[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 77 (Thursday, April 21, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 23488-23490]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-09290]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[FRL-9945-38-OEI]
Privacy Act of 1974; System of Records
AGENCY: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice of new Privacy Act system of records.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) Office of
Land and Emergency Management is giving notice that it proposes to
create a new system of records pursuant to the provisions of the
Privacy Act of 1974 (5 U.S.C. 552a). This system of records contains
information of individuals which is collected in the course of response
and environmental assessment actions, including actions taken under a
variety of EPA authorities. The information maintained under this SORN
is needed to support EPA's decision making process on what actions may
be necessary to address potential environmental impacts at residential
properties, including necessary remediation activities. This
information is collected to ensure an appropriate and cohesive response
to situations requiring EPA response activities and to protect the
health and welfare of residents potentially affected by an
environmental or public health emergency, and maintained so to be
accessible as needed for coordination of environmental response
activities. This information may include individuals' contact
information, information related to their address or place of
residence, correspondence, and related information collected in the
course of sampling and cleanup work.
DATES: Persons wishing to comment on this system of records notice must
do so by May 31, 2016. If no comments are received, the system of
records notice will become effective by May 31, 2016.
ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-
2016-0100, by one of the following methods:
www.regulations.gov: Follow the online instructions for submitting
comments.
Email: [email protected].
Fax: 202-566-1752.
Mail: OEI Docket, Environmental Protection Agency, Mailcode: 2822T,
1200 Pennsylvania Ave. NW., Washington, DC 20460.
Hand Delivery: OEI Docket, EPA/DC, EPA West Building, Room 3334,
1301 Constitution Ave. NW., Washington, DC. 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-OEI-
2016-0100. EPA's policy is that all comments received will be included
in the public docket without change and may be made available online at
www.regulations.gov, including any personal information provided,
unless the comment includes information claimed to be Confidential
Business Information (CBI) or other information for which disclosure is
restricted by statute. Do not submit information that you consider to
be CBI or otherwise protected through www.regulations.gov. The
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 email comment
directly to EPA without going through www.regulations.gov your email
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/epahome/dockets.htm.
Docket: All documents in the docket are listed in the
www.regulations.gov index. Although listed in the index, some
information is not publicly available, e.g., CBI or other information
for 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 www.regulations.gov or in hard copy at the OEI
Docket, EPA/DC, EPA West Building, 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 OEI Docket is (202) 566-1752.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Terrence Ferguson, Office of Land and
Emergency Management (OLEM), Office of Superfund Remediation and
Technology Information (OSRTI), Mail Code 5202T, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave.
NW., Washington, DC 20460; telephone number (202) 566-0370.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) is creating a Privacy Act system of records to allow the agency
to maintain records that are necessary to conduct environmental
assessments at residential properties in order to respond to emergency
situations and during environmental assessment activities conducted by
EPA under many different programs including Superfund, the Resource
Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), and the Safe Drinking Water Act
(SDWA). This system of records promotes transparency, efficiency, and
improved environmental and health outcomes by encompassing all records
associated with EPA residential assessment work, including the database
repositories, field documentation, and analytical reports. Over the
course of these assessments EPA is often required to support or work
closely with state and local agencies or federal agencies in responses
to evaluate the health and welfare of affected communities. EPA's
environmental assessment activities at residential properties include:
[[Page 23489]]
Obtaining and tracking legal access to the properties; gathering
environmental data through sampling activities, such as sampling air,
water, soil, or other environmental media at sites; collecting
information about pipelines, building materials, and other residential
infrastructure at residences; and collecting residential contact
information such as name, address, and phone number to allow response
teams to correspond with individuals affected by environmental
contamination.
The types of data collected in environmental assessments include
names of residents; address information; phone number or other contact
information; test results from environmental sampling; information
about the building structure, such as the age of the structure,
information about the service lines, plumbing and pipe information, and
building materials in the structure; information about the length of
residence or ownership of the structure; and geographic information
system (GIS) coordinates. This information is collected to ensure an
appropriate and cohesive response to emergency situations, to protect
the health and welfare of residents potentially affected by an
environmental emergency or environmental response situation, and to
ensure that the data are accessible as needed for coordination of
response activities.
