Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 246 / Tuesday, December 26, 2023 / Notices 88913 

qualifications, and achieving an overall 

balance of different scientific 

perspectives across reviewers. The 

Agency will consider all nominations of 

prospective candidates for service as ad 

hoc reviewers for the SACC that are 

received on or before the date listed in 

the DATES section of this document. 

IV. Advance Notice of Other Planned 

Activities 

As indicated previously, EPA’s plans 

to publish separate documents in the 

Federal Register in early 2024 to 

announce the planned activities related 

to this peer review that are briefly 

discussed in this unit. 

A. Planned Public Review of a 

Candidate List of ad hoc Reviewers 

Being Considered 

Although the final selection of ad hoc 

reviewers is a discretionary function of 

the Agency, EPA plans to make 

available for public comment a 

candidate list of ad hoc expert reviewers 

for this peer review in early 2024. The 

‘‘List of Candidates’’ provides the names 

and biographical sketches of all 

interested and available nominees 

identified from respondents to this 

solicitation, other nominations received, 

and any additional candidates identified 

by EPA staff. 

B. Planned Public Meeting 

EPA plans to announce a 4-day public 

meeting of the SACC that is anticipated 

to be scheduled for May 2024. At that 

time, EPA will provide logistical 

information and instructions for 

registering to attend and/or provide oral 

comments at the SACC meeting. 

C. Planned Public Review of Materials 

Submitted for Peer Review 

EPA plans to announce the 

availability of and solicit public 

comment on the draft documents and 

related materials submitted to the SACC 

for peer review. At that time, EPA will 

provide instructions for accessing the 

materials provided to the SACC and will 

provide instructions for submitting 

written comments and instructions for 

registering to provide oral comments at 

the SACC meeting. These materials will 

also be available in Docket ID No. EPA– 

HQ–OPPT–2022–0613 at https://

www.regulations.gov and through the 

SACC website at https://www.epa.gov/ 

tsca-peer-review. As additional 

background materials become available 

and are provided to the SACC, EPA will 

include those additional background 

documents (e.g., SACC members and 

consultants participating in this meeting 

and the meeting agenda) in the docket 

and through the SACC website. 

D. How can I stay informed about SACC 

activities? 

You may subscribe to the following 

listserv for alerts regarding this and 

other SACC-related activities: https://

public.govdelivery.com/accounts/ 

USAEPAOPPT/subscriber/new?topic_

id=USAEPAOPPT_101. 

(Authority: 15 U.S.C. 2625(o); 5 U.S.C 10) 

Dated: December 20, 2023. 

Michal Freedhoff, 

Assistant Administrator, Office of Chemical 

Safety and Pollution Prevention. 

[FR Doc. 2023–28430 Filed 12–22–23; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6560–50–P 

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 

AGENCY 

[EPA–HQ–OLEM–2023–0451; FRL–11466– 

01–OLEM] 

Waste Reduction Model (WARM) 

Version 16: Request for Public 

Comment 

AGENCY: Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA). 

ACTION: Notice of availability. 

SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA) has released the Waste 

Reduction Model (WARM) version 16 

and its supporting documentation, along 

with the WARM v16 methodology 

external peer review report and the 

WARM v16 data quality assessment 

report. WARM is a tool that estimates 

the potential greenhouse gas emissions, 

energy savings and economic impacts of 

baseline and alternative waste 

management practices of materials. This 

Notice is inviting public comment on 

WARM v16 and its supporting 

documentation from a broad range of 

individuals and organizations. The EPA 

will consider the public comments 

received to inform future improvements 

to WARM. 

DATES: Comments must be submitted on 

or before February 9, 2024. 

ADDRESSES:

Written Comments: Submit your 

written comments, identified by Docket 

ID No. EPA–HQ–OLEM–2023–0451, 

through the Federal eRulemaking Portal 

at https://www.regulations.gov/. Follow 

the online instructions for submitting 

comments. 

Once submitted, comments cannot be 

edited or removed from Regulations.gov. 

