[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 120 (Wednesday, June 22, 2011)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 36363-36366]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-15644]
[[Page 36363]]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
40 CFR Part 262
[EPA-HQ-RCRA-2001-0032; FRL-9321-8]
Hazardous Waste Manifest Printing Specifications Correction Rule
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency.
ACTION: Direct final rule.
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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is taking Direct
Final action on a minor change to the Resource Conservation and
Recovery Act (RCRA) hazardous waste manifest regulations that affects
those entities that print the hazardous waste manifest form in
accordance with EPA's Federal printing specifications. Specifically,
this action amends the current printing specification regulation to
indicate that red ink, as well as other distinct colors, or other
methods to distinguish the copy distribution notations from the rest of
the printed form and data entries are permissible. This change will
afford authorized manifest form printers greater flexibility in
complying with the Federal printing specifications.
DATES: This Direct Final Rule is effective on August 22, 2011 without
further notice unless EPA receives adverse comments by July 22, 2011.
If an adverse comment is received, EPA will publish a timely withdrawal
of the Direct Final Rule in the Federal Register informing the public
that the rule will not take effect.
ADDRESSES: Submit your comments identified by Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-
RCRA-2001-0032 by one of the following methods:
http://www.regulations.gov: follow the on-line
instructions for submitting comments.
E-mail: [email protected] and [email protected] or
[email protected]. Attention Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-RCRA-2001-0032
Fax: (202) 566-9744. Attention Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-RCRA-
2001-0032.
Mail: RCRA Docket (28221T), U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20460. Attention
Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-RCRA-2001-0032. Please include a total of two
copies of your comments.
Hand Delivery: Please deliver two copies to the EPA Docket
Center, EPA West Building, Room 3334, 1301 Connecticut Ave., NW.,
Washington DC. 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. EPA-HQ-RCRA
2001-0032. EPA's policy is that all comments received will be included
in the public docket without change and be made available online at
http://www.regulations.gov, 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 http://www.regulations.gov or e-mail. The http://www.regulations.gov Web site
is an ``anonymous access'' system, 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 http://www.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. For additional information about EPA's public
docket, visit the EPA Docket Center homepage at http://www.epa.gov/epahome/dockets.htm.
Docket: All documents in the docket are within the http://www.regulations.gov index. 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, will be publicly available only in hard copy.
Publicly available docket materials are available either electronically
in http://www.regulations.gov or in hard copy at the HQ-Docket Center,
Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-RCRA 2001-0032, EPA West Building, Room 3334, 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 for the RCRA Docket is (202) 566-
0270. A reasonable fee may be charged for copying docket materials.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For more information on this
rulemaking, contact Bryan Groce or Richard LaShier, U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency, Office of Resource Conservation and Recovery (MC:
5304P), 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460; Phone for
Bryan Groce: (703) 308-8750, Phone for Richard LaShier: (703) 308-8796;
or e-mail: [email protected], or [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Why is EPA using a direct final rule?
EPA is publishing this rule without prior proposal because we view
this as a non-controversial action and anticipate no adverse comment.
However, in the ``Proposed Rules'' section of today's Federal Register
publication, we are publishing a separate document that will serve as
the proposed rule to adopt the provisions in this Direct Final rule if
adverse comments are filed. We will not institute a second comment
period on this action. Any parties interested in commenting must do so
at this time. If we receive one or more adverse comments on this
correction, we will publish a timely withdrawal in the Federal Register
to notify the public that the amendment in this Direct Final rule that
will not take effect. For further information about commenting on this
rule, see the ADDRESSES section of this document.
II. Does this action apply to me?
Entities potentially affected by this action are the hazardous
waste manifest printers subject to 40 CFR 262.21(f) of the RCRA
hazardous waste regulations. States are not affected by the changes to
the printing specifications unless they opt to print manifests. No
states are currently printing these forms.
III. What should I consider as I prepare my comments for EPA?
1. Tips for Preparing Your Comments. When submitting comments,
remember to:
Identify the rulemaking by docket number and other
identifying information (subject heading, Federal Register date and
page number).
Follow directions--the Agency may ask you to respond to
specific questions or organize comments by referencing a Code of
Federal Regulations (CFR) part or section number.
