[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 143 (Friday, July 24, 2020)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 44770-44772]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-15139]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
40 CFR Part 350 and 355
[EPA-HQ-SFUND-1988-0002, EPA-HQ-SFUND-1998-0002; FRL-10012-00-OLEM]
Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Regulations: Trade
Secrecy Claims and Emergency Planning Notification
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Final rule; technical amendment.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA or the Agency)
is issuing a technical amendment to update the program websites for
trade secrecy regulations. This action amends the regulations to remove
the outdated substantiation form for trade secrecy claims from the Code
of Federal Regulations. The most current substantiation form is posted
on EPA program websites. The Agency is also including clarification
within a note in the regulations for state coordination of emergency
response.
DATES: This final rule is effective on July 24, 2020.
ADDRESSES: EPA has established two dockets for this action under Docket
ID No. EPA-HQ-SFUND-1988-0002 and EPA-HQ-SFUND-1998-0002. All documents
in the docket are listed on the www.regulations.gov website. Although
listed in the index, some information is not publicly available, e.g.,
CBI or other information whose disclosure is restricted by statute.
Certain other material, such as copyrighted material, is not placed on
the internet and will be publicly available only in hard copy form.
Publicly available docket materials are
[[Page 44771]]
available electronically through www.regulations.gov.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mark Douglas, U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency, Office of Emergency Management, (MC: 5104A), 1200
Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20460; 202-564-5572;
[email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. General Information
Entities that may be affected by this action are those facilities
subject to sections 302, 303, 304, 311, 312, 313, 325, 327, 328, and
329 of the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA),
specifically, entities that file trade secrecy claims for chemical
identity and/or report emergency release notifications under the
aforementioned sections.
II. What does this correction do?
This technical amendment is being issued to correct the program
website for the EPCRA Trade Secrecy Claims in 40 CFR 350.7, 350.16, and
350.27. EPA published an amendment in the Federal Register on November
14, 2003 (68 FR 64719) similarly correcting program websites. That
document also discusses the intent of removing the Trade Secret
substantiation form (OMB control number 2050-0078) and instructions
from 40 CFR 350.27 and directing the public to the program websites to
access the current version. Furthermore, the form requires Office of
Management and Budget approval every three years, but Sec. 350.27
still reflects a form that expired in 1990. The 2003 amendment
inadvertently omitted the instructions to update CFR part 350 to remove
the form. This technical amendment is being issued to amend the final
rule by revising Sec. 350.27 to direct the public to the current
version of the form and instructions on the program websites.
This technical amendment is also being issued to revise a note in
40 CFR 355.41 to denote potential SERC specific formats in the
reporting requirements. On November 3, 2008, EPA published an amendment
in the Federal Register (73 FR 65452) updating 40 CFR part 355. This
action further clarifies a note at Sec. 355.41.
III. Rulemaking Procedures and Findings of Good Cause
Section 553 of the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), 5 U.S.C.
553(b)(3)(B), provides that, when an agency for good cause finds that
notice and public procedure are impracticable, unnecessary or contrary
to the public interest, the agency may issue a final rule without
providing notice and an opportunity for public comment. EPA has
determined that there is good cause for making this technical amendment
final without prior proposal and opportunity for comment, because such
notice and opportunity for comment is unnecessary for the following two
reasons. First, this action is merely correcting the regulatory text to
reflect the removal of a form, where such removal was intended in a
previously published final rule that went through notice and public
comment procedures, but in which EPA inadvertently neglected to include
the necessary amendatory instruction to revise the regulatory text.
Second, this action is a minor, non-substantive technical correction
since it involves removal of a duplicative and outdated form. EPA finds
that this constitutes good cause under 5 U.S.C. 553(b)(3)(B).
