### 36919 Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 121 / Thursday, June 23, 2011 / Notices

1 See: http://www.epa.gov/oecaerth/civil/cwa/ cwaenfplan.html. in accordance with the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) (5 U.S.C. App. 2) and related regulations. Pursuant to FACA and EPA policy, notice is hereby given that the SAB will hold a public teleconference to initiate an advisory, followed by a two-day meeting. The SAB will comply with the provisions of FACA and all appropriate EPA and SAB Staff Office procedural policies.

EPA is conducting a review of its regulatory standards in 40 CFR part

192—Health and Environmental

Protection Standards for Uranium and Thorium Mill Tailings. In accordance with the Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation and Control Act (UMTRCA) section 206, EPA is authorized to develop standards for the protection of public health, safety, and theenvironment from radiological and nonradiological hazards associated with

residual radioactive materials. The Agency is currently undertaking a review to determine if the existing standards, last revised by EPA in 1995, should be updated. The expectation is that In-Situ Leach Recovery (ISL/ISR) operations will be the most common type of new uranium extraction facility

in the U.S. These facilities can affect groundwater. Accordingly, EPA is seeking scientific advice and relevant

technical criteria to establish standards and procedures, including the relevant period for monitoring ISL/ISR facilities once uranium extraction operations are completed, to provide reasonable assurances of aquifer stability and groundwater protection.

The EPA has requested the SAB

review a draft technical document on ISL/ISR post closure stability monitoring to evaluate what criteria

should be considered to establish a specific period of monitoring for ISL/ ISR facilities, once uranium extraction operations are completed. Among the

issues to be considered are whether a time frame can be established; whether specific site characteristics, features or

benchmarks can be used to aid in establishing a post-closure monitoring time period; and if other technical approaches should be considered by EPA to provide reasonable assurances of aquifer stability and groundwater protection.

The SAB Staff Office requested nominations of experts in the Federal Register (Vol. 75, No. 226, Weds, November 24, 2010, pages 71702– 71703) and has formed an expert panel by augmenting the RAC with additional experts to review the EPA’s draft technical report, which will be used as

a basis to evaluate the technical and scientific issues pertaining to standards in 40 CFR Part 192—Health and

Environmental Protection Standards for Uranium and Thorium Mill Tailings.

Availability of Meeting Materials: The Agenda and other materials in support of the teleconference and two-day meeting will be placed on SAB Web site

in advance of the teleconference and meeting.

Procedures for Providing Public Input: Public comment for consideration by EPA’s federal advisory committees and panels has a different purpose from public comment provided to EPA program offices. Therefore, the process for submitting comments to a federal advisory committee is different from the process used to submit comments to an EPA program office.

Federal advisory committees and panels, including scientific advisory committees, provide independent advice to EPA. Members of the public

can submit comments for a federal advisory committee to consider as it develops advice for EPA. Input from the public to the SAB will have the most impact if it provides specific scientific or technical information or analysis for SAB panels to consider or if it relates to the clarity or accuracy of the technical information. Members of the public wishing to provide comment should contact the Designated Federal Officer directly.

Oral Statements: In general, individuals or groups requesting an oral presentation at a teleconference will be

limited to three minutes. Those interested in being placed on the public speakers list for the July 6, 2011

teleconference should contact Dr. Kooyoomjian at the contact information provided above no later than noon on July 5, 2011. Those interested in being placed on the public speakers list for the July 18 and 19, 2011 meeting should contact Dr. Kooyoomjian by noon on July 15, 2011. Written Statements: Written statements should be supplied

to the DFO via e-mail at the contact information noted by noon July 5, 2011 for the teleconference, and by noon on July 14, 2011 so that the information may be made available to the Panel members on the augmented RAC for

their consideration. Written statements should be supplied in one of the following electronic formats: Adobe Acrobat PDF, MS Word, MS PowerPoint, or Rich Text files in IBM–

PC/Windows98/2000/XP format. It is the SAB Staff office general policy to post written comments on the Web page for the advisory meeting or teleconference. Submitters are requested to provide an unsigned version of each document, because the SAB Staff Office does not publish documents with signatures on its Web sites. Members of the public should be aware that their personal contact information, if included in any written comments, may be posted to the SAB Web site. Copyrighted material will not be posted without explicit permission of the copyright holder.