[[Page 36364]]
Explain why you disagree, suggests alternatives, and
substitute language for your requested changes.
Describe any assumptions and provide any technical
information and/or data that you used.
If you estimate potential costs or burdens, explain how
you arrived at your estimate in sufficient detail to allow for it to be
reproduced.
Provide specific examples to illustrate your concerns, and
suggest alternatives.
Explain your views as clearly as possible. Make sure to
submit your comments by the comment period deadline identified.
IV. Acronyms
CFR United States Code of Federal Regulations
EPA United States Environmental Protection Agency
OMB Office of Management and Budget
RCRA Resource Conservation and Recovery Act
USC United States Code
V. Preamble
A. What is the legal authority for this direct final rule?
This rule is authorized under Sections 1004 and 3002 of the
Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) of 1976, as amended, 42
U.S.C. 6903 and 6922.
B. How does this direct final rule revise the federal printing
specification regulations established in the March 2005 manifest
revisions final rule?
Today's action amends 40 CFR 262.21(f)(4) in order to revise the
regulatory language that currently requires that the manifest copy
distribution notations (printed in the bottom right-hand corner of each
page of the manifest) be printed only in red ink. EPA is amending this
paragraph by revising it to read: ``The manifest and continuation sheet
must be printed in black ink that can be legibly photocopied, scanned,
or faxed, except that the marginal words indicating copy distribution
must be printed with a distinct ink color or with another method (e.g.,
white text against black background in a text box, or, black text
against grey background in a text box) that clearly distinguishes the
copy distribution notations from the other text and data entries on the
form.'' This is the only manifest printing specification that we are
revising in this Direct Final rule.
C. Why are we amending 40 CFR 262.21(f)(4)?
EPA adopted a nationally standardized manifest form during the
promulgation of the March 4, 2005 Manifest Form Revisions Rule (70 FR
10776 et seq.) in order to replace the various State manifest forms
that were previously distributed to users by the RCRA authorized
States. The March 2005 rule also established the Manifest Registry
system to ensure that authorized printers: (1) Produced the manifest
form and continuation sheet with unique manifest tracking numbers pre-
printed on them; and (2) adhered to the prescribed Federal printing
specifications. The Manifest Revisions Rule generally required in 40
CFR 262.21(f)(4) that the manifest form be printed in black ink, except
that certain marginal notations identifying the copy distribution
requirements must be printed in red ink on all six copies of the multi-
paged form. EPA specified the red ink requirement for the copy
distribution notations was based on comments received on the May 2001
proposed rule notice. That is, while a number of commenters agreed that
manifest printers should use black ink to print the form, several
commenters suggested that the marginal notations should appear in red
ink, because that ink color would help call attention to the copy
distribution requirements and distinguish them from the remainder of
the printed form entries.
While the red ink requirement for the copy distribution notations
seemed sensible when we promulgated the final rule in 2005, EPA now
believes that the red ink requirement is too prescriptive, and may
prevent printers from utilizing new printing processes and methods. For
example, EPA recently received an application from a hazardous waste
management company that wished to print its own manifest forms using
laser printers mounted on its transport vehicles. While the applicant
was able to comply with nearly all of the Manifest Registry application
requirements and printing specifications prescribed in Sec. 262.21(f),
the applicant could not easily comply with the aforementioned red ink
requirement, while printing and assembling manifests on its transport
vehicles. This difficulty resulted because the laser printers proposed
for use in this mobile application could not produce red print. The
applicant demonstrated with this application, however, that it could
easily implement a highlighting method that had the desired effect of
setting off the copy distribution notations from the other printed
entries on the form. This application provided a good example of how
the requirement in Sec. 262.21(f) for red ink was unnecessarily
prescriptive, and that an amendment would make sense. EPA believes that
today's amendment will allow manifest printers greater flexibility in
complying with the printing specifications, without incurring any
additional costs or compromising in any way the ability of the manifest
forms to track hazardous waste shipments cradle-to-grave. EPA believes
that this is a very minor and non-controversial change to the printing
specifications, and therefore is an appropriate subject for a Direct
Final rule.
