E9-6161. 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 March 25, 2009.

ADDRESSES:

Comments should be submitted to: Susan Street, National Program Manager, 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
Q-833410	NAHE
Q-833436	NAHE
Q-833757	NAHE
National Asian Pacific Center on Aging
QS-833692	NAPCA
Q-834156	NAPCA
Q2-834198	NAPCA
National Caucus and Center on Black Aged, Inc.
Q-833567	NCBA
Q-833568	NCBA
Q-833569	NCBA
Q-833570	NCBA
Q-833571	NCBA
Q-833572	NCBA
Q-833598	NCBA
Q-833599	NCBA
Q-833600	NCBA
National Council On the Aging, Inc.
Q-833413	NCOA
Q-833439	NCOA
QS-833832	NCOA
Q-834129	NCOA
Q-834130	NCOA
QS-834157	NCOA
National Older Workers Career Center
Q-833890	NOWCC
Q-833982	NOWCC
Q-833987	NOWCC
Q-834011	NOWCC
Q-834038	NOWCC
Q-834039	NOWCC
Q-834095	NOWCC
Q-834096	NOWCC
Q-834112	NOWCC
Q-834119	NOWCC
Q-834122	NOWCC
Q-834124	NOWCC
Senior Service America, Inc.
Q-833403	SSAI
Q-833808	SSAI
Q-833880	SSAI
Q-833883	SSAI
Q-833884	SSAI
Q-834162	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: March 10, 2009.

Susan Street,

SEE Program Manager.