Accessibility: For information on

access or services for individuals with disabilities, please contact Dr.Kooyoomjian at (202) 564–2064 or email at kooyoomjian.jack@epa.gov. To request accommodation of a disability, please contact Dr. Kooyoomjian preferably at least ten days prior to the teleconference or meeting to give as much time as possible to process your
request.

Dated: June 16, 2011.
Anthony F. Maciorowski,
Deputy Director, EPA Science Advisory Board Staff Office.

[FR Doc. 2011–15761 Filed 6–22–11; 8:45 am]

**BILLING CODE 6560–50–P**

**ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION**

**AGENCY**

**[EPA–HQ–OECA–2009–0274; FRL–9322–8]**

**[RIN 2020–AA47]**

**Proof of Concept Demonstration for Electronic Reporting of Clean Water**  **Act Compliance Monitoring Data: Announcement of Meeting and** 

**Demonstration**

**AGENCY :**  Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

**ACTION :**  Notice.

**SUMMARY :**  The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will conduct a public webinar in order to inform interested parties about an opportunity to participate in a technical proof of concept demonstration for electronic reporting of Clean Water Act (CWA) National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Discharge Monitoring Report (DMR) compliance monitoring data. This webinar will be held on Wednesday, July 13, 2011, from 10:30 a.m.–12 p.m. EDT.

EPA announced on July 6, 2009, that it would develop a Clean Water Action

Plan 1 to enhance public transparency regarding clean water enforcement performance at Federal and state levels, to strengthen that performance, and to transform EPA’s water quality and compliance information systems. Aconsensus suggestion across coregulators and stakeholder groups was


### 36920 Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 121 / Thursday, June 23, 2011 / Notices

2 See: http://www.epa.gov/netdmr/. 3 See: http://cfpub.epa.gov/npdes/statestats.cfm. to implement electronic reporting from facilities that are required to submit reports to a regulatory agency. To fully realize the transformation of reporting and data management into the 21st century, OECA is developing a rule to require NPDES permittees to provide a variety of environmental information electronically. EPA is exploring different electronic reporting options to enable NPDES regulated facilities to electronically submit their compliance monitoring data. EPA will conduct a technical proof of concept to demonstrate the electronic reporting of NPDES compliance monitoring data from regulated facilities via an ‘open platform e-file’ electronic reporting option. The ‘open platform e-file’ proof of concept demonstration will focus the

electronic transmission of NPDES DMRs from a third-party commercial software provider (‘‘provider’’) to EPA. If EPA were to fully implement this option, any provider that meets the Agency’s data exchange standards, protocols, and specifications would be able to offer electronic reporting services to the regulated community for the NPDES program ( e.g., NPDES permitted facilities). This open platform model would likely be similar to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) model forelectronic reporting, which uses thirdparty software providers for tax data collection and transmission ( e.g., TurboTax, TaxACT, or others [no endorsement intended or implied]) from private citizens and businesses. The Agency does not intend to purchase services from any provider. All financial

transactions would be between the providers and members of the regulated community. EPA will conduct a public webinar to provide an overview of the ‘‘open platform e-file option’’ and to identify person(s) interested in participating in a proof of concept

demonstration of the technical feasibility of this ‘‘open platform e-file option’’ and to identify the specific system and process information necessary for this proof of concept

demonstration.

**DATES :**  EPA will conduct the public webinar on Wednesday, July 13, 2011, from 10:30 a.m.–12 p.m. EDT.

**ADDRESSES :**  Persons interested in attending this webinar should register

at: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/ register/887495337.

**FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT :**  For additional information, please contact Ms. Lucy Reed, Deputy Director, Enforcement Targeting and Data Division, Office of Compliance (mail code 2222A), Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20460; telephone number: (202) 564–5036; e-mail address: reed.lucy@epa.gov.

**SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION :**  EPA’s information about point source water pollution and their compliance with the CWA is largely built on paper-based reporting systems developed nearly forty years ago and initially focused on a subset of point source pollution. Since then, the universe of permitted facilities has grown exponentially and there is significant interest in the electronic reporting of information for this expanded universe of regulated

facilities. Electronic data collection and transmission could potentially: (1) Aid regulated facilities in reporting their NPDES compliance monitoring data; (2)

reduce burden on states as electronic

data submissions eliminate the need for transferring data from paper-based forms to databases; (3) provide more timely and accurate data for enforcement targeting and reporting; (4) increase transparency on regulatory compliance; and (5) enhance EPA’s oversight and states’ management of the NPDES program. EPA and many states already have built electronic reporting

tools for some of the CWA NPDES compliance monitoring information. For example, in June 2009, EPA built and made publicly available an electronic reporting tool, Network Discharge Monitoring Report (NetDMR), for the electronic reporting of Discharge Monitoring Report (DMR) data from the regulated facilities to EPA. 2

In the future, EPA would like to supplement existing electronic reporting options with the ‘open platform e-file’ option, to allow providers the opportunity of providing electronic reporting services to their clients ( e.g., NPDES permitted facilities). Similar to the IRS system, the open platform e-file option would rely on third-party commercial software providers to gather monitoring data via an application user interface for the NPDES regulated community to report the data to EPA and state agencies electronically. Currently, this is only a technical proof of concept demonstration effort, but if and when EPA was to fully implement the open platform e-file option, EPA

would need to review and determine if the third-party commercial software meets the standards, protocols and specifications for electronic reporting, and how these software providers would share this data with EPA through the Central Data Exchange (CDX) using

the Environmental Information Exchange Network (‘‘Exchange Network’’) services. EPA would also need to coordinate with states to fully implement the open platform e-file option as EPA has authorized 46 states to manage the NPDES permit program. 3
EPA conducted such coordination with the development and implementation of NetDMR. The Agency does not intend to purchase services from any provider as part of this technical proof of concept. If and when EPA was to fully implement the open platform e-file option all financial transactions would be between the providers and members of the regulated community. EPA will not be a party to these transactions.

EPA will use the webinar as means to provide an overview and the scope and schedule for the ‘technical proof of concept’ for the open platform e-file option. The webinar is open to all interested persons but will be mainly focused on providing information to providers that might be interested in participating in a ‘technical proof of concept’ for the open platform e-file option. The webinar will also answer questions for persons interested in participating in the technical proof of concept demonstration.

The webinar will provide an overview on the following topics:

• Agency’s Clean Water Action Plan, the NPDES Electronic Reporting Rule, and the potential role for the open platform e-file option.

• EPA’s CDX and Exchange Network Web services that could support the open platform e-file option.

• Scope of the technical proof of concept for the open platform e-file option (DMR data).

• Schedule and requirements for third-party providers interested in participating in the technical proof of
concept.

• Solicit questions from the webinar participants on the technical proof of concept demonstration.

The technical proof of concept is open to all providers; however, providers must describe and provide examples of their work experience and technical experience in the data exchange and the NPDES permit program. In order to participate in the technical proof of concept interested third-party providers must submit a letter of interest, not to exceed 5 pages, to Ms. Reed, see **FOR**

**FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT** section, by Wednesday, July 27, 2011, indicating their interest in participating in the technical proof of concept demonstration along with a short description of their company, contact information, and work experience (including examples) in using the


### 36921 Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 121 / Thursday, June 23, 2011 / Notices

4 See: https://www.epls.gov/. 5 See: http://www.epa.gov/cromerr/about.html

. following standards, protocols, and specifications in order to use EPA Exchange Network services:

• The Node 2.0 Functional Specifications and Protocols (http:// www.exchangenetwork.net/node/

node2.0.htm ).

