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[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 3 (Monday, January 6, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 645-646]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-31291]

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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[EPA-HQ-OPPT-2018-0320; FRL-11655-02-OCSPP]

Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Review of CBI Claims for the 
Identity of Chemicals in the TSCA Inventory; Extension of Review Period

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA or Agency) is 
announcing the extension of the review period for Confidential Business 
Information (CBI) claims for specific identities 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 a further extension of the statutory review period for 
the review of CBI claims under TSCA is necessary to allow the Agency to 
complete the required reviews under TSCA.

DATES: The review period is extended to February 19, 2026.

ADDRESSES: The docket for this action, identified by docket 
identification (ID) number EPA-HQ-OPPT-2018-0320, is available online 
at https://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: 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: 
[email protected].
    For general information: The TSCA-Hotline, ABVI-Goodwill, 422 South 
Clinton Ave., Rochester, NY 14620; telephone number: (202) 554-1404; 
email address: [email protected].

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 further 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, insufficient 
resources and other legal and administrative delays that have affected 
the review process. EPA previously extended the review period by one 
year, to February 19, 2025 (89 FR 4605, January 24, 2024 (FRL-11655-01-
OCSPP)). As discussed in that document, EPA has evaluated its progress 
toward completing the requirements for the Agency to review CBI 
substantiations outlined in the final rule titled ``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)) and has concluded that a further one year extension will be 
necessary to complete the Review Plan reviews.

[[Page 646]]

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 identities 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 the Review Plan rule, however, EPA has 
encountered issues that have prevented meeting this original target. 
These issues and/or their effects persist to the present, making 
meeting the extended target of February 19, 2025, impossible. 
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 further extending the target review completion date until 
February 19, 2026.
    Several issues and factors caused delays that prevented EPA from 
completing its review within the five-year period (and are going to 
prevent completion within the previous one-year extension). These 
issues are described in more detail in the document at 89 FR 4605-4606, 
but include a large universe of claims to review (more than 4,805 
chemical substances in 5,787 often-complex submissions) and concurrent 
activities to update the public portion of the TSCA Inventory, 
consistent with the requirements of TSCA sections 8(b) and 14. Also, 
adapting and maintaining the Agency's information technology (IT) 
systems to complete these reviews has continued to contribute to delays 
in reviewing these CBI claims. The size (i.e. very large file size) and 
other features of certain submissions caused IT difficulties that 
halted the CBI review process for about nine months while available 
resources were prioritized to address more critical IT needs. A lack of 
requested appropriated funds in FY24 and FY25 resulted in insufficient 
contract resources to address IT system issues in addition to not 
allowing EPA to maintain the necessary staffing level to make progress 
on these reviews. Finally, EPA was delayed in commencing Review Plan 
reviews for 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), which resulted in a need for additional rulemaking activity to 
add a reporting requirement. The additional reporting requirement 
created confusion among some reporting entities, further slowing the 
review process.
    These issues and factors together justify extending the review 
period deadline by a total of two years, consistent with TSCA section 
8(b)(4)(E)(ii)(I).
    Authority: 15 U.S.C. 2607(b).

    Dated: December 20, 2024.
Michal Freedhoff,
Assistant Administrator, Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution 
Prevention.
[FR Doc. 2024-31291 Filed 1-3-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P
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