ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[EPA-HQ-TRI-2007-0355; FRL-    - ] 

Agency Information Collection Activities, Proposed Collections; Toxic
Chemical Release 

Reporting; Request for Comments on Proposed Changes and the Renewal of
the Form A Certification Statement (EPA ICR No.1704.09, OMB Control No.
2070-0143)

AGENCY:	Environmental Protection Agency

ACTION:	Notice.

SUMMARY:	In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA)(44 U.S.C.
3501 et seq.), this document announces that an Information Collection
Request (ICR) has been forwarded to the Office of Management and Budget
(OMB) for review and approval.  This is a request to make changes to and
renew an existing approved collection.  The ICR Supporting Statement,  
SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1 which is abstracted below, describes the nature of
the information collection (including proposed minor form changes) and
its estimated burden and cost. 

DATES: Additional comments may be submitted on or before [insert date 30
days after publication in the Federal Register].  

ADDRESSES:  Submit your comments, referencing Docket ID No.
EPA-HQ-TRI-2007-0355,  to (1) EPA online using   HYPERLINK
"http://www.regulations.gov"  http://www.regulations.gov  (our preferred
method), by email to   HYPERLINK "mailto:oei.docket@epa.gov" 
oei.docket@epa.gov , or by mail to EPA Docket Center, U. S.
Environmental Protection Agency, Mail Code 2822T, 1200 Pennsylvania
Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20460, and (2) OMB by mail to Office of
Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget
(OMB), Attention: Desk Officer for EPA, 725 17th Street, NW, Washington,
DC 20503.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:  Cassandra Vail, Toxics Release
Inventory Program Division, Office of Information Analysis and Access
(2844T), Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW,
Washington, DC 20460; telephone number, 202-566-0753; fax number,
202-566-0740; email address,   HYPERLINK "mailto:vail.cassandra@epa.gov"
 vail.cassandra@epa.gov .

 SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:  EPA submitted an earlier version of the ICR
Supporting Statement to OMB for review and approval according to the
procedures prescribed in 5 CFR 1320.12. On July 11, 2007 (72 FR 37762),
EPA sought comments on this ICR pursuant to 5 CFR 1320.8(d).  EPA
received four comments   SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1 during the comment period,
which are addressed in the Response to Comments document.  Any
additional comments on the revised ICR Supporting Statement should be
submitted to EPA and OMB within 30 days of this notice.

	EPA has established a public docket for this ICR Supporting Statement
under Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-TRI-2007-0355, which is available for   SEQ
CHAPTER \h \r 1 online viewing at   HYPERLINK
"http://www.regulations.gov"  http://www.regulations.gov ,   SEQ CHAPTER
\h \r 1 or in person at the OEI Docket, EPA Docket Center (EPA.DC), U.S.
EPA West Building, Room 3334, 1301 Constitution Ave., NW, Washington,
DC.  The EPA/DC Public Reading Room   SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1 is open from 8
a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding legal holidays. The
telephone number for the Reading Room is 202-566-1744, and the telephone
number for the OEI Docket is 202-566-1752.  

	Use EPA’s electronic docket and comment system at   HYPERLINK
"http://www.regulations.gov"  http://www.regulations.gov  to submit or
view public comments, to access the index listing of the contents of the
docket, and to access those documents in the docket that are available
electronically.  Once in the system, select “docket search,” then
key in the docket ID number identified above.   Please note that EPA’s
policy is that public comments, whether submitted electronically or in
paper, will be made available for public viewing at   HYPERLINK
"http://www.regulations.gov"  http://www.regulations.gov , as EPA
receives them and without change, unless the comment contains
copyrighted material, Confidential Business Information (CBI), or other
information for which public disclosure is restricted by statute.    SEQ
CHAPTER \h \r 1 For further information about the electronic docket, go
to   HYPERLINK "http://www.regulations.gov"  http://www.regulations.gov
. 

Title:   The ICR Renewal and Proposed Changes to the TRI Form A
Certification Statement, Information Collection Request Supporting
Statement.

ICR numbers:  EPA ICR No. 1704.09, OMB Control No. 2070-0143.  

ICR Status:  The current ICR is scheduled to expire on January 31, 2008.
 Under OMB regulations, the Agency may continue to conduct or sponsor
the collection of information while this submission is pending at OMB. 
The OMB control numbers for EPA's regulations in title 40 of the CFR,
after appearing in the Federal Register when approved, are listed in 40
CFR part 9 and are displayed either by publication in the Federal
Register or by other appropriate means, such as on the related
collection instrument or form, if applicable.  The display of OMB
control numbers in certain EPA regulations is consolidated in 40 CFR
part 9.

