Federal Register / Vol. 63, No. 16 / Monday, January 26, 1998 / Notices 3741

detailed questionnaire to industry

associations and environmental groups

plus a meeting to discuss comments.

EPA also made presentations at many

professional and industry association

meetings. The following are the industry

associations that participated in the EPA

outreach program: Utility Water Act

Group, American Forest and Paper

Association, American Iron and Steel

Institute, American Petroleum Institute,

Chemical Manufacturers Association,

and Edison Electric Institute. EPA also

requested comments on the detailed

questionnaire from the Electric Power

Research Institute. Environmental group

outreach included the Hudson

Riverkeeper, the New York and New

Jersey Baykeeper and other interested

environmental group representatives.

Based on comments received from these

early outreach activities, EPA decided to

first administer a screener questionnaire

(except to electric utilities) followed by

a detailed questionnaire. The screener is

designed to assist EPA in selecting an

appropriate sample of facilities that

employ cooling water intake structures

to receive the detailed technical

questionnaire. Electric utilities will not

receive a screener questionnaire because

of the large volume of publicly available

data.

The Agency has coordinated

extensively with the Energy Information

Association (EIA) to determine what

pertinent information is publicly

available. EPA does not intend to

request, in the detailed questionnaire,

information that is publicly available.

For that reason, the Agency has greatly

reduced the financial and economic

information burden on the electric

utilities. The majority of the information

EIA collects from nonutility power

producers is confidential business

information not available to EPA.

EPA significantly lowered the burden

to industry by systematically reducing

the number of industrial facilities to

receive the detailed questionnaire from

a possible 412,000 facilities to about

1,700 facilities. Based on water intake

and cooling water use from the 1982

Census of Manufacturers, EPA

identified six industrial sectors to

receive the screener or the detailed

questionnaire or both. These six

industrial sectors are: Electric Utilities,

Nonutility Power Producers, Chemicals

& Allied Products, Primary Metals

Industry, Petroleum & Coal Products,

and Paper & Allied Products. Together,

EPA estimates that these six sectors

account for more than 99 percent of all

cooling water withdrawals and include

about 50,000 facilities. EPA limited the

sample frame for electric utilities and

nonutility power producers to only

those facilities that have a prime mover

which utilizes a steam cycle operation

(a steam cycle operation requires

cooling water). EPA also limited data

collection to industrial subcategories

which documented significant cooling

water use, thereby further reducing the

potential number of facilities to be

surveyed to about 7,515. To help further

refine the sample frame for the detailed

questionnaire, EPA decided to

administer a screener survey to five of

the six industrial sectors (excluding

electric utility). The Agency anticipates

administering the screener to

approximately 6,700 facilities. As stated

earlier, EPA expects to administer the

detailed survey to approximately 1,705

facilities. Limiting the survey sample

frame as described above is not

intended to limit the scope or

applicability of the section 316(b)

regulation.

Finally, EPA will maintain a

temporary, no-charge telephone number

that survey recipients may call to obtain

assistance in completing the data

collection surveys. EPA believes that the

no-charge telephone number will greatly

reduce burden by helping recipients to

answer specific questions within the

context of their individual operations.

Dated: January 19, 1998.

Tudor T. Davies,

Director, Office of Science and Technology.

[FR Doc. 98–1760 Filed 1–23–98; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6560–50–P

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

AGENCY

[FRL–5953–7]

EPA’s National Drinking Water

Contaminant Occurrence Data Base

AGENCY: Environmental Protection

Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Announcement of a stakeholder

meeting on the National Drinking Water

Contaminant Occurrence Data Base.

SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection

Agency (EPA) has scheduled a two-day

public meeting on EPA’s National

Drinking Water Contaminant

Occurrence Data Base. At the upcoming

meeting, EPA is seeking input from

stakeholders, including national and

state representatives, environmental

organizations, industry, the public, and

other interested parties. The purpose of

the meeting is to seek input from

stakeholders on the design of the

national drinking water contaminant

occurrence data base to include such

issues as data elements, data element

standardization, reporting, storage,

retrieval, use and access. EPA

encourages the full participation of

stakeholders throughout this process.

