UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY 

REGION 10 

John Martin, President 

GPP-US, Alcoa Primary Metals 

900 South Gay Street 

Knoxville, Tennessee 37902 

Dear Mr. Martin: 

1200 Sixth Avenue, Suite 900 

Seattle, WA 98101-3140 

MAR 12 20l3 

OFFICE OF 

AIR, WASTE AND TOXICS 

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is seeking to determine the entitlement to confidentiality 

of information that you submitted to Dennis McLerran, EPA Region 10, on June 22,2012, regarding the 

affordability of air pollution controls at the Intalco Aluminum Corporation facility located in Ferndale, 

Washington. More specifically, your June 22,2012, letter requested that EPA maintain Attachment 2 to your 

letter as confidential business information (CBI). 

This letter is to notify you that the EPA Region 10 Office of Regional Counsel will be making a final 

confidentiality determination concerning this information. If you feel that some or all of the above 

information is entitled to confidential treatment, please specify which portions of the information you 

consider confidential. Please attach a copy of those pages with brackets around the text that you claim to be 

CBI. Any information not specifically identified as subject to a confidentiality claim will be disclosed to the 

public without further notice to you. For each item or class of information that you identify as being subject 

to your confidentiality claim, please answer the following questions, giving as much detail as possible: 

I. For what period of time do you request that the information be maintained as confidential (e.g., until 

a certain date, until the occurrence of a specified event, or permanently)? If the occurrence of a 

specific event will eliminate the need for confidentiality, please specify that event. 

2. Information submitted to EPA becomes stale over time. Why should the information you claim as 

confidential be protected for the time period specified in your answer to question #I? 

3. What measures have you taken to protect the information claimed as confidential and to guard 

against the undesired disclosure of the information to others? Have you disclosed the information to 

anyone other than a governmental body or someone who is bound by an agreement not to disclose 

the information further? If so, why should the information still be considered confidential? In 

responding to this question, please address the fact that a copy of the information claimed as CBI was 

provided to the individuals identified at the end of your letter as "cc's". Please also discuss whether 

each of these individuals was bound by an agreement not to further disclose this information when 

they received the information and provide a copy of any such agreement. 

4. Is the information contained in any publicly available material such as the Internet, publicly available 

databases, promotional publications, annual reports, or articles? Is there any means by which a 

member of the public could obtain access to the information? Is the information of a kind that you 

would customarily not release to the public? 

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5. Has EPA, any other Federal agency, or any other governmental agency made a determination as to 

the confidentiality of the information? If so, please attach a copy of the determination. 

6. For each category of information claimed as,confidential, explain with specificity why release of the 

information is likely to cause substantial harm to your competitive position. Explain the specific 

nature of those harmful effects, why they should be viewed as substantial, and the causal relationship 

between disclosure and such harmful effects. How could your competitors make use of this 

information to your detriment? 

7. Do you assert that the information is submitted on a voluntary basis (as defined in 40 C.F.R. ~ 

2.20 I (i)) or on a mandatory basis? Please explain the reason for your assertion. If the business 

asserts that the information is voluntarily submitted information, please explain whether and why 

disclosure of the information would tend to lessen the availability to EPA of similar information in 

the future. 

8. If you believe any information to be (n) trade secret (5,), please so state and explain the reason for 

your belief. Please attach copies of those pages with brackets around the text that you claim to be (n) 

trade secret (~). 

9. Please discuss any other issue you deem relevant (including, if pertinent, reasons why you believe 

that the information you claim to be CBI is not emission data or effluent data). 

Please note that you bear the burden of substantiating your confidentiality claim. Conclusory allegations will 

be given little or no weight in the determination. In accordance with 40 C.F.R. ~ 2.205(c) if you wish to 

claim any of the information in your response as confidential, you must mark the response 

"CONFIDENTIAL" or with a similar designation, and must bracket all text so claimed. Information so 

designated wi II be disclosed by EPA on I y to the extent allowed by, and by means of, the procedures set forth 

in 40 C.F.R. Part 2, Subpart B. If you fail to claim the information as confidential, it may be made available 

to the public without further notice to you. 

Your comments must be postmarked or hand delivered to this office, ore-mailed to body.steve@epa.gov, by 

the 15th working day after your receipt of this letter. You may seck an extension of time to submit your 

comments to this office, but the request must be made before the end of the 15-day period. Failure to submit 

your comments within that time will be regarded as a waiver of your confidentiality claim or claims, and 

EPA may release the information. Please refer to the requirements of40 C.F.R. ~2.205(b) regarding 

Comment period; extensions; un-timeliness as waiFer r~f claim. 

Should you have any questions concerning this matter, please call me a.t (206) 553- 0985 or Steve Body at 

206-553-0782. 

Sincerely, 

D~~i.~lff~ Air Planning Unit 

cc: Barry Hullett 

President, lntalco Aluminum Corporation 

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