Notice2021-21231
Hazardous Waste Electronic Manifest System (e-Manifest); Notice of Public Meetings
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
September 30, 2021
Issuing agencies
Environmental Protection Agency
Abstract
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will host virtual public meetings to discuss how to increase adoption of electronic manifests and solicit feedback from stakeholders. The agenda for both meetings will be identical and all stakeholders are encouraged to attend one of the meetings.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 86 Issue 187 (Thursday, September 30, 2021)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 187 (Thursday, September 30, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 54188-54190]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2021-21231]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[EPA-HQ-OLEM-2021-0608; FRL-9080-01-OLEM]
Hazardous Waste Electronic Manifest System (e-Manifest); Notice
of Public Meetings
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice of virtual public meeting.
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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will host virtual
public meetings to discuss how to increase adoption of electronic
manifests and solicit feedback from stakeholders. The agenda for both
meetings will be identical and all stakeholders are encouraged to
attend one of the meetings.
DATES: The meetings will be held on October 27, 2021, and November 3,
2021, from approximately 1:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m. EST. Additional public
meetings may be added. Please refer to the e-Manifest website at
<a href="https://www.epa.gov/e-manifest/electronic-manifest-public-meetings">https://www.epa.gov/e-manifest/electronic-manifest-public-meetings</a>.
ADDRESSES: The public meetings will be conducted virtually.
Registration is required to attend and participate during these
meetings. EPA can accommodate 100 attendees at each meeting and may
hold additional virtual meetings, if needed. Please refer to the e-
Manifest website at <a href="https://www.epa.gov/e-manifest/electronic-manifest-public-meetings">https://www.epa.gov/e-manifest/electronic-manifest-public-meetings</a> for information on how to register.
Comments. Oral comments will be accepted throughout each of the
public meetings. Written comments will be accepted prior to and after
the public meetings. Any written comments should be submitted on or
before December 30, 2021, and should be submitted in the public docket
under docket ID number EPA-HQ-OLEM-2021-0608 by any of the following
methods:
<bullet> Federal eRulemaking Portal: <a href="https://www.regulations.gov/">https://www.regulations.gov/</a>
(our preferred method). Follow the online instructions for submitting
comments.
<bullet> Mail: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, EPA Docket
Center, Office of Resource Conservation and Recovery, Docket No. EPA-
HQ-OLEM-2021-0608, Mail Code 28221T, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue NW,
Washington, DC 20460.
<bullet> Hand Delivery or Courier (by scheduled appointment only):
EPA Docket Center, WJC West Building, Room 3334, 1301 Constitution
Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20004. The Docket Center's hours of
operations are 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m., Monday-Friday (except Federal
Holidays).
Comments received may be posted without change to <a href="https://www.regulations.gov/">https://www.regulations.gov/</a> including any personal information provided. For
detailed instructions on sending comments and additional information on
the rulemaking process, see the ``Public Participation'' heading of the
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this document. Out of an abundance
of caution for members of the public and our staff, the EPA Docket
Center and Reading Room are open to the public by appointment only to
reduce the risk of transmitting COVID-19. Our Docket Center staff also
continues to provide remote customer service via email, phone, and
webform. Hand deliveries and couriers may be received by scheduled
appointment only. For further information on EPA Docket Center services
and the current status, please visit us online at <a href="https://www.epa.gov/dockets">https://www.epa.gov/dockets</a>.
Special accommodations. For information on access or services for
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individuals with disabilities, or to request accommodation of a
disability, please contact the person listed under FOR FURTHER
INFORMATION CONTACT at least ten (10) days prior to the meeting to give
the EPA as much time as possible to process your request.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Tess Fields, U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency, Office of Resource Conservation and Recovery, email:
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#32545b575e56411c46574141725742531c555d44"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="97f1fef2fbf3e4b9e3f2e4e4d7f2e7f6b9f0f8e1">[email protected]</span></a>, phone (before October 31, 2021): 703-605-0509,
phone (after October 31, 2021): 202-566-0328.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: These meetings will be open to the public.
The full agenda and meeting materials will be available in the docket
for the meeting and on the e-Manifest website at <a href="https://www.epa.gov/e-manifest/electronic-manifest-public-meetings">https://www.epa.gov/e-manifest/electronic-manifest-public-meetings</a>. The public meetings will
be conducted virtually, and registration is required to attend and
participate. Registration instructions will be posted on the e-Manifest
website at <a href="https://www.epa.gov/e-manifest/electronic-manifest-public-meetings">https://www.epa.gov/e-manifest/electronic-manifest-public-meetings</a>. If EPA needs to make subsequent changes to this meeting, EPA
will post future notices to its e-Manifest website. EPA strongly
encourages the public to refer to the e-Manifest website for the latest
meeting information, as sudden changes may be necessary.
I. General Information
A. Does this action apply to me?
This action is directed to the public in general. This action may
be of particular interest to persons who are or may be subject to the
Hazardous Waste Electronic Manifest Establishment (e-Manifest) Act.
B. Public Participation
You may participate in this meeting by providing public comments
via the instructions in this notice. Submit your comments, identified
by Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OLEM-2021-0608, at <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a>
(our preferred method), or the other methods identified in the
ADDRESSES section. Once submitted, comments cannot be edited or removed
from the docket. The EPA may publish any comment received to its public
docket. Do not submit to EPA's docket at <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a>
any information you consider to be Confidential Business Information
(CBI) or other information whose disclosure is restricted by statute.