VI. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews
A. Executive Order 12866: Regulatory Planning Review and Executive
Order 13563: Improving Regulation and Regulatory Review
Under Executive Order 12866 (58 FR 51735, October 4, 1993), the
Agency must determine whether the regulatory action is ``significant''
and therefore subject to Office of Management and Budget (OMB) review
and the requirements of the Executive Order. The Order defines a
``significant regulatory action'' as one that is likely to result in a
rule that may:
(1) Have an annual effect on the economy of $100 million or more or
adversely affect in a material way the economy, a sector of the
economy, productivity, competition, jobs, the environment, public
health or safety, or State, local, or Tribal governments or
communities;
(2) Create a serious inconsistency or otherwise interfere with an
action taken or planned by another agency;
(3) Materially alter the budgetary impact of entitlements, grants,
user fees, or loan programs or the rights and obligations of recipients
thereof; or
(4) Raise novel legal or policy issues arising out of legal
mandates, the President's priorities, or the principles set forth in
the Executive Order.
OMB has determined that this rule is not a ``significant regulatory
action'' under the terms of Executive Order 12866 and is therefore not
subject to review under Executive Orders 12866 and 13563 (76 FR 3821,
January 21, 2011). Accordingly, EPA did not submit this action to OMB
for review.
B. Paperwork Reduction Act
This action does not impose any new information collection burden.
This action provides additional flexibility to printers of the
hazardous waste manifest by giving these printers additional options
for printing in the margins of the manifest the copy distribution
requirements for the form. While this action provides the printers with
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additional flexibility when printing the manifest form, it will impose
no new information collection burdens on the generators, transporters,
or treatment, storage, disposal, or recycling facilities that are
required to use the manifest to track shipments of hazardous waste.
OMB has previously approved the information collection requirements
contained in the existing manifest regulations at 40 CFR part 262,
subpart B, under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act, 44
U.S.C. 3501 et seq. and has assigned OMB control number 2050-0039. A
copy of the OMB approved Information Collection Request (ICR) may be
obtained from the Collection Strategies Division, U.S. EPA (2822T),
1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460 or by calling (202)
566-1672.
Burden is defined at 5 CFR 1320.3(b). 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.
C. Regulatory Flexibility Act
The Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA) generally requires an agency
to prepare a regulatory flexibility analysis of any rule subject to
notice and comment rulemaking requirements under the Administrative
Procedure Act or any other statute unless the agency certifies that the
rule will not have a significant economic impact on a substantial
number of small entities. Small entities include small businesses,
small organizations, and small governmental jurisdictions.
For purposes of assessing the impacts of today's rule on small
entities, a small entity is defined as: (1) A small business as defined
by the Small Business Administration's (SBA) regulations at 13 CFR
121.201; (2) a small governmental jurisdiction that is a government of
a city, county, town, school district or special district with a
population of less than 50,000; and (3) a small organization that is
any not-for-profit enterprise which is independently owned and operated
and is not dominant in its field.
After considering the economic impacts of today's Direct Final rule
on small entities, I certify that this action will not have a
significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities.
This rule consists only of a minor technical change to the manifest
printing specifications, and the effect of this change is to make it
easier for printers to comply with the manifest printing specification
by providing additional options. Therefore, this rule does not impose
any new burden or costs on printers or users of the manifest, including
printers and users who are small entities as defined by the RFA. Since
the rule will not have any significant adverse economic impact on small
entities, the RFA does not require EPA to perform a regulatory
flexibility analysis.
D. Unfunded Mandates Reform Act
This action contains no Federal mandates under the provisions of
Title II of the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995 (UMRA), 2 U.S.C.
1531-1538 for State, local, or Tribal governments or the private
sector.
Title II of the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995 (UMRA), Public
Law 104-4, establishes requirements for Federal agencies to assess the
effects of the regulatory actions on state, local, and Tribal
governments and on the private sector. Under section 202 of the UMRA,
EPA generally must prepare a written statement, including a cost-
benefit analysis, for proposed and final rules with ``Federal
mandates'' that may result in expenditures to state, local, and Tribal
governments, in the aggregate, or to the private sector, of $100
million or more in any one year. Before promulgating an EPA rule for
which a written statement is needed, section 205 of the UMRA generally
requires EPA to identify and consider a reasonable number of regulatory
alternatives and adopt the least costly, most cost-effective or least
burdensome alternative that achieves the objective of the rule. The
provisions of section 205 do not apply when they are inconsistent with
applicable law. Moreover, section 205 allows EPA to adopt an
alternative other than the least costly, most cost-effective or least
burdensome alternative if the Administrator publishes with the final
rule an explanation why that alternative was not adopted.
