[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 48 (Monday, March 11, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 17465-17467]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-05073]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[EPA-HQ-OLEM-2024-0080; FRL-11772-01-OLEM]


The Hazardous Waste Electronic Manifest System Advisory Board: 
Request for Nominations

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) invites the 
public to nominate experts to be considered for a three-year 
appointment to the Hazardous Waste Electronic Manifest System Advisory 
Board (the ``Board''). Pursuant to the Hazardous Waste Electronic 
Manifest Establishment Act (the ``e-Manifest Act'' or the ``Act''), EPA 
has established the Board to provide practical and independent advice, 
consultation, and recommendations to the EPA Administrator on the 
activities, functions, policies, and regulations associated with the 
Hazardous Waste Electronic Manifest (e-Manifest) System. In accordance 
with the e-Manifest Act, the EPA Administrator or designee will serve 
as Chair of the Board. This notice solicits nominations for possible 
consideration of candidates to potentially fill a vacancy on the Board 
to serve as an information technology (IT) expert for a three-year 
appointment. EPA may also consider nominations received through this 
solicitation to fill any unanticipated future vacancies on the Board 
for the following positions including an industry representative member 
with experience in using or representing users of the manifest system; 
and a state representative member responsible for processing manifests.

[[Page 17466]]


DATES: Nominations of candidates considered for appointment must be 
received on or before April 10, 2024.

ADDRESSES: Submit your nominations identified with ``BOARD NOMINATION'' 
in the subject line to Fred Jenkins, the Designated Federal Officer 
(DFO) of the e-Manifest Advisory Board at [email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Fred Jenkins, Designated Federal 
Officer (DFO), Phone: 202-566-0344; or by email: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

    On June 30, 2018, EPA established a national system for tracking 
hazardous waste shipments electronically. This system, known as ``e-
Manifest,'' supports the modernization of the nation's cradle-to-grave 
hazardous waste tracking process while saving valuable time, resources, 
and dollars for industry and states.
    EPA established the e-Manifest system according to the Hazardous 
Waste Electronic Manifest Establishment Act, enacted into law on 
October 5, 2012. The ``e-Manifest Act'' authorizes the EPA to implement 
a national electronic manifest system and requires that the costs of 
developing and operating the new e-Manifest system be recovered from 
user fees charged to those who use hazardous waste manifests to track 
off-site shipments of their wastes.
    This system enables users of the uniform hazardous waste manifest 
forms (EPA Form 8700-22 and Continuation Sheet 8700-22A) to have the 
option to more efficiently track their hazardous waste shipments 
electronically, in lieu of the paper manifest, from the point of 
generation, during transportation, and to the point of receipt by an 
off-site facility that is permitted to treat, store, recycle, or 
dispose of the hazardous waste. Electronic manifests obtained from the 
national system augment or replace the paper forms that have 
historically been used for this purpose, and that result in substantial 
paperwork costs and other inefficiencies. Congress intended that EPA 
develop a system that, among other things, meets the needs of the user 
community and decreases the administrative burden associated with the 
current paper-based manifest system on the user community. 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. The system also serves as a national reporting hub and 
database for all manifests and shipment data. To ensure that these 
goals are met, the Act directs EPA to establish a Board to assess the 
effectiveness of the electronic manifest system and make 
recommendations to the Administrator for improving the system.
    In addition, the e-Manifest Act directs EPA to develop a system 
that attracts sufficient user participation and service revenues to 
ensure the viability of the system. As a result, the Act provides EPA 
broad discretion to establish reasonable user fees, as the 
Administrator determines are necessary, to pay costs incurred in 
developing, operating, maintaining, and upgrading the system, including 
any costs incurred in collecting and processing data from any paper 
manifest submitted to the system.
    e-Manifest aligns with the Agency's E-Enterprise business strategy. 
E-Enterprise for the Environment is a transformative 21st century 
strategy--jointly governed by states and EPA--for modernizing 
government agencies' delivery of environmental protection. Under this 
strategy, the Agency will streamline its business processes and systems 
to reduce reporting burden on states and regulated facilities and 
improve the effectiveness and efficiency of regulatory programs for 
EPA, states, and tribes.
    EPA has established the Board in accordance with the provisions of 
the e-Manifest Act and the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA), 5 
U.S.C. App.2. The Board is in the public interest and supports EPA in 
performing its duties and responsibilities. Pursuant to the e-Manifest 
Act the Board is comprised of nine members, of which one member is the 
Administrator (or a designee), who will serve as Chair of the Board, 
and eight members are individuals appointed by the EPA Administrator:
     At least two of whom have expertise in information 
technology (IT);
     At least three of whom have experience in using, or 
represent users of, the manifest system to track the transportation of 
hazardous waste under federal and state manifest programs; and
     At least three state representatives responsible for 
processing those manifests.
    Pursuant to the e-Manifest Act, the Board will meet publicly at 
least annually to provide EPA recommendations on matters related to the 
operational activities, functions, policies, and/or regulations of the 
EPA under the e-Manifest Act.

