[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 156 (Tuesday, August 13, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 65878-65880]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-17936]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[EPA-HQ-OLEM-2024-0307; FRL-12111-01-OLEM]


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

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of public meeting.

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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: ``Meeting the Needs of the User 
Community: e-Manifest Program Priorities and User Fees for FY 2026 and 
2027'').

DATES: The meeting will be held on September 17-19, 2024, from 
approximately 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. EDT on each day.

ADDRESSES: This public meeting will be conducted virtually. 
Registration is required to attend and/or participate (as public 
commenter) in this public meeting. Please refer to the e-Manifest 
Advisory Board website 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 September 
10, 2024. 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 September 10, 2024, should be submitted in the public docket 
under Docket number EPA-HQ-OLEM-2024-0307 at http://www.regulations.gov. Written comments submitted to the public docket on 
or before September 10, 2024, will be provided to the e-Manifest 
Advisory Board for their consideration before the meeting. Anyone who 
wishes to submit comments after September 10, 2024, 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

[[Page 65879]]

Conservation and Recovery, email: [email protected]; phone: 202-566-
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. Registration is required to attend and/or participate in 
this public meeting. 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 the Agency needs to make subsequent changes to this 
meeting, the Agency will post future notices to its e-Manifest Advisory 
Board meeting website (https://www.epa.gov/e-manifest/hazardous-waste-electronic-manifest-system-e-manifest-advisory-board). The Agency 
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 (e-Manifest) Establishment 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-2024-0307, 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. The Agency encourages written comments be 
submitted electronically via http://www.regulations.gov, into docket ID 
number EPA-HQ-OLEM-2024-0307 on or before September 10, 2024, 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 10, 2024, should contact the DFO listed under FOR FURTHER 
INFORMATION CONTACT.
    2. Oral comments. The Agency 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 
September 10, 2024, to be included on the meeting agenda. Anyone 
submitting oral public comments request after September 10, 2024, 
should also contact the DFO listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION 
CONTACT. 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. 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.

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 (e-Manifest 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 Advisory 
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 Expert members or Representative 
members.

D. Public Meeting

    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 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 uses to set and collect user fees for the e-Manifest 
system. Under the final rule,

[[Page 65880]]

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.
    On February 21, 2024, EPA published a notice in the Federal 
Register (89 FR 13080) that invited the public to provide input for 
potential charge questions which the Agency could consider when 
consulting the e-Manifest Advisory Board regarding the operations of 
EPA's e-Manifest system. EPA is considering the public input it 
received as part of the presentation and/or charges to the Advisory 
Board for this meeting, as well as future meetings.
    EPA will convene its next public meeting of the e-Manifest System 
Advisory Board September 17-19, 2024. The purpose of this meeting is 
for the Board to advise the Agency on its proposed program priorities 
and user fees for the FY2026/FY2027 cycle.

E. e-Manifest Advisory Board Documents and Meeting Minutes

    The meeting background paper, related supporting materials, 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-August of 2024. In addition, the Agency 
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-2024-0307 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 the Agency 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-2024-0307.

    Dated August 4, 2024.
Carolyn Hoskinson,
Director, Office of Resource Conservation and Recovery.
[FR Doc. 2024-17936 Filed 8-12-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P