[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 233 (Wednesday, December 4, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Pages 72166-72168]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-30761]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[OEI-2002-0004; FRL-7417-4]


Agency Information Collection Activities: Submission of EPA ICR 
No. 1704.06 (OMB No. 2070-0143) to OMB for Review and Approval; Comment 
Request; Toxic Chemical Release Reporting; Alternate Threshold for Low 
Annual Reportable Amounts

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA)(44 U.S.C. 
3501 et seq.), this notice announces that the following continuing 
Information Collection Request (ICR) has been forwarded to the Office 
of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval pursuant to the 
procedures described in 5 CFR 1320.12: Alternate Threshold for Low 
Annual Reportable Amounts, Toxic Chemical Release Reporting (EPA ICR 
No. 1704.06, OMB No. 2070-0143). The ICR, which is described below, 
describes the nature of the information collection and its estimated 
burden and cost; where appropriate, it includes the actual data 
collection instrument.
    The Agency is requesting that OMB renew for 3 years the existing 
approval for this ICR, which is scheduled to expire on January 31, 
2003. 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 July 1, 2002 (67 FR 44197). A Federal Register correction 
notice, correcting the address for submission of comments in person, 
was issued on July 15, 2002 (67 FR 46503). EPA received a number of 
comments on this ICR during the comment period, which have been 
addressed. The comments and EPA's responses are included in an 
attachment to the ICR Supporting Statement that is being submitted to 
OMB with this ICR renewal request, and will be made available in the 
docket for OEI-2002-0004 and on the EPA TRI Web site at www.epa.gov/tri.

DATES: Additional comments may be submitted on or before January 3, 
2003.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Judith Kendall, TRI Program Division, 
Office of Environmental Information, Mailcode 2844, Environmental 
Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460; 
telephone number: (202) 566-0750; e-mail address: 
[email protected]; fax number: (202)566-0741.

ADDRESSES: Follow the detailed instructions in the SUPPLEMENTARY 
INFORMATION.

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 1704.06; OMB Control No. 2070-0143.
    Current Expiration Date: Current OMB approval expires on January 
31, 2003.
    EPA has established a public docket for this ICR under Docket ID 
No. OEI-2002-0004, which is available for public viewing at the OEI 
Docket in 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) 566-1744, and the telephone number for the OEI Docket is 
(202) 566-1752. An electronic version of the public docket is available 
through EPA Dockets (EDOCKET) at http://www.epa.gov/edocket. Use 
EDOCKET to submit or view public comments, access the index listing of 
the contents of the public docket, and to access those documents in the 
public docket that are available electronically.

[[Page 72167]]

Once in the system, select ``search,'' then key in the docket ID number 
identified above.
    Any comments related to this ICR should be submitted to EPA and OMB 
within 30 days of this notice, and according to the following detailed 
instructions: (1) Submit your comments to EPA online using EDOCKET (our 
preferred method), by e-mail to [email protected], or by mail to: EPA 
Docket Center, Environmental Protection Agency, Mailcode: 2844, 1200 
Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460, and (2) Mail your 
comments to OMB at: Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, 
Office of Management and Budget (OMB), Attention: Desk Officer for EPA, 
725 17th Street, NW., Washington, DC 20503.
    EPA's policy is that public comments, whether submitted 
electronically or in paper, will be made available for public viewing 
in EDOCKET as EPA receives them and without change, unless the comment 
contains copyrighted material, CBI, or other information whose public 
disclosure is restricted by statute. When EPA identifies a comment 
containing copyrighted material, EPA will provide a reference to that 
material in the version of the comment that is placed in EDOCKET. The 
entire printed comment, including the copyrighted material, will be 
available in the public docket. Although identified as an item in the 
official docket, information claimed as CBI, or whose disclosure is 
otherwise restricted by statute, is not included in the official public 
docket, and will not be available for public viewing in EDOCKET. For 
further information about the electronic docket, see EPA's Federal 
Register notice describing the electronic docket at 67 FR 38102 (May 
31, 2002), or go to http://www.epa.gov./edocket.
    Title: Toxic Chemical Release Reporting, Alternate Threshold for 
Low Annual Reportable Amounts, Recordkeeping, Supplier Notification and 
Petitions under section 313 of the Emergency Planning and Community 
Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA).
    Background: 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 and other waste management quantities of such 
chemicals annually. Each such facility must file a separate report for 
each such chemical.
    EPA has established an alternate threshold for those facilities 
with low amounts of a listed toxic chemical in wastes. A facility that 
otherwise exceeds the current reporting thresholds, but estimates that 
the total amount of the chemical in 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 Certification Statement (EPA Form 9350-
2) to certify that they are not required to file a Form R (EPA Form 
9350-1). In submitting the Form A Certification Statement, the facility 
certifies that the sum of the amount of the EPCRA section 313 chemical 
in wastes did not exceed 500 pounds for 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 Certification Statement represents a substantial savings to 
respondents, both in burden hours and in labor costs.
    The Form A Certification Statement provides communities with 
information that the chemical is being manufactured, processed or 
otherwise used at facilities. Additionally, the Form A Certification 
Statement 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 submit either a Form A 
Certification Statement or a Form R, as appropriate.
    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 and 48 CFR chapter 15.
    Burden Statement: Under the PRA, ``burden'' means the total time, 
effort, or financial resources expended by persons to generate, 
maintain, retain, or disclose or provide information to or for a 
federal agency. For this collection, it includes 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.
    The annual public burden for this collection of information, which 
is approved under OMB Control No. 2070-0143, is estimated to average 
13.7 hours for a facility that certifies one chemical per Form A 
Certification Statement. Responding to this information collection 
requires (1) determining whether a listed toxic chemical is eligible 
for certification under the alternate threshold, and (2) completing the 
Form A Certification Statement. The burden of determining eligibility 
for certification and associated recordkeeping is estimated to average 
12.3 hours for each chemical that is certified. The burden of 
completing the Form A Certification Statement is estimated to average 
1.4 hours, regardless of the number of chemicals being certified. The 
total burden per response is the combination of these two, and will 
vary depending on the number of listed toxic chemicals being certified.
    The ICR supporting statement provides a detailed explanation of the 
burden estimates that are summarized in this notice. The following is a 
summary of the estimates taken from the ICR supporting statement:
    Estimated No. of Respondents: 5,451 respondents.
    Frequency of Responses: Annual.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 172,313 burden hours.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden Costs: $7.57 million.
    Changes in the Burden Estimates: The estimated burden described 
above differs from what is currently in OMB's inventory for alternate 
threshold reporting: 14,793 responses (chemicals) and 644,761 burden 
hours. The burden estimated in this supporting statement differs from 
OMB's inventory as a result of adjustments to estimates of the number 
of responses (from 14,793 responses (chemicals) to 5,121 responses 
(Form A Certification Statements)), changes to subsequent year unit 
reporting burden estimates (from 30.2 to 9.2 burden hours per chemical 
certified on a Form A Certification Statement), and an adjustment for 
use of TRI-ME for those forms completed using TRI-ME. These changes are 
described in greater detail in the supporting statement for this ICR, 
available in the public version of the official record.
    According to the procedures prescribed in 5 CFR 1320.12, EPA has 
submitted this ICR to OMB for review

[[Page 72168]]

and approval. Any comments related to the renewal of this ICR should be 
submitted within 30 days of this notice, as described above.

    Dated: November 22, 2002.
Oscar Morales,
Director, Collection Strategies Division, Office of Environmental 
Information.
[FR Doc. 02-30761 Filed 12-3-02; 8:45 am]
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