[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 194 (Friday, October 5, 2012)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 60962-60963]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-23519]
=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
40 CFR Part 2
[FRL-9733-8]
Clean Water Act; Contractor Access to Confidential Business
Information
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice of intended transfer of confidential business
information to contractor, subcontractors, and consultants.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) Office of
Water's (OW's) Office of Science and Technology (OST) has authorized
Eastern Research Group (ERG), its subcontractors, and its consultants
to access confidential business information (CBI) collected from
numerous industries. Transfer of this information is necessary for ERG
to assist the Office of Water in the preparation of effluent guidelines
and standards for certain industries.
We have determined that the contractors listed below require access
[[Page 60963]]
to CBI submitted to us under Section 308 of the Clean Water Act and in
connection with various programs and are providing notice and an
opportunity to comment. The nature of the work and its necessity, and
the type of access granted, is described below for each contractor.
Information has been provided to this contractor under a previous
agreement since September 26, 2002.
Transfer of the information to ERG will allow the contractor and
subcontractors to support EPA in the planning, development, and review
of effluent limitations guidelines and standards under the Clean Water
Act (CWA). The information being transferred was or will be collected
under the authority of section 308 of the CWA. Some information being
transferred from the pulp, paper, and paperboard industry was collected
under the additional authorities of section 114 of the Clean Air Act
(CAA) and section 3007 of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act
(RCRA). Interested persons may submit comments on this intended
transfer of information to the address noted below.
DATES: Comments on the transfer of data are due October 15, 2012.
ADDRESSES: Comments may be sent to Mr. M. Ahmar Siddiqui, Document
Control Officer, Engineering and Analysis Division (4303T), Room 6231S
EPA West, U.S. EPA, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave. NW., Washington, DC 20460.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. M. Ahmar Siddiqui, Document
Control Officer, at (202) 566-1044, or via email at
siddiqui.ahmar@epa.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In accordance with 40 CFR 2.302(h), EPA has
transferred CBI to various contractors and subcontractors over the
history of the effluent guidelines program. EPA determined that this
transfer was necessary to enable the contractors and subcontractors to
perform their work in supporting EPA in planning, developing, and
reviewing effluent guidelines and standards for certain industries.
Today, EPA is giving notice that it has entered into a contract
with ERG, contract number EP-C-12-021, located in Chantilly, Virginia.
The purpose of this contract is to secure technical and engineering
analysis support for EPA in its development, review, implementation,
and defense of water-related initiatives for a variety of industries.
To obtain assistance in responding to this contract, ERG has entered
into contracts with the following subcontractors: Advanced
Environmental Management Group, LLC (AEM, located in Plymouth,
Michigan), Aqua Terra Consultants (located in Mountain View,
California), Avanti Corporation (located in Alexandria, Virginia),
Great Lakes Environmental Center (GLEC, located in Traverse City,
Michigan), and Mabbett & Associates (located in Bedford,
Massachusetts), PG Environmental, LLC (located in Herndon, Virginia),
Bill Kennedy, Orion Engineering (located in Charlotte, NC), John H.
Martin, Hall Associates (located in Georgetown, DE), and John P.
Martin, JPMartin Energy Strategy, LLC (located in Saratoga Springs, New
York).
All EPA contractor, subcontractor, and consultant personnel are
bound by the requirements and sanctions contained in their contracts
with EPA and in EPA's confidentiality regulations found at 40 CFR part
2, Subpart B. ERG will adhere to EPA-approved security plans which
describe procedures to protect CBI. ERG will apply the procedures in
these plans to CBI previously gathered by EPA and to CBI that may be
gathered in the future. The security plans specify that contractor
personnel are required to sign non-disclosure agreements and are
briefed on appropriate security procedures before they are permitted
access to CBI. No person is automatically granted access to CBI: A need
to know must exist.
The information that will be transferred to ERG consists of
information previously collected by EPA to support the development and
review of effluent limitations guidelines and standards under the CWA.
In particular, information, including CBI, collected for the planning,
development, and review of effluent limitations guidelines and
standards for the following industries may be transferred: Airport
deicing; aquaculture; centralized waste treatment; coal bed methane;
concentrated animal feeding operations; coal mining; construction and
development; drinking water treatment; industrial container and drum
cleaning; industrial laundries; industrial waste combustors; iron and
steel manufacturing; landfills; meat and poultry products; metal
finishing; metal products and machinery; nonferrous metals
manufacturing; oil and gas extraction (including coalbed methane); ore
mining and dressing; organic chemicals, plastics, and synthetic fibers;
pesticide chemicals; petroleum refining; pharmaceutical manufacturing;
pulp, paper, and paperboard manufacturing; shale gas extraction; steam
electric power generation; textile mills; timber products processing;
tobacco; and transportation equipment cleaning.
EPA also intends to transfer to ERG all information listed in this
notice, of the type described above (including CBI) that may be
collected in the future under the authority of section 308 of the CWA
or voluntarily submitted (e.g., in comments in response to a Federal
Register notice), as is necessary to enable ERG to carry out the work
required by its contract to support EPA's effluent guidelines planning
process and the development of effluent limitations guidelines and
standards.
Dated: September 18, 2012.
Jeffrey L. Lape,
Acting Director, Office of Science and Technology.
[FR Doc. 2012-23519 Filed 10-4-12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P