DATES: The stakeholder meeting on the

National Drinking Water Contaminant

Occurrence Data Base will be held on

February 12, 1998 from 9:00–5:00 p.m.

EST and on February 13 from 9:00–3:00

p.m. EST.

ADDRESSES: Resolve, Inc. (an EPA

contractor) will provide logistical

support for the stakeholders meeting.

The meeting will be held at Resolve,

Inc., 1255 23rd Street, NW, Suite 275,

Washington, D.C. 20037.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For

general information about the meeting

logistics, please contact Mr. Jeff Citrin at

Resolve, Inc., 1255 23rd Street, NW,

Suite 275, Washington, D.C. 20037;

phone: (202) 944–2300; fax: (202) 338–

1264, or e-mail at jcitrin@resolv.org.

Members of the public wishing to

attend the meeting may register by

phone by contacting Mr. Jeff Citrin by

February 2, 1998. Those registered for

the meeting will receive background

materials prior to the meeting.

For other information on the National

Drinking Water Contaminant

Occurrence Data Base, please contact

Charles Job at the U.S. Environmental

Protection Agency, Phone: 202–260–

7084, Fax: 202–260–3762, or e-mail at

job.charles@epamail.epa.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

A. Background on the National

Drinking Water Contaminant

Occurrence Data Base

The Safe Drinking Water Act, SDWA,

as amended in 1996, states that: Not

later than three years after the date of

enactment of the Safe Drinking Water

Act Amendments of 1996, the

Administrator shall assemble and

maintain a national drinking water

contaminant occurrence data base using

information on the occurrence of both

regulated and unregulated contaminants

in public water systems obtained under

section 1445(a)(1)(A) or section

1445(a)(2) and reliable information from

other public and private sources. The

National Drinking Water Contaminant

Occurrence Data Base is required to be

developed by August 6, 1999.

B. Request for Stakeholder Involvement

EPA has convened this public

meeting to hear the views of

stakeholders on the next stage (i.e.,

design) of the National Drinking Water

Contaminant Occurrence Data Base

development. The EPA National

Contaminant Occurrence Data Base

(NCOD) project Team will soon be

making final recommendations on the
3742 Federal Register / Vol. 63, No. 16 / Monday, January 26, 1998 / Notices

data elements that will be the

foundation for future regulated and

unregulated contaminant occurrence

data reporting. The data submitted using

these data elements will provide the

basis for the Administrator to determine

whether or not to regulate contaminants

in the future. For chemical

contaminants, a series of meetings have

been held with a diverse group of EPA,

state, public water system, public

health, consumer, and environmental

groups, which identified a number of

data elements that should be considered

for reporting. The majority of the data

elements are already in the structure of

the EPA Safe Drinking Water

Information System (SDWIS). A

preliminary categorization of the

remaining data elements indicates that

some could be dropped because of

potential duplication with other data

elements, others could be derived from

other data elements in the SDWIS

structure, and the rest are new data

elements. The new data elements are

principally focused on: quality

assurance, representativeness of the

sample, laboratory information, sample

location, and well information.

Additionally, the meeting will

address such issues as:

1. What specific data element

standards should be used?

2. How will electronic reporting by

States, public water systems and/or

laboratories best be accomplished?

3. What electronic platform(s) should

be used to support the NCOD,

recognizing public access as a major

consideration in data base design?

4. What options for data retrieval

should be considered?

5. In what ways will EPA use the

data?

6. How should the data be analyzed?

7. What information should be

available to the public?

The public is invited to provide

comments on the issues listed above or

other issues related to the National

Drinking Water Contaminant

Occurrence Data Base during the

February 12–13, 1998 meeting.

Dated: January 21, 1998.

Cynthia Dougherty,

Director, Office of Ground Water and Drinking

Water.

