[Federal Register: September 28, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 187)]
[Notices]
[Page 56686]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr28se05-122]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[FRL-7976-3]
Clean Water Act; Contractor Access to Confidential Business
Information
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice of Intended Transfer of Confidential Business
Information to Contractors and Subcontractors.
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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) intends to transfer
confidential business information (CBI) collected from the drinking
water treatment industry, airport deicing operations, and other
industries to Battelle and its subcontractors. Transfer of the
information will allow the contractor and subcontractors to support EPA
in the planning, development, and review of effluent limitations
guidelines and standards under the Clean Water Act (CWA) and the
development of discharge standards for certain Alaskan cruise ship
operations. The information being transferred was or will be collected
under the authority of section 308 of the CWA. Some information being
transferred from the pulp, paper, and paperboard industry was collected
under the additional authorities of section 114 of the Clean Air Act
(CAA) and section 3007 of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act
(RCRA). Interested persons may submit comments on this intended
transfer of information to the address noted below.
DATES: Comments on the transfer of data are due October 3, 2005.
ADDRESSES: Comments may be sent to Mr. M. Ahmar Siddiqui, Document
Control Officer, Engineering and Analysis Division (4303T), Room 6231S
EPA West, U.S. EPA, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave, NW., Washington, DC 20460.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. M. Ahmar Siddiqui, Document
Control Officer, at (202) 566-1044, or via e-mail at
siddiqui.ahmar@epa.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: EPA has transferred CBI to various
contractors and subcontractors over the history of the effluent
guidelines program. EPA determined that this transfer was necessary to
enable the contractors and subcontractors to perform their work in
supporting EPA in planning, developing, and reviewing effluent
guidelines and standards for certain industries.
Today, EPA is giving notice that it has entered into a contract
with Battelle, number EP-C-05-030, located in Columbus, Ohio. The
reason for this contract is to secure additional statistical analysis
support for EPA in its development, review, implementation, and defense
of water-related initiatives. To obtain assistance in responding to
this contract, Battelle has entered into contracts with the following
subcontractors: Waterstone Environmental Hydrology and Engineering,
Inc. (located in Boulder, Colorado) and Jorge Scientific Corporation
(Arlington, Virginia).
All EPA contractor, subcontractor, and consultant personnel are
bound by the requirements and sanctions contained in their contracts
with EPA and in EPA's confidentiality regulations found at 40 CFR Part
2, Subpart B. Battelle and its subcontractors adhere to EPA-approved
security plans which describe procedures to protect CBI. The procedures
in these plans are applied to CBI previously gathered by EPA for the
industries identified below and to CBI that may be gathered in the
future for these industries. The security plans specify that contractor
and subcontractor personnel are required to sign non-disclosure
agreements and are briefed on appropriate security procedures before
they are permitted access to CBI. No person is automatically granted
access to CBI: a need to know must exist.
The information that will be transferred to Battelle and its
subcontractors consists primarily of information previously collected
by EPA to support the development and review of effluent limitations
guidelines and standards under the CWA and the development of discharge
standards for certain Alaskan cruise ship operations. In particular,
information, including CBI, collected for the planning, development,
and review of effluent limitations guidelines and standards for the
following industries may be transferred: Airport deicing; aquaculture;
concentrated animal feeding operations; centralized waste treatment;
coal mining; drinking water treatment; industrial container and drum
cleaning; industrial laundries; industrial waste combustors; iron and
steel manufacturing; landfills; meat and poultry products; metal
finishing; metal products and machinery; nonferrous metals
manufacturing; oil and gas extraction (including coalbed methane); ore
mining and dressing; organic chemicals, plastics, and synthetic fibers;
pesticide chemicals; pharmaceutical manufacturing; petroleum refining;
pulp, paper, and paperboard manufacturing; steam electric power
generation; textile mills; timber products processing; tobacco; and
transportation equipment cleaning. In addition, for the development of
standards for Alaskan cruise ships, EPA may transfer information,
including CBI, about large cruise ships that operate in the waters
around Alaska.
EPA also intends to transfer to Battelle and its subcontractors all
information listed in this notice, of the type described above
(including CBI) that may be collected in the future under the authority
of section 308 of the CWA or voluntarily submitted (e.g., in comments
in response to a Federal Register notice), as is necessary to enable
Battelle and its subcontractors to carry out the work required by their
contracts to support EPA's effluent guidelines planning process, the
development of effluent limitations guidelines and standards, and the
development of discharge standards for cruise ships.
Dated: September 21, 2005.
Pamela Barr,
Acting Director, Office of Science and Technology.
[FR Doc. 05-19355 Filed 9-27-05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P