67358 Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 247 / Wednesday, December 24, 1997 / Notices

official service list compiled by the

Secretary for this proceeding.

Comment date: December 29, 1997, in

accordance with Standard Paragraph E

at the end of this notice.

9. Millennium Power Partners, L.P.

[Docket No. ER98–830–000]

Take notice that on November 26,

1997, Millennium Power Partners, L.P.

(Millennium), submitted for filing,

pursuant to Section 205 of the Federal

Power Act, and Part 35 of the

Commission’s Regulations, a Petition for

authorization to make sales of capacity

and energy at market-based rates from a

proposed nominal 360 MW natural gasfired, combined cycle power plant (the

Millennium project) in the Town of

Charlton, Massachusetts. A new 115 kV

interconnection line extending from the

switchyard at the proposed site to

transmission lines owned by New

England Power Service Company will

serve to connect the project to the

regional grid. The project, which will be

a merchant plant, is expected to

commence commercial operation in the

year 2000.

Comment date: December 29, 1997, in

accordance with Standard Paragraph E

at the end of this notice.

10. Southern California Edison

Company

[Docket No. ER98–1036–000]

Take notice that on December 11,

1997, Southern California Edison

Company (Edison) tendered for filing

the Edison-Anaheim 1997 Restructuring

Agreement (Restructuring Agreement)

between Edison and the City of

Anaheim, California (Anaheim), and a

Notice of Cancellation of various

agreements and rate schedules

applicable to Anaheim. Included in the

Restructuring Agreement as Appendices

B, C, D, and E are: the Edison-Anaheim

Interconnection Agreement,

Amendment No. 1 to the EdisonAnaheim San Onofre Nuclear

Generating Station Firm Transmission

Service Agreement, Amendment No. 1

to the Edison-Anaheim 1995 San Juan

Unit 4 Firm Transmission Service

Agreement, and the Edison-Anaheim

Four Corners-Mead Firm Transmission

Service Agreement.

The Restructuring Agreement is the

result of negotiations between Edison

and Anaheim to modify existing

contracts to accommodate the emerging

Independent System Operator (ISO)/

Power Exchange market structure. The

Restructuring Agreement significantly

simplifies the existing operational

arrangements between Edison and

Anaheim. In addition, the Restructuring

Agreement provides for cancellation of

existing bundled service arrangements

and obligations between Edison and

Anaheim. Edison is requesting that the

Restructuring Agreement become

effective on the date the ISO assumes

operational control of Edison’s

transmission facilities.

Copies of this filing were served upon

the Public Utilities Commission of the

State of California and all interested

parties.

Comment date: December 29, 1997, in

accordance with Standard Paragraph E

at the end of this notice.

Standard Paragraph

E. Any person desiring to be heard or

to protest said filing should file a

motion to intervene or protest with the

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission,

888 First Street, N.E., Washington, D.C.

20426, in accordance with Rules 211

and 214 of the Commission’s Rules of

Practice and Procedure (18 CFR 385.211

and 18 CFR 385.214). All such motions

or protests should be filed on or before

the comment date. Protests will be

considered by the Commission in

determining the appropriate action to be

taken, but will not serve to make

protestants parties to the proceeding.

Any person wishing to become a party

must file a motion to intervene. Copies

of this filing are on file with the

Commission and are available for public

inspection.

Lois D. Cashell,

Secretary.

[FR Doc. 97–33563 Filed 12–23–97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6717–01–P

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory

Commission

Allegheny Hydro No. 8 and 9 LP and

Connecticut National Bank; Notice of

Availability of Draft Environmental

Assessment

[Project No. 3021–048]

December 18, 1997.

A draft environmental assessment

(EA) is available for public review. The

draft EA analyzes the environmental

impacts of installing 15-inch

flashboards on the top of Lock and Dam

9, part of the Allegheny River Lock and

Dam 8 and 9 Hydroelectric Project No.

3021–048. The Commission is

considering requiring flashboards, from

about May 1 through October 31 each

year, to rectify project-induced lower

water levels and associated impacts to

recreational boating in the Lock and

Dam 9 pool. The draft EA contains

Commission staff’s preliminary analysis

that 15-inch flashboards are needed and

installation would not constitute a

major federal action significantly

affecting the quality of the human

environment. The Allegheny River Lock

and Dam 8 and 9 Project is on the

Allegheny River near the City of

Kittanning, in Armstrong County,

Pennsylvania.

The draft EA was written by staff in

the Office of Hydropower Licensing,

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

Copies of the draft EA can be obtained

by calling the Commission’s Public

Reference Room at (202) 208–1371.

Please submit any comments on the

draft EA within 60 days from the date

of this notice. Any comments,

conclusions, or recommendations that

draw upon studies, reports, or other

working papers of substance should be

supported by appropriate

documentation. Comments should be

addressed to: Ms. Lois D. Cashell,

Secretary, Federal Energy Regulatory

Commission, 888 First Street N.E.,

Washington, DC 20426. Please affix

Project No. 3021–048 to all comments.

