[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 233 (Wednesday, December 4, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Pages 72168-72170]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-30762]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[OEI-2002-0003; FRL-7417-3]


Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission of EPA ICR 
No. 1363.12 (OMB No. 2070-0093) to OMB for Review and Approval; Comment 
Request; Toxic Chemical Release Reporting

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) (44 
U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), this notice announces that the Information 
Collection Request (ICR) (EPA ICR No. 1363.12; OMB Control No. 2070-
0093) for the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) Form R 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 
summarized below, describes the nature of the information collection 
and its estimated burden and cost, and it includes the actual data 
collection instrument where appropriate.
    The Agency is requesting that OMB renew for three 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 44213). A Federal Register correction 
notice, correcting the address for submission of comments in person, 
was issued on July 15, 2002 (67 FR 46502). EPA received a number of 
comments on this ICR during the comment period, and EPA has developed 
responses to those comments. 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-2002-0003 and on the EPA TRI Web site 
at http://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 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 1363.12; OMB Control No. 2070-0093.
    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-2002-0003, 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. 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 those 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, Recordkeeping, Supplier 
Notification and Petitions under Section 313 of the Emergency Planning 
and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA).
    Background: EPCRA section 313 requires owners and operators of 
certain facilities that manufacture, process, or otherwise use any of 
the more than 650 listed toxic chemicals and chemical categories in 
excess of applicable threshold quantities to report annually to the 
Environmental Protection Agency and to the states in which such 
facilities are located on their environmental releases and other waste 
management quantities of such chemicals. In addition, section 6607 of 
the Pollution Prevention Act (PPA) requires that facilities provide 
information on the quantities of the toxic chemicals in waste streams 
and the efforts made to reduce or eliminate those quantities.
    Annual reporting of toxic chemical releases and other waste 
management information under EPCRA section 313 provides citizens with a 
more complete picture of the total disposition of chemicals in their 
communities and helps focus industries' attention on pollution 
prevention and source reduction opportunities. EPA believes that the 
public has a right to know about the disposition of chemicals within 
communities and the management of such chemicals by facilities in 
industries subject to EPCRA section 313 reporting. This reporting has 
been successful in providing communities with important information 
regarding

[[Page 72169]]