Information and data collected in environmental assessments will
generally be stored in an agency-approved electronic database, which
will be managed by EPA system administrators. Other associated records
may also be stored in other electronic or paper formats, such as
Microsoft Excel spreadsheets, Microsoft Word documents or tables, or in
file folders. All electronic files are stored on government furnished
equipment (GFE) until they are ultimately sent to the appropriate
agency records repository for storage pursuant to their appropriate
record schedule. All GFE used for the purposes of residential
assessments are secured according to EPA's security policies which
include password protection and local encryption. During the course of
the assessment records may also be temporarily stored off site in
secure facilities such as incident command posts or EPA field offices
which are maintained and secured by EPA staff.
The system will be maintained by the EPA's Office of Emergency
Response in the Office of Land and Emergency Management (``OLEM''),
1200 Pennsylvania Ave. NW., Mail Code 5101 T, Washington, DC 20460.
Information maintained pursuant to this SORN may be located at EPA
Headquarters Offices or at EPA Regional Offices or at field offices
established as part of the residential assessment field work, depending
upon the location where the assessment is conducted or where computer
resources are located. Databases may be hosted at the EPA's National
Computer Center at Research Triangle Park, North Carolina or at cloud
hosting procured and managed by EPA.
Records protected under the Privacy Act are subject to agency-wide
security requirements. For information in agency databases, privacy is
maintained by limiting access to the database that contains the
personal information. Access to the database is limited to individuals
designated as System Administrators, Remedial Project Managers, Data
Sponsors, On-Scene Coordinators, Information Management Coordinators,
Budget Coordinators, Regional or Headquarters Attorneys, Regional or
Headquarters Managers, Data Entry Support Staff, Support Contractors,
and any other EPA staff with assigned responsibilities that require
access to the data. In appropriate circumstances, limited access to the
database systems may be provided to state and local public health
authorities in conformity with federal, state, and local laws when
necessary to protect the public health or safety.
Date: April 14, 2016.
Ann Dunkin,
Chief Information Officer.
EPA-74
SYSTEM NAME AND NUMBER:
EPA-74, Environmental Assessments of Residential Properties (EARP).
SYSTEM LOCATION:
The system will be maintained by the EPA's Office of Emergency
Response in the Office of Land and Emergency Management (OLEM), 1200
Pennsylvania Ave. NW., Mail Code 5101 T, Washington, DC 20460.
Information maintained pursuant to this notice may be located at EPA
Headquarters Offices or at EPA Regional Offices, or at field offices
established as part of the residential assessment field work, depending
upon the location where the environmental assessment is conducted or
where computer resources are located. Databases may be hosted at the
EPA's National Computer Center at Research Triangle Park, North
Carolina, or in OLEM's emergency response cloud hosting environment.
AUTHORITY FOR MAINTENANCE OF THE SYSTEM:
Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, 42 U.S.C.6981;
Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act,
42 U.S.C. 9604, 9660; Clean Air Act, 42 U.S.C. 7403; Safe Drinking
Water Act, 42 U.S.C. 300i; 300j-1; Federal Water Pollution Control Act,
33 U.S.C. 1254, 1318, 1321; Toxic Substances Control Act, 15 U.S.C.
2609; Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act, 7 U.S.C.
136r.
PURPOSE(S):
The EPA is creating a Privacy Act system of records to allow the
agency to maintain records that are necessary to conduct environmental
assessments at residential properties in order to respond to emergency
situations and during environmental assessment activities conducted by
EPA under many different programs including Superfund, RCRA, and the
SDWA. This system of records promotes transparency, efficiency, and
improved environmental and health outcomes by encompassing all of the
records associated with EPA residential assessment work, including the
database repositories, field documentation and analytical reports. Over
the course of these assessments EPA is often required to support or
work closely with state and local agencies or federal agencies to
evaluate the health and welfare of affected communities. EPA's
environmental assessment activities at residential properties include:
Obtaining and tracking legal access to the properties; gathering
environmental data through sampling activities, such as sampling air,
water, soil, or other environmental media at sites; collecting
structural information such as the age of the structure, information
about the service lines, plumbing and pipe information, and building
materials in the structure, information about the length of residence
or ownership of the structure, and GIS coordinates; and collecting
residential contact information such as name, address, and phone number
to allow response teams to correspond with individuals affected by
environmental contamination.
CATEGORIES OF INDIVIDUALS COVERED BY THE SYSTEM:
Members of the public such as residents, property owners, property
managers, and other individuals who may be associated with a property
whose information needs to be collected as part of EPA's environmental
assessment and response activities. In addition, EPA staff,
contractors, or grantees or any other individuals engaged in response
activities may have
[[Page 23490]]
their information in the system such as name, office address, and
contact information to facilitate assessment and response activities.
