Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 130 / Thursday, July 6, 2000 / Notices 41653

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory

Commission

[Project No. 2616–004 New York]

Erie Boulevard Hydropower L.P.;

Notice of Availability of Environmental

Assessment

June 30, 2000.

In accordance with the National

Environmental Policy Act of 1969 and

the Federal Energy Regulatory

Commission’s (Commission’s)

regulations, 18 CFR Part 380 (Order No.

486, 52 FR 47897), the Office of Energy

Projects has reviewed the application

for a new major license for the Hoosic

River Hydroelectric Project located on

the Hoosic River in Rensselaer and

Washington Counties, New York, and

has prepared an Environmental

Assessment (EA) for the proposed

project. In the EA, the Commission’s

staff has analyzed the potential

environmental effects of the proposed

project and has concluded that approval

of the proposed project, with

appropriate environmental measures,

would not constitute a major federal

action significantly affecting the quality

of the human environment.

Copies of the EA are available for

review in the Public Reference Branch

of the Commission’s offices at 888 First

Street, NE., Room 2A, Washington, DC

20426, and may also be viewed on the

web at http://www.ferc.fed.us/online/

rims.htm (please call (202) 208–2222 for

assistance).

David P. Boergers,

Secretary.

[FR Doc. 00–17056 Filed 7–5–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6717–01–M

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory

Commission

Notice of Request To Temporarily

Draw Down Jersey Reservoir and

Soliciting Comments, Motions To

Intervene and Protests

June 30, 2000.

Take notice that the following

hydroelectric application has been filed

with the Commission and is available

for public inspection:

a. Type of Application: Request to

temporarily drawn down the Jersey

Reservoir, approximately three feet, for

project maintenance purposes.

b. Project Number: 2476–018.

c. Date Filed: May 22, 2000.

d. Applicant: Wisconsin Public

Service Corporation.

e. Name of Project: Jersey

Hydroelectric Project.

f. Location: On the Tomahawk River

in Lincoln County, Wisconsin.

g. Filed Pursuant to: 18 CFR 12.11.

h. Applicant Contact: Charles

Schrock, Senior V.P. Energy Supply,

Wisconsin Public Service Corporation,

700 North Adams Street, Green Bay, WI

54307–9002.

i. FERC Contact: Any questions on

this notice should be addressed to

Thomas LoVullo, telephone (202) 219–

1168 or e-mail address:

thomas.lovullo@ferc.fed.us.

j. Deadline for Filing Comments or

Motions: August 7, 2000. All comments

or motions must be filed by providing

an original and eight copies as required

by the Commissions regulations to:

David P. Boergers, Secretary; Federal

Energy Regulatory Commission; 888

First Street, NE; Washington, DC 20426.

k. Description of Request: Wisconsin

Public Service Corporation proposes to

draw down the Jersey Reservoir,

approximately three feet, in order to

repair the intake bullnose piers. The

draw down is proposed to begin

September 5, 2000 at a rate not to

exceed one inch per hour. Maintenance

construction is anticipated to take

approximately four weeks. Refiling the

reservoir would begin no later than

October 4, 2000 at a rate not to exceed

one inch per hour. Minimum flow

through the project would be

maintained during the refilling of the

reservoir. Under normal historic flows,

it is anticipated that the reservoir would

be returned to operating level of October

6, 2000.

The purpose of this notice is to invite

any comments on Wisconsin Public

Service Corporation’s request to draw

down the reservoir to repair the intake

piers.

l. Locations of the application: A copy

of the application is available for

inspection and reproduction at the

Commission’s Public Reference Room,

located at 888 First Street, NE, Room

2A, Washington, D.C. 20426, or by

calling (202) 208–1371. The application

may be viewed on the web at

www.ferc.fed.us/online/rims.htm. Call

(202) 208–2222 for assistance. A copy is

also available for inspection and

reproduction at the address in item h

above.

Comments, Protests, Motions to

Intervene—Anyone may submit

comments, a protest, or a motion to

intervene in accordance with the

requirements of Rules of Practice and

Procedure, 18 CFR 385.210, 211, .214. In

determining the appropriate action to

take, the Commission will consider all

protests or other comments filed, but

only those who file a motion to

intervene in accordance with the

Commission’s Rules may become a

party to the proceeding. Any comments,

protests, or motions to intervene must

be received on or before the specified

comment date for the particular

application.