• Integrated Compliance Information System–National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (ICIS–NPDES) Flow Configuration Document, DMR Extensible Markup Language (XML) Schema, ICIS DMR Batch User Guide, ICIS DMR Data Exchange Template, and ICIS DMR Example XML Instance Document (http:// www.exchangenetwork.net/exchanges/ water/icisnpdes.htm ).

• Exchange standards that include: Extensible Markup Language (XML); Simple Object (SOAP) v 1.2; Web Services Description Language (WSDL) v1.1; Secure Hypertext Transfer Protocol (https) ( see NIST 800–52); WS-Security v 1.0; and Message Transmission Optimization mechanism (MTOM).

The description should include the following items to illustrate the experience the provider has in meeting the requirements identified above: —Connect using https. —Submit files to an EPA Node using the

published WSDL. —Support Trading Partners in Exchange

Network data exchanges using Node 2.0 specifications.
—Generate data in XML format. —Operate schema validation tools.
—Parse XML files. —Gather and store Discharge

Monitoring Report data from facilities. —Provide monthly Discharge

Monitoring Report data in an

electronic format. —Transfer files through the CDX node

on the Exchange Network.
—Check the submission status with

CDX, and download processing

results from CDX. —Generate monthly DMR data in XML

format as required by ICIS. Interested third-party providers must

also include in their letter of interest a

short written statement of their experience and understanding of the NPDES program and of their experience with assisting regulated entities or states with completion of DMR submissions

and whether these submissions used the DMR XML schema, and the use of the technical specification, protocols, and standards in these data exchanges. Interested third-party providers must

also include in their letter of interest a statement certifying that they are not on

the General Services Administration’s Excluded Parties List System. 4 EPA will review these written submissions to identify the providers that meet EPA’s eligibility requirements for participation in the technical proof of concept. EPA will determine eligibility based on the providers

written submissions of their work experience (including examples) in using data exchange standards, protocols, and specifications ( see previous three bullets) and the NPDES permit program ( see previous paragraph). Based on these written submissions EPA will identify and notify all eligible providers that they have been accepted in the participation in the technical proof of concept. EPA

will use the webinar to outline the process and factors that it will be used for determining eligibility for participation in the technical proof of
concept.

EPA will work with these third-party providers to conduct an initial service test to connect, authenticate, submit and download a sample document to a service to be provided by EPA. This initial test will identify the third-party providers that can successfully connect to and use EPA’s data exchange services, using the following standards

and the Node 2.0 functional specification and protocols and the exchange standards identified above. EPA will assist these software providers in setting up and conducting this services test and in identifying the criteria for demonstrating a successful

connection and use of EPA’s data exchange services. See Appendix A, ‘‘Technical Proof of Concept Objective, Scope, Criteria for Success.’’ The initial services test will need to be completed by August 4, 2011. EPA may grant an extension to this date for good cause and will notify provider participants of any changes to this date. Those unable to demonstrate basic connectivity and

use of services within this time frame

will not be able to continue their participation in the technical proof of concept. EPA will send written notification to these providers identifying whether they demonstrated

a successful connection to EPA’s data exchange services. Providers that have

not demonstrated a successful connection and use of EPA services may send an e-mail to Mr. Roy Chaudet,

EPA’s Office of EnvironmentalInformation, if they wish EPA to reconsider its decision ( chaudet.roy@epa.gov ). During the basic services test period, technical questions

can be directed to Mr. Chaudet or Ms. Alison Kittle, EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (kittle.alison@epa.gov ). Third-party providers that successfully pass the initial services test

will then conduct another test demonstrating the ability for their application to perform automated

electronic submissions of DMR data to

EPA. EPA will not use actual DMR data for this test but will provide sample data ( e.g., pollutant monitoring data, permit limits) to third-party software providers

to use to create and test their DMR submissions in this technical proof of concept. EPA will also assist these providers in setting up and conducting this test and in identifying the criteria for demonstrating a successful

transmission of DMR data to EPA. See Appendix A, ‘‘Technical Proof of Concept Objective, Scope, Criteria for

Success.’’ This second test will need to be completed by September 30, 2011. EPA may grant an extension to this date for good cause and will notify provider participants of any changes to this date.

