[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 181 (Monday, September 20, 2004)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 56182-56184]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-21065]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
40 CFR Part 112
[OPA-2004-0007; FRL-7810-5]
RIN 2050-AF11
Oil Pollution Prevention and Response; Non-Transportation-Related
Onshore and Offshore Facilities
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice of data availability (NODA) and request for comments.
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SUMMARY: This document announces the availability of information we
have acquired that might be relevant to determining whether alternate
regulatory requirements are appropriate for facilities under the Clean
Water Act that handle oil below a certain threshold amount (``certain
facilities''). We are
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making this information available for public review and comment as part
of our process of considering possible streamlined approaches that
would ensure protection of human health and the environment from oil
spills occurring at such facilities.
In addition to this document, the EPA is also publishing in today's
Federal Register a Notice of Data Availability concerning facilities
with oil-filled and process equipment.
DATES: Written comments must be received by November 19, 2004.
ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. OPA-2004-
0007, by one of the following methods:
I. Federal Rulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. Follow
the on-line instructions for submitting comments.
II. Agency Web site: http://www.epa.gov/edocket EDOCKET, EPA's
electronic public and comment system, is EPA's preferred method for
receiving comments. Follow the on-line instructions for submitting
comments.
III. Mail: The docket for this rulemaking is located in the EPA
Docket Center at 1301 Constitution Ave., NW., EPA West, Suite B-102,
Washington, DC 20460. The docket number for the proposed rule is OPA-
2004-0007. The docket is contained in the EPA Docket Center and is
available for inspection by appointment only, between the hours of 8:30
a.m. and 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding legal holidays.
You may make an appointment to view the docket by calling 202-566-0276.
IV. Hand Delivery: Such deliveries are only accepted during the
Docket's normal hours of operation, and special arrangements should be
made for deliveries of boxed information.
Instructions: Direct your comments to Docket ID No. OPA-2004-0007.
EPA's policy is that all comments received will be included in the
public docket without change and may be made available online at http://www.epa.gov/edocket, including any personal information provided,
unless the comment includes information claimed to be Confidential
Business Information (CBI) or other information whose disclosure is
restricted by statute. Do not submit information that you consider to
be CBI or otherwise protected through EDOCKET, regulations.gov or e-
mail. The EPA EDOCKET and federal regulations.gov websites are
``anonymous access'' systems, which means EPA will not know your
identity or contact information unless you provide it in the body of
your comment. If you send an e-mail comment directly to EPA without
going through EDOCKET or regulations.gov, your e-mail address will be
automatically captured and included as part of the comment that is
placed in the public docket and made available on the Internet. If you
submit an electronic comment, EPA recommends that you include your name
and other contact information in the body of your comment and with any
disk or CD-ROM you submit. If EPA cannot read your comment due to
technical difficulties and cannot contact you for clarification, EPA
may not be able to consider your comment. Electronic files should avoid
the use of special characters, any form of encryption, and be free of
any defects or viruses.
Docket: All documents in the docket are listed in the EDOCKET index
at http://www.epa.gov/edocket. Although listed in the index, some
information is not publicly available, i.e., 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 available either electronically in EDOCKET or in hard
copy at the EPA Docket, EPA/DC, EPA West, Room B102, 1301 Constitution
Ave., NW., Washington, DC. The 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 Public Reading Room is (202) 566-1744, and the
telephone number to make an appointment to view the docket is (202)
566-0276.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For general information, contact the
RCRA/CERCLA Call Center at 800-424-9346 or TDD 800-553-7672 (hearing
impaired). In the Washington, DC, metropolitan area, call 703-412-9810
or TDD 703-412-3323. For more detailed information on specific aspects
of this notice, contact Hugo Paul Fleischman at 703-603-8769
([email protected]); or Mark W. Howard at 703-603-8715
([email protected]), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 1200
Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20460-0002, Mail Code 5203G.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
What Should I Consider as I Prepare My Comments for EPA?
You may find the following suggestions helpful for preparing your
comments:
1. Explain your views fully and clearly.
2. Describe in detail and explain all assumptions you used.
3. Provide all technical information, data, and analyses you used
to support your views.
