[Federal Register: October 31, 2003 (Volume 68, Number 211)]
[Notices]
[Page 62069-62070]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr31oc03-51]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[OEI-2003-0025; FRL-7581-3]
Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to OMB for
Review and Approval; Comment Request; Toxic Chemical Release Reporting,
Recordkeeping, Supplier Notification and Petitions Under Section 313 of
the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA):
Renewal; EPA ICR Number 1363.13, OMB Control Number 2070-0093
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) (44
U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), this document announces that an Information
Collection Request (ICR) has been forwarded to the Office of Management
and Budget (OMB) for review and approval. The Agency is requesting that
OMB renew for 3 years the existing approval for this ICR, which is
scheduled to expire on October 31, 2003. Under OMB regulations, the
Agency may continue to conduct or sponsor the collection of information
while this submission is pending at OMB. This ICR describes the nature
of the information collection and its estimated burden and cost.
DATES: Additional comments may be submitted on or before December 1,
2003.
ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, referencing docket ID number OEI-2003-
0025, to (1) EPA online using EDOCKET (our preferred method), by email to oei.docket@epa.gov, or by mail to: EPA Docket Center, Environmental
Protection Agency, Office of Environmental Information Docket, 28221T,
1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460, and (2) OMB at:
Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and
Budget (OMB), Attention: Desk Officer for EPA, 725 17th Street, NW.,
Washington, DC 20503.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Judith Kendall, Office of
Environmental Information, Mailcode 2844T, Environmental Protection
Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460; telephone
number: (202) 566-0750; fax number: (202) 566-0741; email address: kendall.judith@epa.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: EPA has submitted the following ICR to OMB
for review and approval according to the procedures prescribed in 5 CFR
1320.12. A Federal Register notice announcing the Agency's intent to
seek the renewal of this ICR and the 60-day public comment opportunity,
requesting comments on the request and the contents of the ICR, was
issued on July 1, 2003 (68 FR 39074). EPA received a number of comments
on this ICR during the comment period, which have been addressed. The
comments and EPA's responses are included as part of the ICR renewal
request package, and will be made available in the docket for OEI-2003-
0025 and on the EPA TRI Web site at http://www.epa.gov/tri.
EPA has established a public docket for this ICR under Docket ID
No. OEI-2003-0025, which is available for public viewing at the Office
of Environmental Information Docket in the EPA Docket Center (EPA/DC),
EPA West, Room B102, 1301 Constitution Ave., NW, Washington, DC. The
EPA Docket Center 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 Reading Room is (202) 566-1744, and the telephone number
for the Office of Environmental Information Docket is (202) 566-1752.
An electronic version of the public docket is available through EPA
Dockets (EDOCKET) at http://www.epa.gov/edocket. Use EDOCKET to submit
or view public comments, access the index listing of the contents of
the public docket, and to access those documents in the public docket
that are available electronically. Once in the system, select
``search,'' then key in the docket ID number identified above.
Any comments related to this ICR should be submitted to EPA and OMB
within 30 days of this notice. EPA's policy is that public comments,
whether submitted electronically or in paper, will be made available
for public viewing in EDOCKET as EPA receives them and without change,
unless the comment contains copyrighted material, CBI, or other
information whose public disclosure is restricted by statute. When EPA
identifies a comment containing copyrighted material, EPA will provide
a reference to that material in the version of the comment that is
placed in EDOCKET. The entire printed comment, including the
copyrighted material, will be available in the public docket. Although
identified as an item in the official docket, information claimed as
CBI, or whose disclosure is otherwise restricted by statute, is not
included in the official public docket, and will not be available for
public viewing in EDOCKET. For further information about the electronic
docket, see EPA's Federal Register notice describing the electronic
docket at 67 FR 38102 (May
[[Page 62070]]
31, 2002), or go to http://www.epa.gov/edocket.
