[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 186 (Wednesday, September 24, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 55073-55074]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-22466]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-8719-6]


Clean Water Act; Contractor Access to Information Claimed as 
Confidential Business Information

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of intended transfer of information claimed as 
confidential business information to contractors and subcontractors.

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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) intends to transfer 
information claimed as confidential business information (CBI) 
collected from several industries, including health services, drinking 
water treatment, and airport deicing to Abt Associates and its 
subcontractors, to PG Environmental, LLC, and its subcontractors, and 
to Westat. Transfer of the information will allow the contractors and 
subcontractors to support EPA in the planning, development, review, and 
implementation of effluent limitation guidelines and standards under 
the Clean Water Act (CWA). The information being transferred was or 
will be collected, in part, under the authority of section 308 of the 
CWA. 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 1, 2008.

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, reviewing, and implementing 
effluent guidelines and standards for certain industries.
    Today, pursuant to 40 CFR 2.302(h)(2)(iii), incorporating by 
reference 40 CFR 2.301(h)(2)(iii), EPA is giving notice that it has 
entered into contracts with Abt Associates (Abt), contract number EP-C-
07-023, located in Cambridge, MA, with PG

[[Page 55074]]

Environmental, LLC (PG), contract number EP-C-07-029, located in 
Herndon, VA, and with Westat, contract numbers EP-D-07-109 and GS-23F-
8144H, located in Rockville, MD. The purpose of these contracts is to 
secure economic, technical, and statistical analysis support for EPA in 
its development, review, implementation, and defense of effluent 
limitation guidelines and standards for, and studies of the 
environmental impacts and potential mitigation of effluent discharges 
for, a variety of industries, such as the drinking water treatment 
industry and the airport deicing industry. To obtain assistance in 
performing these contracts, Abt and PG have entered into contracts with 
their subcontractors. In particular, Abt has obtained the services of 
the following subcontractors: RTI International (located in Research 
Triangle Park, NC, subcontract number 21043); ICF Consulting (located 
in Fairfax, VA, subcontract number 21052); Great Lakes Environmental 
Center (located in Traverse City, MI, subcontract number 21040); 
Horizon Systems Corporation (located in Herndon, VA, subcontract number 
21050); Aqua Terra (located in Mountain View, CA, subcontract number 
21049); ETI (located in Westford, MA, subcontract number 21171); 
Stratus Consulting, Inc. (located in Washington, DC, subcontract number 
20657); Indtai Inc. (located in Falls Church, VA, subcontract number 
21046); and independent consultants Frank Arnold, Brynhildur 
Davidsdottir, Lori Snyder Bennear, Robert Johnston, Tim Bondelid, and 
Kurt Stephenson. PG has obtained the services of the following 
subcontractors: Amendola Engineering, Inc. (located in Westlake, OH, 
subcontract number EAD/029-003); Tetra Tech, Inc. (located in Fairfax, 
VA, subcontract number EAD/029-002); and Eastern Research Group 
(located in Chantilly, VA, subcontract number EAD/029-001).
    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. Abt, PG, and Westat will adhere to EPA-approved security 
plans which describe procedures to protect CBI. Abt, PG, and Westat 
will apply the procedures in these plans to CBI previously gathered by 
EPA and to CBI that may be gathered in the future for the airport 
deicing industry, the drinking water treatment industry, and other 
industries. The security plans specify that contractor 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 Abt, PG, and Westat and 
their subcontractors consists, in part, of information previously 
collected by EPA to support the development, review, implementation, 
and defense of effluent limitations guidelines and standards under the 
CWA and for studies of the environmental impacts of and potential 
mitigation of effluent discharges from the airport deicing point source 
category, the drinking water treatment industry, the health services 
industry, and other industries. The information that will be 
transferred consists of material claimed as trade secrets, intellectual 
property, commercial, financial, and other information. It includes 
information about operations, processes, products, and company finances 
but does not include information which is inherently public, such as 
effluent discharge data.
    EPA also intends to transfer to Abt, PG, and Westat all information 
described 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 Abt, PG, and Westat 
to carry out the work required by their contracts to support EPA.

    Dated: September 16, 2008.
Ephraim S. King,
Director, Office of Science and Technology.
[FR Doc. E8-22466 Filed 9-23-08; 8:45 am]
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