70822 Federal Register / Vol. 70, No. 225 / Wednesday, November 23, 2005 / Notices 

increase is due to calculation errors in 

previous reports. 

The active ICR has both capital/ 

startup costs and O&M costs. Because 

there are no new sources with reporting 

requirements, no capital/startup costs 

are incurred in this renewal. The only 

cost incurred is for the operation and 

maintenance of the monitors ($20,650), 

which has reduced the overall costs by 

$86,000. 

Dated: November 7, 2005. 

Oscar Morales, 

Director, Collection Strategies Division. 

[FR Doc. 05–23218 Filed 11–22–05; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6560–50–P 

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 

AGENCY 

[OEI–2004–0006; FRL–8000–3] 

Agency Information Collection 

Activities; Submission to OMB for 

Review and Approval; Toxic Chemical 

Release Reporting (Form R) (Renewal), 

EPA ICR Number 1363.14, OMB 

Control Number 2070–0093 

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–

2004–0006, 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 May 18, 2005, (70 FR 28520) EPA 

sought comments on this ICR pursuant 

to 5 CFR 1320.8(d). EPA received 

comments from four organizations on 

this ICR during the comment period. A 

table summarizing the major comments 

and EPA’s responses is available in the 

public docket. 

EPA has established a public docket 

for this ICR under Docket ID No. OEI–

2004–0006 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 

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 (Form R) (Renewal) 

Abstract: The Emergency Planning 

and Community Right-to-Know Act 

(EPCRA) section 313 requires owners 

and operators of certain facilities that 

manufacture, process, or otherwise use 

any of certain listed toxic chemicals and 

chemical categories in excess of 

applicable threshold quantities to report 

annually to the Environmental 

Protection Agency and to the states in 

which such facilities are located on 

their environmental releases and 

transfers of and other waste 

management activities for such 

chemicals. In addition, section 6607 of 

the Pollution Prevention Act (PPA) 

requires facilities to provide information 

on the quantities of the toxic chemicals 

in waste streams and the efforts made to 

reduce or eliminate those quantities. 

Annual reporting under EPCRA 

section 313 of toxic chemical releases 

and other waste management 

information provides citizens with a 

useful picture of the total disposition of 

chemicals in their communities and 

helps focus industry’s attention on 

pollution prevention and source 

reduction opportunities. EPA believes 

that the public has a right to know about 

the disposition of chemicals within 

communities and the management of 

such chemicals by facilities in 

industries subject to EPCRA section 313 

reporting. This reporting has been 

successful in providing communities 

with important information regarding 

the disposition of toxic chemicals and 

other waste management information of 

toxic chemicals from manufacturing 

facilities in their areas. 

EPA collects, processes, and makes 

available to the public all of the 

information collected that is not subject 

to trade secrecy claims. The information 

gathered under these authorities is 

stored in a database maintained at EPA 

and is available through the Internet. 

This information, commonly known as 

the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI), is 

used extensively by both EPA and the 

public sector. Program offices within 

EPA use TRI data, along with other 

sources of data, to establish priorities, 

evaluate potential exposure scenarios, 

and undertake regulatory and 

enforcement activities. Environmental 

and public interest groups use the data 

in studies and reports, making the 

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