[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 2 (Friday, January 3, 1997)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 365-366]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-57]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
40 CFR Part 372
[OPPTS-400106B; FRL-5581-2]
RIN 2070-AD08
Addition of Community Right-to Know; Extension of Comment Period
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Advance notice of proposed rulemaking; extension of comment
period.
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SUMMARY: In the Federal Register of October 1, 1996, EPA issued an
advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPR) to announce EPA's
intention to expand its Community Right-to-Know initiatives to increase
the information available to the public on chemical use, and to solicit
comments on all aspects of chemical use data and its collection. Based
on a request for additional time submitted by the U.S. Department of
Energy's Office of Environmental Policy and Assistance, EPA is
extending the comment period on the ANPR by 60 days.
DATES: Comments must be received by February 28, 1997.
ADDRESSES: Written comments should be submitted in triplicate to: OPPT
Docket Clerk, TSCA Document Receipt Office (7407), Office of Pollution
Prevention and Toxics, Environmental Protection Agency, Rm. E-G099, 401
M St., SW., Washington, DC 20460. Comments containing information
claimed as confidential must be clearly marked as confidential business
information (CBI). If CBI is claimed,
[[Page 366]]
three additional sanitized copies must also be submitted.
Nonconfidential versions of comments will be placed in the record for
this action and will be available for public inspection. Comments
should include the docket control number for the ANPR, OPPTS-400106 and
the EPA contact. Unit II. of this document contains additional
information on submitting comments containing information claimed as
CBI.
Comments and data may also be submitted electronically by sending
electronic mail (e-mail) to: oppt.ncic@epamail.epa.gov. Electronic
comments must be submitted as an ASCII file avoiding the use of special
characters and any form of encryption. Comments and data will also be
accepted on disks in WordPerfect 5.1 file format or ASCII file format.
All comments and data in electronic form must be identified by the
docket number OPPTS-400106. No CBI should be submitted through e-mail.
Electronic comments on this ANPR may be filed online at many Federal
Depository Libraries. Additional information on electronic submissions
can be found in Unit IV. of this document.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Matt Gillen at 202-260-1801, e-mail:
gillen.matthew@epamail.epa.gov for specific information regarding this
Notice. For further information on EPCRA section 313 contact the
Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Hotline, Environmental
Protection Agency, Mail Stop 5101, 401 M St., SW., Washington, DC
20460. Toll free: 1-800-535-0202, in Virginia and Alaska: 703-412-9877
or Toll free TDD: 800-553-7672.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Electronic Availability: An electronic copy
of the documents listed in Unit I of this document are available from
the EPA Public Access gopher (gopher.epa.gov) at the Environmental
SubSet entry under ``Rules and Regulations.''
I. Introduction
In 1986, Congress enacted the Emergency Planning and Community
Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA). Section 313 of EPCRA requires certain
businesses to submit reports each year on the amounts of toxic
chemicals their facilities release into the environment or otherwise
manage. The information is placed in a publicly accessible data base
known as the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI). The purpose of this
requirement is to inform the public, government officials, and industry
about the chemical management practices of specified toxic chemicals.
EPA is interested in expanding the information available via TRI to
include chemical use information such as materials accounting data. The
Agency began reviewing this issue in 1993 and held public meetings in
1994 and 1995. On August 8, 1995, President Clinton directed EPA to
develop and implement, on an expedited schedule, a process for
consideration of reporting use information under TRI. In response, EPA
has begun the regulatory development process for additional review of
chemical use reporting, which the Agency believes may provide a more
detailed and comprehensive picture to the public about environmental
performance and about toxic chemicals in their communities. EPA
published the ANPR on October 1, 1996 (61 FR 51322) (FRL-5387-6), to
give notice of EPA's consideration of this issue and to solicit
comments on all aspects of chemical use and the collection of chemical
use data. At the same time, the Agency also released ``Issues Paper No.
3'' which describes previous stakeholder comments on chemical use
reporting. EPA also held three public meetings in October and December
of 1996 to provide public forums for interested parties to provide
input on the issues raised by the ANPR. This issues paper and ANPR can
be obtained from the EPCRA hotline at the telephone numbers listed in
the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT unit of this document, or
electronically via the EPA's TRI Homepage at: http://www.epa.gov/
opptintr/tri.
The original comment period for the ANPR was due to expire on
December 30, 1996. However, on November 26, 1996, the Department of
Energy submitted a request for an extension of the comment period to
allow time to gather and consolidate comments from various DOE
facilities, and to account for DOE's need to comment on another EPA
reporting initiative during the same period. EPA has decided to grant
this request and to extend the comment period for an additional 60
days, or until February 28, 1997.
II. Rulemaking Record and Electronic Filing of Comments
A record has been established for the ANPR under docket number
``OPPTS-400106'' (including comments and data submitted electronically
as described below). A public version of this record, including printed
paper versions of electronic comments, which does not include any
information claimed as CBI, is available for inspection from noon to 4
p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding legal holidays. The public
record is located in the TSCA Nonconfidential Information Center, Room
NE-B607, 401 M St., SW., Washington, DC 20460.
Any person who submits comments claimed as CBI must mark the
comments as ``confidential,'' ``CBI,'' or other appropriate
designation. Comments not claimed as confidential at the time of
submission will be placed in the public file. Any comments marked as
confidential will be treated in accordance with the procedures in 40
CFR part 2. Any person submitting comments claimed to be confidential
must prepare a nonconfidential public version of the comments in
triplicate that EPA can place in the public file.
Electronic comments can be sent directly to EPA at
oppt.ncic@epamail.epa.gov. Electronic comments must be submitted as an
ASCII file avoiding the use of special characters and any form of
encryption. The official record for this action, as well as the public
version, as described above will be kept in paper form. Accordingly,
EPA will transfer all comments received electronically into printed
paper form as they are received and will place the paper copies in the
official record which will also include all comments submitted directly
in writing. The official record is the paper record maintained at the
address in ADDRESSES at the beginning of this document.
List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 372
Environmental protection, Community right-to-know, Reporting and
recordkeeping requirements, Toxic chemicals.
Dated: December 23, 1996.
Lynn R. Goldman,
Assistant Administrator for Prevention, Pesticides and Toxic
Substances.
[FR Doc. 97-57 Filed 1-2-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-F
