Notice2026-18289
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Contractor and Subcontractor Access to Confidential Business Information (CBI) Submitted Under Clean Air Act (CAA), Act To Prevent Pollution From Ships (APPS), and American Innovation and Manufacturing Act (AIM)
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 9, 2026
Issuing agencies
Environmental Protection Agency
Abstract
The United States Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (OECA) intends to authorize a contractor and several subcontractors to access information that will be submitted to the EPA under the Clean Air Act (CAA), the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships (APPS), and the American Innovation and Manufacturing Act (AIM) that may be claimed as, or may be determined to be, confidential business information (CBI).
Full Text
<html>
<head>
<title>Federal Register, Volume 91 Issue 173 (Wednesday, September 9, 2026)</title>
</head>
<body><pre>
[Federal Register Volume 91, Number 173 (Wednesday, September 9, 2026)]
[Notices]
[Pages 57337-57339]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2026-18289]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[EPA-HQ-OECA-2024-0420; FRL-12264.1-02-OECA]
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Contractor and
Subcontractor Access to Confidential Business Information (CBI)
Submitted Under Clean Air Act (CAA), Act To Prevent Pollution From
Ships (APPS), and American Innovation and Manufacturing Act (AIM)
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The United States Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's)
Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (OECA) intends to
authorize a contractor and several subcontractors to access information
[[Page 57338]]
that will be submitted to the EPA under the Clean Air Act (CAA), the
Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships (APPS), and the American Innovation
and Manufacturing Act (AIM) that may be claimed as, or may be
determined to be, confidential business information (CBI).
DATES: Comments must be received on or before September 14, 2026. The
contractor's and subcontractors' access to information collected under
the CAA, APPS, AIM will begin on September 15, 2026.
ADDRESSES: You may send comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA HQ-
OECA-2024-0420, 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> Email: <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#bfdbd0dcd4dacb91d0dadcdeffdacfde91d8d0c9"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="c0a4afa3aba5b4eeafa5a3a180a5b0a1eea7afb6">[email protected]</span></a>. Include Docket ID No. EPA HQ-
OECA-2024-0420 in the subject line of the message.
Instructions: All submissions received must include the Docket ID
No. for this rulemaking. 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 FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Griffith Brown, Office of Enforcement
and Compliance Assurance (OECA), Office of Civil Enforcement (OCE), Air
Enforcement Division (AED), (Mail Code 8MSU), Environmental Protection
Agency, 1595 Wynkoop St., Denver, CO 80202; telephone number: (202)
250-8551; email address: <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#82e0f0edf5ecace5f0ebe4e4ebf6eac2e7f2e3ace5edf4"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="fc9e8e938b92d29b8e959a9a958894bc998c9dd29b938a">[email protected]</span></a>.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Does this notice apply to me?
This action is directed to the general public. However, this action
may be of particular interest to certain parties, including the
following: owners and operators of stationary and mobile sources
subject to the CAA including, but not limited to, State Implementation
Plans (SIPs), hazardous air pollutants (HAPs, MACT Rules) under Section
112, permits including New Source Review and Prevention of Significant
Deterioration (NSR/PSD), New Source Performance Standards (NSPS),
National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP), and
Prevention of Accidental Releases under Section 112(r); motor vehicle
manufacturers and importers; engine manufacturers and importers; motor
vehicle fuel and fuel additive producers and importers; manufacturers,
importers, users and distributors of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs);
manufacturers, importers and distributors of motor vehicle and engine
emission control equipment and parts; crude oil, natural gas and
renewable fuel producers, petroleum refiners, electric power generation
facilities, distributors or users who store volatile organic liquids,
chemical, pulp and paper manufacturers, non-metallic mineral
processors, and any other stationary and mobile source parties subject
to the regulations found in 40 CFR parts 51, 52, 60, 61, 63-80, 82, 84-
86, 89-92, 94, 98, 600, 1033, 1036, 1037, 1039, 1042, 1043, 1045, 1048,
1051, 1054, 1060, 1065, 1068, and 1090.
This Federal Register notice may be of particular relevance to
parties that have submitted data to the EPA under the above-listed
regulations. Because other parties may also be interested, the EPA has
not attempted to describe all the specific parties that may be affected
by this action. If you have further questions regarding the
applicability of this action to a particular party, please contact the
person listed in FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.