Title: Toxic Chemical Release Reporting, Recordkeeping, Supplier
Notification and Petitions under Section 313 of the Emergency Planning
and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA): Renewal
Abstract: EPCRA section 313 requires owners and operators of
certain facilities that manufacture, process, or otherwise use any of
over 650 listed toxic chemicals and chemical categories in excess of
applicable threshold quantities to report annually to the Environmental
Protection Agency and to the states in which such facilities are
located on their environmental releases and other waste management
quantities of such chemicals. In addition, section 6607 of the
Pollution Prevention Act (PPA) requires that facilities provide
information on the quantities of the toxic chemicals in waste streams
and the efforts made to reduce or eliminate those quantities.
EPA collects, processes, and makes available to the public all of
the information collected. The information gathered under these
authorities is stored in a database maintained at EPA and is available
through the Internet. This information, commonly known as the Toxics
Release Inventory (TRI), is used extensively by both EPA and the public
sector. Program offices within EPA use TRI data, along with other
sources of data, to establish priorities, evaluate potential exposure
scenarios, and undertake enforcement activities. Environmental and
public interest groups use the data in studies and reports, making the
public more aware of releases of chemicals in their communities.
Responses to the collection of information are mandatory (see 40
CFR part 372). Respondents may claim all or part of a notice
confidential. EPA will disclose information that is covered by a claim
of confidentiality only to the extent permitted by, and in accordance
with, the procedures in TSCA section 14 and 40 CFR part 2.
An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required
to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a
currently valid OMB control number. The OMB control numbers for EPA's
regulations in 40 CFR are listed in 40 CFR part 9 and are identified on
the form.
Burden Statement: The annual public burden for this collection of
information is estimated to average 19.5 hours per response. Under the
PRA, ``burden'' means the total time, effort, or financial resources
expended by persons to generate, maintain, retain, or disclose or
provide information to or for a federal agency. For this collection, it
includes the time needed to review instructions; develop, acquire,
install, and utilize technology and systems for the purposes of
collecting, validating, and verifying information, processing and
maintaining information, and disclosing and providing information;
adjust the existing ways to comply with any previously applicable
instructions and requirements; train personnel to be able to respond to
a collection of information; search data sources; complete and review
the collection of information; and transmit or otherwise disclose the
information.
The following is a summary of the burden estimates taken from the
ICR:
Respondents/affected entities: Owners or operators of certain
facilities that manufacture, process, or otherwise use certain
specified toxic chemicals and chemical categories and are required to
report annually on the environmental releases and transfers of waste
management activities for such chemicals.
Estimated total number of potential responses: 84,000.
Frequency of response: Annual.
Estimated total annual burden hours: 2,432,898.
Estimated total annual burden costs: $111.3 million in labor costs.
Changes in Burden Estimates
The reduction in the estimated total burden of 3,133,666 hours is
the result of three adjustments.
The first adjustment is to the number of responses. The estimate of
88,117 responses in the existing OMB approval incorporated a predicted
reporting increase from the economic analysis of the final rule to
lower reporting thresholds for lead and lead compounds. This prediction
overestimated actual reporting levels; EPA received about 70 percent of
the additional lead and lead compound reports that were forecast. The
number of responses in this ICR supporting statement have been adjusted
to accurately reflect actual reporting levels (rounded to the next
highest thousand responses). This adjustment accounts for a decrease of
about 218,000 hours.
The second adjustment is to the unit burden hour estimates for
subsequent year reporting. EPA has adjusted the estimate of unit burden
hours for Form R completion in subsequent years from 47.1 hours to 14.5
hours based on responses from TRI reporting facilities. This adjustment
accounts for a decrease of about 2.68 million hours.
The third adjustment relates to the adoption of TRI-ME, an
automated reporting software package. EPA has reduced the burden
estimates related to Form R Completion and Recordkeeping/Submission by
15 percent for the reports filed using TRI-ME. An estimated 90 percent
of reports are expected to be filed using TRI-ME over the three years
of the ICR. This adjustment accounts for a decrease of about 232,000
hours.
The sum of these adjustments is a decrease of 4,117 responses and
3,133,666 burden hours from the current approved total.
Dated: October 27, 2003.
Doreen Sterling,
Acting Director, Collection Strategies Division.
[FR Doc. 03-27481 Filed 10-30-03; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P