RESPONSE FROM MICHIGAN DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY, 

WASTE AND HAZARDOUS MATERIALS DIVISION October 17, 2008

QUESTION 1: Do states that now collect manifests make individual manifests available 

at public request, or are there restrictions on access? How long after hazardous waste 

shipments are completed does it typically take the state to make such manifests available 

to requestors?

The MDEQ-WHMD collects a copy of the manifest from any Michigan generator 

(LQG and SQG) and all designated facilities that receive hazardous waste from a 

Michigan generator (or if the out-of-state designated facility will not submit the a 

copy of the manifest with the third signature we can and do request a copy from 

the originating generator). Any site that is required to submit a manifest to the 

MDEQ-WHMD must do so by the 10th of the month after the shipment was made. 

It then takes between three and six weeks for the data to be available in the data 

system and the paper copy/microfilm filed so accessible for review.

Example: Hazardous waste was shipped off site by generator on January 12th; a 

copy of the manifest must be received by the MDEQ-WHMD by February 10th; 

the manifest will be reviewed, sent out for data entry, microfilmed (soon we will 

also image), and then filed usually with in three weeks but up to six weeks. 

Meaning the data and manifest will be available to review by mid-March to earlyApril.

Data from the manifests is entered into the Waste Data System (WDS) database 

and is available on the public internet web site. Also, anyone can make a 

Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the state to review any manifest on 

file (i.e. paper copies or the microfilm). 

QUESTION 2: Do states that now collect manifests make aggregated data from

manifests, multiple manifests, or data reports freely available to the public upon request? 

(Examples would be a request for all manifests with a particular waste code or all 

manifests going to or managed by a particular company or facility.) Have states 

imposed any CBI related limitations on the information they will disclose in response to 

such requests? How long after hazardous waste shipments are completed does it 

typically take the state to provide aggregate data in response to such a request?

We do not run queries for sites. The data is available on the public internet web 

site though not in an easy to produce aggregate list. There aren’t any CBI 

limitations on the public data.

QUESTION 3: In a survey conducted for ASTSWMO by Liz Bols (MI DEQ) in January, 

2007, nine States provided responses to questions related to manifests and a future 
electronic manifest system. The States that responded were NY, OR, SC, FL, MI, WA, 

CT, ID, and OH. Of these nine states, eight states responded that manifest data would 

probably not be subject to CBI under state laws and policies, while Ohio indicated that 

manifest data might be subject to CBI claims based on the experience in Ohio with

Ohio’s Hazardous Waste Annual Report. In addition, several states on the e-Manifest 

rule workgroup, including MD, PA, NJ, and CA, stated that they would also release their 

HW manifests as public information without allowing CBI claims.

However, in August, 2004, Paula Canter of the Ohio EPA polled the States on their Site 

ID, manifest tracking, and Hazardous Waste Reporting requirements. As part of the 2004 

survey, 44 States responded to the question “Do you allow CBI claims on the Hazardous 

Waste Report?” The responses to this question in 2004 from the 44 respondents was 

evenly split between states that would allowed and states that would not allow CBI 

claims for their HW Report data. 

Given that the request for aggregate manifest data may be viewed as presenting many of 

the same data and issues as requests for a state’s HW Report data insofar as the disclosure 

of customer list information, how should we reconcile the answers given in response to 

the 2004 and 2007 surveys? Should aggregate manifest requests and requests for HW 

Annual Report data be treated differently for purposes of CBI claims?

Again, the procedure the MDEQ-WHMD has is the data is available, is on line 

(can view manifests by site) or you can review the paper/images, but the MDEQWHMD does not have staff develop and run queries as a response to FOIA 

requests that would generate aggregate lists.

QUESTION 4: Do you think that your state’s current policy on public disclosure of 

information of the type described in Question 2 would be at all affected by the fact that 

an electronic manifest system may make information available more rapidly than it is 

available under the current paper system?

NO