[FR Doc. 98–1762 Filed 1–23–98; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6560–50–P

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

AGENCY

[FRL–5953–5]

Meeting of the Small Community

Advisory Subcommittee of the Local

Government Advisory Committee

AGENCY: Environmental Protection

Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice.

SUMMARY: This meeting is the first for

the Small Community Advisory

Subcommittee of the Local Government

Advisory Committee. Orientation,

organization and agenda setting will be

the focus of this gathering. The group

takes up the work of an earlier advisory

group known as the Small Towns Task

Force. At this meeting, the

subcommittee will hear presentations

about the history and recommendations

of the Small Towns Task Force. Part of

the meeting will also be devoted to

presentations about Federal Advisory

committee operations, rules and

regulations. The group will also develop

a strategy to guide subsequent meetings.

Responsibility for the Small Community

Advisory Subcommittee of the Local

Government Advisory Committee rests

with the Office of Administrator, Office

of Congressional and Intergovernmental

Relations (OCIR) under the leadership of

Joseph Crapa, Associate Administrator

for Congressional and

Intergovernmental Relations and

Michael O’Connor, Deputy Associate

Administrator for State and Local

Relations. OCIR serves as the Agency’s

principal liaison with State and local

government officials and the

organizations which represent them.

From 3:00–3:30 p.m. on February 18,

the Committee will hear comments from

the public. Each individual or

organization wishing to address the

Committee will be allowed three

minutes. Please contact the Designated

Federal Officer (DFO) at the number

listed below to schedule agenda time.

Time will be allotted on a first come,

first serve basis.

This is an open meeting and all

interested persons are invited to attend.

Meeting minutes will be available after

the meeting and can be obtained by

written request from the DFO. Members

of the public are requested to call the

DFO at the number listed below if

planning to attend so that arrangements

can be made to comfortably

accommodate attendees as much as

possible. However, seating will be on a

first come, first serve basis.

DATES: The meeting will begin at 8:30

a.m. on Tuesday, February 17 and

conclude at 4:00 p.m. on February 18.

ADDRESSES: The meeting will be held at

the Kansas City Marriott Downtown

located at 200 West 12th Street in

Kansas City, Missouri.

Requests for Minutes and other

information can be obtained by writing

to 401 M Street, S.W. (1502),

Washington, DC 20460.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: The

DFO for this subcommittee is Steven

Wilson. He is the point of contact for

information concerning any Committee

matters and can be reached by calling

(202) 260–2294.

Steven Wilson,

Designated Federal Officer, Small Community

Advisory Subcommittee of the Local

Government Advisory Committee.

[FR Doc. 98–1761 Filed 1–23–98; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6560–50–P

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

AGENCY

[OPP–00521; FRL–5767–4]

Liquid Chemical Sterilant Products;

Notice of Availability of PR Notice

AGENCY: Environmental Protection

Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of availability.

SUMMARY: EPA is announcing the

availability of Pesticide Regulation (PR)

Notice 98–2, entitled ‘‘Liquid Chemical

Sterilant Products.’’ The PR Notice

advises applicants and registrants of

new FIFRA provisions related to liquid

chemical sterilants intended for use on

critical or semi-critical medical devices.

Interested parties may request a copy of

this PR Notice and obtain further

information as set forth in the Addresses

unit of this notice.

ADDRESSES: The PR Notice is available

from, by mail: Barbara Mandula,

Antimicrobials Division (7510W), Office

of Pesticide Programs, Environmental

Protection Agency, 401 M St., SW.,

Washington, DC 20460. The public

record is filed in OPP’s Docket Office

under docket control number ‘‘OPP–

00521’’, located in Room 119 of the

Public Information and Records

Integrity Branch, Information Resources

and Services Division (7502C), Office of

Pesticide Programs, Environmental

Protection Agency, Crystal Mall #2,

1921 Jefferson Davis Highway,

Arlington, VA.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: By

mail: Barbara Mandula (7510W),

Environmental Protection Agency, 401

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

Office location and telephone number:

Sixth Floor, Crystal Station #1, 2800

Crystal Drive, Arlington, VA, (703) 308–