83 FR 42498 - Clean Water Act; Contractor Access to Confidential Business Information

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

Federal Register Volume 83, Issue 163 (August 22, 2018)

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) intends to transfer confidential business information (CBI), collected from numerous industries, to ICF International (ICF) and its subcontractors and consultants, under an EPA contract newly awarded to ICF. Transfer of this information is necessary for ICF to assist the Office of Water in the preparation of economic analyses and environmental assessment activities conducted in support of Clean Water Act regulations and programs, such as effluent guidelines and associated planning and review activities, and water quality standards. Much of the information being transferred was or will be collected under the authority of section 308 of the Clean Water Act (CWA) to support effluent guidelines development in particular. Interested persons may submit comments on this intended transfer of information to the address noted below.

[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 163 (Wednesday, August 22, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 42498-42499]
From the Federal Register Online  [www.thefederalregister.org]
[FR Doc No: 2018-18116]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-9982-69-OW]


Clean Water Act; Contractor Access to Confidential Business 
Information

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of intended transfer of confidential business 
information to contractor and its subcontractors and consultants.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) intends to transfer 
confidential business information (CBI), collected from numerous 
industries, to ICF International (ICF) and its subcontractors and 
consultants, under an EPA contract newly awarded to ICF. Transfer of 
this information is necessary for ICF to assist the Office of Water in 
the preparation of economic analyses and environmental assessment 
activities conducted in support of Clean Water Act regulations and 
programs, such as effluent guidelines and associated planning and 
review activities, and water quality standards. Much of the information 
being transferred was or will be collected under the authority of 
section 308 of the Clean Water Act (CWA) to support effluent guidelines 
development in particular. Interested persons may submit comments on 
this intended transfer of information to the address noted below.

DATES: Comments on the transfer of data are due August 27, 2018.

ADDRESSES: Comments may be sent to M. Ahmar Siddiqui, Document Control 
Officer, Engineering and Analysis Division (4303T), U.S. EPA, 1200 
Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20460.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: M. Ahmar Siddiqui, Document Control 
Officer, at (202) 566-1044, or via email at [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: EPA has transferred CBI to its contractors 
and subcontractors as part of the effluent guidelines program under 40 
CFR 2.302(h). EPA determined that this transfer was necessary to enable 
the contractors, subcontractors, and consultants to perform their work 
in supporting EPA in planning, developing, and reviewing effluent 
guidelines and standards for certain industries.
    Pursuant to 40 CFR 2.302(h)(2), EPA is giving notice that it has 
entered into a new contract with ICF, contract number 68HE0C18D0001, 
located in Fairfax, Virginia. The purpose of this contract is to secure 
economic and environmental assessment support for EPA in its 
development, review, implementation, and defense of water-related 
initiatives for a variety of industries or states. To obtain assistance 
in responding to this contract, ICF has entered into contracts with the 
following subcontractors and consultants: The Cadmus Group, LLC 
(located in Waltham, Massachusetts), CognistX (located in Pittsburgh, 
Pennsylvania), Great Lakes Environmental Center, Inc. (located in 
Traverse City, Michigan), Horizon Systems Corporation (located in White 
Stone, Virginia), Innovate! Inc. (located in Alexandria, Virginia), 
LimnoTech Inc. (located in Ann Arbor, Michigan), Resources for the 
Future (located in Washington, DC), RTI International (located in 
Research Triangle Park, North Carolina), Wayne Gray (located in 
Worcester, Massachusetts), Robert Johnston (located in Millville, 
Massachusetts), Klaus Moeltner (located in Blacksburg, Virginia), Kerry 
Smith (located in Cave Creek, Arizona), and Raghavan Srinivasan 
(located in College Station, Texas).
    All EPA contractor, subcontractor, and consultant personnel are 
bound by the requirements and sanctions contained in their contracts 
with EPA and in EPA's CBI regulations found at 40 CFR part 2, subpart 
B. ICF will adhere to an EPA-approved security plan which describes 
procedures to protect CBI. ICF will apply the procedures in this plan 
to CBI previously gathered by EPA and to CBI that may be gathered in 
the future. The security plan specifies that contractor personnel are 
required to sign non-disclosure agreements and are briefed

[[Page 42499]]

on appropriate security procedures before they are permitted access to 
CBI. No person is automatically granted access to CBI: A need to know 
must exist.
    The information that will be transferred to ICF consists of 
information previously collected by EPA to support the development and 
review of effluent limitations guidelines and standards under the CWA. 
In particular, information, including CBI, collected for the planning, 
development, and review of effluent limitations guidelines and 
standards for the following industries may be transferred to ICF under 
the new contract: Airport deicing; aquaculture; centralized waste 
treatment; coal bed methane; concentrated animal feeding operations; 
coal mining; construction and development; drinking water treatment; 
industrial container and drum cleaning; industrial laundries; 
industrial waste combustors; iron and steel manufacturing; landfills; 
meat and poultry products; metal finishing; metal products and 
machinery; nonferrous metals manufacturing; oil and gas extraction 
(including coalbed methane); ore mining and dressing; organic 
chemicals, plastics, and synthetic fibers; pesticide chemicals; 
petroleum refining; pharmaceutical manufacturing; pulp, paper, and 
paperboard manufacturing; shale gas extraction; steam electric power 
generation; textile mills; timber products processing; tobacco; 
transportation equipment cleaning; and other industrial categories that 
EPA has reviewed as part of its CWA required annual review activities.
    EPA also intends to transfer to ICF all information listed in this 
notice, of the type described above (including CBI) that may be 
collected in the future under the authority of section 308 of the CWA 
or voluntarily submitted (e.g., in comments in response to a Federal 
Register notice), as is necessary to enable ICF to carry out the work 
required by its contract to support EPA's effluent guidelines planning 
and review process and the development of effluent limitations 
guidelines and standards.

    Dated: August 10, 2018.
Deborah G. Nagle,
Acting Director, Office of Science and Technology, Office of Water.
[FR Doc. 2018-18116 Filed 8-21-18; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6560-50-P