[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 247 (Wednesday, December 24, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 67358-67360]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-33455]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[OPPTS-00229; FRL-5762-5]


TRI; Alternate Threshold for Low Annual Reportable Amounts; 
Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposed Renewal and Request 
for Comment

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act, this notice 
announces that EPA is planning to submit the following continuing 
Information Collection Request (ICR) to the Office of Management and 
Budget (OMB) pursuant to the procedures described in 5 CFR 1320.12. 
Before submitting the following ICR to OMB for review and reapproval, 
EPA is soliciting comments on specific aspects of the information 
collection, which is briefly described below. The ICR is a continuing 
ICR entitled ``Alternate Threshold for Low Annual Reportable Amounts,'' 
EPA ICR No. 1704.05, OMB No. 2070-0143. This ICR covers the reporting 
and recordkeeping requirements associated with reporting

[[Page 67359]]

under the alternate threshold for reporting to the Toxic Release 
Inventory (TRI), which appear at 40 CFR part 372. An Agency may not 
conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a 
collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB 
control number. The OMB control numbers for EPA's regulations are 
listed in 40 CFR part 9.

DATES: Written comments must be submitted on or before February 23, 
1998.

ADDRESSES: Each comments must bear the docket control number ``OPPTS-
00229'' and administrative record number 187. All comments should be 
sent in triplicate to: OPPT Document Control Officer (7407), Office of 
Pollution Prevention and Toxics, Environmental Protection Agency, 401 M 
St., SW., Room G-099, East Tower, Washington, DC 20460.
    Comments and data may also be submitted electronically to: oppt. 
[email protected]. Follow the instructions under Unit III. of this 
document. No Confidential Business Information (CBI) should be 
submitted through e-mail.
    All comments which contains information claimed as CBI must be 
clearly marked as such. Three sanitized copies of any comments 
containing information claimed as CBI must be also be submitted and 
will be placed in the public record for this document. Persons 
submitting information on any portion of which they believe is entitled 
to treatment as CBI by EPA must asset 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: For general information contact: Susan 
B. Hazen, Director, Environmental Assistance Division (7408), Office of 
Pollution Prevention and Toxics, Environmental Protection of Agency, 
401 M St., SW., Washington, DC 20460, Telephone: 202-554-1404, TDD: 
202-554-0551, e-mail: TSCA-H[email protected]. For technical 
information contact: Tim Crawford, Environmental Assistance Division 
(7408), Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics, Environmental 
Protection Agency, 401 M St., SW., Washington, DC 20460, Telephone: 
202-260-1715; Fax: 202-401-8142; e-mail: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Electronic Availability

Internet

    Electronic copies of the ICR are available from the EPA Home Page 
at the Federal Register--Environmental Documents entry for this 
document under ``Laws and Regulations'' (http://www.epa.gov/fedrgstr/). 
An electronic copy of the collection instrument referenced in this ICR 
and instructions for its completion is available at http://www.epa.gov/
opptintr/afr96.

Fax-on-Demand

    Using a faxphone call 202-401-0527 and select item 4056 for a copy 
of the ICR and item number 4049 for a copy of an interim report on Form 
A.

I. Background

    Affected entities: Entities potentially affected by this action are 
those chemical facilities that manufacture, process or otherwise use 
certain toxic chemicals listed on the Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) and 
which are required, under section 313 of the Emergency Planning and 
Community Right-to-Know Act of 1986 (EPCRA), to report annually to EPA 
their environmental releases of such chemicals.
    For the collection of information addressed in this notice, EPA 
would like to solicit comments to:
    1. Evaluate whether the proposed collection of information is 
necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the Agency, 
including whether the information will have practical utility.
    2. Evaluate the accuracy of the Agency's estimate of the burden of 
the proposed collection of information, including the validity of the 
methodology and assumptions used.
    3. Enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to 
be collected.
    4. Minimize the burden of the collection of information on those 
who are to respond, including through the use of appropriate automated 
electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or 
other forms of information technology, e.g., permitting electronic 
submission of responses.

