80 FR 8643 - The Hazardous Waste Electronic Manifest System Advisory Board: Request for Nominations

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

Federal Register Volume 80, Issue 32 (February 18, 2015)

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) invites nominations of qualified candidates to be considered for a three-year appointment to the Hazardous Waste Electronic Manifest System Advisory Board (the Board). Pursuant to the Hazardous Waste Electronic Manifest Establishment Act (e-Manifest Act), the EPA is establishing the nine member Advisory Board to provide practical and independent advice, consultation, and recommendations to the EPA Administrator on the activities, functions, policies and regulations associated with the Hazardous Waste Electronic Manifest (e-Manifest) System. The EPA Administrator or designee will serve as chair of the Board. This notice solicits nominations to fill the remaining eight positions of the Board, which will be active upon establishment. The Board is considered established once a Board Charter is filed with Congress, which is anticipated no later than October 5, 2015. To maintain the representation required by statute, nominees will be selected to represent: state agencies overseeing the intrastate and/ or interstate cradle-to-grave tracking of hazardous waste from the original generation to its ultimate disposal (three positions); stakeholders from the hazardous waste management and transportation sectors who are affected by state and federal hazardous waste manifest programs (three positions); and the information technology sector (two positions).

[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 32 (Wednesday, February 18, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 8643-8645]
From the Federal Register Online  [www.thefederalregister.org]
[FR Doc No: 2015-03300]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-9922-97-OSWER]


The Hazardous Waste Electronic Manifest System Advisory Board: 
Request for Nominations

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Request for nominations.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) invites 
nominations of qualified candidates to be considered for a three-year 
appointment to the Hazardous Waste Electronic Manifest System Advisory 
Board (the Board). Pursuant to the Hazardous Waste Electronic Manifest 
Establishment Act (e-Manifest Act), the EPA is establishing the nine 
member Advisory Board to provide practical and independent advice, 
consultation, and recommendations to the EPA Administrator on the 
activities, functions, policies and regulations associated with the 
Hazardous Waste Electronic Manifest (e-Manifest) System. The EPA 
Administrator or designee will serve as chair of the Board. This notice 
solicits nominations to fill the remaining eight positions of the 
Board, which will be active upon establishment. The Board is considered 
established once a Board Charter is filed with Congress, which is 
anticipated no later than October 5, 2015.

[[Page 8644]]

    To maintain the representation required by statute, nominees will 
be selected to represent: state agencies overseeing the intrastate and/
or interstate cradle-to-grave tracking of hazardous waste from the 
original generation to its ultimate disposal (three positions); 
stakeholders from the hazardous waste management and transportation 
sectors who are affected by state and federal hazardous waste manifest 
programs (three positions); and the information technology sector (two 
positions).

DATES: Nominations should be received on or before March 20, 2015.