Before EPA establishes any regulatory requirements that may
significantly or uniquely affect small governments, including Tribal
governments, it must have developed under section 203 of the UMRA a
small government agency plan. The plan must provide for notifying
potentially affected small governments, enabling officials of affected
small governments to have meaningful and timely input in the
development of EPA regulatory proposals with significant Federal
intergovernmental mandates, and informing, educating, and advising
small governments on compliance with the regulatory requirements.
This action does not contain any ``Federal intergovernmental
mandates'' or any ``Federal private sector mandates'' subject to Title
II of the UMRA. This Direct Final rule simply makes a minor change that
allows hazardous waste manifest printers more flexibility in meeting
the printing specifications for the hazardous waste manifest form. The
Manifest Registry program under which printers may register to print
the hazardous waste manifest is a voluntary Federal program. Currently,
there are no states, local governments, or Tribal governments involved
with printing the manifest, but even if such a governmental agency
elected to print the manifest, it would do so by participating in the
voluntary Manifest Registry Program. The UMRA generally excludes from
the definition of ``Federal intergovernmental mandate'' and the
definition of ``Federal private sector mandate'' those duties that
arise from participation in a voluntary Federal program. Since all
participants in the Manifest Registry for printers do so voluntarily,
this action is not subject to the requirements of sections 202 or 205
of the UMRA. This action is also not subject to the requirements of
section 203 of the UMRA, because it contains no regulatory requirements
that might significantly or uniquely affect small governments. This
action only affects hazardous waste manifest printers, and there are no
small governments involved with printing the manifest. Thus, small
governments are not significantly or uniquely affected by this action.
E. Executive Order 13132: Federalism
This action does not have Federalism implications. It will not have
substantial direct effects on the states, on the relationship between
the national government and the states, or on the distribution of power
and responsibilities among the various levels of government, as
specified in Executive Order 13132. This action is only a minor
regulatory change affecting the specifications under which hazardous
waste manifest printers must print the manifest form. It does not
impose substantial direct compliance costs. While the Federal printing
specifications for manifest printers preclude States from requiring a
different manifest form or different printing specifications, this
preemptive effect arises under the RCRA consistency requirement for the
manifest at 40 CFR 271.4 and from the uniformity requirements for the
use of shipping papers under the Department of Transportation's
Hazardous Materials transportation laws. The requirement for
consistency and uniformity in the manifest, including the manifest
printing specifications, was explained
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in the Manifest Revisions Rule that EPA published in the March 4, 2005
Federal Register (70 FR 10776). The minor change to the printing
specifications announced in today's rule will provide some additional
flexibility for manifest printers to print the copy distribution
notations on the form.
F. Executive Order 13175: Consultation and Coordination With Indian
Tribal Governments
Executive Order 13175, entitled ``Consultation and Coordination
with Indian Tribal Governments'' (65 FR 67249), requires EPA to develop
a process to ensure ``meaningful and timely input by Tribal officials
in the development of regulatory policies that have Tribal
implications,'' as specified in Executive Order 13175. It will neither
impose substantial direct compliance costs on Tribal governments, nor
preempt Tribal law. This action has no effect on Tribal governments, as
it only makes a minor change to the printing specifications that affect
only entities printing the hazardous waste manifest. No Indian Tribes
are involved with the printing of the hazardous waste manifest; nor are
there any Indian Tribes with authorized Hazardous Waste regulatory
programs that might have their own printing specifications for the
hazardous waste manifest. Thus, Executive Order 13175 does not apply to
this action.
G. Executive Order 13045: Protection of Children From Environmental
Health and Safety Risks
This action is not subject to Executive Order 13045 (62 FR 19885,
April 23, 1997). This action is not economically significant within the
meaning of Executive Order 12866. Further, the action amends an
administrative requirement pertaining to the manifest form, so it does
not give rise to any environmental health or safety risks that could
disproportionately affect children.
