[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 140 (Wednesday, July 22, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 39286-39287]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-19520]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-6127-8]


Toxic Release Inventory; Submission of ICR No. 1704.04 to OMB; 
Agency Information Collection Activities

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of Submission to OMB.

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SUMMARY: In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 3501 
et seq.), this notice announces that the Information Collection Request 
(ICR) entitled: Alternate Threshold for Low Annual Reportable Amounts, 
Toxic Chemical Release Reporting [EPA ICR No. 1704.04; OMB Control No. 
2070-0143] has been forwarded to the Office of Management and Budget 
(OMB) for review and approval pursuant to the OMB procedures in 5 CFR 
1320.12. The ICR, which is abstracted below, describes the nature of 
the information collection and its estimated cost and burden.
    The Agency is requesting that OMB renew for 3 years the existing 
approval for this ICR, which is scheduled to expire on August 31, 1998. 
A Federal Register notice announcing the Agency's intent to seek the 
renewal of this ICR and the 60-day public comment opportunity, 
requesting comments on the request and the contents of the ICR, was 
issued on December 24, 1997 (62 FR 67358). EPA received comments on 
this ICR during the comment period, and has addressed the comments in 
the body of the ICR submitted to OMB.

DATES: Additional comments may be submitted on or before August 21, 
1998.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION OR A COPY CONTACT: Sandy Farmer at EPA by phone 
on (202) 260-2740, by e-mail: ``[email protected],'' or 
download off the Internet at http://www.epa.gov/icr/icr.htm and refer 
to EPA ICR No. 1704.04.

ADDRESSES: Send comments, referencing EPA ICR No. 1704.04 and OMB 
Control No. 2070-0143, to the following addresses:

Ms. Sandy Farmer, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Regulatory 
Information Division (Mailcode: 2137), 401 M Street, S.W., Washington, 
DC 20460; and to:
Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and 
Budget (OMB), Attention: Desk Officer for EPA, 725 17th Street, N.W., 
Washington, DC 20503.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
    Review Requested: This is a request to renew a currently approved 
information collection pursuant to 5 CFR 1320.12.
    ICR Numbers: EPA ICR No. 1704.04; OMB Control No. 2070-0143.
    Current Expiration Date: Current OMB approval expires on August 31, 
1998.
    Title: Alternate Threshold for Low Annual Reportable Amounts, Toxic 
Chemical Release Reporting.
    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 production-related 
waste does not exceed 500 pounds per year, and that the chemical was 
manufactured, processed or otherwise used in an 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 each EPCRA section 313 
chemical or chemicals did not exceed 500 pounds in total production-
related waste for the reporting year, and that each chemical was 
manufactured, processed or otherwise used in an amount not exceeding 1 
million pounds during the reporting year. EPA estimates that using the 
alternate threshold may save reporting facilities up to 487,000 hours, 
with a dollar value of $29 million, compared to the cost of reporting 
on Form R.
    The primary function served by the submission of the Form A is to 
satisfy

[[Page 39287]]

the statutory requirement to maintain reporting on a substantial 
majority of releases for all listed toxic chemicals. Without the Form 
A, users of TRI data would not have access to any information on these 
chemicals. The Form A may also serve as a de facto range report, which 
may be 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 for 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 annual public reporting burden for this 
collection of information is estimated to average 67.8 hour per 
response for an estimated 13,157 respondents making one or more 
submissions of information. These estimates include the time needed to 
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. No person is required to respond to 
a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB 
control number. The OMB control numbers for these regulations are 
displayed in 40 CFR Part 9.
    Respondents/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.
    Estimated No. of Respondents: 13,157.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden on Respondents: 909,392 hours.
    Frequency of Collection: Annual.
    Changes in Burden Estimates: There is a decrease of about 82,000 
hours in the total estimated respondent burden as compared with that 
identified in the information collection request most recently approved 
by OMB, from 991,301 hours currently to an estimated 909,392 hours. 
This reflects downward adjustments made in calculating the number of 
eligible respondents and responses based on TRI reporting data from the 
1996 reporting year (the most recent TRI data available). In addition 
EPA has modified the Form A to permit respondents to make multiple 
certifications on a single form, with an accompanying change in the 
number of estimated responses, producing another downward change in the 
burden to respondents.
    According to the procedures prescribed in 5 CFR 1320.12, EPA has 
submitted this ICR to OMB for review and approval. Any comments related 
to the renewal of this ICR should be submitted within 30 days of this 
notice, as described above.

    Dated: July 16, 1998.
Richard T. Westlund,
Acting Director, Regulatory Information Division.
[FR Doc. 98-19520 Filed 7-21-98; 8:45 am]
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