[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 249 (Tuesday, December 29, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 85631-85633]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-28731]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[EPA-HQ-OLEM-2020-0571; FRL-10017-09-OLEM]


Hazardous Waste Electronic Manifest System (``e-Manifest'') 
Advisory Board; Notice of Public Meeting

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will convene the 
Hazardous Waste Electronic System (``e-

[[Page 85632]]

Manifest'') Advisory Board for a three (3) day virtual public meeting. 
The purpose of the meeting is for EPA to seek the Board's consultation 
and recommendations regarding the e-Manifest system (Meeting Theme: 
``Looking Ahead: Setting e-Manifest Program Priorities and User Fees 
for FY2022 and FY2023'').

DATES: The meeting will be held on March 2-4, 2021, from approximately 
10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. EST.

ADDRESSES: This public meeting will be conducted virtually. 
Registration is required to attend and/or provide oral public comment 
during this meeting. Please refer to the e-Manifest Advisory Board 
website at https://www.epa.gov/e-manifest/hazardous-waste-electronic-manifest-system-e-manifest-advisory-board for information on how to 
register either as a public audience attendee or as an oral public 
commenter.
    Comments. To make oral comments during the public meeting and be 
included on the meeting agenda, please register by noon on February 23, 
2021. Registration instructions will be posted on the e-Manifest 
Advisory Board website at https://www.epa.gov/e-manifest/hazardous-waste-electronic-manifest-system-e-manifest-advisory-board. Any written 
comments submitted for the e-Manifest Advisory Board meeting on or 
before February 23, 2021, should be submitted in the public docket 
under Docket number EPA-HQ-OLEM-2020-0571 at http://www.regulations.gov. Written comments submitted to the public docket on 
or before February 23, 2021, will be provided to the e-Manifest 
Advisory Board for their consideration before the meeting. Anyone who 
wishes to submit comments after February 23, 2021, must send their 
written public comments or their oral comment requests directly to the 
Designated Federal Officer (DFO) listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION 
CONTACT. For additional instructions, see section I.B. under 
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION.
    Special accommodations. For information on access or services for 
individuals with disabilities, and to request accommodation of a 
disability, please contact the DFO listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION 
CONTACT at least ten (10) days prior to the meeting to give the EPA as 
much time as possible to process your request.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Fred Jenkins, Designated Federal 
Officer (DFO), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Resource 
Conservation and Recovery, email: [email protected]; phone: 703-308-
7049.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This meeting will be open to the public. The 
full agenda and meeting materials will be available in the docket for 
the meeting and at the e-Manifest Advisory Board website at https://www.epa.gov/e-manifest/hazardous-waste-electronic-manifest-system-e-manifest-advisory-board. This public meeting will be conducted 
virtually, and registration is required to attend and/or participate. 
Registration instructions will be posted on the e-Manifest Advisory 
Board website at https://www.epa.gov/e-manifest/hazardous-waste-electronic-manifest-system-e-manifest-advisory-board. In the event EPA 
needs to make subsequent changes to this meeting, EPA will post future 
notices to its e-Manifest Board meeting website (https://www.epa.gov/e-manifest/hazardous-waste-electronic-manifest-system-e-manifest-advisory-board.). EPA strongly encourages the public to refer to the e-
Manifest website for the latest meeting information, as sudden changes 
may be necessary.

I. General Information

A. Does this action apply to me?

    This action is directed to the public in general. This action may 
be of particular interest to persons who are or may be subject to the 
Hazardous Waste Electronic Manifest Establishment (e-Manifest) Act.

B. How may I participate in this meeting?

    You may participate in this meeting by providing public comments 
via the instructions in this document. To ensure proper receipt of your 
public comments by the EPA, it is imperative that you submit your 
comments, identified by docket ID number EPA-HQ-OLEM-2020-0571, at 
http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the online instructions for 
submitting comments. Once submitted, comments cannot be edited or 
withdrawn. The EPA may publish any comment received to its public 
docket. Do not submit electronically any information you consider to be 
Confidential Business Information (CBI) or other information whose 
disclosure is restricted by statute. Multimedia submissions (audio, 
video, etc.) must be accompanied by a written comment. The written 
comment is considered the official comment and should include 
discussion of all points you wish to make. The EPA will generally not 
consider comments or comment contents located outside of the primary 
submission (e.g., on the web, cloud, or other file sharing system). For 
additional submission methods, the full EPA public comment policy, 
information about CBI or multimedia submissions, and general guidance 
on making effective comments, please visit https://www.epa.gov/dockets/commenting-epa-dockets.
    1. Written comments. EPA encourages the electronic submission of 
written comments via http://www.regulations.gov, into docket ID number 
EPA-HQ-OLEM-2020-0571 on or before February 23, 2021, to provide the e-
Manifest Advisory Board the time necessary to consider and review the 
written comments. Written comments are accepted until the date of the 
meeting, but anyone submitting written comments after February 23, 
2021, should contact the DFO listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION 
CONTACT.
    2. Oral comments. EPA encourages each individual or group wishing 
to make brief oral comments to the e-Manifest Advisory Board to please 
register as an oral commenter for the meeting at the e-Manifest 
Advisory Board website, https://www.epa.gov/e-manifest/hazardous-waste-electronic-manifest-system-e-manifest-advisory-board, by noon on 
February 23, 2021, in order to be included on the meeting agenda. 
Requests to present oral comments will be accepted until the date of 
the meeting. Registration is required to attend and/or participate as 
an oral public commenter in this public meeting. Please refer to the e-
Manifest Advisory Board website at https://www.epa.gov/e-manifest/hazardous-waste-electronic-manifest-system-e-manifest-advisory-board 
for information on how to register either as an oral public commenter 
or public audience attendee. Anyone submitting an oral public comments 
request after February 23, 2021, should also contact the DFO listed 
under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT. To the extent that time permits, 
the Chair of the e-Manifest Advisory Board may permit the presentation 
of oral comments at the meeting by interested persons who have not 
previously requested time. The request should identify the name of the 
individual making the presentation, the organization (if any) that the 
individual represents, and any requirements for audiovisual 
presentation support. Oral comments before the e-Manifest Advisory 
Board are limited to approximately five (5) minutes unless prior 
arrangements have been made. In addition, each speaker should provide a 
copy of his or her comments and presentation to the DFO so that they 
can be distributed to the e-Manifest Advisory Board at the meeting.

