[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]
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