[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 243 (Monday, December 20, 2010)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 79328-79329]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-31744]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 262

[EPA-HQ-RCRA-2003-0012; FRL-9240-6]


Technical Corrections to the Standards Applicable to Generators 
of Hazardous Waste; Alternative Requirements for Hazardous Waste 
Determination and Accumulation of Unwanted Material at Laboratories 
Owned by Colleges and Universities and Other Eligible Academic Entities 
Formally Affiliated With Colleges and Universities

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Proposed rule.

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SUMMARY: EPA is proposing six technical corrections to an alternative 
set of hazardous waste generator requirements known as the ``Academic 
Laboratories rule'' or ``Subpart K'' which is applicable to 
laboratories owned by eligible academic entities. These changes correct 
errors published in the Academic Laboratories Final rule, including 
omissions and redundancies, as well as remove an obsolete reference to 
the Performance Track program which has been terminated. These 
technical corrections will improve the clarity of the Academic 
Laboratories rule.

DATES: Written comments must be received by January 19, 2011.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-
RCRA-2003-0012 by one of the following methods:
     http://www.regulations.gov: Follow the on-line 
instructions for submitting comments.
     E-mail: [email protected].
     Fax: 202-566-9794.
     Mail: RCRA Docket, Environmental Protection Agency, 
Mailcode: 28221T, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460.
     Hand Delivery: EPA West Building, Room 3334, 1301 
Constitution Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460. Such deliveries are only 
accepted during the Docket's normal hours of operation, and special 
arrangements should be made for deliveries of boxed information.
    Instructions: Direct your comments to Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-2003-
0012. EPA's policy is that all comments received will be included in 
the public docket without change and may be made available online at 
http://www.regulations.gov, including any personal information 
provided, unless the comment includes information claimed to be 
Confidential Business Information (CBI) or other information whose 
disclosure is restricted by statute. Do not submit information that you 
consider to be CBI or otherwise protected through http://www.regulations.gov or e-mail. The http://www.regulations.gov Web site 
is an ``anonymous access'' system, which means EPA will not know your 
identity or contact information unless you provide it in the body of 
your comment. If you send an e-mail comment directly to EPA without 
going through http://www.regulations.gov, your e-mail address will be 
automatically captured and included as part of the comment that is 
placed in the public docket and made available on the Internet. If you 
submit an electronic comment, EPA recommends that you include your name 
and other contact information in the body of your comment and with any 
disk or CD-ROM you submit. If EPA cannot read your comment due to 
technical difficulties and cannot contact you for clarification, EPA 
may not be able to consider your comment. Electronic files should avoid 
the use of special characters, any form of encryption, and be free of 
any defects or viruses. For additional information about EPA's public 
docket, visit the EPA Docket Center homepage at http://www.epa.gov/dockets.
    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, e.g., CBI or other information 
whose 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. 
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: Kristin Fitzgerald, Office of Resource 
Conservation and Recovery, (5304P), Environmental Protection Agency, 
1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460; (703) 308-8286; 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Why is EPA issuing this proposed rule?

    EPA is proposing six technical corrections that clarify the 
Academic Laboratories rule. In the ``Rules and Regulations'' section of 
today's Federal Register, EPA is making these technical corrections as 
a Direct Final rule without a prior Proposed rule because we view this 
as a noncontroversial action and anticipate no adverse comment. We have 
explained our reasons for this action in the preamble to the Direct 
Final rule. If we receive no adverse comment on any of the individual 
changes we are promulgating today, we will not take further action on 
this Proposed rule. If, however, we receive such comment, we will 
publish a timely withdrawal in the Federal Register to notify the 
public that those technical corrections of the Direct Final rule for 
which the Agency received adverse comment will not take effect, and the 
reason for such withdrawal. We do not intend to institute a second 
comment period on this action. Any parties interested in commenting 
must do so at this time. For further information, please see the 
information provided in the ADDRESSES section of this document.

[[Page 79329]]

II. Does this action apply to me?

    This rule proposes to amend subpart K of 40 CFR part 262. Entities 
potentially affected by this action are any of the following which 
generate hazardous waste in laboratories: (1) Colleges and 
universities; (2) non-profit research institutes that are either owned 
by or have a formal written affiliation agreement with a college or 
university; and (3) teaching hospitals that are either owned by or have 
a formal written affiliation agreement with a college or university.

   NAICS Codes of Entities Potentially Affected by This Proposed Rule
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              NAICS codes                   Description of NAICS code
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Colleges and Universities:
    6112, 61121, 611210................  Junior Colleges.
    6113, 61131, 611310................  Colleges, Universities, and
                                          Professional Schools.
    6115, 61151........................  Technical and Trade Schools.
    611519.............................  Other Technical and Trade
                                          Schools.
    61161, 611610......................  Fine Arts Schools.
Teaching Hospitals:
    54194, 541940......................  Veterinary Services (Animal
                                          Hospitals).
    622................................  Hospitals.
    6221, 62211, 622110................  General Medical and Surgical
                                          Hospitals.
    6222, 62221, 622210................  Psychiatric and Substance Abuse
                                          Hospitals.
    6223, 62231, 622310................  Specialty (except Psychiatric
                                          and Substance Abuse)
                                          Hospitals.
Non-profit Research Institutes:
    5417, 54171, 541710................  Research and Development in the
                                          Physical, Engineering, and
                                          Life Sciences.
    54172, 541720......................  Research and Development in the
                                          Social Sciences and
                                          Humanities.
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III. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews

    For a complete discussion of all the administrative requirements 
applicable to this action, see the Direct Final rule in the ``Rules and 
Regulations'' section of this Federal Register.

A. Regulatory Flexibility Act

    The Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA) generally requires an agency 
to prepare a regulatory flexibility analysis of any rule subject to the 
notice and comment rulemaking requirements under the Administrative 
Procedure Act or any other statute unless the agency certifies that the 
rule will not have a significant economic impact on a substantial 
number of small entities. Small entities include small businesses, 
small organizations, and small governmental jurisdictions.
    For purposes of assessing the impacts of today's proposed rule on 
small entities, small entity is defined as: (1) A small business as 
defined by the Small Business Administrations' regulations at 13 CFR 
121.201; (2) a small governmental jurisdiction that is a government of 
a city, county, town, school district or special district with a 
population of less than 50,000; and (3) a small organization that is 
any not-for-profit enterprise which is independently owned and operated 
and is not dominant in its field.
    After considering the economic impact of today's Proposed Rule on 
small entities, I certify that this action will not have a significant 
economic impact on a substantial number of small entities. This action 
does not create any new regulatory requirements, but rather makes 
technical corrections to subpart K of the hazardous waste generator 
regulations. Although this Proposed rule will not have a significant 
economic impact on a substantial number of small entities, EPA 
nonetheless has tried to reduce the impact of this Proposed rule on 
small entities.

List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 262

    Environmental protection, Exports, Hazardous materials 
transportation, Hazardous waste, Imports, Labeling, Packaging and 
containers, Reporting and recordkeeping requirements.

    Dated: December 13, 2010.
Mathy Stanislaus,
Assistant Administrator, Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response.
[FR Doc. 2010-31744 Filed 12-17-10; 8:45 am]
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