H. Executive Order 13045: Actions That Significantly Affect Energy
Supply, Distribution, or Use
This rule is not subject to Executive Order 13211, ``Actions That
Significantly Affect Energy Supply, Distribution, or Use'' (66 FR
28355, May 22, 2001) because it is not a significant regulatory action
under Executive Order 12866.
I. National Technology Advancement Act
Section 12(d) of the National Technology and Advancement Act of
1995 (NTTAA), Public Law No. 104--113, section 12(d) (15 U.S.C. 272
note) directs EPA to use voluntary consensus standards in its
regulatory activities unless to do so would be inconsistent with
applicable law or otherwise impractical. Voluntary consensus standards
are technical standards (e.g., material specifications, test methods,
sampling procedures, and business practices) that are developed or
adopted by voluntary consensus standards bodies. NTTAA directs EPA to
provide Congress, through the OMB, explanations when the Agency decides
not to use available and applicable voluntary consensus standards. This
action amends the hazardous waste manifest printing specifications
which are developed and maintained solely by EPA. When EPA initially
published the manifest printing specifications in March 2005, there
were no potentially applicable voluntary consensus standards for
manifest printers. EPA decided to develop the current printing
specifications, which now prescribe the standards applicable to
manifest printers. With this action, EPA is retaining and amending the
Federal standards developed in the 2005 Manifest Revisions Rule.
J. Executive Order 12898: Federal Actions To Address Environmental
Justice in Minority Populations and Low-Income Populations
Executive Order 12898 (59 FR 7629, February 16, 1994) establishes
Federal executive policy on environmental justice. Its main provision
directs Federal agencies, to the greatest extent practicable and
permitted by law, to make environmental justice part of their mission
by identifying and addressing, as appropriate, disproportionately high
and adverse human health or environmental effects of their programs,
policies, and activities on minority populations and low-income
populations in the United States. EPA has determined that this Direct
Final rule will not have disproportionately high and adverse human
health or environmental effects on minority or low-income populations
because this rule simply makes a minor change to the hazardous waste
manifest printing specifications. No minority or low-income population
will be affected by this change.
K. Congressional Review Act
The Congressional Review Act, 5 U.S.C. 801 et. seq., as added by
the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996,
generally provides that before a rule may take effect, the agency
promulgating the rule must submit a rule report, which includes a copy
of the rule, to each House of the Congress and to the Comptroller
General of the United States. EPA will submit a report containing this
rule and other information required by the Congressional Review Act to
the U.S. Senate, the U.S. House of Representatives, and the Comptroller
General of the United States prior to publication in the Federal
Register. Under this Act, a major rule cannot take effect until 60 days
after it is published in the Federal Register. This action is not a
``major rule'' as defined by 5 U.S.C. 804(2). This Direct Final rule
will be effective on August 22, 2011, unless EPA receives an adverse
comment by July 22, 2011 and thereafter withdraws this direct final
action.
List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 262
Environmental protection, Exports, Hazardous materials
transportation, Hazardous waste, Imports, Labeling, Packaging and
containers, Reporting and recordkeeping requirements.
Dated: June 15, 2011.
Mathy Stanislaus,
Assistant Administrator, Office of Solid Waste & Emergency Response.
40 CFR part 262 is amended as follows:
PART 262--STANDARDS APPLICABLE TO GENERATORS OF HAZARDOUS WASTE
0
1. The authority citation for part 262 continues to read as follows:
Authority: 42 U.S.C. 6906, 6912, 6922-6925, 6937, and 6938.
0
2. Section 262.21 is amended by revising paragraph (f)(4) to read as
follows:
Sec. 262.21 Manifest tracking numbers, manifest printing, and
obtaining manifests.
* * * * *
(f) ** *
(4) The manifest and continuation sheet must be printed in black
ink that can be legibly photocopied, scanned, or faxed, except that the
marginal words indicating copy distribution must be printed with a
distinct ink color or with another method (e.g., white text against
black background in text box, or, black text against grey background in
text box) that clearly distinguishes the copy distribution notations
from the other text and data entries on the form.
* * * * *
[FR Doc. 2011-15644 Filed 6-21-11; 8:45 am]
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