EPA may publish any comment received 

to its public docket. Do not submit 

electronically any information you 

consider to be Confidential Business 

Information (CBI) or other information 

whose disclosure is restricted by statute. 

Multimedia submissions (audio, video, 

etc.) must be accompanied by a written 

comment. Additional instructions on 

commenting or visiting the docket, 

along with more information about 

dockets generally, is available at: 

https://www.epa.gov/dockets. 

Instructions: All submissions received 

must include the Docket ID No. EPA– 

HQ–OLEM–2023–0451 for this notice. 

Comments received may be posted 

without change to https://

www.regulations.gov/, including any 

personal information provided. For 

detailed instructions on sending 

comments, see the ‘‘Public 

Participation’’ heading of the 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of 

this document. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Priscilla Halloran, Resource 

Conservation and Sustainability 

Division, Office of Resource 

Conservation and Recovery, Office of 

Land and Emergency Management, Mail 

Code 5306T, Environmental Protection 

Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue 

NW, Washington, DC 20460; telephone 

number: 202–566–0311, or Kimberly 

Cochran (same address); telephone 

number: 202–566–0308; email address: 

orcrWARMquestions@epa.gov. For more 

information on WARM, please visit 

https://epa.gov/warm. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Public Participation 

Response to this request for public 

comment is voluntary. Submit your 

comments, identified by Docket ID No. 

EPA–HQ–OLEM–2023–0451, at https://

www.regulations.gov/ (our preferred 

method), or the other methods 

identified in the ADDRESSES section. 

Once submitted, comments cannot be 

edited or removed from the docket. The 

Environmental Protection Agency may 

publish any comment received to its 

public docket. Responses to this request 

for public comment may be submitted 

by a single party or a team. Responses 

will only be accepted using Microsoft 

Word (.docx) or Adobe PDF (.pdf) file 

formats. The response document should 

contain the following: 

D Two clearly delineated sections: (1) 

Cover page with company name and 

contact information; and (2) responses 

by topic and/or that address specific 

EPA questions. 

D 1-inch margins (top, bottom, and 

sides). 

D Times New Roman and 12-point 

font. 

Comments containing references, 

studies, research, and other empirical 

data that are not widely published 

should include copies or electronic 


khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with NOTICES
88914 Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 246 / Tuesday, December 26, 2023 / Notices 

links to the referenced materials. Do not 

submit to EPA’s docket at https://

www.regulations.gov any information 

you consider to be Confidential 

Business Information (CBI), Proprietary 

Business Information (PBI), or other 

information whose disclosure is 

restricted by statute. Multimedia 

submissions (audio, video, etc.) must be 

accompanied by a written comment. 

The written comment is considered the 

official comment and should include 

discussion of all points you wish to 

make. EPA will generally not consider 

comments or comment contents located 

outside of the primary submission (i.e., 

on the web, cloud, or other file sharing 

system). Please visit: https://

www.epa.gov/dockets for additional 

submission methods; the full EPA 

public comment policy; information 

about CBI, PBI, or multimedia 

submissions; and general guidance on 

making effective comments. No 

confidential and/or business proprietary 

information, copyrighted information, 

or personally identifiable information 

should be submitted in response to this 

notice. 

Privacy Note: All comments received 

from members of the public will be 

available for public viewing on 

Regulations.gov. In accordance with 

FAR 15.202(3), responses to this notice 

are not offers and cannot be accepted by 

the Federal Government to form a 

binding contract. Additionally, those 

submitting responses are solely 

responsible for all expenses associated 

with response preparation. 

II. General Information 

A. What is the purpose of this request 

for public comment? 

The EPA will use the feedback and 

information received through this 

public comment process, along with 

findings of the external peer review and 

data quality assessment, to inform 

future improvements to WARM. 

The Environmental Protection Agency 

launched the Waste Reduction Model 

(WARM) in 1998. WARM has been 

updated and expanded fifteen times 

since its launch in 1998. In 2022 and 

2023, WARM underwent an external 

peer review and a data quality 

assessment as part of the EPA’s on-going 

efforts to ensure WARM’s scientific 

integrity. (Reports are available in the 

docket EPA–HQ–OLEM–2023–0451 and 

on the web at https://epa.gov/warm.) 