II. How can I get copies of this document and other related
information?
A. Electronically
The EPA has established a public docket for this Federal Register
notice under Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OECA-2024-0420.
All documents in the docket are identified in the docket index
available at <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">http://www.regulations.gov</a>. Although listed in the index,
some information is not publicly available, such as CBI or other
information for which disclosure is restricted by statute.
B. EPA Docket Center
Materials listed under Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OECA-2024-0420 will be
available for public viewing at the EPA Docket Center (EPA/DC), EPA
West, Room 3334, 1301 Constitution Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20004. The
EPA Docket Center 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 Reading Room is (202) 566-1744, and the telephone number
for the OECA Docket is (202) 566-1744.
III. Description of Programs and Potential Disclosure of Information
Claimed as CBI to Contractor and Subcontractors
OECA has responsibility for protecting public health and the
environment by enforcing standards for air pollution. In order to
implement various CAA, APPS, and AIM programs, OECA collects compliance
reports and other information from the regulated industry.
Occasionally, the information submitted to, or obtained by, the EPA is
claimed to be CBI by persons submitting data to the EPA. Information
submitted under such a claim is handled in accordance with the EPA's
regulations at 40 CFR part 2, subpart B, and in accordance with the EPA
procedures that are consistent with those regulations. When the EPA has
determined that disclosure of information claimed as CBI to EPA
contractors or subcontractors is necessary, the corresponding contract
must address the appropriate use and handling of the information by the
EPA contractor and subcontractors and the EPA contractor and
subcontractors must require its personnel who require access to
information claimed as CBI to sign written non-disclosure agreements
before they are granted access to data.
In accordance with 40 CFR 2.301(h), the EPA has determined that EPA
contractor Eastern Research Group, Incorporated (ERG), 14555 Avion
Parkway, Suite 200, Chantilly, VA 20151, and ERG subcontractors James
J. Carroll, CPA, Clearstone Engineering Ltd.; Process Profiles; and
Matrix New World Engineering (collectively referred to as
``subcontractors'' in this notice) require access to CBI submitted to
the EPA under the CAA, APPS, and AIM for the work they perform under
Contract Number 68HERL26A0022. We are providing notice and an
opportunity to comment on their access to information claimed as CBI.
We are issuing this Federal Register notice to inform all affected
submitters that we plan to grant access to material that may be claimed
as CBI to ERG and its subcontractors on a need-to-know basis.
Under Contract Number 68HERL26A0022, ERG provides enforcement
support for the EPA's regulatory and enforcement activities for the Air
Enforcement Division (AED), including field inspections,
investigations, audits, and other CAA regulatory and enforcement
support that involve access to information claimed as CBI. ERG also
employs subcontractors, who support these activities, under the above-
listed contract. ERG and its subcontractors require access to
information claimed as CBI to support EPA enforcement activities
described above. Access to data, including information claimed as CBI,
will commence six days after the date of publication of this notice in
the Federal Register, and will continue until June 26, 2031, located at
EPA Headquarters and ERG's site located at 2677 Prosperity Avenue,
Suite 450, Fairfax,
[[Page 57339]]
VA 22031-4928. If the contract and associated subcontracts are
extended, this access will continue for the remainder of the ERG
contract without further notice. If the contract expires prior to June
26, 2031, the access will cease at that time. If ERG employs additional
subcontractors to support the EPA on a regular basis or on a limited or
one-time basis under the above-listed contract, and those
subcontractors require access to CBI, the EPA will notify affected
companies of the contemplated disclosure and provide them with an
opportunity to comment by either sending them a letter or by publishing
an additional notice in the Federal Register.
Parties who wish to obtain further information about this Federal
Register notice, or about OECA's disclosure of information claimed as
CBI to ERG and its subcontractors, may contact the person listed under
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.
Dated: August 28, 2026.
Meetu Kaul,
Director, Air Enforcement Division.
[FR Doc. 2026-18289 Filed 9-8-26; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P
</pre><script data-cfasync="false" src="/cdn-cgi/scripts/5c5dd728/cloudflare-static/email-decode.min.js"></script></body>
</html>Indexed from Federal Register on September 9, 2026.
This is legal information, not legal advice. Laws vary by jurisdiction and change frequently. Always verify current law with official sources and consult a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction for advice on your specific situation.