Given that this is only a technical proof of concept demonstration, the requirements of the Cross Media Electronic Reporting Rule (CROMERR), 40 CFR Part 3, will not be included in this proof of concept. 5 EPA notes that full implementation of the open platform e-file option would require compliance with CROMERR and any future requirements of the NPDES Electronic Reporting Rule.

EPA will use the webinar to solicit names of persons interested in a technical proof of concept for the open platform e-file option for the electronic submission of DMRs. However, participation in the webinar is not a prerequisite for participation in the technical proof of concept. At the conclusion of the technical proof of concept demonstration, EPA will provide a summary of results of the proof of concept demonstration in the

docket for the NPDES Electronic Reporting Rule ( see EPA–HQ–OECA– 2009–0274) and on the Web page supporting this demonstration. Participation in this technical proof of concept is voluntary and EPA will not be providing funds for participation. Additionally, EPA will not use this technical proof of concept

demonstration or its results to endorse the commercial products or services of any third-party software providers.

Proof of Concept Demonstration for Electronic Reporting of Clean Water Act Compliance Monitoring Data: Announcement of Meeting and

Demonstration

EPA and the Federal government are prohibited from endorsing any product,


### 36922 Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 121 / Thursday, June 23, 2011 / Notices

service or enterprise. EPA will also not use participation in the technical proof of concept as an eligibility factor for participation in potential future related data exchange projects or with any potential production deployment of third-party data exchange. Persons that are interested in participating in the technical proof of concept but cannot

attend the webinar should contact Ms. Reed, see **FOR FURTHER INFORMATION**

**CONTACT** section.

Dated: June 15, 2011.

Lisa C. Lund,
Director, Office of Compliance.

Dated: June 15, 2011.

Andrew Battin,
Director, Office of Information Collection.

Appendix A: Technical Proof of Concept Objective, Scope, and Criteria

for Success

Objective: The objective of the technical proof of concept is to demonstrate that a third party software provider can offer an interface to the regulated community that can leverage EPA/Exchange Network services and meet the requirements for electronic reporting to EPA’s Integrated Compliance Information System (ICIS)-NPDES system.

Scope: The technical proof of concept shall demonstrate basic functionality for electronically submitting DMRs using existing EPA standards, protocols, and specifications. For this technical proof of concept, the general scope is expected to

include:

Initial Setup. Each software provider selected for participating in the technical proof of concept demonstration by EPA must apply for their own Network Authentication Authorization Services (NAAS) test account by contacting the Central Data Exchange (CDX) Node Help Desk at nodehelpdesk@epacdx.net. All software providers must request the ICIS test user account and data flow configuration information for transferring data to EPA’s ICIS system by contacting Ms. Kittle (kittle.alison@epa.gov ). Basic Permit/DMR Information. EPA will provide permit limit data to the participating software provider for a sample permit in EPA’s ICIS–NPDES system for the provider to

be able to use in their submissions. EPA will provide the algorithms for anticipating DMRs from the limit data for the software provider to identify and extract monitoring data when it is due at EPA. This will be done using the vendor’s software and not simply creating an

XML file.

Preparing DMR for Submission. Using the ICIS limits data and algorithm provided by EPA, the software provider shall extract the expected DMR data and use it to prepare an XML file based upon the format as prescribed in EPA’s ICIS DMR Batch User Guide, ICIS DMR Data Exchange Template, and ICIS DMR Example XML Instance Document. The software provider will be responsible for validating the resulting sample DMR XML against the DMR XML schema before compressing the file into a format compatible with WinZip.

Electronic Submission of Sample DMR. Using the established connectivity and the standards, protocols, and specifications for the Exchange Network’s data exchange services, the software provider shall connect, authenticate and invoke services necessary to electronically submit their sample DMR XML

to CDX.