Lois D. Cashell,

Secretary.

[FR Doc. 97–33515 Filed 12–23–97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6717–01–M

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

AGENCY

[OPPTS–00229; FRL–5762–5]

TRI; Alternate Threshold for Low

Annual Reportable Amounts; Agency

Information Collection Activities;

Proposed Renewal and Request for

Comment

AGENCY: Environmental Protection

Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice.

SUMMARY: In compliance with the

Paperwork Reduction Act, this notice

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. Before

submitting the following ICR to OMB for

review and reapproval, EPA is soliciting

comments on specific aspects of the

information collection, which is briefly

described below. The ICR is a

continuing ICR entitled ‘‘Alternate

Threshold for Low Annual Reportable

Amounts,’’ EPA ICR No. 1704.05, OMB

No. 2070–0143. This ICR covers the

reporting and recordkeeping

requirements associated with reporting
Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 247 / Wednesday, December 24, 1997 / Notices 67359

under the alternate threshold for

reporting to the Toxic 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.

DATES: Written comments must be

submitted on or before February 23,

1998.

ADDRESSES: Each comments must bear

the docket control number ‘‘OPPTS–

00229’’ and administrative record

number 187. All comments should be

sent in triplicate to: OPPT Document

Control Officer (7407), Office of

Pollution Prevention and Toxics,

Environmental Protection Agency, 401

M St., SW., Room G–099, East Tower,

Washington, DC 20460.

Comments and data may also be

submitted electronically to: oppt.

ncic@epamail.ep.gov. Follow the

instructions under Unit III. of this

document. No Confidential Business

Information (CBI) should be submitted

through e-mail.

All comments which contains

information claimed as CBI must be

clearly marked as such. Three sanitized

copies of any comments containing

information claimed as CBI must be 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 asset

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.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For

general information contact: Susan B.

Hazen, Director, Environmental

Assistance Division (7408), Office of

Pollution Prevention and Toxics,

Environmental Protection of Agency,

401 M St., SW., Washington, DC 20460,

Telephone: 202–554–1404, TDD: 202–

554–0551, e-mail: TSCAHotline@epamail.epa.gov. For technical

information contact: Tim Crawford,

Environmental Assistance Division

(7408), Office of Pollution Prevention

and Toxics, Environmental Protection

Agency, 401 M St., SW., Washington,

DC 20460, Telephone: 202–260–1715;

Fax: 202–401–8142; e-mail:

crawford.tim@epamail.epa.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Electronic Availability

Internet

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 is available at

http://www.epa.gov/opptintr/afr96.

Fax-on-Demand

Using a faxphone call 202–401–0527

and select item 4056 for a copy of the

ICR and item number 4049 for a copy

of an interim report on Form A.

I. Background

Affected entities: Entities potentially

affected by this action are those

chemical facilities that manufacture,

process or otherwise use certain toxic

chemicals listed on the Toxic Release

Inventory (TRI) and which are required,

under section 313 of the Emergency

Planning and Community Right-toKnow Act of 1986 (EPCRA), to report

annually to EPA their environmental

releases of such chemicals.

For the collection of information

addressed in this notice, 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.

II. Information Collection

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 May 31, 1998.

Title: Alternate Threshold for Low

Annual Reportable Amounts.

ICR Numbers: EPA ICR No. 1704.04,

OMB No. 2070–0143.

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

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 manufactured,

processed, or otherwise used in a

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 of 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 burden to

respondents for complying with this ICR
67360 Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 247 / Wednesday, December 24, 1997 / Notices

is estimated to total 991,000 hours per

year with an annual cost of $61.9

million. These totals are based on an

average burden of 34.6 hours per

response for an estimated 14,453

respondents making one response

annually. These estimates include the

time needed to determine applicability;

review instructions; develop, acquire,

install and utilize technology and

systems for the purposes of collecting,

validating and verifying information,

processing and maintaining

information, and disclosing and

providing information; adjust the

existing ways to comply with any

previously applicable instructions and

requirements; train personnel to be able

to respond to a collection of

information; search data sources;

complete and review the collection of

information; and transmit or otherwise

disclose the information. The use of

Form A may save reporting facilities a

total of up to 500,000 hours and $30

million per year, compared to the cost

of reporting on Form R.

III. Public Record and Electronic

Submissions

The official record for this document

as well as the pubic version, has been

established for this document under

docket control number ‘‘OPPTS–00229’’

(including comments and data

submitted electronically as described

below). A public version of this record,

including printed, paper versions of

electronic comments, which does not

include any information claimed as CBI,

is available for inspection from 12 noon

to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday,

excluding legal holidays. The official

rulemaking record is located in the

TSCA Nonconfidential Information

Center, Rm. NE–B607, 401 M St., SW.,

Washington, DC.

