[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 211 (Friday, October 31, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Pages 62070-62072]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-27482]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[OEI-2003-0026; FRL-7581-2]


Agency Information Collection Activities: Submission to OMB for 
Review and Approval; Comment Request; 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): Renewal; EPA ICR 
Number 1704.07, OMB Control Number 2070-0143

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 document announces that the following continuing 
Information Collection Request (ICR) has been forwarded to the Office 
of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval. The Agency is 
requesting that OMB renew for 3 years the existing approval for this 
ICR, which is scheduled to expire on October 31, 2003. Under OMB 
regulations, the Agency may continue to conduct or sponsor the 
collection of information while this submission is pending at OMB. This 
ICR describes the nature of the information collection and its 
estimated burden and cost.

DATES: Additional comments may be submitted on or before December 1, 
2003.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, referencing docket ID number OEI-2003-
0026, to (1) EPA online using EDOCKET (our preferred method), by e-mail 
to [email protected], or by mail

[[Page 62071]]

to: EPA Docket Center, Environmental Protection Agency, Office of 
Environmental Information Docket, 28221T, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW., 
Washington, DC 20460, and (2) 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.

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

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 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, 2003 (68 FR 39071). EPA 
received and responded to public comments that were submitted in 
response to this ICR renewal request. 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-2003-0026 and on the EPA TRI Web site 
at http://www.epa.gov/tri.
    EPA has established a public docket for this ICR under Docket ID 
No. OEI-2003-0026, which is available for public viewing at the Office 
of Environmental Information 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 Office of Environmental Information 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. 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): Renewal.
    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 and other waste management quantities 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 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) in lieu of a complete TRI reporting 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 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 
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.
    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.
    Burden Statement: The annual public burden for this collection of 
information is estimated to average 13.7 hours for a facility that 
certifies one chemical per Form A Certification Statement.
    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. This 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 following is a summary of the estimates taken from the ICR 
supporting statement:
    Respondents/affected entities: 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 No. of Responses: 5,000.
    Frequency of Responses: Annual.

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    Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 173,850 burden hours.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden Costs: $ 8.02 million in labor costs.

Changes in Burden Estimates

    The burden estimated in this supporting statement differs from 
OMB's inventory as a result of adjustments to estimates of number of 
responses (from 5,121 responses to 5,000 responses), changes to 
subsequent year unit reporting burden estimates (from 30.2 to 9.3 
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.

    Dated: October 27, 2003.
Doreen Sterling,
Acting Director, Collection Strategies Division.
[FR Doc. 03-27482 Filed 10-30-03; 8:45 am]
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