Mr. Felipe Matan

Interceramic

2333 South Jupiter Rd.

Garland, TX 75041

Re: Requirement to provide information according to Title 42 of the United States Code, 

Chapter 85, Subchapter I, Part A, section 7414 (42 U.S.C 7414)

Dear Mr. Matan:

We at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are collecting information about 

your industry, clay ceramics manufacturing (SIC Codes 3253 and 3261). At EPA, the 

development of regulations involves gathering and analyzing a large amount of information. We 

are looking for your help in acquiring information specific to your company’s facilities because 

we believe that knowing about individual facilities is the key to knowing how an industry 

operates, and what facilities do and/or can do about air pollution. We are requesting this 

information under the authority given to us within section 114 of the Clean Air Act (CAA), as 

explained further below, and request that you send the completed surveys for all of your facilities

to us by August 13, 2008. The law, as written in the United States Code (42 U.S.C. 7414),

requires that you complete the enclosed survey and return it to us.

As you know, the EPA previously developed national emission standards for hazardous 

air pollutants (NESHAP) for clay ceramics manufacturing under section 112(d) of the CAA. The 

NESHAP for clay ceramics manufacturing was promulgated on February 28, 2003 and published 

in the Federal Register on May 16, 2003. As a result of judicial review, the standards were 

subsequently vacated. We are now in the process of collecting updated information on the 

hazardous air pollutant (HAP) emission sources and controls in the clay ceramics industry. This 

information will be used as the basis for developing new standards and updating our inventory of 

clay ceramics sources and facilities.

In the enclosed survey, we request information on clay ceramics processes, emissions, 

and controls. Enclosure 1 includes the survey form that you should use to provide the 

information to us. An electronic version of the survey form can be found on the compact disc 

(Enclosure 2). Please complete either the hard copy survey form in Enclosure 1, or the electronic 

survey form in Enclosure 2, for each of your facilities, unless any of those facilities is part of 

another company and is separately incorporated as a subsidiary or affiliate of your company. If 
any one of your facilities is separately incorporated, please do not complete the surveys in 

Enclosures 1 or 2 for that facility. Instructions for completing the survey form are provided in 

Enclosure 3.

Using the information you provide to us in this survey, along with similar information we 

receive from other companies in your industry, we will determine the amount of HAP emitted;

define the present level of emission control; and assess what would be the environmental, energy, 

and economic impacts associated with installing and operating emission control techniques that 

are feasible for your industry. We are sensitive to the amount of time and effort required to 

complete this survey. Therefore, we have tried to limit the information requested to only those 

features important to developing the regulation so as to minimize the time you need to spend. I 

would like to assure you that nothing is being requested that we do not feel is necessary to 

achieve our goals stated above. You may respond “Not Applicable” to questions that do not 

apply to your facilities. 

Enclosure 4 contains a summary of our legal authority in section 114 of the CAA to 

obtain the information requested in this survey. If you believe that providing any specific 

information to us would reveal a trade secret, please identify this information clearly in your 

response. However, please do not label your entire response “Confidential” if only a portion 

includes trade secrets. You can see in Enclosure 4 the type of information that EPA may ask of 

you at a later time to prove that any information you have so identified is truly confidential. Any 

information determined to be a trade secret will be protected by 18 U.S.C. 1905. If you do not 

claim as confidential any of the information in your returned survey, we can make this

information available to the public without notifying you further (40 CFR Part 2.203, 

September 1, 1976). Because section 114 of the CAA does not allow emission data to be claimed

as confidential, the emission data you provide to us can be made available to the public. A 

detailed explanation of what we consider to be emission data is contained in Enclosure 5.

We have contracted RTI International (RTI) (Contract No. EP-D-06-118) to help us 

gather information about your industry. As noted in Enclosure 6, we have designated RTI to be 

our authorized representative. Therefore, RTI has the same rights discussed above and in 

Enclosure 4 as EPA has. This means that RTI will have access to all information provided to us 

in your completed survey. As a designated representative of the Agency, RTI must, by law, also 

abide by the requirements of 42 U.S.C. 7414(c) in regard to the confidentiality of what you claim 

to be trade secrets.

Enclosure 7 summarizes our policies and procedures for handling trade secret information 

and describes how our contractor also is required to use the same procedures as we do. Because 

our contractors or other authorized representatives are required to follow the requirements in 

Enclosure 6, we believe that we can ensure your rights and protect any privileged information 

you submit to us.
Copies of this survey form have been given to representatives of your industry for their 

comments. We have attempted to incorporate their comments and suggestions into the final 

version. If you have questions regarding the need for this survey or need clarification on the 

information we are requesting, please contact Jeffrey Telander with EPA’s Office of Air Quality 

Planning and Standards at 919-541-5427 (e-mail: telander.jeff@epa.gov).

Please return the completed survey form(s) to Mr. Telander at the address below by 

August 13, 2008.

Jeffrey Telander

U.S. EPA Mailroom (D243-02)

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards 

Research Triangle Park, NC 27711

I am sure you understand how important it is for the EPA to use the very best information 

available to develop the most meaningful standard. Your help in providing this information is 

greatly appreciated.

Sincerely,

Peter Tsirigotis 

Director, Sector Policies and Programs Division

Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards 

7 Enclosures

cc: Mr. John Steib, Director, Air Permits Division

Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (MC 163)

Ms. Becky Weber, Associate Director, Air Programs

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region VI

OAQPS/SPPD/MMG:JTelander D243-02, 541-5427

(RTI/RMarinshaw/316-3735/6/4/08)