Instructions For Claiming Confidentiality RE: CBI Submittals 

Roger Kohn to: Steve Hill 03/14/2012 04:39 PM

Steve,

In discussing this with Gerardo, he pointed out that any CBI claim should meet the standards we have 

provided to other permit applicants. I'm pasting the text below. If the formatting gets messed up in email 

and you want me to make a Word document, just let me know.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR CLAIMING CONFIDENTIALITY

A. Pursuant to 40 CFR 2.204(e), your claim must address these points:

i. The portions of the information alleged to be entitled to confidential treatment;

ii. The period of time for which confidential treatment is desired by the business (e.g., 

until the occurrence of a specific event, or permanently);

iii. The purpose for which the information was furnished to EPA and the appropriate 

date of submission, if known;

iv. Whether a business confidentiality claim accompanied the information when it was 

received by EPA;

v. Measures taken by you to guard against the undesired disclosure of the 

information to others;

vi. The extent to which the information has been disclosed to others and the 

precautions taken in connection therewith;

vii. Pertinent confidentiality determinations, if any, by EPA or other Federal agencies, 

and a copy of any such determination or reference to it, if available;

viii. Whether you assert that disclosure of this information would be likely to result in 

substantial harmful effects on your business's competitive position, and if so, what 

those harmful effects would be, why they should be viewed as substantial; and an 

explanation of the casual relationship between disclosure and such harmful effect, 

and

ix. Whether you assert that the information is voluntarily submitted information and if 

so, whether any disclosure of the information would tend to lessen the availability 

to EPA of similar information in the future. "Voluntarily submitted information" is 

defined in 40 CFR Section 2.201(i) as business information in EPA's possession - -

a. The submission of which EPA has no statutory or contractual authority to 

require; and
b. The submission of which was not prescribed by statute or regulation as a 

condition of obtaining some benefit (or avoiding some disadvantage) under 

a regulatory program of general applicability, including such regulatory 

programs as permit, licensing, registration, or certification programs, but 

excluding programs concerned solely or primarily with the award or 

administration by EPA of contracts or grants.

B. We will disclose information covered by your claim only to the extent provided for in 40 

CFR Part 2, Subpart B Confidentiality of Business Information. Please address your claim 

and substantiation of confidentiality to the staff person mentioned in the letter at EPA 

Region 9 (AIR-3), 75 Hawthorne Street, San Francisco, CA 94105.

Steve Hill Thanks, that is exactly what I needed. From: R... 03/14/2012 03:42:33 PM

From: Steve Hill <SHill@sierraresearch.com>

To: Roger Kohn/R9/USEPA/US@EPA, 

Date: 03/14/2012 03:42 PM

Subject: RE: CBI Submittals

Thanks, that is exactly what I needed.

From: Roger Kohn [mailto:Kohn.Roger@epamail.epa.gov] 

Sent: Wednesday, March 14, 2012 3:37 PM

To: Steve Hill

Subject: CBI Submittals

Hi Steve,

Got your voicemail message. In response to your inquiry concerning how to assert a business 

confidentiality claim for portions of a letter you intend to submit to EPA. You may, if you desire, assert a 

business confidentiality claim covering part or all of the information, in the manner described in 40 CFR 

2.203(b), quoted below. Information covered by such a claim will be disclosed by EPA only to the extent, 

and by means of the procedures, set forth in 40 CFR 40 Part 2, Subpart B. If no such claim 

accompanies the information when it is received by EPA, it may be made available to the public by EPA 

without further notice to you. Please see 40 CFR Part 2, Subpart B for general information about this 

subject. Please note that 40 CFR 2.301 includes special rules governing certain information obtained 

under the Clean Air Act.

40 CFR 2.203(b) states: (b) Method and time of asserting business confidentiality claim. A business 

which is submitting information to EPA may assert a business confidentiality claim covering the

information by placing on (or attaching to) the information, at the time it is submitted to EPA, a cover 

sheet, stamped or typed legend, or other suitable form of notice employing language such as trade 

secret, proprietary, or company confidential. Allegedly confidential portions of otherwise 

non-confidential documents should be clearly identified by the business, and may be submitted 

separately to facilitate identification and handling by EPA. If the business desires confidential treatment 

only until a certain date or until the occurrence of a certain event, the notice should so state.
Please let me know if you have further questions.

Roger Kohn

USEPA Region 9 - Air Division (AIR-3)

75 Hawthorne Street

San Francisco, CA 94105-3901

415-972-3973 

kohn.roger@epa