Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 16 / Wednesday, January 24, 2024 / Notices 4605 

Filed Date: 1/18/24. 

Accession Number: 20240118–5134. 

Comment Date: 5 p.m. ET 2/8/24. 

Docket Numbers: ER24–943–000. 

Applicants: Cottontail Solar 5, LLC. 

Description: Baseline eTariff Filing: 

Reactive Power Compensation Baseline 

Filing to be effective 1/31/2024. 

Filed Date: 1/18/24. 

Accession Number: 20240118–5145. 

Comment Date: 5 p.m. ET 2/8/24. 

The filings are accessible in the 

Commission’s eLibrary system (https://

elibrary.ferc.gov/idmws/search/ 

fercgensearch.asp) by querying the 

docket number. 

Any person desiring to intervene, to 

protest, or to answer a complaint in any 

of the above proceedings must file in 

accordance with Rules 211, 214, or 206 

of the Commission’s Regulations (18 

CFR 385.211, 385.214, or 385.206) on or 

before 5:00 p.m. Eastern time on the 

specified comment date. Protests may be 

considered, but intervention is 

necessary to become a party to the 

proceeding. 

eFiling is encouraged. More detailed 

information relating to filing 

requirements, interventions, protests, 

service, and qualifying facilities filings 

can be found at: http://www.ferc.gov/ 

docs-filing/efiling/filing-req.pdf. For 

other information, call (866) 208–3676 

(toll free). For TTY, call (202) 502–8659. 

The Commission’s Office of Public 

Participation (OPP) supports meaningful 

public engagement and participation in 

Commission proceedings. OPP can help 

members of the public, including 

landowners, environmental justice 

communities, Tribal members and 

others, access publicly available 

information and navigate Commission 

processes. For public inquiries and 

assistance with making filings such as 

interventions, comments, or requests for 

rehearing, the public is encouraged to 

contact OPP at (202) 502–6595 or OPP@

ferc.gov. 

Dated: January 18, 2024. 

Debbie-Anne A. Reese, 

Acting Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 2024–01330 Filed 1–23–24; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6717–01–P 

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 

AGENCY 

[EPA–HQ–OPPT–2018–0320; FRL–11655– 

01–OCSPP] 

Toxic Substances Control Act Review 

of CBI Claims for the Identity of 

Chemicals in the TSCA Inventory; 

Extension of Review Period 

AGENCY: Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA). 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: This document announces the 

extension of the review period for 

Confidential Business Information (CBI) 

claims for specific identify of all active 

chemical substances listed on the 

confidential portion of the Toxic 

Substances Control Act (TSCA) 

Inventory submitted to the EPA under 

TSCA. EPA has determined that an 

extension of the statutory review period 

for the review of CBI claims under 

TSCA are necessary to allow the Agency 

to complete the required reviews under 

TSCA. 

DATES: The review period is extended to 

February 19, 2025. 

ADDRESSES: The docket for this action, 

identified by docket identification (ID) 

number EPA–HQ–OPPT–2018–0320, is 

available online at http://

www.regulations.gov. Additional 

instructions for visiting the docket, 

along with more information about 

dockets generally, is available at https:// 

www.epa.gov/dockets. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

For technical information contact: 

Jessica Barkas, Project Management and 

Operations Division (7401), Office of 

Pollution Prevention and Toxics, 

Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 

Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, DC 

20460–0001; telephone number: (202) 

250–8880; email address: 

barkas.jessica@epa.gov. 

For general information contact: The 

TSCA–Hotline, ABVI–Goodwill, 422 

South Clinton Ave., Rochester, NY 

14620; telephone number: (202) 554– 

1404; email address: TSCA-Hotline@

epa.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Does this action apply to me? 

You may be affected by this action if 

you submitted a Notice of Activity Form 

A to EPA under TSCA section 8(b)(4) 

and 40 CFR part 710, subpart B and 

asserted any CBI claims concerning the 

specific identities of the chemical 

substances you reported. Persons who 

seek information on such submissions 

may also be affected by this action. The 

following list of North American 

Industrial Classification System 

(NAICS) codes is not intended to be 

exhaustive, but rather provides a guide 

to help readers determine whether this 

document applies to them. Potentially 

affected entities may include: 

• Manufacturers, importers, or 

processors of chemical substances 

(NAICS codes 325 and 324110), e.g., 

chemical manufacturing and petroleum 

refineries. 

