Federal Register / Vol. 70, No. 225 / Wednesday, November 23, 2005 / Notices 70823 

public more aware of releases of 

chemicals in their communities. 

Comprehensive publicly-available 

data about releases, transfers, and other 

waste management activities of toxic 

chemicals at the community level are 

generally not available, other than under 

the reporting requirements of EPCRA 

section 313. Permit data are often 

difficult to obtain, are not cross-media 

and present only a limited perspective 

on a facility’s overall performance. With 

TRI, and the real gains in understanding 

it has produced, communities and 

governments know what toxic 

chemicals industrial facilities in their 

area release, transfer, or otherwise 

manage as waste. In addition, industries 

have an additional tool for evaluating 

efficiency and progress on their 

pollution prevention goals. 

Responses to the collection of 

information are mandatory (see 40 CFR 

part 372). Respondents may claim trade 

secrecy for a chemical’s identity as 

described in section 322 of EPCRA and 

its implementing regulations in 40 CFR 

part 350. EPA will disclose information 

that is covered by a claim of trade 

secrecy only to the extent permitted by, 

and in accordance with, the procedures 

in 40 CFR part 350 and 40 CFR part 2. 

An agency may not conduct or 

sponsor, and a person is not required to 

respond to, a collection of information 

unless it displays a currently valid OMB 

control number. The OMB control 

numbers for EPA’s regulations in 40 

CFR are listed in 40 CFR part 9 and are 

identified on the form and/or 

instrument, if applicable. 

Burden Statement: The annual public 

reporting and recordkeeping burden for 

this collection of information is 

estimated to average 51.3 hours per first 

year response for PBT chemicals and 

29.6 hours per subsequent year response 

for non-PBT chemicals. There is 

additional burden associated with rule 

familiarization, compliance 

determination and supplier notification. 

Burden means the total time, effort, or 

financial resources expended by persons 

to generate, maintain, retain, or disclose 

or provide information to or for a 

Federal agency. This includes the time 

needed to review instructions; develop, 

acquire, install, and utilize technology 

and systems for the purposes of 

collecting, validating, and verifying 

information, processing and 

maintaining information, and disclosing 

and providing information; adjust the 

existing ways to comply with any 

previously applicable instructions and 

requirements; train personnel to be able 

to respond to a collection of 

information; search data sources; 

complete and review the collection of 

information; and transmit or otherwise 

disclose the information. 

Respondents/Affected Entities: 

Owners or operators of certain facilities 

that manufacture, process, or otherwise 

use certain specified toxic chemicals 

and chemical categories and are 

required to report annually on the 

environmental releases, transfers and 

waste management activities for such 

chemicals. 

Estimated Number of Respondents: 

82,000. 

Frequency of Response: Annual. 

Estimated Total Annual Hour Burden: 

3,746,590 burden hours. 

Estimated Total Annual Cost: 

$170,500,000 in labor costs. 

Changes in the Estimates: There is a 

decrease of 142,162 hours in the total 

estimated burden currently identified in 

the OMB Inventory of Approved ICR 

Burdens. This decrease is due to (1) the 

fact that approximately 2,000 fewer 

forms were filed in RY2002 than in 

RY2001 and (2) the TRI Reporting 

Forms Modification Rule (70 FR 39931) 

that modified Form R to eliminate 

certain data elements and to simplify 

others. 

Dated: November 15, 2005. 

Joseph A. Sierra, 

Acting Director, Collection Strategies 

Division. 

[FR Doc. 05–23219 Filed 11–22–05; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6560–50–P 

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 

AGENCY 

[OEI–2005–0007; FRL–8000–5] 

Agency Information Collection 

Activities; Submission to OMB for 

Review and Approval; Toxic Chemical 

Release Reporting, Alternate 

Threshold for Low Annual Reportable 

Amounts (Form A) (Renewal), EPA ICR 

Number 1704.08, OMB Control Number 

2070–0143 

AGENCY: Environmental Protection 

Agency. 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: In compliance with the 

Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 

3501 et seq.), this document announces 

that an Information Collection Request 

(ICR) has been forwarded to the Office 

of Management and Budget (OMB) for 

review and approval. This is a request 

to renew an existing approved 

collection. This ICR is scheduled to 

expire on January 31, 2006. Under OMB 

regulations, the Agency may continue to 

conduct or sponsor the collection of 

information while this submission is 

pending at OMB. This ICR describes the 

nature of the information collection and 

its estimated burden and cost. 

