Document ID: EPA-HQ-TRI-2005-0073-4995
Agency: epa
Document Type: Supporting & Related Material
Title: 
Posted Date: 2006-12-22T05:00Z

SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1 CHAPTER SIX

REDUCED FORM A ELIGIBILITY FOR NON-PBTS

In response to comments on the proposed rule, the definition of the ARA
(e.g. the eligibility criteria for use of Form A) for both PBTs and
non-PBTs is now defined as the sum of Sections 8.1-8.8, as opposed to
Sections 8.1-8.7 as it is currently defined for non-PBTs.  As a result
of this change, a limited number of facilities previously eligible to
use Form A for non-PBT chemicals will lose eligibility under the final
rule and will, therefore, experience an increase in reporting burden. 
Forms that may lose eligibility are those for which total production
related waste is less than or equal to 500 pounds, but for which total
production related and non-production related waste is greater than
5,000 pounds or total production related and non-production related
disposal and other releases are greater than 2,000 pounds.  

The exact number of newly ineligible Form As cannot be calculated
because waste management and one-time release quantities are unknown for
current Form A users.  However, a reasonable estimate can be made. A
review of the approximately 10,000 Form Rs for RY2004 that appear to
have been eligible for Form A in RY2004 based on a 500-pound ARA reveals
approximately 45 forms that could become newly ineligible for Form A as
a result of including Section 8.8 amounts in Form A threshold
determinations.  Additionally, some number of currently filed Form As
will become newly ineligible for Form A because of the requirement to
include Section 8.8 amounts in Form A eligibility determinations.  As
noted above, Form A does not provide specific waste management
quantities and EPA cannot estimate with certainty the number of Form As
that may become newly ineligible for Form A as a result of the final
rule.  However, if it is assumed that the approximately 10,000 Form Rs
that appear to be eligible for Form A at the 500-pound ARA are
representative of the approximately 11,000 Form As currently filed under
the 500-pound ARA, an estimated 50 of the 11,000 Form As could become
newly ineligible for Form A as a result of the rule ((45/10,000) x
11,000 = 50).  Therefore, the final rule may result in approximately 95
newly ineligible forms.  These 95 Form Rs represent 1% of the 9,501
non-PBT forms estimated to be newly eligible for Form A.  

A similar calculation can be made to estimate the number of facilities
that would be newly ineligible for Form A.  A review of the
approximately 5,000 facilities that file Form Rs that appear eligible to
file Form As in RY2004 reveal approximately 34 facilities that would no
longer be eligible to use Form A for at least one chemical because of
the requirement to include Section 8.8 in the ARA.  If it is assumed
that the approximately 5,000 facilities that file Form Rs in RY2004 that
appear to be eligible for Form A at the 500-pound ARA are representative
of the approximately 4,700 facilities that file Form As currently filed
under the 500-pound ARA, then an estimated 32 of the 4,700 facilities
that file at least one Form A could become newly ineligible to file Form
A for at least one chemical as a result of today’s rule ((34/5,000) x
4,700 = 32).  However, approximately 500 facilities fall into the
following two facility groups: 

facilities that file at least one Form A, and 

facilities that have at least one Form R likely eligible for Form A.

If the total number of affected facilities is adjusted to avoid the
double counting of these facilities, approximately 63 total facilities
(as opposed to 66) will be newly ineligible to use Form A for at least
one chemical.  The number of newly ineligible facilities equates to less
than 2% of the 5,317 facilities estimated to be newly eligible for
non-PBT Form A reporting.  

	Table 6-1 shows the national burden and cost estimates for first and
subsequent year reporters associated with newly ineligible Form As.  The
table shows an estimated total potential burden increase of 869 hours
and total cost increase of $41,598 as a result of the rule.  

TABLE 6-1

ANNUAL BURDEN AND COSTS

	New Ineligibility for Form A: Non-PBT Chemicals Option

Number of Affected Facilities	63

Number of Affected Forms	95

Average Annual Burden Increase in the First and Subsequent Years of the
Rule (Hours)

Form Completion - non-PBT chemicals	679

Recordkeeping/Mailing 	190

Total	869

Average Annual Burden Cost Increase in the First and Subsequent Years of
the Rule

Form Completion - non-PBT chemicals	$33,353

Recordkeeping/Mailing 	$8,245

Total	$41,598

Source: Frozen RY2004 TRI data and Wage Rates from the U.S. Department
of Labor (see Chapter 2).

	To evaluate the potential data gain, EPA examined the volume of total
production related waste and total non-production related waste that
would be newly reported under the rule.  Since Form A does not provide
specific waste management quantities, pounds associated with Form As
that may become newly ineligible as a result of today’s rule were
extrapolated using the form-level relationships described above. In
total, less than 0.0001% of total production related waste would be
newly reported as a result of new ineligibility for Form A under the
non-PBT option.  However, there would be an estimated 20% increase in
total non-production related waste newly reported.

TABLE 6-2

POUNDS AND PERCENTAGE OF TOTAL PRODUCTION RELATED AND NON-PRODUCTION
RELATED WASTE POUNDS NEWLY REPORTED

	Total Production Related Waste Newly Reported	Total Non-Production
Related Waste Newly Reported

	Lbs 	Percentage	Lbs 	Percentage

New Ineligibility for Form A: Non-PBT Chemicals
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