Enclosure 3 

7042 Federal Register / Vol 56. No. 35 / Thursday, February 21, 1991 / Notices 

[AD-FRL-3906-3] 

Disclosure of Emission Data Claimed as 

Confidential Under Sections 110 and 114( c) 

of the Clean Air Act 

AGENCY: Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA). 

ACTION: Notice of policy on public release 

of certain emission data submitted under 

sections 110 and 114( c) of the Clean Air Act 

(CAA). 

SUMMARY: Section 114(c) of the CAA 

excludes emission data from the general 

definition of trade secret information. 

Certain classes of data submitted to the EPA 

under sections 110 and 114(a) of the CAA 

are emission data, and, as such, cannot be 

withheld from disclosure as confidential 

pursuant to section 1905 of title 18 of the 

United States Code. This notice clarifies 

EPA's current policy, and solicits comment 

regarding that policy and categories of data 

which it considers excluded from a trade 

secret definition. 

DATES: Written comments pertaining to this 

notice are requested by April 22, 1991. 

ADDRESSES: Submit comments to: Nancy 

D. Riley, U.S. Environmental Protection 

Agency, Emission Standards Division, 

Pollutant Assessment Branch (MD-13), 

Research Triangle Park, NC 27711. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION 

CONTACT: Timothy Mohin (telephone: 

(919) 541-5349 commerciallFTS 629-5349) 

or Karen Blanchard (telephone: (919) 541-

5503 commerciallFTS 629-5503), Pollutant 

Assessment Branch (MD-13), Emission 

Standards Division; or Thomas Rosendahl 

(telephone: (919) 541-5404 commerciallFTS 

629-5404), National Air Data Branch 

(MD-14), Technical Support Division; 

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 

Research Triangle Park, North Carolina 

27711. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

EPA routinely uses the authority of sections 

liD and 114(a) of the CAA to gather 

technical information from industries 

involved in operations that lead to emission 

of pollutants to the ambient air. This 

information has been used, among other 

things, to better characterize emitting 

facilities and to evaluate the need for and 

impacts of potential regulation. 

Information requests under sections 110 

and 114(a) of the CAA typically include 

questions on uncontrolled and controlled 

emission rates and emission parameters of 

the pollutant or group of pollutants of 

concern. The respondents sometimes claim 

that its response constitutes trade secret 

information, and thus, should be treated as 

confidential. Claims of confidentiality may 

be made under section 114(c) of the CAA, 

which states ". • • upon a showing 

satisfactory to the Administrator by any 

person that records, reports, or information, 

or a particular part thereof, (other than 

emission data) to which the Administrator 

has access under this section if made public, 

would divulge methods or processes entitled 

to protection as trade secrets of such person, 

the Administrator shall consider such • • • 

confidential in accordance with the purposes 

of section 1905 of title 18 of the United 

States Code • • '." If the Administrator so 

determines, the information is not 

disclosable to the public. 

However, section 114(c) of the CAA 

provides that information claimed to be a 

trade secret but which constitutes emission 

data may not be withheld as confidential. 

Although typically the EPA evaluates 

whether information constitutes emission 

data on a case-by-case basis, it believes that 

some kinds of data will always constitute 

emission data within the meaning of section 

114(c). The purpose of this notice is to 

describe, without attempting to be 

comprehensive, that information which the 

EPA generally considers to be emission data, 

and which cannot qualify as confidential 

under either section 114( c) or section 11 0 (as 

set forth in 41 CFR 51.321, 51.322, and 

51.323) of the CAA. The EPA is issuing this 

notice to clarify its policy and procedures, to 

facilitate the use of these data in automated 

data systems and computer-based simulation 

models, and to expedite processing of claims 

for confidentiality or requests for disclosure. 

The EPA presently determines that data 

submitted to it as emission data does not 

qualify as confidential if it meets the 

following definition under 40 CFR 

2.30 I (a)(2)(i): 

a. Definitions. For the purpose of this 

section, (I) Act means the Clean Air Act, as 

amended, 42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq. (2)(i) 

Emission data means, with reference to any 

source of emission of any substance into the 

air-

(A) Information necessary to determine 

the identity, amount, frequency, 

concentration, or other characteristics (to the 

extend related to air quality) of any emission 

which has been emitted by the source (or of 

any pollutant resulting from any emission by 

the source), or any combination of the 

foregoing: 

(B) Information necessary to determine 

the identity, amount, frequency, 

concentration, or other characteristics (to the 

extent related to air quality) of the emission 

which, under an applicable standard or 

limitation, the source was authorized to emit 

(including, to the extent necessary for such 

purposes, a description of the manner or rate 

of operation of the source), or any 

combination of the foregoing. 