DATES: Additional comments may be 

submitted on or before December 23, 

2005. 

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, 

referencing docket ID number OEI–

2005–0007, to (1) EPA online using 

EDOCKET (our preferred method), by email to oei.docket@epa.gov or by mail 

to: EPA Docket Center, Environmental 

Protection Agency, OEI Docket 28221T, 

1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW., 

Washington, DC 20460, and (2) OMB at: 

Office of Information and Regulatory 

Affairs, Office of Management and 

Budget (OMB), Attention: Desk Officer 

for EPA, 725 17th Street, NW., 

Washington, DC 20503. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Cassandra Vail, Toxics Release 

Inventory Program Division, Office of 

Information Analysis and Access 

(2844T), Environmental Protection 

Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW., 

Washington, DC 20460; telephone 

number: 202–566–0753; e-mail address: 

vail.cassandra@epa.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: EPA has 

submitted the following ICR to OMB for 

review and approval according to the 

procedures prescribed in 5 CFR 1320.12. 

On August 12, 2005, (70 FR 47195) EPA 

sought comments on this ICR pursuant 

to 5 CFR 1320.8(d). EPA received only 

one positive comment on this ICR 

during the comment period and EPA 

agrees with commenter that ICR should 

be approved. 

EPA has established a public docket 

for this ICR under Docket ID No. OEI–

2005–0007, which is available for public 

viewing at the OEI Docket in the EPA 

Docket Center (EPA/DC), EPA West, 

Room B102, 1301 Constitution Ave., 

NW., Washington, DC. The EPA Docket 

Center Public Reading Room is open 

from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday 

through Friday, excluding legal 

holidays. The telephone number for the 

Reading Room is (202) 566–1744, and 

the telephone number for the OEI 

Docket is (202) 566–1752. An electronic 

version of the public docket is available 

through EPA Dockets (EDOCKET) at 

http://www.epa.gov/edocket. Use 

EDOCKET to submit or view public 

comments, access the index listing of 

the contents of the public docket, and to 

access those documents in the public 

docket that are available electronically. 

Once in the system, select ‘‘search,’’

then key in the docket ID number 

identified above. 

Any comments related to this ICR 

should be submitted to EPA and OMB 

within 30 days of this notice. EPA’s 

70824 Federal Register / Vol. 70, No. 225 / Wednesday, November 23, 2005 / Notices 

policy is that public comments, whether 

submitted electronically or in paper, 

will be made available for public 

viewing in EDOCKET as EPA receives 

them and without change, unless the 

comment contains copyrighted material, 

CBI, or other information whose public 

disclosure is restricted by statute. When 

EPA identifies a comment containing 

copyrighted material, EPA will provide 

a reference to that material in the 

version of the comment that is placed in 

EDOCKET. The entire printed comment, 

including the copyrighted material, will 

be available in the public docket. 

Although identified as an item in the 

official docket, information claimed as 

CBI, or whose disclosure is otherwise 

restricted by statute, is not included in 

the official public docket, and will not 

be available for public viewing in 

EDOCKET. For further information 

about the electronic docket, see EPA’s 

Federal Register notice describing the 

electronic docket at 67 FR 38102 (May 

31, 2002), or go to http://www.epa.gov/ 

edocket. 

Title: Toxic Chemical Release 

Reporting, Alternate Threshold for Low 

Annual Reportable Amounts (Form A) 

(Renewal) 

Abstract: The Emergency Planning 

and Community Right-to-Know Act 

(EPCRA) section 313 requires certain 

facilities that manufacture, process, or 

otherwise use certain toxic chemicals in 

excess of specified threshold quantities 

to report their environmental releases of 

such chemicals annually. Each such 

facility must file a separate report for 

each such chemical. 

In accordance with the authority 

provided by EPCRA, EPA has 

established an alternate reporting 

threshold for those facilities with low 

amounts of a listed toxic chemical in 

wastes. A facility that otherwise meets 

the current reporting thresholds, but 

estimates that the total amount of the 

chemical that is released, disposed of, 

treated, recycled, or combusted for 

energy recovery does not exceed 500 

pounds per year, and that the chemical 

was manufactured, processed, or 

otherwise used in an amount not 

exceeding 1 million pounds during the 

reporting year, can take advantage of 

reporting under the alternate threshold 

option for that chemical for that 

reporting year. 

