9-10, 1997, from 
8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Written and electronic comments in response to this 
notice should be received by December 5, 1997.

ADDRESSES: The meeting will be held at: L'Enfant Plaza, 480 L'Enfant 
Plaza SW., Washington, DC 20024, (202) 484-1000.
    Comments and data may also be submitted electronically to: oppt. 
[email protected]. Follow the instructions under Unit II. of this 
document. No Confidential Business Information (CBI) should be 
submitted through e-mail.
    All comments which contain information claimed as CBI must be 
clearly marked as such. Three sanitized copies of any comments 
containing information claimed as CBI must also be submitted and will 
be placed in the public record for this action. Persons submitting 
information on any portion of which they believe is entitled to 
treatment as CBI by EPA must assert a business confidentiality claim in 
accordance with 40 CFR 2.203(b) for each such portion. This claim must 
be made at the time that the information is submitted to EPA. If a 
submitter does not assert a confidentiality claim at the time of 
submission, EPA will consider this as a waiver of any confidentiality 
claim and the information may be made available to the public by EPA 
without further notice to the submitter.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Cassandra Vail, telephone: (202) 260-
0675, fax number: (202) 401-8142, e-mail: 
[email protected]. or Michelle Price, telephone: (202) 
260-3372, fax number: (202) 410-8142, e-mail: 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

    At the 2-day meeting, the TDR Committee will continue the 
discussions begun at the September 29-30 meeting regarding the Agency's 
interpretation of the EPCRA definition of ``release.'' In section 5 of 
the Form R, there have been a number of issues raised with regard to 
the definition of ``release,'' particularly with respect to Class I 
underground injection wells and RCRA Subtitle C Landfills. Several 
commenters believe that EPA's interpretation of the EPCRA definition of 
``release'' will lead to the misperception that a reported EPCRA 
section 313 ``release'' necessarily results in an actual exposure of 
people or the environment to a toxic chemical. The TDR Committee will 
continue to discuss possible recommendations on ways to collect 
(including nomenclature and format changes) and disseminate the data 
that are consistent with the Agency's interpretation of the EPCRA 
definition of ``release'' and would address the concerns raised 
regarding public misperception.
    In addition to the discussions on section 5, the TDR Committee will 
also be discussing how EPA characterizes the TRI data through the 
annual public data release. Concerns have been raised that EPA's 
presentation of the TRI data can lead to public misperception of the 
data. Some commenters have stated that because EPA uses the word 
``release,'' TRI data leads to the misperception that a reported EPCRA 
section 313 ``release'' necessarily results in actual exposure of 
people or the environment to a toxic chemical. The Committee will be 
discussing possible recommendations on ways to more clearly present 
release data to the public to distinguish between the various methods 
of disposal while still making it possible to present meaningful 
statistics on a national basis about releases.
    A meeting summary from the September 29-30 TDR Committee meeting 
will shortly be available on the TRI Home Page. The address of the TRI 
Home Page is http://www.epa.gov/opptintr/tri. This summary can be found 
under the heading ``TRI Stakeholder Dialogue.'' In addition, the agenda 
and an issue paper outlining topics for discussion at the December 9-10 
Committee meeting will also be available at this same site prior to the 
meeting. Oral presentations or statements by interested parties will be 
limited to 5 minutes. Interested parties are encouraged to contact 
Cassandra Vail, to schedule presentations before the Committee.

II. Public Record and Electronic Submissions

    The official record for this action, as well as the public version, 
has been established for this action under docket control number 
``OPPTS-400120'' (including comments and data submitted electronically 
as described below). A public version of this record, including 
printed, paper versions of electronic comments, which does not include 
any information claimed as CBI, is available for inspection from 12 
noon to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding legal holidays. The 
official record is located in the TSCA Nonconfidential Information 
Center, Rm. NE-B607, 401 M St., SW., Washington, DC.
    Electronic comments can be sent directly to EPA at:
    [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 5.1/6.1 or ASCII file 
format. All comments and data in electronic form must be identified by 
the docket control number ``OPPTS-400120.'' Electronic comments on this 
action may be filed online at many Federal Depository Libraries.

    Dated: November 24, 1997.
Cassandra Vail,
Designated Federal Official, Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics.

[FR Doc. 97-31298 Filed 11-25-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-F