If you have any questions regarding 

the applicability of this action to a 

particular entity, consult the technical 

contact person listed under FOR FURTHER

INFORMATION CONTACT. 

II. What is the Agency’s authority for 

taking this action? 

TSCA authorizes the extension of the 

Review Plan deadline in TSCA section 

8(b)(4)(E)(ii)(I), 15 U.S.C. 

2607(b)(4)(E)(ii)(I). 

III. What action is the Agency taking? 

EPA is announcing to the public that 

it is extending an Agency review 

deadline pursuant to the authority in 

TSCA section 8(b)(4)(E)(ii)(I), 15 U.S.C. 

2607(b)(4)(E)(ii)(I). The additional time 

is necessary to complete the reviews 

given the volume of submissions that 

require review, information technology 

issues, and other legal and 

administrative delays that have affected 

the review process. EPA will evaluate 

progress toward completing the 

requirements for the Agency to review 

CBI substantiations outlined in the final 

rule entitled ‘‘Procedures for Review of 

CBI Claims for the Identity of Chemicals 

in the TSCA Inventory’’ (Review Plan 

rule), (85 FR 13062, March 6, 2020 

(FRL–10005–48)), which set a deadline 

of February 19, 2024. This action will 

extend the deadline by a year and as 

this extended deadline approaches the 

Agency may further extend the deadline 

as necessary to complete the Review 

Plan reviews. 

IV. What is the TSCA Review Plan? 

Pursuant to TSCA section 8(b), EPA 

finalized the Review Plan rule 

establishing, inter alia, the Agency’s 

plan for reviewing all active TSCA 

Inventory CBI claims concerning 

specific chemical identity that had been 

made in Active-Inactive rule reporting 

taking place in 2017 and 2018 (see 40 

CFR part 710, subparts B (Commercial 

Activity Notification) and C (Review 

Plan)). Consistent with TSCA section 

8(b)(4)(E)(i), which allows a five-year 

period for these reviews following 

compilation of an initial list of active 

substances, the reviews were targeted 

for completion by February 19, 2024 

(see 40 CFR 710.55(d). Since finalizing 


ddrumheller on DSK120RN23PROD with NOTICES1
4606 Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 16 / Wednesday, January 24, 2024 / Notices 

the Review Plan rule, however, EPA has 

encountered issues that, cumulatively, 

make reaching this target highly 

unlikely. Consequently, consistent with 

TSCA section 8(b)(4)(E)(ii)(I) and 40 

CFR 710.55(e) which permit EPA to 

extend the review period by up to two 

years, EPA is extending the target 

review completion date until February 

19, 2025. As this extended deadline 

approaches, EPA will re-evaluate the 

Review Plan progress and will further 

extend the deadline, as necessary to 

complete the Review Plan reviews, up 

to February 19, 2026. 

Several issues and factors caused 

delays that are expected to prevent EPA 

from completing its review within the 

five-year period. Firstly, the volume of 

claims is significant. EPA received and 

is reviewing CBI claims for the specific 

chemical identity of more than 4,805 

chemical substances in 5,787 

submissions under the Review Plan. At 

the same time, the Agency is 

maintaining its CBI review program for 

new CBI claims under TSCA section 

14(g). This involves reviewing 

numerous and varied types of TSCA 

submissions, containing a wide array of 

CBI claims of differing complexity. The 

Agency receives approximately 600 

submissions with multiple CBI claims 

requiring review under TSCA section 

14(g) each year. Also concurrent with 

these CBI review activities, EPA is 

processing denied and withdrawn CBI 

claims for chemical identity so that 

those chemical identities may be 

disclosed on the public portion of the 

TSCA Inventory, consistent with the 

requirements of TSCA sections 8(b) and 

14. 

Secondly, adapting the Agency’s 

information technology (IT) systems to 

complete these reviews has presented 

issues and contributed to delays as part 

of processing the voluminous amount of 

CBI claims. For example, in its reviews, 

EPA observed duplication of and 

inconsistencies between confidentiality 

claims for the same chemicals across 

and between submissions. Limitations 

with existing IT tools have made 

identifying and resolving such issues a 

largely manual process, which 

consumes resources and delays Agency 

reviews. In addition, the size (i.e., very 

large file size) and other features of 

certain submissions have caused IT 

difficulties that have halted the CBI 

review process for more than six months 

and these issues have not yet been 

resolved as available resources have 

been prioritized to address more critical 

IT needs. 