IV. Effective Date
Section 553(d)(3) of the APA, 5 U.S.C. 553(d), provides that final
rules shall not become effective until 30 days after publication in the
Federal Register ``except . . . as otherwise provided by the agency for
good cause'' The purpose of this provision is to ``give affected
parties a reasonable time to adjust their behavior before the final
rule takes effect.'' Omnipoint Corp. v. Fed. Commc'n Comm'n, 78 F.3d
620, 630 (D.C. Cir. 1996); see also United States v. Gavrilovic, 551
F.2d 1099, 1104 (8th Cir. 1977) (quoting legislative history). Thus, in
determining whether good cause exists to waive the 30-day delay, an
agency should ``balance the necessity for immediate implementation
against principles of fundamental fairness which require that all
affected persons be afforded a reasonable amount of time to prepare for
the effective date of its ruling.'' Gavrilovic, 551 F.2d at 1105. EPA
has determined that there is good cause for making this final rule
effective immediately because it merely removes an old Trade Secret
substantiation form and directs the public to the program websites to
access the most current version. For this reason, the agency finds that
good cause exists under APA section 553(d)(3) to make this rule
effective immediately upon publication.
V. Do any of the Statutory and Executive Order reviews apply to this
action?
Under Executive Order 12866 (58 FR 51735, October 4, 1993) and
Executive Order 13563 (76 FR 3821, January 21, 2011), this action is
not a ``significant regulatory action'' and is therefore not subject to
the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) review. Additionally, this
action is not an Executive Order 13771 regulatory action because this
action is not significant under Executive Order 12866. Because this
action is not subject to notice and comment requirements under the
Administrative Procedure Act or any other statute, it is not subject to
the Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 601 et seq.) or Sections 202
and 205 of the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (2 U.S.C. 1531-1538). In
addition, this action does not significantly or uniquely affect small
governments. This action does not create new binding legal requirements
that substantially and directly affect Tribes under Executive Order
13175 (65 FR 67249, November 9, 2000). This action does not have
significant Federalism implications under Executive Order 13132 (64 FR
43255, August 10, 1999). Because this final rule has been exempted from
review under Executive Order 12866, this final rule is not subject to
Executive Order 13211, entitled Actions Concerning Regulations That
Significantly Affect Energy Supply, Distribution, or Use (66 FR 28355,
May 22, 2001) or Executive Order 13045, entitled Protection of Children
from Environmental Health Risks and Safety Risks (62 FR 19885, April
23, 1997). This final rule does not contain any information collections
subject to OMB approval under the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA), 44
U.S.C. 3501 et seq., nor does it require any special considerations
under Executive Order 12898, entitled Federal Actions to Address
Environmental Justice in Minority Populations and Low-Income
Populations (59 FR 7629, February 16, 1994). This action does not
involve technical standards; thus, the requirements of Section 12(d) of
the National Technology Transfer and Advancement Act of 1995 (15 U.S.C.
272 note) do not apply.
This action is subject to the Congressional Review Act (CRA), and
the EPA will submit a rule report to each House of Congress and to the
Comptroller General of the United States. The CRA allows the issuing
agency to make a rule effective sooner than otherwise provided by the
CRA if the agency makes a good cause finding that notice and comment
rulemaking procedures are impracticable, unnecessary or contrary to the
public interest (5 U.S.C. 808(2)). The EPA has made a good cause
finding for this rule as discussed in Section III of the preamble,
including the basis for that finding.
[[Page 44772]]
List of Subjects
40 CFR Part 350
Environmental protection, Confidential business information,
Reporting and recordkeeping requirements.
40 CFR Part 355
Environmental protection, Reporting and recordkeeping requirements.
Dated: July 7, 2020.
Peter Wright,
Assistant Administrator, Office of Land and Emergency Management.
For the reasons stated in the preamble, title 40, chapter I of the
Code of Federal Regulations is amended as follows:
PART 350--TRADE SECRECY CLAIMS FOR EMERGENCY PLANNING AND COMMUNITY
RIGHT-TO-KNOW INFORMATION: AND TRADE SECRET DISCLOSURES TO HEALTH
PROFESSIONALS
0
1. The authority citation for Part 350 continues to read as follows:
Authority: 42 U.S.C. 11042, 11043, and 11048 Pub. L. 99-499, 100
Stat. 1747.
0
2. Amend Sec. 350.7 by revising paragraphs (a) introductory text, (b),
(c) and (d)(2) to read as follows:
Sec. 350.7 Substantiating claims of trade secrecy.
