[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 97 (Monday, May 19, 2008)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 28786-28788]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-11177]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 761

[EPA-HQ-RCRA-2008-0123; FRL-8567-2]
RIN 2050-AG42


Polychlorinated Biphenyls: Manufacturing (Import) Exemption for 
Veolia ES Technical Solutions, L.L.C.

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of informal hearing.

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SUMMARY: This Federal Register publication is providing notice that EPA 
will hold an informal public hearing on June 19, 2008, in Port Arthur, 
Texas, on the proposed rule entitled, Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs): 
Manufacturing (Import) Exemption for Veolia ES Technical Solutions, 
L.L.C. published on March 6, 2008 (73 FR 12053). On November 14, 2006, 
Veolia ES Technical Solutions, L.L.C., (Veolia) submitted a petition to 
EPA to import up to 20,000 tons of PCB waste from Mexico for disposal 
at Veolia's TSCA-approved facility in Port Arthur, Texas. As a result 
of that petition, on March 6, 2008, EPA proposed to grant the request 
and provided a 45-day public comment period. The Agency extended the 
comment period, based on a request from a commenter, by 45 days to June 
5, 2008. In addition, the Agency also agreed to hold a public hearing 
on the proposed rule.

DATES: The hearing will take place on Thursday, June 19, 2008, from 
3:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. All those wishing to provide oral comments at 
the hearing must send a written request to EPA. Requests must be 
received on or before June 12, 2008.

ADDRESSES: The hearing will be held at City Hall, 444 4th Street, Port 
Arthur, Texas 77640, telephone (409) 983-8105. The hearing will be on 
the 5th floor of City Hall in the Council Chambers.
    Requests to Participate: A request to provide oral comments at the 
informal hearing must be submitted to the Hearing Clerk by one of the 
following methods.
     E-mail: Requests may be sent by electronic mail to: 
[email protected], Attention Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-RCRA-2008-0123.
     Fax: Requests may be faxed to (703) 308-0514, Attention: 
William Noggle; Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-RCRA-2008-0123.
     Mail: Requests may be sent to William Noggle, U.S. EPA, 
Office of Solid Waste, 5304P, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., 
Washington, DC 20460, Attention Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-RCRA-2008-0123. 
Request must be received by June 12, 2008. Note that mail is subject to 
significant delays due to security screening, so please plan for 
additional delivery time.
     Hand Delivery: Requests may be hand delivered to William 
Noggle, U.S. EPA, Office of Solid Waste, Two Potomac Yard, 2733 South 
Crystal Drive, 5th Floor, N5612, Arlington, VA 22202. Such deliveries 
are only accepted during business hours from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Monday 
through Friday.

[[Page 28787]]