Finally, EPA could not start its 

Review Plan reviews until after a delay 

of approximately six months to a year as 

a result of the decision of the U.S. Court 

of Appeals for the District of Columbia 

Circuit in Environmental Defense Fund 

v. EPA, 922 F.3d 446 (D.C. Cir. 2019). 

The Court’s decision meant that any 

company who had voluntarily provided 

substantiation in their initial Notice of 

Activity filing (mostly made in 2018) 

had to ensure those prior submissions 

included information regarding reverse 

engineering (generally by answering two 

additional substantiation questions), 

and that EPA had to provide a reporting 

period for doing so prior to beginning 

any Review Plan reviews. EPA 

published a supplement to the proposed 

Review Plan rule to address the Court’s 

decision on November 8, 2019 (84 FR 

60363 (FRL–10001–44)). The final rule 

required substantiation or supplemental 

substantiation by November 2020 (see 

40 CFR 710.47). The additional 

reporting requirement created confusion 

among some reporting entities, the 

resolution of which has further slowed 

the review process. 

These issues and factors together 

justify extending the review period 

deadline by at least one year, consistent 

with TSCA section 8(b)(4)(E)(ii)(I). 

Authority: 15 U.S.C. 2607(b). 

Dated: January 18, 2024. 

Michal Freedhoff, 

Assistant Administrator, Office of Chemical 

Safety and Pollution Prevention. 

[FR Doc. 2024–01351 Filed 1–23–24; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6560–50–P 

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 

AGENCY 

[EPA–HQ–ORD–2023–0240; FRL–10973–01– 

ORD] 

Scientific Integrity Policy Draft for 

Public Comment 

AGENCY: Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA). 

ACTION: Notice of public comment 

period. 

SUMMARY: The U.S. Environmental 

Protection Agency (EPA) is announcing 

a 30-day public comment period on the 

draft updates to its Scientific Integrity 

(SI) Policy. In accordance with the 

requirements of the 2021 Presidential 

Memorandum on Restoring Trust in 

Government Through Scientific Integrity 

and Evidence-based Policymaking, EPA 

is revising our SI Policy. The updated SI 

Policy will adopt a new Federal 

definition of scientific integrity and 

meaningfully strengthen several policy 

elements that will help ensure a culture 

of scientific integrity at the Agency. It 

will incorporate the model scientific 

integrity policy from the National 

Science and Technology Council’s A 

Framework for Federal Scientific 

Integrity Policy and Practice (2023), 

lessons learned over the years, and the 

results of previous surveys of EPA staff 

on scientific integrity. 

DATES: The 30-day public comment 

period begins January 24, 2024 and ends 

February 23, 2024. Comments must be 

received on or before February 23, 2024 

to be considered by EPA. 

ADDRESSES: You may send comments, 

identified by Docket ID No. EPA–HQ– 

ORD–2023–0240, by any of the 

following methods: 

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: 

https://www.regulations.gov/ (our 

preferred method). Follow the online 

instructions for submitting comments. 

• Mail: U.S. Environmental 

Protection Agency, EPA Docket Center, 

Office of Research and Development 

Docket, Mail Code 28221T, 1200 

Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, 

DC 20460. 

• Hand Delivery or Courier: EPA 

Docket Center, WJC West Building, 

Room 3334, 1301 Constitution Avenue 

NW, Washington, DC 20004. The Docket 

Center’s hours of operations are 8:30 

a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through 

Friday (except Federal Holidays). 

Instructions: All submissions received 

must include the Docket ID No. for this 

action. Comments received may be 

posted without change to https://

www.regulations.gov/, including any 

personal information provided. For 

detailed instructions on sending 

comments and additional information, 

see the ‘‘Public Participation’’ heading 

of the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION

section of this document. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For 

information on the public comment 

period, contact the ORD Docket at the 

EPA Headquarters Docket Center; 

telephone: 202–566–1752; facsimile: 

202–566–9744; or email: Docket_ORD@

epa.gov. For technical information on 

the draft guidelines or information on 

the public comment period, contact Dr. 

Francesca Grifo, via email at: 

grifo.francesca@epa.gov; or via phone/ 

voicemail at 202–657–8575. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Public Participation 

Written Comments: Submit your 

comments, identified by Docket ID No. 

EPA–HQ–ORD–2023–0240, 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 

EPA may publish any comment received 


ddrumheller on DSK120RN23PROD with NOTICES1