[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 72 (Tuesday, April 15, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Page 18205]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-9209]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-7483-2]


Compliance Assistance Centers; Request for Suggestions on 
Candidates for Compliance Assistance Center Development in FY 2004

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency.

ACTION: Solicitation for suggestions.

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SUMMARY: In partnership with industry, academic institutions, 
environmental groups, and other agencies, the Environmental Protection 
Agency (EPA) supports thirteen Compliance Assistance Centers (Centers) 
to help small- and medium-size businesses and local governments better 
understand and comply with environmental regulations. These Centers 
provide easy to understand compliance information targeted to specific 
sectors, geographic and environmental topics: agriculture; automotive 
service and repair; automotive recycling, chemical manufacturers; 
construction; federal facilities; local governments, metal finishing; 
paints and coatings; printed wiring board manufacturers; printers; 
transportation; and the U.S. / Mexican border environmental issues. All 
Centers can be accessed at http://www.assistancecneters.net.
    EPA would like to expand the Center program to support other 
sectors, geographical areas or topical issues.
    To support new Center development, EPA has funded the National 
Center for Manufacturing Sciences (NCMS) to develop, operate and 
maintain the Compliance Assistance Center Platform (Platform) from 
which new Centers can be ``launched.'' The Platform includes a suite of 
comprehensive web-based tools necessary to create a full-featured 
Center. States, industry, and compliance assistance providers can work 
with NCMS to establish Centers that will help the regulated community 
better understand and more efficiently comply with environmental 
requirements. The Centers for the construction sector, automotive 
recycling sector and U.S. / Mexican border environmental issues have 
been developed in partnership with NCMS and the Platform. Visit http://www.envcap.org to access Platform resources.
    EPA is exploring new sector, geographical, or topical candidates 
for Center development in FY 2004. Center candidates will be evaluated 
initially against the following criteria: impact on health and the 
environment; patterns of noncompliance; assessment that compliance 
assistance is an appropriate ``tool'' to use; predominately involves or 
affects small businesses; the problem or issue is prevalent nationally; 
impact of new environmental regulations; subject to multiple 
environmental statutes/regulations; and not currently supported by an 
existing compliance assistance program. Once these threshold criteria 
have been met, an additional criteria will be applied: willingness of a 
sector or third-party organization to partner with EPA.
    EPA invites feedback from interested parties on candidates for 
Center development. The above criteria should be considered in your 
evaluation of sector, geographic, or topical candidates. EPA 
anticipates selecting the sectors, topics or geographic areas for which 
new Centers will be developed in July, 2003. Pursuant to EPA's Grants 
Competition Policy that went into effect October 1, 2002, EPA will 
compete any assistance agreement that will be provided to support new 
Center development in FY 2004.
    Interested parties should communicate their suggestions regarding 
new sectors, geographical areas or topical issues for Center 
development to EPA by letter or e-mail to the contact listed below.

DATES: Contact by May 9, 2003.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Tracy Back, Team Leader, Compliance 
Assistance Centers, US, EPA (mail code 2224A), 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., 
NW., Washington, DC 20460, E-mail: [email protected]. Telephone: 202-
564-7076, Fax: 202-564-0009.

    Dated: April 3, 2003.
 Lisa C. Lund,
Acting Director, Office of Compliance.
[FR Doc. 03-9209 Filed 4-14-03; 8:45 am]
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