ADDRESSES: Nominations should be submitted via email to 
[email protected], and identified with ``BOARD NOMINATION'' in the 
subject line of the email.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Anthony Raia, U.S. Environmental 
Protection Agency, Office of Resource Conservation and Recovery, (MC: 
5303P), 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue NW., Washington, DC, 20460, Phone: 
703-308-8577; or by email: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The e-Manifest Act was signed into law on 
October 5, 2012 (http://www.thefederalregister.org/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-112s710enr/pdf/BILLS-112s710enr.pdf). Under the terms of the e-Manifest Act, the EPA 
is required to establish a national electronic Information Technology 
(IT) manifest system. This system is to enable users of the uniform 
hazardous waste manifest forms (EPA Form 8700-22 and Continuation Sheet 
8700-22A) to have the option to more efficiently track their hazardous 
waste shipments electronically, in lieu of the paper manifest, from the 
point of generation, during transportation, and to the point of receipt 
by an off-site facility that is permitted to treat, store, recycle, or 
dispose of the hazardous waste. Electronic manifests obtained from the 
national system will augment or replace the paper forms that are 
currently used for this purpose, and which result in substantial 
paperwork costs and other inefficiencies. Congress intended that the 
EPA develop a system that, among other things, meets the needs of the 
user community and decreases the administrative burden associated with 
the current paper-based manifest system on the user community. The 
agency anticipates that utilizing electronic manifests will reduce 
burden by reporting facilities by 300,000 to 700,000 hours annually, 
and will save approximately $75 million dollars. To ensure that these 
goals are met, the Act directs the EPA to establish the Hazardous Waste 
Electronic Manifest System Advisory Board (the Board) by October 5, 
2015 to assess the effectiveness of the electronic manifest system and 
make recommendations to the EPA Administrator for improving the system.
    In addition, the e-Manifest Act directs the EPA to develop a system 
that attracts sufficient user participation and service revenues to 
ensure the viability of the system. As a result, the Act provides the 
EPA broad discretion to establish reasonable user fees, as the 
Administrator determines are necessary, to pay costs incurred in 
developing, operating, maintaining, and upgrading the system, including 
any costs incurred in collecting and processing data from any paper 
manifest submitted to the system after the date on which the system 
enters operation. The Board will also meet to assess the adequacy and 
reasonableness of the service fees and, if necessary, make 
recommendations to the EPA Administrator to adjust the fees 
accordingly.
    Prior to system deployment the Board will be asked to provide 
recommendations on important system development matters, as well as on 
user fee regulatory proposals under consideration. Substantial system 
development planning work is under completion and the agency is 
currently conducting additional system development procurement 
activities. Upon completion of those activities the agency will launch 
into extensive system design, development, and testing, and anticipates 
the initial system deployment to occur no later than spring 2018.
    The system will provide the functionality of the current paper 
manifest process, in a more efficient, electronic workflow, and will 
meet all requirements specified in the e-Manifest Act and e-Manifest 
Final Rule, which was published on February 7, 2014 (http://www.epa.gov/osw/laws-regs/state/revision/frs/fr231.pdf). The initial 
system is envisioned to be a national, electronic system (internet-
based) that will enable current users of the manifest form to sign, 
transmit, archive, and retrieve manifests electronically. The e-
Manifest system is further envisioned to allow a fully electronic 
mobile workflow. The mobile workflow will provide both on-line and off-
line capabilities which could enable users to complete an electronic 
manifest even when internet access is unavailable. The EPA envisions 
that the system will provide all data processing (paper and electronic 
formats), data storage, and data reporting back out to industry and 
state users, as well as appropriate public accessibility of data. 
Finally, e-Manifest aligns with the agency's E-Enterprise business 
strategy. E-Enterprise for the Environment is a transformative 21st 
century strategy--jointly governed by states and EPA--for modernizing 
government agencies' delivery of environmental protection. Under this 
strategy, the agency will streamline its business processes and systems 
to reduce reporting burden on states and regulated facilities, and 
improve the effectiveness and efficiency of regulatory programs for the 
EPA, states and tribes.
    Although the system has not been completed, the Board is 
established in accordance with the provisions of the Hazardous Waste 
Electronic Manifest Establishment Act, 42 U.S.C. 6939(g), and the 
Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA), 5 U.S.C. App.2. The Board is in 
the public interest and supports the EPA in performing its duties and 
responsibilities. Pursuant to the e-Manifest Act, the Board will be 
comprised of nine members, of which one (1) member is the Administrator 
(or a designee), who will serve as Chairperson of the Board, and eight 
(8) members will be individuals appointed by the EPA Administrator:
    --At least two (2) of whom have expertise in information 
technology; (IT);
    --At least three (3) of whom have experience in using, or represent 
users of, the manifest system to track the transportation of hazardous 
waste under federal and state manifest programs; and
    --At least three (3) state representatives responsible for 
processing those manifests.
    The Board will meet at least annually as required by the e-Manifest 
Act. However, additional meetings by teleconference may occur 
approximately once every six (6) months or as needed and approved by 
the Designated Federal Officer (DFO).
    Member Nominations: Pursuant to the e-Manifest Act, the Board will 
assist the agency in evaluating the effectiveness of the e-Manifest IT 
system and associated user fees; identifying key issues associated with 
the system, including the need (and timing) for user fee adjustments; 
system enhancements; and providing independent advice on matters and 
policies related to the e-Manifest program. The e-Manifest Board will 
provide recommendations on matters related to the operational 
activities, functions, policies, and regulations of the EPA under the 
e-Manifest Act, including proposing actions to encourage the use of the 
electronic (paperless) system, and actions related to the E-Enterprise

