[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 187 (Wednesday, September 28, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Page 56686]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-19355]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-7976-3]


Clean Water Act; Contractor Access to Confidential Business 
Information

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of Intended Transfer of Confidential Business 
Information to Contractors and Subcontractors.

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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) intends to transfer 
confidential business information (CBI) collected from the drinking 
water treatment industry, airport deicing operations, and other 
industries to Battelle and its subcontractors. Transfer of the 
information will allow the contractor and subcontractors to support EPA 
in the planning, development, and review of effluent limitations 
guidelines and standards under the Clean Water Act (CWA) and the 
development of discharge standards for certain Alaskan cruise ship 
operations. The information being transferred was or will be collected 
under the authority of section 308 of the CWA. Some information being 
transferred from the pulp, paper, and paperboard industry was collected 
under the additional authorities of section 114 of the Clean Air Act 
(CAA) and section 3007 of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act 
(RCRA). Interested persons may submit comments on this intended 
transfer of information to the address noted below.

DATES: Comments on the transfer of data are due October 3, 2005.

ADDRESSES: Comments may be sent to Mr. M. Ahmar Siddiqui, Document 
Control Officer, Engineering and Analysis Division (4303T), Room 6231S 
EPA West, U.S. EPA, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave, NW., Washington, DC 20460.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. M. Ahmar Siddiqui, Document 
Control Officer, at (202) 566-1044, or via e-mail at 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: EPA has transferred CBI to various 
contractors and subcontractors over the history of the effluent 
guidelines program. EPA determined that this transfer was necessary to 
enable the contractors and subcontractors to perform their work in 
supporting EPA in planning, developing, and reviewing effluent 
guidelines and standards for certain industries.
    Today, EPA is giving notice that it has entered into a contract 
with Battelle, number EP-C-05-030, located in Columbus, Ohio. The 
reason for this contract is to secure additional statistical analysis 
support for EPA in its development, review, implementation, and defense 
of water-related initiatives. To obtain assistance in responding to 
this contract, Battelle has entered into contracts with the following 
subcontractors: Waterstone Environmental Hydrology and Engineering, 
Inc. (located in Boulder, Colorado) and Jorge Scientific Corporation 
(Arlington, Virginia).
    All EPA contractor, subcontractor, and consultant personnel are 
bound by the requirements and sanctions contained in their contracts 
with EPA and in EPA's confidentiality regulations found at 40 CFR Part 
2, Subpart B. Battelle and its subcontractors adhere to EPA-approved 
security plans which describe procedures to protect CBI. The procedures 
in these plans are applied to CBI previously gathered by EPA for the 
industries identified below and to CBI that may be gathered in the 
future for these industries. The security plans specify that contractor 
and subcontractor personnel are required to sign non-disclosure 
agreements and are briefed on appropriate security procedures before 
they are permitted access to CBI. No person is automatically granted 
access to CBI: a need to know must exist.
    The information that will be transferred to Battelle and its 
subcontractors consists primarily of information previously collected 
by EPA to support the development and review of effluent limitations 
guidelines and standards under the CWA and the development of discharge 
standards for certain Alaskan cruise ship operations. In particular, 
information, including CBI, collected for the planning, development, 
and review of effluent limitations guidelines and standards for the 
following industries may be transferred: Airport deicing; aquaculture; 
concentrated animal feeding operations; centralized waste treatment; 
coal mining; drinking water treatment; industrial container and drum 
cleaning; industrial laundries; industrial waste combustors; iron and 
steel manufacturing; landfills; meat and poultry products; metal 
finishing; metal products and machinery; nonferrous metals 
manufacturing; oil and gas extraction (including coalbed methane); ore 
mining and dressing; organic chemicals, plastics, and synthetic fibers; 
pesticide chemicals; pharmaceutical manufacturing; petroleum refining; 
pulp, paper, and paperboard manufacturing; steam electric power 
generation; textile mills; timber products processing; tobacco; and 
transportation equipment cleaning. In addition, for the development of 
standards for Alaskan cruise ships, EPA may transfer information, 
including CBI, about large cruise ships that operate in the waters 
around Alaska.
    EPA also intends to transfer to Battelle and its subcontractors all 
information listed in this notice, of the type described above 
(including CBI) that may be collected in the future under the authority 
of section 308 of the CWA or voluntarily submitted (e.g., in comments 
in response to a Federal Register notice), as is necessary to enable 
Battelle and its subcontractors to carry out the work required by their 
contracts to support EPA's effluent guidelines planning process, the 
development of effluent limitations guidelines and standards, and the 
development of discharge standards for cruise ships.

    Dated: September 21, 2005.
Pamela Barr,
Acting Director, Office of Science and Technology.
[FR Doc. 05-19355 Filed 9-27-05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P