(C) A general description of the location 

and/or nature of the source to the extent 

necessary to identify the source and to 

distinguish it from other sources (including, 

to the extent necessary for such purposes, a 

description of the device, installation, or 

operation constituting the source). 

The table below lists the specific data 

fields which the EPA presently considers to 

constitute emission data and provides a brief 

description of what each data field describes. 

The descriptions are intended to provide 

general information. This list is not 

exhaustive, and, therefore, other data might 

be found, in a proper case, to constitute 

emission data. 

Emission Data Fields 

Facility Identification: The following data 

fields are needed to establish the identity and 

location of emission sources. This shall also 

include a description or an identifier of the 

device, installation, or operation constituting 

the source. These data are used to locate 

sources for dispersion evaluation and 

exposure modeling. 

Plant Name and related point identifiers 

Address 

City 

County 

AQCR (Air Quality Control Region) 

MSA, PMSA, CMSA (Metropolitan 

Statistical Areas) 

State 

Zip Code 

Ownership and point of contact information 

Locational Identifiers: 
Federal Register I Vol 56. No. 35 I Thursday, February 21 , 1 991 I Notices 

Latitude & Longitude, or UTM Grid 

Coordinates 

SIC (Standard Industrial Classification) 

Emission point, device or operation 

description infonnation 

SCC (Source Classification Codes) 

Emission Parameters: The following data 

fields are needed to establish the 

characteristics of the emissions. This 

information is needed for the analyses of 

dispersion and potential control equipment. 

Emission type 

(e.g., nature of emissions such as CO2), 

particulate or a specific toxic 

compound, and origin of emissions 

such as process vents, storage tanks or 

equipment leaks) 

Emission rate 

(e.g., the amount released to the 

atmosphere over time such as kglyr or 

lbs/yr) 

Release height 

(e.g., height above ground level where the 

pollutant is emitted to the atmosphere) 

Description of terrain and surrounding 

structures 

(e. g., the size of the area associated with 

adjacent structures in square meters and 

terrain descriptions such as 

mountainous, urban, or rural) 

Stack or vent diameter at point of emissions 

(e.g., the inside diameter of vent at the 

point of emission to the atmosphere in 

meters) 

Release velocity 

(e.g., velocity of release in rnIsec) 

Release temperature 

(e.g., temperature of release at point of 

release in degrees Kelvin) 

Frequency of release 

(e.g., how often a release occurs in events 

per year) 

Duration of release 

(e.g., the time associated with a release to 

the atmosphere) 

Concentration 

(e.g., the amount of an emission stream 

constituent relative to other stream 

constituents expressed as parts per 

million (ppm), volume percent, or 

weight percent) 

Density of the emissions stream or average 

molecular weight 

(e.g., density expressed as fraction or 

multiple of the density of air: molecular 

weight in gig-mole) 

Boiler or process design capacity 

(e.g., the gross heating value of fuel input 

to a boiler at its maximum design rate) 

Emission estimation method 

(e.g., the method by which an emission 

estimate has been calculated such as 

material balance, source test, use of AP42 emission factors, etc.) 

Percent space heat 

(e.g., the percent of fuel used for space 

heating) 

Hourly maximum design rate 

(e.g., the greatest operating rate that would 

be expected for a source in a I-hour 

period) 

The EPA has detennined that these data 

are emission data and releasable upon 

request. This detennination applies to data 

currently held by EPA as well as to 

infonnation submitted to EPA in the future. 

Future requests for infonnation under 

sections 110 and 114 of the CAA will 

indicate that these emission data will not be 

held confidential. This detennination applies 

only to the data listed in the table. 

Detenninations will continue to be made on 

a case-by-case basis for data not specified in 

this generic detennination. 

After consideration of comments on this 

policy, a revised policy/detennination may 

be published. 

Dated: February 8, 1991. 

Michael Shapiro. 

Acting Assistant Administrator for Air and 

Radiation. 

[FR Doc. 91-4114 Filed 2-20-91: 8:45 am] 

7043