II. Information Collection

    EPA is seeking comments on the following ICR, as well as the 
Agency's intention to renew the corresponding OMB approval, which is 
currently scheduled to expire on May 31, 1998.
    Title: Alternate Threshold for Low Annual Reportable Amounts.
    ICR Numbers: EPA ICR No. 1704.04, OMB No. 2070-0143.
    Abstract: EPCRA section 313 requires certain facilities 
manufacturing, processing, or otherwise using certain toxic chemicals 
in excess of specified threshold quantities to report their 
environmental releases of such chemicals annually. Each such facility 
must file a separate report for each such chemical.
    In accordance with the authority in EPCRA, EPA has established an 
alternate threshold for those facilities with low amounts of a listed 
toxic chemical in wastes. A facility that otherwise meets the current 
reporting thresholds but estimates that the total amount of the 
chemical in total waste does not exceed 500 pounds per year, and that 
the chemical manufactured, processed, or otherwise used in a amount not 
exceeding 1 million pounds during the reporting year, can take 
advantage of reporting under the alternate threshold option for that 
chemical for that reporting year.
    Each qualifying facility that chooses to apply the revised 
threshold must file the Form A (EPA Form 9350-2) in lieu of a complete 
TRI reporting Form R (EPA Form 9350-1). In submitting the Form A, the 
facility certifies that the sum of the amount of the EPCRA section 313 
chemical in wastes did not exceed 500 pounds of the reporting year, and 
that the chemical was manufactured, processed, or otherwise used in an 
amount not exceeding 1 million pounds during the reporting year. Use of 
the Form A in place of the Form R represents a substantial savings to 
respondents, both in burden hours and in labor costs.
    The primary function served by the submission of the Form A is to 
satisfy the statutory requirement to maintain reporting on a 
substantial majority of releases for all listed chemicals. Without the 
Form A, users of TRI data would not have access to any information on 
these chemicals. The Form A also serves as a de facto range report, 
which is useful to any party interested in amounts being handled at a 
particular facility or for broader statistical purposes. Additionally, 
the Form A provides compliance monitoring and enforcement programs and 
other interested parties with a means to track chemical management 
activities and verify overall compliance with the rule. Responses to 
this collection of information are mandatory (see 40 CFR part 372) and 
facilities subject to reporting must either submit a Form A or a Form 
R.
    Burden Statement: The burden to respondents for complying with this 
ICR

[[Page 67360]]

is estimated to total 991,000 hours per year with an annual cost of 
$61.9 million. These totals are based on an average burden of 34.6 
hours per response for an estimated 14,453 respondents making one 
response annually. These estimates include the time needed to determine 
applicability; review instructions; develop, acquire, install and 
utilize technology and systems for the purposes of collecting, 
validating and verifying information, processing and maintaining 
information, and disclosing and providing information; adjust the 
existing ways to comply with any previously applicable instructions and 
requirements; train personnel to be able to respond to a collection of 
information; search data sources; complete and review the collection of 
information; and transmit or otherwise disclose the information. The 
use of Form A may save reporting facilities a total of up to 500,000 
hours and $30 million per year, compared to the cost of reporting on 
Form R.

III. Public Record and Electronic Submissions

    The official record for this document as well as the pubic version, 
has been established for this document under docket control number 
``OPPTS-00229'' (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 rulemaking 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-00229'' and administrative control 
number 187. Electronic comments on this document may be online at many 
Federal Depository Libraries.

List of Subjects

    Environmental protection; information collection requests; 
reporting and recordkeeping.

    Dated: December 16, 1997.
Susan H. Wayland,
Acting Assistant Administrator for Prevention, Pesticides and Toxic 
Substances.
[FR Doc. 97-33455 Filed 12-23-97; 8:45 am]
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