Abstract:  The Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act
(EPCRA) section 313 requires owners and operators of certain facilities
that manufacture, process, or otherwise use any of certain listed toxic
chemicals and chemical categories in excess of applicable threshold
quantities to report annually to the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency and to the states in which such facilities are located on their
environmental releases and transfers of and other waste management
activities for such chemicals. In addition, section 6607 of the
Pollution Prevention Act (PPA) requires facilities to provide
information on the quantities of the toxic chemicals in waste streams
and the efforts made to reduce or eliminate those quantities. Annual
reporting under EPCRA section 313 of toxic chemical releases and other
waste management information provides citizens with a useful picture of
the total disposition of chemicals in their communities and helps focus
industry’s attention on pollution prevention and source reduction
opportunities. 

In accordance with the mission to protect the environment and human
health, EPA believes that the public has a right to know about the
disposition of chemicals within communities and the management of such
chemicals by facilities in industries subject to EPCRA section 313
reporting. This reporting has been successful in providing communities
with important information regarding the disposition of toxic chemicals
and other waste management information of toxic chemicals from
manufacturing facilities in their areas. EPA collects, processes, and
makes available to the public all of the information collected that is
not subject to trade secrecy claims. The information gathered under
these authorities is stored in a database maintained at EPA and is
available through the Internet. 

This information, commonly known as the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI),
is used extensively by both EPA and the public sector. Program offices
within EPA use TRI data, along with other sources of data, to establish
priorities, evaluate potential exposure scenarios, and undertake
regulatory and enforcement activities. Environmental and public interest
groups use the data in studies and reports, making the public more aware
of releases of chemicals in their communities. Comprehensive
publicly-available data about releases, transfers, and other waste
management activities of toxic chemicals at the community level are
generally not available, other than under the reporting requirements of
EPCRA section 313. Permit data are often difficult to obtain, are not
cross-media, and provide only a limited perspective on a facility’s
overall performance. With TRI, communities and governments know what
toxic chemicals industrial facilities in their area release, transfer,
or otherwise manage as waste. In addition, industries have an additional
tool for evaluating their production efficiencies and for measuring
their progress on their pollution prevention goals. 

Responses to the collection of information are mandatory (see 40 CFR
part 372). Respondents may claim trade secrecy for a chemical’s
identity as described in section 322 of EPCRA and its implementing
regulations in 40 CFR part 350. EPA will disclose information that is
covered by a claim of trade secrecy only to the extent permitted by, and
in accordance with, the procedures in 40 CFR part 350 and 40 CFR part 2.
An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to
respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a currently
valid OMB control number. The OMB control numbers for EPA’s
regulations in 40 CFR are listed in 40 CFR part 9 and are identified on
the form and/or instrument, if applicable.

Burden Statement:  The annual public reporting and recordkeeping burden
for this collection of information is estimated to average 20.52 hours
for facilities submitting a Form A Certification Statement for Non-PBT
chemicals and 35.89 hours for facilities submitting a Form A
Certification statement for a single listed PBT chemical under EPCRA
section 313. (All estimates incorporate proposed changes in the
reporting burden.) Burden means the total time, effort, or financial
resources expended by persons to generate, maintain, retain, or disclose
or provide information to or for a Federal agency.  This includes the
time needed to review instructions; develop, acquire, install, and
utilize technology and systems for the purposes of collecting,
validating, and verifying information, processing and maintaining
information, and disclosing and providing information; adjust the
existing ways to comply with any previously applicable instructions and
requirements which have subsequently changed; train personnel to be able
to respond to a collection of information; search data sources; complete
and review the collection of information; and transmit or otherwise
disclose the information.   

	Respondents/Affected Entities: Facilities with low quantities of listed
toxic chemicals in waste may certify on a Form A that they do not exceed
an annual reportable amount (ARA) for total waste management (release,
recycling, energy recovery, and treatment). Detailed release and waste
management information need not be reported.  Previously, a facility
that met the EPCRA section 313 reporting thresholds, but estimated that
their total waste management of a listed non-persistent,
bioaccommulative, toxic (non-PBT) chemical did not exceed 500 pounds per
year, could use the Form A Certification Statement, rather turn the
longer Form R, provided that facility met certain other conditions. The
use of Form A was not previously allowed for PBT chemicals now due to a
final TRI rule promulgated (71 FR 76932, December 22, 2006,) Form A
eligibility has been expanded as follows: 

New Eligibility for Form A: PBT Chemicals -- allows a facility reporting
on PBT chemicals, except dioxin and dioxin-like compounds, with zero
disposal or other releases to use Form A, provided they meet the
1,000,000 pound alternate reporting threshold and have 500 pounds or
less of total other waste-management quantities. (Sections 8.2 – 8.8)

Expanded Eligibility for Form A: Non-PBT Chemicals -- allows a facility
reporting on Non-PBT chemicals with total waste management of 5,000
pounds or less and 2,000 pounds or less of disposal or other releases to
use Form A, provided they meet the 1,000,000 pound alternate reporting
threshold.