Multimedia submissions (audio, video, etc.) must be accompanied by a
written comment. The written comment is considered the official comment
and should include discussion of all points you wish to make. The EPA
will generally not consider comments or comment contents located
outside of the primary submission (e.g., on the web, cloud, or other
file sharing system). For additional submission methods, the full EPA
public comment policy, information about CBI or multimedia submissions,
and general guidance on making effective comments, please visit <a href="https://www.epa.gov/dockets/commenting-epa-dockets">https://www.epa.gov/dockets/commenting-epa-dockets</a>.
1. Written comments. EPA encourages the electronic submission of
written comments into Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OLEM-2021-0608 at <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a> (our preferred method), or the other methods
identified in the ADDRESSES section, on or before December 30, 2021, to
provide the e-Manifest program the time necessary to consider and
review the written comments.
Due to public health concerns related to COVID-19, the EPA Docket
Center and Reading Room are open to the public by appointment only. Our
Docket Center staff also continues to provide remote customer service
via email, phone, and webform. Hand deliveries or couriers will be
received by scheduled appointment only. For further information and
updates on EPA Docket Center services, please visit us online at
<a href="https://www.epa.gov/dockets">https://www.epa.gov/dockets</a>. The EPA continues to carefully and
continuously monitor information from the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention (CDC), local area health departments, and our Federal
partners so that we can respond rapidly as conditions change regarding
COVID-19.
2. Oral comments. Oral comments will be accepted throughout each of
the public meetings.
C. Purpose of the Public Meeting
The EPA will host virtual public meetings to discuss how to
increase adoption of electronic manifests and solicit feedback from
stakeholders.
EPA launched the e-Manifest system on June 30, 2018. e-Manifest
provides those persons required to use a Resource Conservation and
Recovery Act (RCRA) manifest under either federal or state law the
option of using electronic manifests to track shipments of hazardous
waste and to meet certain RCRA requirements. By enabling the transition
from a paper-intensive process to an electronic system, EPA estimates
e-Manifest will ultimately save state and industry users more than $50
million annually, once electronic manifests are widely adopted.
Since system inception through August 31, 2021, EPA has received
roughly eighteen thousand electronic manifests (both fully electronic
and hybrid manifests) out of a total of approximately six million
manifests. Electronic manifests thus represent less than a half of a
percent of manifests received by EPA. EPA seeks to dramatically
increase this percentage. In June 2019, EPA consulted the Hazardous
Waste Electronic Manifest System Advisory Board (e-Manifest Advisory
Board) to better understand the barriers to using electronic manifests
and to identify actions the Agency can take to improve
implementation.\1\ The e-Manifest Advisory Board, in their meeting
minutes issued to the Agency on September 23, 2019, identified numerous
challenges for generators and transporters in using the current
electronic manifest process and made several recommendations to the
Agency on overcoming these challenges.\2\
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\1\ The Hazardous Waste Electronic Manifest System Advisory
Board is established in accordance with the provisions of the
Hazardous Waste Electronic Manifest Establishment Act, 42 U.S.C.
6939g, and the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA), 5 U.S.C. App.
2.
\2\ Background materials, final meeting minutes, and the Agency
response for the June 2019 e-Manifest Advisory Board public meeting
can be located at <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">http://www.regulations.gov</a> Docket no. EPA-HQ-OLEM-
2019-0194.
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In April 2020, EPA consulted the e-Manifest Advisory Board on
options for increasing use of electronic manifests, specifically
regarding the Agency's proposal to reengineer electronic signatures for
generators and transporters. This also included the Agency's proposed
position that requirements under EPA's Cross-Media Electronic Reporting
Rule (CROMERR) would only apply to electronic signatures for receiving
facilities when submitting the final, signed manifest to EPA. Based on
the e-Manifest Advisory Board's feedback, the Agency confirmed its
position in its response to the e-Manifest Advisory Board issued in
October 2020.\3\ The Agency subsequently implemented a new ``Quick
Sign'' feature in e-Manifest for generators, transporters, and initial
electronic signatures by the receiving facility.
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\3\ Background materials, final meeting minutes, and the Agency
response for the April 2020 e-Manifest Advisory Board public meeting
can be located at <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">http://www.regulations.gov</a> Docket no. EPA-HQ-OLEM-
2020-0075.
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In its October 2020 response to the e-Manifest Advisory Board, the
Agency acknowledged that the new ``Quick Sign'' feature was not
expected to significantly increase adoption of electronic manifests.
Therefore, EPA committed to hold additional public meetings with
stakeholders to discuss the feasibility of further options for
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subsequent consultation by the e-Manifest Advisory Board.
Therefore, the purpose of the public meetings announced today is to
engage stakeholders in discussion regarding how to increase industry
adoption of electronic manifests. The agenda for both meetings will be
identical and all stakeholders are encouraged to attend one of the
meetings. These meetings are expected to include discussion regarding:
(1) Current electronic manifest functionality and workflow;
(2) Potential option to allow receiving facilities to upload
electronic signatures to EPA;
(3) Other potential options, including options that may require
policy or regulatory change.
EPA intends to use information obtained from these public meetings
to inform future options for consideration by the e-Manifest Advisory
Board.
Dated: September 24, 2021.
Elizabeth Shaw,
Acting Director, Office of Resource Conservation and Recovery, Office
of Land and Emergency Management.
[FR Doc. 2021-21231 Filed 9-29-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P
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