[[Page 85633]]

C. Purpose of the e-Manifest Advisory Board

    The Hazardous Waste Electronic Manifest System Advisory Board is 
established in accordance with the provisions of the Hazardous Waste 
Electronic Manifest Establishment Act, 42 U.S.C. 6939g, and the Federal 
Advisory Committee Act (FACA), 5 U.S.C. App.2. The e-Manifest Advisory 
Board is in the public interest and supports the EPA in performing its 
duties and responsibilities. The Board shall meet annually to discuss, 
evaluate the effectiveness of, and provide recommendations about the 
system to the EPA Administrator.
    The sole duty of the Advisory Board is to provide advice and 
recommendations to the EPA Administrator. As required by the e-Manifest 
Act, the e-Manifest Advisory Board is composed of nine (9) members. One 
(1) member is the EPA Administrator (or a designee), who serves as 
Chairperson of the Advisory Board. The rest of the committee is 
composed of:
     At least two (2) members who have expertise in information 
technology;
     At least three (3) members who have experience in using or 
represent users of the manifest system to track the transportation of 
hazardous waste under the e-Manifest Act;
     At least three (3) members who are state representatives 
responsible for processing manifests.
    All members of the e-Manifest Advisory Board, except for the EPA 
Administrator, are appointed as Special Government Employees or 
Representatives.

D. Public Meeting

    EPA launched the e-Manifest system on June 30, 2018. e-Manifest 
provides those persons required to use a Resource Conservation and 
Recovery Act (RCRA) manifest under either federal or state law the 
option of using electronic manifests to track shipments of hazardous 
waste and to meet certain RCRA requirements. By enabling the transition 
from a paper-intensive process to an electronic system, EPA estimates 
e-Manifest will ultimately save state and industry users more than $50 
million annually, once electronic manifests are widely adopted.
    Under the Hazardous Waste Electronic Manifest Establishment Act (e-
Manifest Act) of 2012, EPA must collect user fees to offset the costs 
of developing and operating the e-Manifest system. In January 2018, EPA 
published regulations establishing the methodology which the Agency 
will use to set and collect user fees for the e-Manifest system. Under 
the final rule, EPA charges a fee to receiving facilities for each 
manifest submitted to EPA's e-Manifest system. User fees are tailored 
to the method used to submit manifests to EPA, e.g., different fees 
apply for electronic manifests than for paper manifests uploaded to the 
system. In addition, EPA is required to publish revised user fee 
schedules at two-year intervals.
    The purpose of this March 2-4, 2021, e-Manifest Advisory Board 
meeting is for the Board to advise EPA on its proposed program 
priorities and user fees for the FY2022/FY2023 cycle.

E. e-Manifest Advisory Board Documents and Meeting Minutes

    The meeting background paper along with related supporting 
materials including the charge/questions to the Advisory Board, the 
Advisory Board membership roster (i.e., members attending this 
meeting), and the meeting agenda will be available by approximately 
mid-January 2021. In addition, EPA may provide additional background 
documents as the materials become available. You may obtain electronic 
copies of these documents, and certain other related documents that 
might be available at http://www.regulations.gov via the docket ID 
number EPA-HQ-OLEM-2020-0571 and at the e-Manifest Advisory Board 
website at: https://www.epa.gov/e-manifest/hazardous-waste-electronic-manifest-system-e-manifest-advisory-board.
    The e-Manifest Advisory Board will prepare meeting minutes 
summarizing its recommendations to EPA approximately ninety (90) days 
after the meeting. The meeting minutes will be posted on the e-Manifest 
Advisory Board website, or they may be obtained from the public docket 
at http://www.regulations.gov via the docket ID number EPA-HQ-OLEM-
2020-0571.

Carolyn Hoskinson,
Director, Office of Resource Conservation and Recovery, Office of Land 
and Emergency Management.
[FR Doc. 2020-28731 Filed 12-28-20; 8:45 am]
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