Processing by CDX. Once the sample DMR XML zipped file is received by CDX, it must pass simple validation checks against EPA’s DMR XML schema. The software provider will be responsible for tracking the status of the submission, obtaining the results of the submission, correcting any errors that will have occurred, and resubmitting the DMR XML to EPA until it has been properly processed.

Processing by ICIS. Once the sample submission has successfully passed schema validation, CDX will distribute the file to ICIS for processing. ICIS will return an XML file containing the list of key fields for parameters able to be processed (‘‘accepted transactions’’) along with an XML file of parameters unable to be processed with error messages (‘‘rejected transactions’’). The software provider will be responsible for downloading this report through the download service provided by CDX and providing a means for viewing these errors within their software package.

Criteria for Success: The general criteria for successful completion of the technical proof of concept by the software provider are:

• Ability of the software provider’s electronic reporting software to use ICIS limit

set information to determine when a scheduled parameter is due in ICIS.

• Successful generation of the following types of sample DMR XML files in the format expected by ICIS via the software provider’s electronic reporting software:

Æ DMRs with change, replace and mass delete transactions being submitted at the same time for one or more permitted facilities;

Æ One permitted facility having over 25 unique outfalls with parameters being reported at the same time;

Æ One permitted facility having over 25 unique parameters being reported at the same
time;

Æ Multi-seasonal parameters being reported with non-seasonal parameters at the same time for one or more permitted facilities;

Æ Parameters monitored monthly, quarterly, annually and semi-annually being reported at the same time for one or more permitted facilities;

Æ Scheduled parameters and unscheduled parameters being reported at the same time for one or more permitted facilities;

Æ Monitored and optionally monitored parameters being reported at the same time for one or more permitted facilities;

Æ Biosolids data being reported with parameter values at the same time for one or more permitted facilities;

Æ Parameters for one or more sewage treatment plants being reported for one or more permitted facilities;

Æ Parameters with reported values, parameters with No Discharge Indicators, and parameters with a combination of reported values and No Discharge Indicators being reported at the same time for one or more permitted facilities; and

Æ DMRs that are able to pass all business rules specified in the ICIS Batch Technical Specification Document.

• Successful authentication and electronic submission of all types of sample DMR XML

files listed above to CDX via the software provider’s electronic reporting software.

• Ability to receive, track and interpret

CDX notices on the status of each DMR XML

file submission.

• Ability of all types of sample DMR XML files to pass initial schema validation by

CDX.

• Successful retrieval of CDX schema validation result reports and ICIS error reports in XML format for each submission to CDX, and use the reports to perform defect

correction and resubmission of corrected DMR XML files as necessary.

• 100% success in the ability of ICIS to process all of the sample DMR XML files

listed above.

• Ability for the software provider’s electronic reporting software to receive, parse and process accepted and rejected transaction reports returned by ICIS for each

CDX submission with a status of ‘‘Completed’’ in XML format, and translate

them into a human readable format for the

submitter to review.

[FR Doc. 2011–15642 Filed 6–22–11; 8:45 am]

**BILLING CODE 6560–50–P**

**FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION**

**Sunshine Act Meeting Notice**

**AGENCY :**  Federal Election Commission.

**DATE AND TIME :**  Tuesday, June 28, 2011,

at 10 a.m.

**PLACE :**  999 E Street, NW., Washington,

DC.

**STATUS :**  This meeting will be closed to the public.

**ITEMS TO BE DISCUSSED :** 

Compliance matters pursuant to 2 U.S.C. 437g.

Audits conducted pursuant to 2 U.S.C. 437g, 438(b), and Title 26, U.S.C.

Matters concerning participation in civil actions or proceedings or

arbitration.

Internal personnel rules and procedures or matters affecting a particular employee.

* * * * *

**PERSON TO CONTACT FOR INFORMATION :**  Judith Ingram, Press Officer, Telephone: (202) 694–1220.

Shelley E. Garr,
Deputy Secretary of the Commission.

[FR Doc. 2011–15915 Filed 6–21–11; 4:15 pm]

**BILLING CODE 6715–01–P**