(a) Claims of trade secrecy must be substantiated by providing a
specific answer including, where applicable, specific facts, to each of
the following questions with submission to which the trade secrecy
claim pertains. Submitters must answer these questions on the form
entitled ``Substantiation to Accompany Claims of Trade Secrecy.'' The
form and instructions are posted on the EPA program websites, http://www.epa.gov/epcra and http://www.epa.gov/tri/rfi.
* * * * *
(b) The answers to the substantiation questions listed in paragraph
(a) of this section are to be submitted on the form entitled
``Substantiation to Accompany Claims of Trade Secrecy'' and included
with a submitter's trade secret claim. The form is posted on the EPA
program websites, http://www.epa.gov/epcra and http://www.epa.gov/tri/rfi,
(c) An owner, operator, or senior official with management
responsibility shall sign the certification at the end of the form
entitled ``Substantiation to Accompany Claims of Trade Secrecy,'' which
is posted on the EPA program websites, http://www.epa.gov/epcra and
http://www.epa.gov/tri/rfi. The certification in both the sanitized and
unsanitized versions of the substantiation must bear an original
signature.
(d) * * *
(2) An owner, operator, or senior official with management
responsibility shall sign the certification stating that those portions
of the substantiation claimed as confidential would, if disclosed,
reveal the chemical identity being claimed as a trade secret, or would
reveal other confidential business or trade secret information. This
certification is combined on the substantiation form found on EPA
program websites, http://www.epa.gov/epcra and http://www.epa.gov/tri/rfi, with the certification described in paragraph (c) of this section.
* * * * *
0
3. Revise Sec. 350.16 to read as follows:
Sec. 350.16 Address to send trade secrecy claims and petitions
requesting disclosure.
The address and location to send all claims of trade secrecy under
sections 303(d)(2) and (d)(3), 311, 312, and 313 of Title III and all
public petitions requesting disclosure of chemical identities claimed
as trade secret are posted on the following EPA program websites,
http://www.epa.gov/epcra and http://www.epa.gov/tri/rfi. Any subsequent
changes to the address and location will be announced in Federal
Register Notices as these changes occur. Also, the changes will be
posted on these websites. Submitters may also contact the EPCRA, RMP &
Oil Information Center at (800) 424-9346 or (703) 348-5070, https://www.epa.gov/epcra/forms/contact-us-about-emergency-planning-and-community-right-know-act-epcra to obtain this information.
0
4. Amend Sec. 350.27 by revising paragraph (a) and removing and
reserving paragraph (b), including the form and instructions to the
form, to read as follows:
Sec. 350.27 Substantiation form to accompany claims of trade secrecy,
instructions to substantiation form.
(a) The substantiation form to accompany claims of trade secrecy
must be completed and submitted as required in Sec. 350.7(a). The form
and instructions are posted on the Emergency Planning and Community
Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) website, http://www.epa.gov/epcra and the
Toxics Release Inventory Program Division website, http://www.epa.gov/tri/rfi. Submitters may also contact the National Service Center for
Environmental Publications (NSCEP) at (800) 490-9198 or https://www.epa.gov/nscep to obtain the form. The address to send all trade
secrecy claims is posted on the following EPA Program websites, http://www.epa.gov/epcra and http://www.epa.gov/tri/rfi. This information can
also be obtained by contacting the EPCRA, RMP & Oil Information Center
at (800) 424-9346 or (703) 348-5070, or https://www.epa.gov/epcra/forms/contact-us-about-emergency-planning-and-community-right-know-act-epcra.
* * * * *
PART 355--EMERGENCY PLANNING AND NOTIFICATION
0
5. The authority citation for Part 355 continues to read as follows:
Authority: Sections 302, 303, 304, 325, 327, 328, and 329 of the
Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-know Act of 1986 (EPCRA)
(42 U.S.C. 11002, 11003, 11004, 11045, 11047, 11048, and 11049).
0
7. Amend the Note to Sec. 355.41 to read as follows:
Sec. 355.41 In what format should the information be submitted?
* * * * *
Note 1 to Sec. 355.41: The SERC and LEPC may request a specific
format for this information.
[FR Doc. 2020-15139 Filed 7-23-20; 8:45 am]
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