CATEGORIES OF RECORDS IN THE SYSTEM:
The types of data collected in environmental assessments include
names of residents; names of property owners; tenant information; names
of property managers address information; phone number or other contact
information; test results from environmental sampling; information
about residential structures such as the age of the structure,
information about the service lines, plumbing and pipe information, and
building materials in the structure, information about the length of
residence or ownership of the structure, and GIS coordinates.
Other site-specific data elements may also be collected if needed
for the environmental assessment or emergency response activity. These
data will be maintained in a database where they may be filtered or
searched on individual data elements.
RECORD SOURCE CATEGORIES:
Records within this system of records are obtained by EPA
employees, contractors, or grantees collecting environmental assessment
data and sample information at residential sites, or from state or
local governments who have collected environmental assessment
information as part of their response authorities. Environmental
assessment data is received from interviews with residents, property
owners, property managers, and other individuals who may be associated
with a property, local public records such as property tax data, from
inspections of residential properties, from residential property
records or other public records, and from other on-site sources such as
EPA or contracted laboratories and EPA or contracted GIS systems.
ROUTINE USES OF RECORDS MAINTAINED IN THE SYSTEM, INCLUDING CATEGORIES
OF USERS AND PURPOSES OF SUCH USES:
General routine uses A, D, E, F, H, K, and L apply to this system.
Records may also be disclosed to public health authorities in
conformity with federal, state, and local laws when necessary to
protect the public health or safety, or to federal, state, or local
governmental agencies when it is determined that a response by that
agency is more appropriate than a response by the EPA.
POLICIES AND PRACTICES FOR STORING, RETRIEVING, RETAINING, AND
DISPOSING OF RECORDS IN THE SYSTEM:
Storage: Information collected in environmental
assessments will generally be stored in an agency-approved electronic
database, which will be managed by EPA system administrators. Other
associated records may also be stored in other electronic or paper
formats, such as Microsoft Excel spreadsheets, Microsoft Word documents
or tables, or in file folders. All electronic files are stored on
government furnished equipment (GFE) until they are ultimately sent to
the appropriate Agency records repository for storage pursuant to their
appropriate record schedule. All GFE used for the purposes of
residential assessments are secured according to EPA's security
policies which include password protection and local encryption. During
the course of the assessment records may also be temporarily stored off
site in secure facilities such as incident command posts or EPA field
offices which are maintained and secured by EPA staff.
Retrievability: Information may be retrieved by any
collected data element, such as a resident's name or address, or
information may be retrieved by GIS coordinates or by identifying
numbers assigned to a person, sampling location, or residence.
Safeguards: Electronic records are maintained in a secure,
password protected electronic system. Paper files are maintained in
locked file cabinets when not in use by EPA emergency response staff.
All records are maintained in secure, access-controlled areas or
buildings.
Retention and Disposal: Records maintained in this system
are subject to record schedule 1039, which is still being finalized.
SYSTEM MANAGER(S):
Terrence Ferguson, Office of Land and Emergency Management (OLEM),
Office of Superfund Remediation and Technology Information (OSRTI),
Mail Code 5202P, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave. NW., Washington, DC 20460;
telephone number (202) 566-0370.
Because systems under this SORN may be located at Headquarters
Offices or at EPA Regional Offices, depending upon the location where
the emergency response is conducted, there may be additional specified
system managers depending upon the nature and location of the response.
These systems may be managed by Regional personnel or temporarily
stored off site in secure facilities such as incident command posts or
EPA field offices which are maintained and secured by EPA staff.
RECORD ACCESS PROCEDURES:
Request for access must be made in accordance with the procedures
described in EPA's Privacy Act regulations at 40 CFR part 16.
Requesters will be required to provide adequate identification, such as
driver's license, employee identification card, or other identifying
document. Additional identification procedures may be required in some
instances.
CONTESTING RECORD PROCEDURES:
Requests for correction or amendment must identify the record to be
changed and the corrective action sought. Complete EPA Privacy Act
procedures are described in EPA's Privacy Act regulations at 40 CFR
part 16.
NOTIFICATION PROCEDURE:
Any individual who wants to know whether this system of records
contains a record about him or her, who wants access to his or her
record, or who wants to contest the contents of a record, should make a
written request to the EPA FOIA Office, Attn: Privacy Act Officer, MC
2822T, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20460.
EXEMPTIONS PROMULGATED FOR THE SYSTEM:
None.
[FR Doc. 2016-09290 Filed 4-20-16; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P