[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 100 (Tuesday, May 26, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 28509-28510]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-13897]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[OPPTS-400130; FRL-5792-5]
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. The first five meetings were held in November 1997 and
February and April 1998. This notice announces two upcoming meetings.
Additional meeting dates will be announced through future Federal
Register notices.
DATES: The meetings will take place:
1. Thursday, June 18, 1998, 9 a.m. to 12 p.m., at the Ramada Inn,
70 John Wesley Dobbs Avenue, Atlanta, GA 30303. Participants must
register to speak by 5:00 p.m. on Thursday, June 11, 1998.
2. Wednesday, June 24, 1998, 9 a.m. to 12 p.m., at the Holiday Inn
City Center, 1215 Wyandotte Street, Kansas City, MO 64105. Participants
must register to speak by 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday, June 17, 1998.
ADDRESSES: Each comment must bear the docket control number ``OPPTS-
400130.'' 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., Rm. G-099, East Tower,
Washington, DC 20460.
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 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: Vicki R. Anderson, (Mail Stop 7408),
Environmental Protection Agency, 401 M St., SW., Washington, DC 20460;
telephone: (202) 260-3544; fax number: (202) 401-8142; e-mail:
[email protected].
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 five meetings took place in November 1997 and
February and April 1998. The docket control number for the November
meetings is ``OPPTS-400117'' and the docket control number for the
February and April meetings is ``OPPTS-400124.'' 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 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. EPA would
like to receive comments on these issues 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.''
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
Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) subtitle C landfills.
Several commenters believe that EPA's interpretation of the Emergency
Planning and Community Right-To-Know Act (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 amount of waste managed at the
facility and not the 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.
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 Vicki
Anderson at (202) 260-3544. For those who cannot travel to the public
meeting location, there will be 10 conference call lines available on a
first come, first served basis. When registering, give your name,
organization, postal (and electronic, if any) mailing address,
telephone, and fax number. 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.
[[Page 28510]]
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-400130'' (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-400130.'' Electronic comments on this
action may be filed online at many Federal Depository Libraries.
List of Subjects
Environmental protection, Community right-to-know.
Dated: May 19, 1998.
Thomas D. Tillman,
Acting Director, Environmental Assistance Division, Office of Pollution
Prevention and Toxics.
[FR Doc. 98-13897 Filed 5-22-98; 8:45 am]
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