Filing and Service of Responsive

Documents—Any filings must bear in

all capital letters the title

‘‘COMMENTS’’,

‘‘RECOMMENDATIONS FOR TERMS

AND CONDITIONS’’, ‘‘PROTESTS’’, OR

‘‘MOTION OF INTERVENE’’, as

applicable, and the Project Number of

the particular application to which the

filing refers. Any of the above-named

documents must be filed by providing

the original and the number of copies

provided by the Commission’s

regulations to: The Secretary, Federal

Energy Regulatory Commission, 888

First Street, NE., Washington, DC 20426.

A copy of any motion to intervene must

also be served upon each representative

of the Applicant specified in the

particular application.

David P. Boergers,

Secretary.

[FR Doc. 00–17057 Filed 7–5–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6717–01–M

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

AGENCY

[OEI-100001; FRL-6592-2]

Toxics Release Inventory; Alternate

Threshold for Low Annual Reportable

Amounts; Agency Information

Collection Activities: Proposed

Collection; Comment Request

AGENCY: Environmental Protection

Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice and request for

comments.

SUMMARY: In compliance with the

Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C.

3501 et seq.), this document announces

that EPA is planning to submit the

following continuing Information

Collection Request (ICR) to the Office of

Management and Budget (OMB)

pursuant to the procedures described in

5 CFR 1320.12. The ICR is a continuing

ICR titled:Alternate Threshold for Low

Annual Reportable Amounts, Toxic

Chemical Release Reporting (EPA ICR

No. 1704.05, OMB Control No. 2070-

0143). This ICR covers the reporting and

recordkeeping requirements associated

with reporting under the alternate

threshold for reporting to the Toxic

41654 Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 130 / Thursday, July 6, 2000 / Notices

Release Inventory (TRI), which appear

at 40 CFR part 372. An Agency may not

conduct or sponsor, and a person is not

required to respond to, a collection of

information unless it displays a

currently valid OMB control number.

The OMB control numbers for EPA’s

regulations are listed in 40 CFR part 9

and 48 CFR chapter 15. Before

submitting the ICR to OMB for review

and approval, EPA is soliciting

comments on specific aspects of the

proposed information collection as

described below.

DATES: Written comments, identified by

the docket control number OEI-100001,

must be received by EPA on or before

September 5, 2000.

ADDRESSES: Comments may be

submitted by mail, electronically, or in

person. Please follow the detailed

instructions for each method as

provided in Unit I. of the

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of

this document.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For

general information contact: Maria Doa,

Director, Toxic Releases Inventory

Program Division, Office of Information

Analysis and Access, Environmental

Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania

Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20460,

Telephone: 202-260-1488. For technical

information contact: Judith Kendall,

Toxic Releases Inventory Program

Division, Office of Information Analysis

and Access, Environmental Protection

Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave. NW.,

Washington, DC 20460; Telephone: 202-

260-1802; Fax: 202-401-0237; email:

kendall.judith@epamail.epa.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. General Information

A. Affected Entities

Entities potentially affected by this

action are those chemical facilities that

manufacture, process, or otherwise use

certain toxic chemicals listed on the

Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) and

which are required under section 313 of

the Emergency Planning and

Community Right-to-Know Act of 1986

(EPCRA), to report annually to EPA

their environmental releases of such

chemicals.

B. To Obtain Additional Information,

Copies of this Document, or Other

Support Documents

1. Electronic availability. Electronic

copies of the ICR are available from the

EPA Home Page at the Federal

Register—Environmental Documents

entry for this document under ‘‘Laws

and Regulations’’ http://www.epa.gov/

fedrgstr/. An electronic copy of the

collection instrument referenced in this

ICR and instructions for its completion

are available at http://www.epa.gov/tri/

report.htm.

2. In person. The Agency has

established an official record for this

action under docket control number

OEI-100001. The official record consists

of the documents specifically referenced

in this action, any public comments

received during an applicable comment

period, and other information related to

this action, including any information

claimed as confidential business

information (CBI). This official record

includes the documents that are

physically located in the docket, as well

as the documents that are referenced in

those documents. The public version of

the official record does not include any

information claimed as CBI. The public

version of the official record, which

includes printed, paper versions of any

electronic comments submitted during

an applicable comment period, is

available for inspection in the TSCA

Nonconfidential Information Center,

North East Mall Rm. B-607, Waterside

Mall, 401 M St., SW., Washington, DC.

The Center is open from noon to 4 p.m.,

Monday through Friday, excluding legal

holidays. The telephone number of the

Center is (202) 260-7099.

