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 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 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
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]{.underline}*/](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/]{.underline}](http://www.epa.gov/rpas/) 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