The EPA created WARM to provide 

high-level comparisons of potential 

greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions 

reductions, energy savings, and 

economic impacts (labor hours, wages 

and taxes when considering different 

materials management practices. 

Materials management practices 

include—source reduction, recycling, 

anaerobic digestion, combustion, 

composting and landfilling. 

WARM models 61 materials 

commonly found in municipal solid 

waste (MSW) and construction and 

demolition debris (C&D), including 

aluminum cans, glass, paper, plastics, 

organics (including food waste) and 

building materials. 

WARM is a comparative tool rather 

than a comprehensive measurement 

tool. WARM was not developed for and, 

as such, should not be used for final 

site-specific materials management 

decisions, when other human health 

and environmental impacts of the 

different management methods may 

need to be considered (such as air 

pollution, water pollution, noise, etc.). It 

also should not be used for developing 

GhG inventories, which need to 

establish a baseline and measure 

reductions over time on an annual basis 

for an entity. 

III. Request for Information 

The Environmental Protection Agency 

requests public comment on WARM v16 

and its supporting documentation from 

a broad range of individuals and 

organizations with an understanding of 

and interest in tools and models related 

to life cycle materials management, such 

as: federal, state, tribal, territorial, and 

local governments; industry; 

researchers; academia; non-profit 

organizations; community groups; 

individuals and international 

organizations. EPA is interested in 

receiving input on the following: 

• How can the scientific rigor and 

adherence to modeling best practices 

and assumptions in WARM regarding 

biogenic carbon emissions, carbon 

storage in forests, soils, and landfills, 

and utility offsets from combustion be 

improved? 

• How can WARM better align with 

best practices in climate change 

modeling and assumptions? 

• How can the alignment of data, 

assumptions, and model components in 

WARM with real market practices be 

improved? 

• In assessing WARM, how well do 

the modeled management practices 

represent the diversity of practices 

typically used in the United States? 

• When evaluating WARM, how 

accurately does it depict the common 

secondary use of recycled materials in 

the United States? 

• What recommendations can be 

made for enhancing the clarity, 

transparency, relevance, and usability of 

WARM and its accompanying 

documentation? 

• Are there any studies or data 

sources that are relevant to WARM but 

are currently not integrated, and how 

could their inclusion be beneficial for 

future development? 

• What are the potential advantages 

and disadvantages of conducting future 

WARM model development in a more 

publicly accessible development 

environment, such as GitHub, to 

encourage increased transparency and 

public involvement? 

• What are the potential advantages 

and disadvantages of the EPA 

considering the use of readily available 

data from public sources (such as the 

Federal LCA Commons) in WARM, 

especially the use of non-waste 

management data, to enhance data 

consistency, accessibility and reliability 

across federal government life cycle 

work? 

The Environmental Protection Agency 

will use feedback and information 

received through this public comment, 

the external peer review and the data 

quality assessment to inform future 

improvements to WARM. Please 

identify the question(s) you are 

responding to when submitting your 

comments. 

IV. Disclaimer and Important Note 

This request for public comment is 

issued solely for information, research 

and planning purposes and does not 

constitute a Request for Proposals (RFP) 

or a Request for Applications (RFA). 

Responding to this notice will not give 

any advantage to or preclude any 

organization or individual in any 

subsequently issued solicitation, RFP, or 

RFA. Any future development activities 

related to this activity will be 

announced separately. This notice does 

not represent any award commitment on 

the part of the U.S. Government, nor 

does it obligate the Government to pay 

for costs incurred in the preparation and 

submission of any responses. 

Dated: December 13, 2023. 

Carolyn Hoskinson, 

Director, Office of Resource Conservation and 

Recovery. 

[FR Doc. 2023–28342 Filed 12–22–23; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6560–50–P 


khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with NOTICES