[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]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

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.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

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