    See SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION for the type of information that must 
be included in the request, who may participate, as well as the 
procedures that EPA will follow in conducting the hearing. Please note 
that oral comments will only be heard from people who have requested to 
participate in the hearing. Members of the public can attend without 
prior notification to the Hearing Clerk, but they will not be part of 
the hearing schedule to give presentations and/or oral comments. Also 
note that the advance participation requests will assist in planning 
for the hearing. Additionally, the time for individual presentations 
may be limited, depending on the number of requests received.
    Requests for Accommodations: Individuals requiring special 
accommodation at this hearing, including wheelchair access or hearing 
impaired accommodations, should contact the Hearing Clerk by e-mail, 
[email protected], or telephone, (703) 347-8769, at least five (5) 
business days prior to the hearing so that appropriate arrangements can 
be made.
    Docket: All documents in the docket are listed in the http://www.regulations.gov index. Although listed in the index, some 
information is not publicly available, such as CBI or other 
information, which disclosure is restricted by statute. Certain other 
material, such as copyrighted material, will be publicly available only 
in hard copy. Publicly available docket materials are available either 
electronically in http://www.regulations.gov or in hard copy at the 
RCRA Docket, EPA/DC, EPA West, Room 3334, 1301 Constitution Ave., NW., 
Washington, DC 20004. The 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 Public Reading Room is (202) 566-1744, and the 
telephone number for the RCRA Docket is (202) 566-0270.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: William Noggle, Office of Solid Waste, 
Hazardous Waste Identification Division, MC 5304P, Environmental 
Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave. NW., Washington, DC 20460; 
telephone number: (703) 347-8769; e-mail: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: EPA is granting a request from the public to 
hold an informal public hearing to receive oral comments on the 
proposed regulation described in the SUMMARY above. As required by 40 
CFR 750.18(a), the hearing will begin no sooner than seven (7) days 
after the close of the comment period.
    The procedures for rulemaking under section 6 of the Toxic 
Substances Control Act (TSCA) are found at 40 CFR part 750. Specific 
procedures for manufacturing (import) exemptions are identified in 40 
CFR part 750, subpart B, and the procedures for participation in and 
the conduct of informal hearings are found at 40 CFR 750.18-750.21. The 
remainder of this Federal Register publication summarizes the 
procedures and logistics for this informal hearing, which is being held 
pursuant to the regulations cited above. Participants and/or commenters 
are advised to see 40 CFR part 750 for additional details.
    Each person or organization desiring to participate in the informal 
hearing must file a written request to participate with the Hearing 
Clerk identified above. (Participation in this context means providing 
oral comments or a presentation at the hearing.) This request must be 
received on or before June 12, 2008. The request must include: (1) A 
brief statement of the interest of the person or organization in the 
proceeding; (2) a brief outline of the points to be addressed; (3) an 
estimate of the time required; and (4) if the request comes from an 
organization, a nonbinding list of the persons to take part in the 
presentation. An organization that has not filed comments on the 
rulemaking will not be allowed to participate in the hearing, unless a 
waiver of this requirement is granted by the Hearing Clerk. Persons or 
organizations requesting a waiver must submit this request to the 
Hearing Clerk at the address listed above. The Hearing Clerk must 
receive the waiver request no later than June 12, 2008.
    No later than three days prior to the hearing (June 16), the 
Hearing Clerk will make a hearing schedule publicly available on our 
Web site at http://www.epa.gov/pcb/pubs/veolia.htm and mail or deliver 
it to each of the persons who requested to appear at the hearing. We 
believe the most efficient and reliable means of delivery is by 
electronic mail, so we encourage all participants to provide their e-
mail address. If correspondence through regular mail is requested, the 
Hearing Clerk will mail the hearing schedule at least three days prior 
to the hearing, although due to delivery time, we can not be sure that 
the schedule will reach the participant prior to the hearing date. The 
schedule is subject to change during the hearing.
    A panel of EPA employees will be present at the hearing, and one 
panel member will act as the Hearing Officer, who will conduct the 
hearing. Hearing participants may be asked to answer questions 
submitted by the audience (in writing, at the hearing), at EPA's 
discretion (40 CFR 750.19). Participants in the hearing may also submit 
additional material for the record. EPA will provide a verbatim 
transcript of the hearing.
    After the close of the hearing, any participant in the hearing may 
submit written comments and questions concerning the factual nature of 
another hearing participant's presentation and/or ask questions of the 
participants. The submission should include information detailed under 
40 CFR 750.8(1). The request must be provided to the Hearing Clerk 
using one of the methods identified in the ADDRESSES section for 
submitting requests to participate in the hearing. The request must be 
received by EPA no later than one week after a full transcript of the 
hearing is posted to the docket. EPA estimates that within two weeks of 
the hearing date, the transcript will be posted to the docket (around 
July 3, 2008). After the Hearing Clerk compiles all of the written 
questions, the Hearing Panel will review and decide which questions 
will be forwarded for the requested participants to answer. Any 
participant receiving question(s) will have one week to provide the 
Hearing Clerk with an answer.
    Interested persons may file reply comments. Reply comments must be 
received no later than one week after the close of all informal 
hearings, which includes the question and answer procedure described in 
the previous paragraph. Reply comments should be restricted to comments 
on: (1) Other comments; (2) material in the hearing record; and (3) 
material which was not and could not reasonably have been available to 
the commenting party a sufficient time before comments were due on June 
5, 2008 (40 CFR 750.4, as modified by 750.15).

                     Timeline of Rulemaking Actions
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Proposed Rule published................  March 6, 2008.
Original main comment period ending....  April 21, 2008.
Extended main comment period ending....  June 5, 2008.

[[Page 28788]]

 
Requests to participate in hearing due.  June 12, 2008.
Hearing Clerk distributes hearing        June 16, 2008.
 schedule.
Informal hearing date..................  June 19, 2008.
Hearing transcript posted to the docket  July 3, 2008 (estimated).
Comments and questions on hearing        *July 10, 2008 (one week after
 presentations due to Hearing Clerk.      hearing transcript is posted
                                          to the docket).
Hearing Clerk sends out questions to     *July 24, 2008 (two weeks after
 appropriate participants.                questions are due).
Answers received by Hearing Clerk from   *July 31, 2008 (one week after
 participants.                            questions are sent).
Reply comments to Hearing Clerk due....  *, **August 14, 2008 (two weeks
                                          after answers are due by
                                          participants).
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\*\ Estimated date for posting the hearing transcript will determine the
  timeline for the remaining actions. All dates are subject to change.
\**\ Reply comments are due two weeks after participants' answers are
  received. If no questions on the hearing are received, then reply
  comments on the hearing testimony will be due on July 24, 2008 (giving
  EPA time to post a revised schedule and notice that no questions on
  the hearing testimony had been received by the Hearing Clerk).
This schedule will be posted on http://www.epa.gov/pcb/pubs/veolia.htm
  and revised, if necessary, to reflect the actual date that the hearing
  transcript has been posted to the docket.

    Extensions of time for filing reply comments may be granted 
pursuant to 40 CFR 750.15, which references 40 CFR 750.4(c). Reply 
comments and requests for an extension of time for filing reply 
comments must be sent to the Hearing Clerk using one of the methods 
identified in the ADDRESSES section for submitting requests to 
participate in the hearing. Reply comments and a transcript of the 
hearing will be placed in the docket for the proposed rule (Docket ID 
No. EPA-HQ-RCRA-2008-0123). A full list of these materials is available 
for inspection and copying during the posted hours in the RCRA Docket 
as identified under ADDRESSES.

List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 761

    Environmental protection, Hazardous substances, Labeling, 
Polychlorinated biphenyls, Reporting and recordkeeping requirements.

    Dated: May 13, 2008.
Susan Parker Bodine,
Assistant Administrator for Solid Waste and Emergency Response.
 [FR Doc. E8-11177 Filed 5-16-08; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P