E8-1887. Access to Confidential Business Information by Enrollees Under the Senior Environmental Employment Program

AGENCY:

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION:

Notice.

SUMMARY:

EPA has authorized grantee organizations under the Senior Environmental Employment (SEE) Program and their enrollees access to information which has been submitted to EPA under the environmental statutes administered by the Agency. Some of this information may be claimed or determined to be confidential business information (CBI).

DATES:

Comments concerning CBI access will be accepted on or before February 8, 2008.

ADDRESSES:

Comments should be submitted to: Susan Street, National Program Director, Senior Environmental Employment Program (MC 3605A), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; Ariel Rios Building, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Susan Street at [phone].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

The Senior Environmental Employment (SEE) program is authorized by the Environmental Programs Assistance Act of 1984 (Pub. L. 98-313), which provides that the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency may “make grants to, or enter into cooperative agreements with,” specified private nonprofit organizations for the purpose of “providing technical assistance to Federal, State, and local environmental agencies for projects of pollution prevention, abatement, and control.” Cooperative agreements under the SEE program provide support for many functions in the Agency, including clerical support, staffing hot lines, providing support to Agency enforcement activities, providing library services, compiling data, and support in scientific, engineering, financial, and other areas.

In performing these tasks, grantees and cooperators under the SEE program and their enrollees may have access to potentially all documents submitted under the Clean Air Act (CAA), the Clean Water Act (CWA), the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA), the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), the Emergency Planning & Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA), the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA), and the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), to the extent that these statutes allow disclosure of confidential information to “authorized representatives of the United States” or to “contractors.” Some of these documents may contain information claimed as confidential.

EPA provides confidential information to enrollees working under the following cooperative agreements:

Cooperative Agreement No.	Organization
National Association for Hispanic Elderly
QS-833757	NAHE
Q-833436	NAHE
National Asian Pacific Center on Aging
Q-832831	NAPCA
Q-832943	NAPCA
Q-832965	NAPCA
Q-832972	NAPCA
Q-832973	NAPCA
Q-832974	NAPCA
QS-833084	NAPCA
National Caucus and Center on Black Aged, Inc.
Q-832975	NCBA
Q-832977	NCBA
National Council On the Aging, Inc.
Q-832828	NCOA
Q-832970	NCOA
Q-833413	NCOA
Q-833439	NCOA
National Older Workers Career Center
Q-832838	NOWCC
Q-832852	NOWCC
Q-832889	NOWCC
Q-832890	NOWCC
Q-832891	NOWCC
Q-832892	NOWCC
Q-832893	NOWCC
Q-832922	NOWCC
Q-832925	NOWCC
Q-832928	NOWCC
Q-832945	NOWCC
Senior Service America, Inc.
Q-832621	SSAI
Q-832961	SSAI
Q-832969	SSAI
Q-832979	SSAI
Q-833379	SSAI
Q-833383	SSAI
Q-833403	SSAI

Among the procedures established by EPA confidentiality regulations for granting access to confidential business information is notification to the submitters of CBI that SEE-grantee organizations and their enrollees will have access to this information. See 40 CFR 2.301(h)(2)(iii) for information submitted under the CAA, 40 CFR 350.23 for EPCRA, and corresponding provisions of 40 CFR 2.302-2.311, for other statutes listed above. This document is intended to fulfill that requirement.

The grantee organizations are required by the cooperative agreements to protect confidential information. SEE enrollees are required to sign confidentiality agreements and to adhere to the same security procedures as Federal employees.

Dated: January 28, 2008.

Susan Street,

SEE Program Manager, HQ Operations Division, Immediate Office.