the disposition of toxic chemicals and other waste management 
information of toxic chemicals from manufacturing facilities in their 
areas.
    EPA collects, processes, and makes available to the public all of 
the information collected. The information gathered under these 
authorities is stored in a database maintained at EPA and is available 
through the Internet. This information, commonly known as the Toxics 
Release Inventory (TRI), is used extensively by both EPA and the public 
sector. Program offices within EPA use TRI data, along with other 
sources of data, to establish priorities, evaluate potential exposure 
scenarios, and undertake enforcement activities. Environmental and 
public interest groups use the data in studies and reports, making the 
public more aware of releases of chemicals in their communities.
    Comprehensive publicly-available data about releases, transfers, 
and other waste management activities of toxic chemicals at the 
community level are generally not available, other than under the 
reporting requirements of EPCRA section 313. Permit data are often 
difficult to obtain, are not cross-media and present only a limited 
perspective on a facility's overall performance. With TRI data, and the 
real gains in understanding it has produced, communities and 
governments know what toxic chemicals are released, transferred, or 
otherwise managed as a waste in their area by industrial facilities. In 
addition, industries have an additional tool for evaluating efficiency 
and progress on their pollution prevention goals.
    Responses to the collection of information are mandatory (see 40 
CFR part 372). Respondents may claim all or part of a notice 
confidential. EPA will disclose information that is covered by a claim 
of confidentiality only to the extent permitted by, and in accordance 
with, the procedures in TSCA section 14 and 40 CFR part 2.
    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 ICR supporting statement provides a detailed explanation of 
this estimate, which is only briefly summarized in this notice. The 
annual public burden for this collection of information is estimated to 
average 19.5 hours per response. The following is a summary of the 
estimates taken from the ICR:
    Respondents/affected entities: Entities potentially affected by 
this action are owners or operators of certain facilities that 
manufacture, process, or otherwise use certain specified toxic 
chemicals and chemical categories and are required to report annually 
on the environmental releases and transfers of waste management 
activities for such chemicals.
    Estimated total number of potential responses: 88,117.
    Frequency of response: Annual.
    Estimated total annual burden hours: 2,477,952.
    Estimated total annual burden costs: $107.4 million.
    Changes in Burden Estimates: As a result of OMB's March 7, 2002 
approval of an information correction worksheet, OMB's inventory 
reflects 145,972 responses and 9,612,104 hours for this information 
collection. This ICR supporting statement is for 88,117 responses and 
2,477,952 hours. The reduction in burden of approximately 7.1 million 
hours is the result of five adjustments.
    The first adjustment is to the number of responses. The estimate of 
145,972 responses in the existing OMB approval incorporated predicted 
reporting increases from economic analyses for several final rules. In 
all cases, these predictions have overestimated actual reporting 
levels, resulting in a cumulative overestimate of the number of 
responses. For example, the 1997 program change for industry expansion 
estimated 39,033 responses would be submitted, but only 12,567 
responses were actually submitted. Likewise, the 1999 program change 
for PBT chemical thresholds estimated 19,990 responses would be 
submitted, but only about 6,600 responses per year were actually 
submitted. The number of responses in this ICR supporting statement 
have been adjusted to accurately reflect actual subsequent year 
reporting levels, with the exception of predicted additional responses 
from the rule lowering reporting thresholds for lead and lead 
compounds. The prediction of 9,813 additional reports for lead and lead 
compounds may prove to be an overestimate, as with EPA predictions for 
past rules. Adjusting the number of responses to accurately reflect 
actual subsequent year reporting levels (where available) results in a 
decrease of 59,617 responses from subsequent year filers and 
approximately 3.1 million burden hours (at 52.1 hours per response).
    The second adjustment is to the unit burden hours. EPA has adjusted 
the estimate of unit burden hours for Form R completion in subsequent 
years from 47.1 hours to 14.5 hours based on responses from actual TRI 
reporting facilities. The adjustment to unit burden hours does not 
affect the number of responses, but reduces total burden by 
approximately 2.8 million burden hours (using the number of subsequent 
year responses for this ICR).
    The third adjustment relates to first-year reporting burden. In 
previous ICRs, the renewal period has coincided with programmatic 
changes in one or more years. Previous ICRs have been based on 
annualized estimates of burden (including time for rule familiarization 
and higher first year reporting burdens for facilities affected by 
programmatic changes). Since there are no final rules pending at this 
time, this ICR renewal does not require annualized burden estimates 
that account for first-year reporting burden by facilities affected by 
programmatic changes. However, the ICR does account for a baseline 
level of first-time filers that are new to TRI reporting each year. 
This accounts for a reduction of about 900,000 burden hours.
    The fourth adjustment relates to the adoption of TRI-ME, an 
automated reporting software package. EPA has reduced the burden 
estimates related to Form R Completion and Recordkeeping/Submission by 
25 percent for the reports filed using TRI-ME. On an annualized basis, 
an estimated 60 percent of reports are expected to be filed using TRI-
ME over the three years of the ICR. This results in a reduction of 
approximately 270,000 hours.
    The fifth adjustment relates to the number of petitions. In 
previous ICRs, EPA has estimated 11 petitions per year. Since the 
actual number has been 1 to 2 per year, this ICR renewal has reduced 
the expected number of petitions to 5. This adjustment has a very minor 
impact on total burden.

[[Page 72170]]

    The sum of these adjustments is a decrease of 57,855 responses and 
7,134,152 burden hours from the current approved total. 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: November 22, 2002.
Oscar Morales,
Director, Collection Strategies Division, Office of Environmental 
Information.
[FR Doc. 02-30762 Filed 12-3-02; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P