[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 155 (Friday, August 12, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 49830-49832]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-17401]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[EPA-HQ-OLEM-2022-0611; FRL-10127-01-OLEM]


The Hazardous Waste Electronic Manifest (e-Manifest) System 
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-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: ``Roadmap to 100% Electronic 
Manifests'').

DATES: Virtual Public Meeting: The meeting will be held October 4-6, 
2022, from 10:00 a.m. to approximately 6:00 p.m. (EDT). See the 
additional details and instructions for registration that appear in 
sIII of this notice.

ADDRESSES: This public meeting will be conducted virtually. 
Registration online 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 as either a public audience attendee or as an oral 
public commenter. For additional instructions related to this meeting, 
see section III of this notice.
    Comments: To make oral comments during the public meeting and be 
included on the meeting agenda, please register by noon on September 
27, 2022. 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. Submit 
written comments on or before September 27, 2022, in the public docket 
under Docket number EPA-HQ-OLEM-2022-0611 at http://www.regulations.gov. Written comments submitted to the public docket on 
or before September 27, 2022, will be provided to the e-Manifest 
Advisory Board for their consideration before the meeting. Anyone who 
wishes to submit comments after September 27, 2022, 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 III of this notice.
    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: 202-564-
0344.

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.).

[[Page 49831]]

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. Where can I access information about the e-Manifest Advisory Board 
and this meeting?

    Information about the e-Manifest Advisory Board is available on the 
e-Manifest Advisory Board website, https://www.epa.gov/e-manifest/hazardous-waste-electronic-manifest-system-e-manifest-advisory-board. 
Information about this meeting will be available by early September 
2022 in the public docket, identified by docket ID number EPA-HQ-OLEM-
2022-0611, at https://www.regulations.gov and on the e-Manifest 
Advisory Board website. You may also subscribe to the following 
listserv for alerts when notices regarding this and other e-Manifest 
Advisory Board related activities are published: [email protected].

II. Background

A. Purpose of the e-Manifest Advisory Board

    The Hazardous Waste Electronic Manifest (e-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.

B. 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.
    Since system inception through May 2022, EPA has received roughly 
25 thousand electronic manifests (both fully electronic and hybrid 
manifests) out of a total of approximately 7 million manifests. 
Electronic manifests thus represent less than a half of a percent of 
manifests received by EPA. EPA seeks to dramatically increase this 
percentage.
    EPA hosted two virtual public meetings on October 27, 2021, and 
November 3, 2021, to discuss how to increase electronic adoption and 
solicit feedback from stakeholders. The meetings described existing 
electronic manifest functionality and the feasibility of several 
options to increase use of electronic manifests. As a next step in this 
effort, EPA will convene its next public meeting of the e-Manifest 
System Advisory Board from October 4-6, 2022. The meeting will include 
discussion of the comments EPA received from the public meetings, as 
well as related policy and technical changes EPA is considering for the 
e-Manifest system to increase adoption of electronic manifests. The 
general purpose of this meeting is for the Board to advise the Agency 
on these potential changes.

C. 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 
early-September 2022. 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-2022-0611 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-
2022-0611.

III. Public Participation Instructions

    To participate in the virtual public meeting, please follow the 
instructions in this section.

A. How can I provide comments?

    1. Written comments. EPA encourages the electronic submission of 
written comments via http://www.regulations.gov, into docket ID number 
EPA-HQ-OLEM-2022-0611 on or before September 27, 2022, 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 September 27, 
2022, should contact the DFO listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION 
CONTACT.
    Do not submit electronically any information you consider to be 
Confidential Business Information (CBI) or other information whose 
disclosure is restricted by statute. Copyrighted material will not be 
posted without explicit permission of the copyright holder. 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. Members of 
the public should also be aware that their personal contact 
information, if included in any written comments, may be posted on the 
internet at https://www.regulations.gov.
    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

[[Page 49832]]

policy, information about CBI or multimedia submissions, please visit 
https://www.epa.gov/dockets/commenting-epa-dockets.When preparing and 
submitting your comments, see Tips for Effective Comments at the same 
website, https://www.epa.gov/dockets/commenting-epa-dockets.
    2. Oral comments. The Agency encourages each individual or group 
wishing to make brief oral comments to the e-Manifest Advisory Board 
during the virtual public meeting 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 September 27, 2022, 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 
September 27, 2022, 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 their comments 
and presentation to the DFO so that they can be distributed to the e-
Manifest Advisory Board at the meeting.

    Dated: August 9, 2022.
Jody Barringer,
Acting Director, Office of Resource Conservation and Recovery.
[FR Doc. 2022-17401 Filed 8-11-22; 8:45 am]
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