Each qualifying facility that chooses to apply this alternate
manufacture, process or otherwise-use threshold must file a Form A
Certification Statement certifying that they met the condition of the
alternate threshold for one or more chemicals, in lieu of completing a
Form R for each listed chemical for which the facility exceeded
statutory thresholds. The Form A Certification Statement is submitted to
both the TRI Data Processing Center and the designated state recipient
in the same manner that the Form R is submitted. The Form A
Certification Statement provides a signed statement that the sum of the
amount of the listed toxic chemical or chemicals in releases or wastes
did not exceed the appropriate PBT or Non-PBT release and waste
thresholds for the reporting year, and that the chemical(s) was
manufactured, processed, or otherwise-used in an amount not exceeding
1,000,000 pounds during this reporting year. A single Form A
Certification Statement may contain as many listed toxic chemicals as
meet the conditions of the alternate threshold. 

	Estimated Number of Responsesdents:  10,235. 

	Estimated Number of Respondents: 10,235

	Frequency of Response:  once per year.

	Estimated Total Annual Hour Burden:  515,901. 

	Estimated Total Annual Cost:  $26,007,920 includes $0 annualized
capital or O&M costs.  	Changes in the Estimates: In this ICR Renewal,
the effect of the TRI final rule expanding the eligibility criteria for
Form A is expected to reduce the overall burden for TRI reporting
overall due to increased From A eligibility (i.e., number of Form Rs
decreased and number of Form As increased, yielding a net burden
decrease) with total respondent burden of Form A reporting projected at
515,284 hours. The TRI Program is proposing to add certain data elements
to both reporting forms, but the addition of these data elements is
estimated to be relatively small, increasing the total reporting burden
for Form A reporting to 515,901 hours.

Proposed Changes from the Last Approval:  EPA proposes to make the
following changes to the TRI Form A Certification Statement: 

1) Enhance Public Contact information (applies to Form R and A.)  EPA
proposes to add a "Public Contact" field to the Form A Certification
Statement so that a facility can provide the name of a person who can
respond to questions from the public about the facility’s Form A. This
field would include the name, telephone number, and e-mail address for
the public contact to make it easy to contact the individual identified.
To date, some public contact information has been collected on Form R,
but not on Form A. 

	   2) Add boxes for entering revision codes (applies to Form R and Form
A.) The TRI Program currently receives many form revisions each year,
but does not currently collect information on the reasons for the
revisions. The new revision codes will allow both the public and the TRI
Program staff to better understand why a facility resubmitted a form. In
addition, by analyzing the reasons for revisions, the TRI Program may be
better able to address recurring reporting issues or problems that
facilities may be facing, ultimately reducing errors and saving time for
both the Agency and the reporting facilities. Therefore, facilities will
now report up to two codes (listed and defined in the RFIs) indicating
the main reason(s) that a form is being revised.

3) Provide a field for withdrawing a form; and add boxes for entering
withdrawal codes (applies to Form R and Form A.) Currently, a facility
that wishes to withdraw a previously submitted form must submit its
request, including the rationale, as a hard copy memorandum to the TRI
Data Processing Center. Adding a "Withdrawal" field and associated code
boxes for reasons for withdrawal to Form A will (1) streamline the
withdrawal process for facilities, (2) make it easier for EPA to
automate the withdrawal process, and (3) improve the Agency’s ability
to analyze the reasons for withdrawals.

Notes

1.	 EPA also proposed other changes (72 FR 37762; July 11, 2007) but has
since concluded those changes are not necessary.

2. Baseline adjustments were made to “Number of Responses,”
“Number of Respondents” and “Burden Hours” to reflect the most
recent conditions of RY2005. In the last ICR, RY2002 was the base year;
in the last OMB Action, RY2004 was the base year. Over this period of
time, the total number of Form A submissions declined.  

3. An additional change was made to the Form A “Number of Responses”
and “Number of Respondents” to adjust for previously overstated
counts.

Dated:  _____________   

_____________________________

Sara Hisel-McCoy, Director,

Collection Strategies Division, 

Office of Information Collection,

Office of Environmental Information

BILLING CODE 6560-50

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