[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 207 (Friday, October 25, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Pages 65566-65568]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-27234]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[OEI-2002-0010; FRL 6724-7]


Toxic Chemical Release Reporting; Community Right-to-Know; 
Request for Comment on Change of Contractor Handling Trade Secret 
Claims

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: This notice announces an upcoming change in location and 
contractor designated to manage the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) data 
processing for all TRI submissions including TRI Trade Secret and 
confidential information submitted pursuant to 40 CFR part 350. In 
compliance with 40 CFR part 350 (``Trade Secrecy Claims for Emergency 
Planning and Community Right-to-Know Information'') facilities 
submitting TRI reports may be eligible to claim Trade Secret for the 
specific chemical identity of a toxic chemical being reported. Pursuant 
to 40 CFR 350.23 (``Disclosure to authorized representatives''), 
information entitled to trade secret or confidential treatment may not 
be disclosed by the Agency to the Agency's authorized representative 
until each affected submitter has been furnished notice of the 
contemplated disclosure by the EPA program office and has been afforded 
a period found reasonable by that office (not less than five working 
days) to submit its comments. Pursuant to this Federal Register notice, 
comments are limited to the change of contractor handling trade secret 
and confidential information submitted under 40 CFR part 350. Once the 
transition to the new location has been completed, information 
regarding the new mailing address will be posted on the TRI Web site 
(http://www.epa.gov/tri) and will be included in the 2002 Toxic 
Chemical Release Inventory Reporting Forms and Instructions.

DATES: Comments, identified by the docket control number OEI-2002-0010, 
must be submitted on or before 5 working days after publication in the 
Federal Register.

ADDRESSES: Comments may be submitted by mail, electronically, or in 
person. Please follow the detailed instructions for each method as 
provided in Unit III. of the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this 
notice.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For general information, contact The 
Emergency Planning and Community

[[Page 65567]]

Right-to-Know Hotline at (800) 424-9346 or (703) 412-9810, TDD (800) 
553-7672, http://www.epa.gov/epaoswer/hotline/. For technical 
information about this change in contractor and location for TRI data 
processing, contact: Wendy Timm, Toxics Release Inventory Program 
Division, OEI (2844T), Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 
Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20460, Telephone: 202-566-0725; 
Fax: 202-566-0727; email: [email protected]. Once the transition to 
the new location has been completed, information regarding the new 
mailing address will be posted on the TRI Web site (http://www.epa.gov/tri) and will be included in the 2002 Toxic Chemical Release Inventory 
Reporting Forms and Instructions.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Does This Notice Apply to Me?

    A. Affected Entities: Entities that will be affected by this action 
are those facilities that manufacture, process, or otherwise use 
certain toxic chemicals listed on the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) 
and which are required under section 313 of the Emergency Planning and 
Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) of 1986, to report annually to EPA 
their environmental releases of such chemicals.
    Currently, those industries with the following SIC code 
designations (that meet all other threshold criteria for TRI reporting) 
must report toxic chemical releases and other waste management 
activities:
    [sbull] 20-39, manufacturing sector
    [sbull] 10, metal mining (except for SIC codes 1011, 1081, and 
1094)
    [sbull] 12, coal mining (except for SIC code 1241 and extraction 
activities)
    [sbull] 4911, 4931 and 4939, electrical utilities that combust coal 
and/or oil for the purpose of generating power for distribution in 
commerce.
    [sbull] 4953, RCRA Subtitle C hazardous waste treatment and 
disposal facilities
    [sbull] 5169, chemicals and allied products wholesale distributors
    [sbull] 5171, petroleum bulk plants and terminals
    [sbull] 7389, solvent recovery services, and
    [sbull] Federal facilities in any SIC code
    To determine whether you or your business is affected by this 
action, you should carefully examine the applicability provisions at 40 
CFR part 350 and 40 CFR part 372. If you have any questions regarding 
the applicability of this action to a particular entity, consult the 
person(s) listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section.

