[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 22 (Tuesday, February 3, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 5517-5518]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-2495]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[OPPTS-400124; FRL-5769-4]


Public Meetings on the Toxics Release Inventory Reporting Form

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of public meetings.

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SUMMARY: EPA will hold approximately nine public meetings to solicit 
comments relating to the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) reporting form, 
the Form R. The purpose of the meetings is to obtain comments from 
stakeholders on ways to improve the type of right-to-know information 
available to communities and to help streamline right-to-know reporting 
to ease the paperwork burden for businesses affected by the 
requirements. Since the Agency is looking for ways to help reduce the 
reporting burden, these meetings will also provide an opportunity for 
affected entities to participate in the development of a rule 
clarifying the Pollution Prevention Act reporting requirements 
currently contained in Section 8 of the Form R. In particular, the 
Agency is interested in comments and suggestions regarding the burden 
of Section 8 reporting on small entities. The first three of these 
public meetings were held in November 1997. This notice announces two 
upcoming meetings. Additional meeting dates will be announced through 
future Federal Register notices.

DATES: The meetings will take place:
    1. Tuesday, February 24, 1998, 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. Adam's Mark 
Dallas, Seminar Theater, 400 North Olive, Dallas, TX. Participants must 
register to speak by 5 p.m., Thursday, February 19, 1998.
    2. Thursday, April 2, 1998, 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. USEPA Region II, 290 
Broadway, NY, NY, Conference Room D, 27th Floor. Participants must 
register to speak by 5 p.m., Friday, March 27, 1998.

ADDRESSES: 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. Each comment must bear the docket control 
number ``OPPTS-400123.''
    Comments and data may also be submitted electronically to: 
[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. 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: Michelle Price, (Mail Stop 7408), 
Environmental Protection Agency, 401 M St., SW., Washington, DC 20460, 
telephone: (202) 260-3372, fax number: (202) 401-8142, e-mail: 
[email protected]. To register to speak via conference 
call or in person, contact Debra Jones (TASCON) at (301) 907-3844.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

    EPA plans to hold approximately nine public meetings to solicit 
comments relating to the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) reporting form, 
the Form R. The first three meetings took place in November 1997. The 
docket number for the November meetings is ``OPPTS-400117'' and the 
comments presented at these meetings are available for review as 
described in Unit II. of this document.
    The purpose of the meetings is to obtain comments from stakeholders 
on ways to improve the type of right-to-know information available to 
communities and to help streamline right-to-know reporting to ease the 
paperwork burden for businesses affected by the requirements. Topics 
for comment include the following: format of the Form R; nomenclature 
used in the Form R; opportunities for burden reduction in both the Form 
R and Form A; additional clarification of the elements in the Form R; 
and EPA's presentation of the data in public information documents.
    These public meetings are also intended to help serve the Agency's 
effort to assure that the concerns of small entities are addressed in 
the development of regulations. The Agency is preparing a proposed rule 
to clarify the Pollution Prevention Act reporting requirements 
currently contained in Section 8 of the Form R, and would like to 
receive comments from affected entities regarding those reporting 
requirements. In particular, the Agency is interested in comments and 
suggestions regarding the reporting burden on small entities.
    The sections of the Form R that EPA would like specific comment on 
are Sections 5, 6, and 8. In Section 5, 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 Agency would like to hear suggestions on ways to collect 
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.
    There have also been a number of issues raised with regard to the 
reporting of toxic chemicals in wastes in Section 8 of the Form R. 
Section 8 collects information on waste managed at the facility whether 
or not the waste was generated at the reporting facility. Some 
individuals are concerned about public misperception of the data in 
Section 8 because of the focus on the

[[Page 5518]]

amount of waste managed at the facility, not waste generated. EPA would 
like comments on ways to change Section 8 of the Form R which would 
continue to allow the user to assess wastes managed by the facility but 
would minimize the perception that the wastes reported in section 8 
were generated by the reporting facility.
    On any of the above issues, EPA would like to receive specific 
comments from interested parties for changes, modifications, deletions, 
and/or additions of data elements to the Form R and the Form A. These 
issues are outlined in greater detail in an issue paper available on 
the TRI Home Page at http://www.epa.gov/opptintr/tri under the heading 
``TRI Stakeholder Dialogue'' and the subheading ``TRI Public 
Meetings.''
    Individuals wishing to attend these meetings or participate via 
conference call must sign-up in advance in order to assure that all 
participants have an opportunity to speak. Depending on the number of 
individuals registered, oral presentations or statements will be 
limited to approximately 5 to 15 minutes. To register, contact Debra 
Jones (TASCON) at (301) 907-3844. For those who cannot travel to the 
public meeting location, there will be 10 conference call lines 
available on a first come, first serve basis for individuals to provide 
comment. When registering, give your name, organization, postal (and 
electronic, if any) mailing address, telephone and fax numbers. If 
there is insufficient interest in any of the meetings, that meeting may 
be canceled. Individuals registered will be notified in the event a 
meeting is canceled. The Agency bears no responsibility for attendees' 
decision to purchase nonrefundable transportation tickets or 
accommodation reservations.

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-400123'' (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 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 20460.
    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-400123.'' Electronic comments on this 
action may be filed online at many Federal Depository Libraries.

List of Subjects

    Environmental protection, Community right-to-know.

    Dated: January 26, 1998.
Susan B. Hazen,
Director, Environmental Assistance Division, Office of Pollution 
Prevention and Toxics.

[FR Doc. 98-2495 Filed 2-2-98; 8:45 am]
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