C. To Submit Comments

You may submit comments through

the mail, in person, or electronically. Be

sure to identify the appropriate docket

control number (i.e., ‘‘OEI-100001’’) in

your correspondence.

1. By mail. All comments should be

sent in triplicate to : Document Control

Office (7407), Office of Pollution

Prevention and Toxics (OPPT),

Environmental Protection Agency, 1200

Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington,

DC 20460.

2. In person or by courier. Comments

may be delivered in person or by courier

to: OPPT Document Control Office

(DCO) in East Tower Rm. G-099,

Waterside Mall, 401 M St., SW.,

Washington, DC. The DCO is open from

8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through

Friday, excluding legal holidays. The

telephone number for the DCO is (202)

260-7093.

3. Electronically. Submit your

comments electronically by e-mail to:

‘‘oppt.ncic@epa.gov.’’ Please note that

you should not submit any information

electronically that you consider to be

CBI. Electronic comments must be

submitted as an ASCII file avoiding the

use of special characters and any form

of encryption. Comments and data will

also be accepted on standard computer

disks in WordPerfect 6.1/8.0 or ASCII

file format. All comments and data in

electronic form must be identified by

the docket control number OEI-100001.

Electronic comments on this document

may also be filed online at many Federal

Depository Libraries.

All comments which contain

information claimed as CBI must be

clearly marked as such. Three sanitized

copies of any comments containing

information claimed as CBI must also be

submitted and will be placed in the

public record for this document.

Persons submitting information on any

portion of which they believe is entitled

to treatment as CBI by EPA must assert

a business confidentiality claim in

accordance with 40 CFR 2.203(b) for

each such portion. This claim must be

made at the time that the information is

submitted to EPA. If a submitter does

not assert a confidentiality claim at the

time of submission, EPA will consider

this as a waiver of any confidentiality

claim and the information may be made

available to the public by EPA without

further notice to the submitter.

II. Background

The EPA would like to solicit

comments to:

1. Evaluate whether the proposed

collection of information is necessary

for the proper performance of the

functions of the agency, including

whether the information will have

practical utility.

2. Evaluate the accuracy of the

Agency’s estimate of the burden of the

proposed collection of information,

including the validity of the

methodology and assumptions used.

3. Enhance the quality, utility, and

clarity of the information to be

collected.

4. Minimize the burden of the

collection of information on those who

are to respond, including through the

use of appropriate automated electronic,

mechanical, or other technological

collection techniques or other forms of

information technology, e.g., permitting

electronic submission of responses.

EPA is seeking comments on the

following ICR, as well as the Agency’s

intention to renew the corresponding

OMB approval, which is currently

scheduled to expire on February 28,

2001.

Title: Alternate Threshold for Low

Annual Reportable Amounts.

ICR numbers: EPA ICR No. 1704.05,

OMB No. 2070-0143, expiring February

28, 2001.

Abstract: EPCRA section 313 requires

certain facilities manufacturing,

processing, or otherwise using certain

toxic chemicals in excess of specified

threshold quantities to report their

environmental releases of such

Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 130 / Thursday, July 6, 2000 / Notices 41655

chemicals annually. Each such facility

must file a separate report for each such

chemical.

In accordance with the authority in

EPCRA, EPA has established an

alternate threshold for those facilities

with low amounts of a listed toxic

chemical in wastes. A facility that

otherwise meets the current reporting

thresholds but estimates that the total

amount of the chemical in total waste

does not exceed 500 pounds per year,

and that the chemical was

manufactured, processed, or otherwise

used in an amount not exceeding 1

million pounds during the reporting

year, can take advantage of reporting

under the alternate threshold option for

that chemical for that reporting year.

Each qualifying facility that chooses

to apply the revised threshold must file

the Form A (EPA Form 9350-2) in lieu

of a complete TRI reporting Form R

(EPA Form 9350-1). In submitting the

Form A, the facility certifies that the

sum of the amount of the EPCRA section

313 chemical in wastes did not exceed

500 pounds for the reporting year, and

that the chemical was manufactured,

processed, or otherwise used in an

amount not exceeding 1 million pounds

during the reporting year. Use of the

Form A in place of the Form R

represents a substantial savings to

respondents, both in burden hours and

in labor costs.

The primary function served by the

submission of the Form A is to satisfy

the statutory requirement to maintain

reporting on a substantial majority of

releases for all listed chemicals. Without

the Form A, users of TRI data would not

have access to any information on these

chemicals. The Form A also serves as a

de facto range report, which is useful to

any party interested in amounts being

handled at a particular facility or for

broader statistical purposes.

