1
ENVIRONMENTAL
PROTECTION
AGENCY
[
OEI­
2005­
0006;
FRLxxxx­
x]

Office
of
Environmental
Information
Announcement
of
Comment
Period
for
Environmental
Sampling,
Analysis
and
Results
Draft
Data
Standards
AGENCY:
Environmental
Protection
Agency
ACTION:
Notice
of
Data
Availability
&
Comment
Period
SUMMARY:
Notice
of
availability
for
public
review
for
a
90
day
comment
period
is
hereby
given
for
the
Draft
Environmental
Sampling,
Analysis
and
Results
(
ESAR)
Data
Standards.

The
Draft
Environmental
Sampling,
Analysis,
and
Results
Data
Standards
are
a
collection
of
14
standards
that
are
based
on
the
business
processes
used
to
collect
and
analyze
environmental
data.
The
collection
is
comprised
of
an
Overview,
four
primary
standards
and
nine
supporting
components.
The
fourteen
ESAR
data
standards
are
designed
to
provide
implementation
flexibility
and
improve
the
exchange
of
environmental
data
across
the
nation.
States
and
US
EPA
completed
a
technical
review
of
these
data
standards
in
the
Spring
of
2004.
That
review
lead
to
the
formation
of
Air,

Waste,
and
Water
teams,
which
reviewed
the
comments
and
produced
this
final
collection
of
draft
data
standard
documents.
Reviewers
will
see
that
the
standards
may
not
use
the
specific
terminology
for
a
given
environmental
program.
In
order
to
make
the
standards
work
for
the
broadest
audience,
terms
were
specifically
chosen
for
relevance
to
2
the
broadest
audience.
Similarly,
the
standards
do
not
address
all
details
of
each
environmental
program.
These
standards,
when
final,
are
intended
to
serve
as
a
foundation
for
information
exchange
across
environmental
media
(
water,
air,
waste).

Media
or
program
specific
data
elements
may
need
to
be
added
in
an
exchange.

Reviewers
please
note
that
the
draft
data
standards
are
based
on
and
incorporate
related
efforts
such
as
other
data
standards,
electronic
data
deliverables,
and
systems
data
dictionaries
in
media
specific
areas
including:
the
EDSC
data
standard
"
Reporting
Water
Quality
Results
for
Chemical
and
Microbiological
Analytes;"
exchange
specifications
such
as
the
"
Staged
Electronic
Data
Deliverable"
(
SEDD);
data
dictionaries
such
as
the
Air
Quality
Monitoring
System
(
AQS);
as
well
as
specifications
from
the
National
Environmental
Laboratory
Accrediting
Council
(
NELAC)
and
the
Laboratory
Information
Management
System
(
LIMS).

DATES:
Comments
must
be
submitted
on
or
before
November
7,
2005
FOR
FURTHER
INFORMATION
CONTACT:

Linda
Spencer;
Environmental
Protection
Agency;
1200
Pennsylvania
Avenue,
MC
2822T;
Washington,
DC
20460;
Phone:
202
566
1651;
Fax:
202
566
1624;
Email:

Spencer.
linda@
epa.
gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY
INFORMATION:

These
standards
were
developed
by
the
Environmental
Data
Standards
Council
(
EDSC).

The
EDSC
is
a
partnership
of
among
EPA,
States,
and
Tribes
which
promotes
the
3
efficient
sharing
of
environmental
information
through
the
cooperative
development
of
data
standards.

The
standards
are
intended
for
use
in
environmental
data
exchanges
among
States,
Tribal
entities
and
the
US
EPA.
They
are
not
meant
to
dictate
or
to
limit
data
an
agency
chooses
to
collect
for
its
own
internal
purposes.
Adoption
of
a
data
standard
should
not
be
interpreted
to
mean
that
revisions
to
databases
or
information
systems
are
required.

What
the
adoption
does
mean
is
that
formats
for
sharing
data
with
Exchange
Network
(
EN)
partners
will
change
because
the
Exchange
Network
has
adopted
Shared
Schema
Components
based
on
the
data
standards.
The
SSCs
are
available
on
the
Exchange
Network
web
site
at
http://
www.
exchangenetwork.
net.

The
draft
data
standards
and
"
Frequently
Asked
Questions"
document
can
be
found
on
EDSC's
website
(
http://
www.
envdatastandards.
net/
and
are
available
through
the
Docket
system
as
indicated
below.

I.
General
Information
A.
How
Can
I
Get
Copies
Of
These
Documents
and
Other
Related
Information
?

1.
Docket.
EPA
has
established
an
official
public
docket
for
this
action
under
Docket
ID
No.
OEI­
2005­
0006.
The
official
public
docket
is
the
collection
of
materials
that
is
available
for
public
viewing
at
the
OEI
Docket
in
the
EPA
Docket
Center,

(
EPA/
DC)
EPA
West,
Room
B102,
1301
Constitution
Ave.,
NW,
Washington,
DC.
The
EPA
Docket
Center
Public
Reading
Room
is
open
from
8:
30
a.
m.
to
4:
30
p.
m.,
Monday
through
Friday,
excluding
legal
holidays.
The
telephone
number
for
the
Public
Reading
4
Room
is
(
202)
566­
1744,
and
the
telephone
number
for
the
OEI
Docket
is
(
202)
566­

1752.

2.
Electronic
Access.
You
may
access
this
Federal
Register
document
electronically
through
the
EPA
Internet
under
the
"
Federal
Register"
listings
at
http://
www.
epa.
gov/
fedrgstr/.

An
electronic
version
of
the
public
docket
is
available
through
EPA's
electronic
public
docket
and
comment
system,
EPA
Dockets.
You
may
use
EPA
Dockets
at
http://
www.
epa.
gov/
edocket/
to
view
public
comments,
access
the
index
listing
of
the
contents
of
the
official
public
docket,
and
to
access
those
documents
in
the
public
docket
that
are
available
electronically.
Although
not
all
docket
materials
may
be
available
electronically,
you
may
still
access
any
of
the
publicly
available
docket
materials
through
the
docket
facility
identified
in
Unit
I.
B.
Once
in
the
system,
select
"
search,"
then
key
in
the
appropriate
docket
identification
number.

Dated
August
10,
2005
Oscar
Morales
Division
Director
Collection
Strategies
Division.
Office
of
Information
Collection
US
Environmental
Protection
Agency
