[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 186 (Wednesday, September 24, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 55073-55074]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-22466]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[FRL-8719-6]
Clean Water Act; Contractor Access to Information Claimed as
Confidential Business Information
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice of intended transfer of information claimed as
confidential business information to contractors and subcontractors.
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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) intends to transfer
information claimed as confidential business information (CBI)
collected from several industries, including health services, drinking
water treatment, and airport deicing to Abt Associates and its
subcontractors, to PG Environmental, LLC, and its subcontractors, and
to Westat. Transfer of the information will allow the contractors and
subcontractors to support EPA in the planning, development, review, and
implementation of effluent limitation guidelines and standards under
the Clean Water Act (CWA). The information being transferred was or
will be collected, in part, under the authority of section 308 of the
CWA. 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 1, 2008.
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
[email protected].
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, reviewing, and implementing
effluent guidelines and standards for certain industries.
Today, pursuant to 40 CFR 2.302(h)(2)(iii), incorporating by
reference 40 CFR 2.301(h)(2)(iii), EPA is giving notice that it has
entered into contracts with Abt Associates (Abt), contract number EP-C-
07-023, located in Cambridge, MA, with PG
[[Page 55074]]
Environmental, LLC (PG), contract number EP-C-07-029, located in
Herndon, VA, and with Westat, contract numbers EP-D-07-109 and GS-23F-
8144H, located in Rockville, MD. The purpose of these contracts is to
secure economic, technical, and statistical analysis support for EPA in
its development, review, implementation, and defense of effluent
limitation guidelines and standards for, and studies of the
environmental impacts and potential mitigation of effluent discharges
for, a variety of industries, such as the drinking water treatment
industry and the airport deicing industry. To obtain assistance in
performing these contracts, Abt and PG have entered into contracts with
their subcontractors. In particular, Abt has obtained the services of
the following subcontractors: RTI International (located in Research
Triangle Park, NC, subcontract number 21043); ICF Consulting (located
in Fairfax, VA, subcontract number 21052); Great Lakes Environmental
Center (located in Traverse City, MI, subcontract number 21040);
Horizon Systems Corporation (located in Herndon, VA, subcontract number
21050); Aqua Terra (located in Mountain View, CA, subcontract number
21049); ETI (located in Westford, MA, subcontract number 21171);
Stratus Consulting, Inc. (located in Washington, DC, subcontract number
20657); Indtai Inc. (located in Falls Church, VA, subcontract number
21046); and independent consultants Frank Arnold, Brynhildur
Davidsdottir, Lori Snyder Bennear, Robert Johnston, Tim Bondelid, and
Kurt Stephenson. PG has obtained the services of the following
subcontractors: Amendola Engineering, Inc. (located in Westlake, OH,
subcontract number EAD/029-003); Tetra Tech, Inc. (located in Fairfax,
VA, subcontract number EAD/029-002); and Eastern Research Group
(located in Chantilly, VA, subcontract number EAD/029-001).
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. Abt, PG, and Westat will adhere to EPA-approved security
plans which describe procedures to protect CBI. Abt, PG, and Westat
will apply the procedures in these plans to CBI previously gathered by
EPA and to CBI that may be gathered in the future for the airport
deicing industry, the drinking water treatment industry, and other
industries. The security plans specify that contractor 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 Abt, PG, and Westat and
their subcontractors consists, in part, of information previously
collected by EPA to support the development, review, implementation,
and defense of effluent limitations guidelines and standards under the
CWA and for studies of the environmental impacts of and potential
mitigation of effluent discharges from the airport deicing point source
category, the drinking water treatment industry, the health services
industry, and other industries. The information that will be
transferred consists of material claimed as trade secrets, intellectual
property, commercial, financial, and other information. It includes
information about operations, processes, products, and company finances
but does not include information which is inherently public, such as
effluent discharge data.
EPA also intends to transfer to Abt, PG, and Westat all information
described 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 Abt, PG, and Westat
to carry out the work required by their contracts to support EPA.
Dated: September 16, 2008.
Ephraim S. King,
Director, Office of Science and Technology.
[FR Doc. E8-22466 Filed 9-23-08; 8:45 am]
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