II. Nominations

    Any interested person and/or organization may nominate qualified 
individuals for membership. EPA values and welcomes diversity. To 
obtain nominations of diverse candidates, the agency encourages 
nominations of all genders and all racial and ethnic groups. All 
nominations will be considered; however, applicants need to be aware of 
the representation from specific sectors required by the e-Manifest 
Act.
    Nominees who represent states and industry should have a 
comprehensive knowledge of hazardous waste generation, transportation, 
treatment, storage, and disposal under RCRA Subtitle C at the federal, 
state, and local levels. Nominees who represent states should have 
comprehensive knowledge of state programs that use manifest data. 
Nominees who represent industry should be familiar with e-Manifest and 
have strong knowledge of existing industry systems/devices/approaches 
and business operations to provide valuable input on e-Manifest 
integration into current industry data systems.
    IT nominees should have core competencies and experience in large-
scale systems and application development, integration, and 
implementation. This may include competency and experience with: 
managing complex systems used by multiple user communities; ensuring 
data availability, integrity, and quality; user help desk and support; 
as well as expertise relevant to the complexities of an electronic 
manifest system. Examples of this expertise may include, but are not 
limited to: Expertise with web-based and mobile technologies, 
particularly those that support large scale operations for 
geographically diverse users; expertise in IT security, including 
perspective on federal IT security requirements; expertise in 
electronic signature and user management approaches; expertise with 
scalable hosting solutions such as cloud-based hosting; and expertise 
in user experience. Existing knowledge of, or willingness to gain an 
understanding of, EPA shared services and enterprise architecture is a 
plus.
    Another plus for any nominee is experience in setting and/or 
managing fee-based systems in general.
    Additional criteria used to evaluate nominees will include:
     Excellent interpersonal, oral, and written communication 
skills;
     Demonstrated experience developing group recommendations;
     Willingness to commit time to the Board and demonstrated 
ability to work
    constructively on committees;

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     Absence of financial conflicts of interest;
     Impartiality (including avoiding the appearance of a loss 
of impartiality); and
     Background and experiences that would help contribute to 
the diversity of perspectives on the Board, e.g., geographic, economic, 
social, cultural, educational backgrounds, professional affiliations, 
and other considerations.
    Nominations must include a resume, which provides the nominee's 
background, experience, and educational qualifications, as well as a 
brief statement (one page or less) describing the nominee's interest in 
serving on the Board and addressing the other criteria previously 
described. Nominees are encouraged to provide any additional 
information that they feel would be useful for consideration, such as: 
availability to participate as a member of the Board; how the nominee's 
background, skills, and experience would contribute to the diversity of 
the Board; and any concerns the nominee has regarding membership. 
Nominees should be identified by name, occupation, position, current 
business address, email, and telephone number.
    Interested candidates may self-nominate. The agency will 
acknowledge receipt of nominations. Persons selected for membership 
will receive compensation for travel and a nominal daily compensation 
(if appropriate) while attending meetings in person. Additionally, 
candidates selected to serve as IT ``Expert'' Members will be 
designated as Special Government Employees (SGEs) or consultants. 
Candidates designated as SGEs will be required to fill out the 
``Confidential Financial Disclosure Form for Environmental Protection 
Agency Special Government Employees'' (EPA Form 3310-48). This 
confidential form provides information to the EPA ethics officials to 
determine whether there is a conflict between the SGE's public duties 
and their private interests, including an appearance of a loss of 
impartiality as defined by federal laws and regulations. One example of 
a potential conflict of interest may be for IT professional(s) serving 
in an organization which is awarded any related e-Manifest system 
development contract(s).
    Authority: 5 U.S.C. App.2.

    Dated: February 28, 2024.
Carolyn Hoskinson,
Director, Office of Resource Conservation and Recovery.
[FR Doc. 2024-05073 Filed 3-8-24; 8:45 am]
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