Additionally, the Form A provides

compliance monitoring and

enforcement programs and other

interested parties with a means to track

chemical management activities and

verify overall compliance with the rule.

Responses to this collection of

information are mandatory (see 40 CFR

part 372) and facilities subject to

reporting must either submit a Form A

or a Form R.

Burden statement: The annual public

burden for this collection of

information, which is approved under

OMB Control No. 2070-0143, is

estimated to average 34.6 hours per each

form, for a facility which certifies one

chemical per form A. For facilities

which choose to certify two chemicals

per form A, the estimated burden is 67.8

hours per form. Responding to this

information collection requires: (1)

Determining whether a listed toxic

chemical is eligible for certification

under the alternate threshold, and (2)

completing the Form A. The burden of

determining eligibility for certification

is estimated to average 33.2 hours for

each chemical that is certified. The

burden of completing the Form A is

estimated to average 1.4 hours,

regardless of the number of chemicals

being certified. The total burden per

response is the combination of these

two, and will vary depending on the

number of listed toxic chemicals being

certified.

EPA estimates that as many as 7,397

respondents may submit a Form A with

these responses containing a total of

14,793 certifications. Total respondent

burden and cost for completing those

Form As are estimated at approximately

582,000 burden hours and $45.3 million

per year. (The alternate threshold may

save reporting facilities up to 189,000

hours, with a dollar value of $11

million, compared to the cost of

reporting on Form R.) The estimated

burden in this supporting statement

differs from what is currently in OMB’s

inventory for alternate threshold

reporting (13,157 respondents, 9,072

responses, and 646,875 burden hours) as

a result of both an adjustment and a

program change. The adjustment was

made by calculating the number of

eligible respondents and responses from

the manufacturing sector based on TRI

data from the 1998 reporting year (the

most recent TRI data available). This

adjustment reduced reporting burden by

62,772 hours. The program change was

made by excluding the reporting of PBT

chemicals on Form A. This change

reduces the burden associated with this

collection. The portion of the change

due to this regulatory change decreases

burden by 2,114 hours.

Estimated number of respondents:

7,397 respondents.

Estimated total annual burden on

respondents: 582,000 burden hours.

Frequency of collection: Annual.

List of Subjects

Environmental protection,

Community right-to-know, Reporting

and recordkeeping requirements, and

Toxic chemicals.

Dated: June 23, 2000.

Margaret N. Schneider,

Principal Deputy Assistant Administrator,

Office of Environmental Information.

[FR Doc. 00–16967 Filed 7–5–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6560–50–F

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

AGENCY

[FRL–6730–5]

Program Description of the National

Environmental Achievement Track

AGENCY: Environmental Protection

Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice.

SUMMARY: On June 26, 2000, EPA

announced the design of its National

Environmental Achievement Track

(Achievement Track). The Achievement

Track is the first of a two-tier EPA

program that is designed to recognize

and encourage top environmental

performers. In the spring of 2001, EPA

intends to announce the design of the

second tier, the National Environmental

Stewardship Track. This notice provides

a detailed description of the

Achievement Track.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Julie

Spyres, Office of Policy and

Reinvention, 202–260–6787 or by email

at Spyres.Julie@epa.gov.

ADDRESSES: Office of Policy and

Reinvention, U.S. Environmental

Protection Agency, Ariel Rios Building,

Mailcode 2129, 1200 Pennsylvania

Avenue, Washington, DC 20460.

Additional information may also be

found at the Performance Track

Information Center (toll free) 1–888–339

PTRK (7875) or at the EPA Performance

Track website at http://www.epa.gov/

performancetrack.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Title: National Environmental

Achievement Track Program

Description

Abstract:

The National Environmental

Achievement Track Program

Description

I. Introduction

II. The National Environmental Achievement

Track

A. Entry Criteria

1. Environmental Management System

(EMS)

2. Demonstrated Environmental

Achievements and Commitment to

Continued Improvement

3. Public Outreach and Performance

Reporting

4. Record of Sustained Compliance with

Environmental Requirements

B. Incentives for Participation

C. Implementation

1. Application and Notification Process

2. Continued Compliance

3. Protocol for Site Visits

4. Annual Performance Report

5. Removal from the Achievement Track

D. The State Role and Relationship

E. Small Business Participation