[[Page 8645]]

strategy that intersect with e-Manifest. These intersections may 
include issues such as business to business communications, performance 
standards for mobile devices, and Cross Media Electronic Reporting Rule 
(CROMERR) compliant e-signatures.
    Any interested person and/or organization may nominate qualified 
individuals for membership. The EPA values and welcomes diversity. In 
an effort to obtain nominations of diverse candidates, the agency 
encourages nominations of women and men of all racial and ethnic 
groups. All nominations will be considered. However, applicants need to 
be aware of the specific representation required by the e-Manifest Act.
    Further, state and industry nominees should have a comprehensive 
knowledge of hazardous waste generation, transportation, treatment, 
storage, and disposal under RCRA Subtitle C at the federal, state, and 
local levels. Nominees who represent the states, should have 
comprehensive knowledge of state programs that currently collect 
manifests from generators and treatment, storage, and disposal 
facilities (TSDFs), and track manifest data in state tracking systems/
databases. Nominees who represent industry should have strong knowledge 
of existing industry systems/devices/approaches and business operations 
in order to provide valuable input on e-Manifest integration into 
current industry data systems. IT nominees should have core 
competencies and experience in large scale systems and application 
development and integration, deployment and maintenance, user help desk 
and support, and expertise relevant to support the complexity of an e-
Manifest system. Examples of this expertise may include but are not 
limited to: Expertise with web-based and mobile technologies, 
particularly that support large scale operations for geographically 
diverse users; expertise in IT security, including perspective on 
federal IT security requirements; expertise in electronic signature and 
user management approaches; expertise with scalable hosting solutions 
such as cloud-based hosting; and expertise in user experience. Existing 
knowledge of, or willingness to gain an understanding of EPA shared 
services and enterprise architecture is a plus. Another plus for any 
nominee is experience in setting and/or managing fee based systems in 
general. Additional criteria used to evaluate nominees will include:
     Excellent interpersonal, oral and written communication 
skills;
     Demonstrated experience developing group recommendations;
     Willingness to commit time to the Board and demonstrated 
ability to work constructively on committees;
     Absence of financial conflicts of interest;
     Impartiality (including the appearance of impartiality); 
and
     Background and experiences that would help members 
contribute to the diversity of perspectives on the Board, e.g., 
geographic, economic, social, cultural, educational backgrounds, 
professional affiliations and other considerations.
    Nominations must include a resume, which provides the nominee's 
background, experience and educational qualifications, as well as a 
brief statement (one page or less) describing the nominee's interest in 
serving on the Board and addressing the other criteria previously 
described. Nominees are encouraged to provide any additional 
information that they feel would be useful for consideration, such as: 
Availability to participate as a member of the Board; how the nominee's 
background, skills and experience would contribute to the diversity of 
the Board; and any concerns the nominee has regarding membership. 
Nominees should be identified by name, occupation, position, current 
business address, email, and telephone number. Interested candidates 
may self-nominate. The agency will acknowledge receipt of nominations.
    Persons selected for membership will receive compensation for 
travel and a nominal daily compensation (if appropriate) while 
attending meetings. Additionally, selected candidates will be 
designated as Special Government Employees (SGEs) or consultants. 
Candidates designated as SGEs will be required to fill out the 
``Confidential Financial Disclosure Form for Environmental Protection 
Agency Special Government Employees'' (EPA Form 3310-48). This 
confidential form provides information to the EPA ethics officials to 
determine whether there is a conflict between the SGE's public duties 
and their private interests, including an appearance of a loss of 
impartiality as defined by federal laws and regulations. One example of 
a potential conflict of interest may be for IT professional(s) serving 
in an organization which is awarded any related e-Manifest system 
development contract(s).

    Dated: February 6, 2015.
Barnes Johnson,
Director, Office of Resource Conservation and Recovery, Office of Solid 
Waste and Emergency Response.
[FR Doc. 2015-03300 Filed 2-17-15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P