Each qualifying facility that chooses 

to apply the alternate threshold may file 

the Form A Certification Statement 

(EPA Form 9350–2) in lieu of a 

complete TRI reporting Form R (EPA 

Form 9350–1). In submitting the Form A 

Certification Statement, the facility 

certifies that the sum of the amount of 

EPCRA section 313 chemical released, 

disposed of, treated, recycled, or 

combusted for energy recovery does not 

exceed 500 pounds for the reporting 

year, and that the chemical was 

manufactured, processed, or otherwise 

used in an amount not exceeding 1 

million pounds during the reporting 

year. Use of the Form A Certification 

Statement represents a substantial 

savings to respondents, both in burden 

hours and in labor costs. Form A was 

recently modified by certain changes 

that were promulgated in the TRI 

Reporting Forms Modification Rule (70 

FR 39931). These changes eliminated 

certain fields from the Form A. 

The Form A Certification Statement 

provides communities with information 

that the chemical is being 

manufactured, processed, or otherwise 

used at facilities. Additionally, the Form 

A Certification Statement provides 

compliance monitoring and 

enforcement programs and other 

interested parties with a means to track 

chemical management activities and 

verify overall compliance with the rule. 

Responses to this collection of 

information are mandatory (see 40 CFR 

part 372) and facilities subject to 

reporting must submit either a Form A 

Certification Statement or a Form R. 

An agency may not conduct or 

sponsor, and a person is not required to 

respond to, a collection of information 

unless it displays a currently valid OMB 

control number. The OMB control 

numbers for EPA’s regulations in 40 

CFR are listed in 40 CFR part 9 and are 

identified on the form and/or 

instrument, if applicable. 

Burden Statement: The annual public 

reporting and recordkeeping burden for 

this collection of information is 

estimated to average 83.6 hours per first 

year response and 20.5 hours per 

subsequent year response. Burden 

means the total time, effort, or financial 

resources expended by persons to 

generate, maintain, retain, or disclose or 

provide information to or for a Federal 

agency. This includes the time needed 

to review instructions; develop, acquire, 

install, and utilize technology and 

systems for the purposes of collecting, 

validating, and verifying information, 

processing and maintaining 

information, and disclosing and 

providing information; adjust the 

existing ways to comply with any 

previously applicable instructions and 

requirements; train personnel to be able 

to respond to a collection of 

information; search data sources; 

complete and review the collection of 

information; and transmit or otherwise 

disclose the information. 

Respondents/Affected Entities: 

Owners or operators of certain facilities 

that manufacture process, or otherwise 

use certain specified toxic chemicals 

and chemical categories are required to 

report annually on the environmental 

releases, transfers, and waste 

management activities for such 

chemicals. 

Estimated Number of Respondents: 

4920. 

Frequency of Response: Annual. 

Estimated Total Annual Hour Burden: 

259,192 burden hours. 

Estimated Total Annual Cost: 

$11,919,489 in labor cost. 

Changes in the Estimates: There is a 

decrease of 22,847 hours in the total 

estimated burden currently identified in 

the OMB Inventory of Approved ICR 

Burdens. This decrease is due to 

adjustments to estimates in the number 

of responses (from 5,000 responses to 

4,920 responses) and to first and 

subsequent year form completion 

burden reduction due to the TRI 

Reporting Forms Modification Rule 

(first year form completion fell from 2.1 

hours to 1.6 hours and subsequent year 

form completion fell from 1.4 hours to 

1.3 hours). 

Dated: November 15, 2005. 

Joseph A. Sierra, 

Acting Director, Collection Strategies 

Division. 

[FR Doc. 05–23220 Filed 11–22–05; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6560–50–P 

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 

AGENCY 

[FRL–8001–2] 

Agency Information Collection 

Activities OMB Responses 

AGENCY: Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA). 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: This document announces the 

Office of Management and Budget’s 

(OMB) responses to Agency Clearance 

requests, in compliance with the 

Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 

3501 et Seq.). An agency may not 

conduct or sponsor, and a person is not 

required to respond to, a collection of 

information unless it displays a 

currently valid OMB control number. 

The OMB control numbers for EPA’s 

regulations are listed in 40 CFR part 9 

and 48 CFR chapter 15. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Susan Auby (202) 566–1672, or e-mail at 

auby.susan@epa.gov and please refer to 

the appropriate EPA Information 

Collection Request (ICR) Number.