Electronic comments can be sent

directly to EPA at:

oppt.ncic@epamail.epa.gov

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 disks in

WordPerfect 5.1/6.1 or ASCII file

format. All comments and data in

electronic form must be identified by

the docket control number ‘‘OPPTS–

00229’’ and administrative control

number 187. Electronic comments on

this document may be online at many

Federal Depository Libraries.

List of Subjects

Environmental protection;

information collection requests;

reporting and recordkeeping.

Dated: December 16, 1997.

Susan H. Wayland,

Acting Assistant Administrator for

Prevention, Pesticides and Toxic Substances.

[FR Doc. 97–33455 Filed 12–23–97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6560–50–M

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

AGENCY

[FRL–5940–2]

Proposed Settlements; Petitions for

Review of ‘‘National Emission

Standards for Hazardous Air

Pollutants; Final Standards for

Hazardous Air Pollutant Emissions

From Wood Furniture Manufacturing

Operations’’

AGENCY: Environmental Protection

Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of proposed settlements;

request for public comment.

SUMMARY: In accordance with section

113(g) of the Clean Air Act (‘‘the Act’’),

notice is hereby given of three proposed

settlement agreements regarding the

following petitions for review: Chemical

Manufacturers Association v. EPA, No.

96–1031(D.C. Cir.); Halogenated

Solvents Industry Alliance, Inc. v. EPA,

No. 96–1036 (D.C. Cir.); and Society of

the Plastics Industry, Inc., v. Browner,

No. 96–1038 (D.C. Cir.). Each petition

seeks judicial review under section

307(b) of the Act of the final rule

entitled, ‘‘National Emission Standards

for Hazardous Air Pollutants; Final

Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutant

Emissions from Wood Furniture

Manufacturing Operations,’’ 60 FR

62930 (Dec. 7, 1995) (‘‘Wood Furniture

NESHAP’’), promulgated by the United

States Environmental Protection Agency

(‘‘EPA’’), respondent, and codified at 40

CFR part 63, subpart JJ.

There is a separate proposed

settlement agreement (‘‘PSA’’) for each

petition for review, which addresses the

specific issues raised by the respective

petitioner. For convenience of interested

parties, following is a brief summary of

some of the key points of each PSA;

however, interested parties are strongly

encouraged to obtain a copy of the PSAs

to discern for themselves the full scope

of the proposed settlements instead of

relying solely on the summaries below.

The PSA between EPA and the

Chemical Manufacturers Association

requires EPA to conduct notice and

comment rulemaking proposing that

certain glycol ethers be removed from

Table 6 of the Wood Furniture NESHAP

and that the de minimis value in Table

6 for 2-ethoxy ethyl acetate be revised

to read 10.0 tons/year.

The PSA between EPA and the

Halogenated Solvents Industry Alliance

would require EPA: (1) to conduct

notice-and-comment rulemaking in

accordance with section 307(d) of the

Act proposing that perchloroethylene

and trichloroethylene be deleted from

Table 4 of the Wood Furniture NESHAP;

and (2) to give great weight to the

recommendations of the Science Panel

regarding whether a reassessment of the

cancer hazard for methylene chloride

should be undertaken based on the

current state-of-the-science. This PSA

also requires EPA to conduct additional

notice and comment rulemaking with

respect to methylene chloride if

methylene chloride is reassessed and

certain findings are made as a result of

that reassessment.

The PSA between the Society of the

Plastics Industry and EPA would

require EPA to propose technical

amendments to the Wood Furniture

NESHAP that would remove the

subheadings of ‘‘Nonthreshold

Pollutants,’’ ‘‘High-Concern Pollutants,’’

and ‘‘Unrankable Pollutants’’ in Table 6

of the Wood Furniture NESHAP and to

remove footnote ‘‘a’’ to Table 6, on the

grounds that the subheadings and

footnote are unnecessary because no

subcategories of pollutants are created

in Table 6.

Each of the proposed settlement

agreements would require EPA to sign a

notice of proposed rulemaking regarding

the above amendments no later than six

(6) months after the date the settlement

agreement is signed, and a notice of

final rulemaking no later than twelve

(12) months after the date the settlement

agreement is signed.

Notice of Proposed Settlement

For a period of thirty (30) days

following the date of publication of this

document, the Agency will receive

written comments relating to the

settlement from persons who were not

named as parties to the litigation in

question. EPA or the Department of

Justice may withhold or withdraw

consent to the proposed settlement if

the comments disclose facts or

circumstances that indicate that such

consent is inappropriate, improper,

inadequate, or inconsistent with the

requirements of the Act. Copies of the

proposed settlement agreements may be

requested from Phyllis Cochran, Air and

Radiation Division (2344), Office of

General Counsel, U.S. Environmental

Protection Agency, 401 M Street, S.W.,

Washington, D.C. 20460, (202) 260–

7606, or by e-mail at

COCHRAN.PHYLLIS@EPAMAIL.EPA.GOV.

Written comments should be sent to Jon