II. How Can I Get Copies of This Document and Other Related 
Information?

    A. Docket. EPA has established an official public docket for this 
action under Docket ID No. OEI-2002-0010.
    The public docket includes information considered by EPA in 
developing this action, including the documents listed below, which are 
physically located in the docket. In addition, interested parties 
should consult documents that are referenced in the documents that EPA 
has placed in the docket, regardless of whether these referenced 
documents are physically located in the docket. For assistance in 
locating documents that are referenced in documents that EPA has placed 
in the docket, but that are not physically located in the docket, 
please consult the person listed in the preceding FOR FURTHER 
INFORMATION CONTACT section. Although a part of the official docket, 
the public docket does not include Confidential Business Information 
(CBI) or other information whose disclosure is restricted by statute. 
The official public docket is the collection of materials that is 
available for public viewing at the EPA Docket Center, (EPA/DC) EPA 
West, Room B102, 1301 Constitution Ave., NW, Washington, DC. The EPA 
Docket Center Public Reading Room is open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., 
Monday through Friday, excluding legal holidays. The telephone number 
for the Reading Room is (202) 566-1742, and the telephone number for 
the Notice of Change of Contractor Handling TRI Submissions including 
TRI Trade Secret Claims Docket is (202) 566-1752.
    B. Electronic Access. You may access this Federal Register document 
electronically through the EPA Internet under the ``Federal Register'' 
listings at http://www.epa.gov/fedrgstr/.
    An electronic version of the public docket is available through 
EPA's electronic public docket and comment system, EPA Dockets. You may 
use EPA Dockets at http://www.epa.gov/edocket/ to view public comments, 
access the index listing of the contents of the official public docket, 
and to access those documents in the public docket that are available 
electronically. Although not all docket materials may be available 
electronically, you may still access any of the publicly available 
docket materials through the docket facility identified in Unit II.A. 
Once in the system, select ``search,'' then key in the appropriate 
docket identification number.

III. How Can I Respond to This Notice?

A. How and To Whom Do I Submit Comments?

    You may submit comments through the mail, in person, or 
electronically. Be sure to identify the appropriate docket control 
number (i.e., OEI-2002-0010) in your correspondence.
    1. By mail. All comments should be sent in triplicate to: Office of 
Environmental Information (OEI/TRI), Environmental Protection Agency, 
Mailcode: 2822T, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Ariel Rios Building, 
Washington, DC 20460.
    2. In person or by courier. Comments may be delivered in person or 
by courier to: EPA Docket Center, (EPA/DC) EPA West, Room B102, 1301 
Constitution Ave., NW., Washington, DC. The DCO is open from 8 a.m. to 
4 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding legal holidays. The telephone 
number for the DCO is (202) 260-7093.
    3. Electronically. Submit your comments electronically by e-mail 
to: ``[email protected]''. Please note that you should not submit any 
information electronically that you consider to be CBI. 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 standard computer disks in WordPerfect 6.1/8.0 or ASCII 
file format. All comments and data in electronic form must be 
identified by the docket control number OEI-2002-0010. Electronic 
comments on this document may also be filed online at many Federal 
Depository Libraries.

B. How Should I Handle CBI Information That I Want To Submit to the 
Agency?

    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 document. 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 part 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.

[[Page 65568]]

IV. What Is the General Background for This Action?

    The Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) is mandated by the Emergency 
Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act of 1986 (EPCRA) and the 
Pollution Prevention Act (PPA) of 1990. EPCRA Section 313 and PPA 
Section 6607 establishes requirements for Federal, State, and local 
governments and industry regarding reporting of toxic chemical releases 
and other waste management quantities.
    Under Section 322 of EPCRA and 40 CFR part 350, facilities 
submitting TRI reports may be eligible to claim Trade Secret for the 
specific chemical identity of the toxic chemical being reported. 
Pursuant to 40 CFR 350.23 (``Disclosure to authorized 
representatives''), information entitled to trade secret or 
confidential treatment may not be disclosed by the Agency to the 
Agency's authorized representative until each affected submitter has 
been furnished notice of the contemplated disclosure by the EPA program 
office and has been afforded a period found reasonable by that office 
(not less than five working days) to submit its comments. Such notice 
shall include a description of the information to be disclosed, the 
identity of the contractor, subcontractor, or grantee, the contract, 
subcontract, or grant number, if any, and the purposes to be served by 
the disclosure. This notice may be published in the Federal Register or 
may be sent to individual submitters.
    The Contract to manage the TRI data submissions was recompeted in 
1998 and was awarded to the Computer Based Systems Incorporated, now 
known as Titan Systems, Inc. This contract will end January 31, 2003. 
The new contract will transition to Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC) 
(GSA Contract GSOOT99ALD0203) by the end of December 2002. This new 
facility will be located in New Carrollton, MD. All TRI submissions 
including trade secret and confidential information submitted pursuant 
to 40 CFR part 350 will be managed by CSC.
    In accordance with 40 CFR 350.23, EPA has determined that CSC and 
their subcontractors require access to trade secret and confidential 
information submitted under 40 CFR part 350 in order to receive, 
manage, process, and safely store such information. The contractor's 
and subcontractor's personnel will be required to sign a 
``Confidentiality Agreement'' prior to being permitted access to trade 
secret and confidential information submitted under 40 CFR part 350. 
All contractor and subcontractor access to TRI trade secret and 
confidential information will take place at the contractor's facility 
in New Carrollton, MD. The contractor will have appropriate procedures 
and facilities in place to safeguard the TRI trade secret and 
confidential information to which the contractor and subcontractors 
have access during the term of this contract.

List of Subjects

    Environmental protection, Trade Secret and Confidential 
Information, TRI Data Processing.

    Dated: October 21, 2002.
Elaine G. Stanley,
Director, Office of Information Analysis and Access.
[FR Doc. 02-27234 Filed 10-24-02; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P