4. If you estimate potential burden or costs, provide all data and
analyses that you used to arrive at your estimate.
5. Provide specific examples to illustrate all your concerns.
6. Make sure to submit your comments by the comment period deadline
identified.
7. To ensure proper receipt by EPA, identify the appropriate docket
identification number in the subject line on the first page of your
response. It would also be helpful if you provided the name, date, and
Federal Register citation related to your comments.
Statutory Authority: 33 U.S.C. 1251 et seq.; 33 U.S.C. 2720;
E.O. 12777 (October 18, 1991), 3 CFR, 1991 Comp., p. 351
Background: On July 17, 2002, EPA published a final rule amending
the Oil Pollution Prevention regulation (40 CFR part 112) promulgated
under the authority of the Clean Water Act. This rule included
requirements for Spill Prevention, Control, and Countermeasure (SPCC)
Plans, and for Facility Response Plans (FRPs). It also included new
subparts outlining the requirements for various classes of oil;
revising the applicability of the regulation; amending the requirements
for completing SPCC Plans; and made other modifications. (See 67 FR
47042.) The rule was effective on August 16, 2002. The compliance dates
in 40 CFR 112.3(a) and (b) have been extended several times. See 69 FR
48794, August 11, 2004 for further discussion on the compliance
extensions.
Today's NODA: EPA is considering an initiative that would provide
more focused regulation for certain facilities. To assist the Agency in
this effort, we are making available to the public a number of
documents for review and comment to help inform us as to what measures,
if any, we should consider. We believe that as long as protection of
human health and the environment is maintained, we should consider
alternatives/options that accomplish the stated objectives of the
applicable statutes and minimize impacts of the requirement. The
documents being made available today for comment describe possible
streamlined alternatives that could replace parts of existing
regulations for certain facilities. Because this approach may have
merit, we are very interested in your comments. Specifically, we are
interested in receiving any evidence, including data and analyses,
related to
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claims made within the documents. In order for the data you submit to
be considered in making a determination, the data should be collected,
transported, and analyzed under the proper quality assurance and
quality control protocols as described at http://www.epa.gov/quality/.
Data Available for Comment: The documents available for comment
today can be found at http://www.epa.gov/oilspill under the title
``Notice of Data Availability for Certain Facilities'' in the EDOCKET
index at http://www.epa.gov/edocket. These documents include relevant
portions of a June 10, 2004 letter from the U.S. Small Business
Administration's Office of Advocacy to Thomas P. Dunne, Acting
Assistant Administrator for the Office of Solid Waste and Emergency
Response of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; relevant sections
of a background document, Proposed Reforms to the SPCC Professional
Engineer Certification Requirement: Designing a More Cost Effective
Approach for Small Facilities; and additional documents submitted by
members of the agricultural industry and other industry stakeholders.
Request for Comments: We believe that affected parties should be
given an opportunity to participate in the Agency's process of
considering whether possible streamlined approaches are appropriate. We
are especially interested in data relating to the regulatory approaches
described in the documents available for your review today. We are
listing the following areas, which are discussed in the documents
available to you today, as examples of the kinds of data we request be
submitted.
1--Data to support development of criteria (e.g. facility oil capacity,
activity, etc.) to define a threshold for streamlined requirements for
``certain facilities.''
2--Spill rates for facilities handling oil in various amounts.
3--Cost differences for preparation and professional engineer
certification for the SPCC Plan related to size of facility or amount
of oil handled.
4--SPCC compliance rates for facilities handling oil in various
amounts.
The Agency is soliciting comments only on the data referenced in
this NODA; we are not soliciting comments in this NODA on any other
topic. The data may be found at Docket No. OPA-2004-0007 (http://www.epa.gov/edocket), and on our Web site (i.e., http://www.epa.gov/oilspill).
Dated: August 30, 2004.
Thomas P. Dunne,
Acting Assistant Administrator, Office of Solid Waste and Emergency
Response.
[FR Doc. 04-21065 Filed 9-17-04; 8:45 am]
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