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Federal Register
/Vol. 71, No. 108/Tuesday, June 6, 2006/Rules and Regulations
to a particular entity, consult the personlisted in the
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
CONTACT
section.
II. What Is EPA
’
s Statutory Authorityfor Taking This Action?
EPA is finalizing this action undersections 313(g)(1) and 328 of EPCRA, 42U.S.C. 11023(g)(1) and 11048. EPCRA isalso referred to as Title III of theSuperfund Amendments andReauthorization Act of 1986 (SARA)(Pub. L. 99
–
499). In general, section 313of EPCRA requires owners and operatorsof facilities in specified SIC codes thatmanufacture, process, or otherwise usea listed toxic chemical in amountsabove specified threshold levels toreport certain facility specificinformation about such chemicals,including the annual releases and otherwaste management quantities. Section313(g)(1) of EPCRA requires EPA topublish a uniform toxic chemicalrelease form for these reportingpurposes, and it also prescribes, ingeneral terms, the types of informationthat must be submitted on the form.Section 313(g)(1)(A) requires ownersand operators of facilities that aresubject to section 313 requirements toreport the principal business activitiesat the facilities. However, Congressprovided no guidance as to how suchactivities should be described. In thepast, EPA has required owners andoperators of such facilities to identifytheir principal business activities byreporting, among other things, theirprimary, and any other applicable SICcodes for the facility. Congress alsogranted EPA broad rulemaking authorityto allow the Agency to fully implementthe statute. EPCRA section 328authorizes the
‘‘
Administrator [to]prescribe such regulations as may benecessary to carry out this chapter
’’
(42U.S.C. 11048).Consistent with these authorities, EPAis amending 40 CFR part 372 to includethe NAICS codes that correspond to theSIC codes that are currently subject tosection 313 of EPCRA and section 6607of the PPA. Owners and operators of facilities that are subject to section 313must identify their principal businessactivities by NAICS codes beginningwith TRI reporting forms that are due on July 1, 2007, covering releases and otherwaste management quantities at thefacility for the 2006 calendar year.Finally, EPA is amending 40 CFR372.38(e) to extend the exemptionprovided therein to owners of coveredfacilities who lease, with no other business interest, such facilities tooperators of establishments that areclassified in any SIC code or NAICScode that is subject to TRI requirements.For the purpose of establishingconsistency with the NAICSclassification methodology, and to avoidconfusion in the future with respect toreporting obligations by establishmentsthat are considered auxiliaryestablishments under the SIC system,EPA is changing its interpretation thatEPCRA reporting requirements apply toauxiliary establishments. EPA believesthis change is warranted in light of thesignificant differences in treatment of auxiliary establishments between theSIC and NAICS systems. It is possible,in light of EPA
’
s new interpretation, thatsome auxiliary establishments will nolonger be subject to TRI reportingrequirements. EPA is also amending theregulations to extend the exemptionprovided in the regulations to owners of covered facilities who lease, with noother business interest, such facilities tooperators of establishments that areclassified in any SIC code or NAICScode that is subject to TRI requirements.The TRI regulations currently exemptfrom TRI reporting requirements
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owners of facilities such as industrialparks, all or part of which are leased topersons who operate establishmentswithin SIC code 20 through 39 wherethe owner has no other business interestin the operation of the covered facility.
’’
EPA believes it is appropriate to extendthis exemption to owners of facilitiesthat lease such facilities to operators of establishments within the SIC codesadded in the 1997 TRI IndustryExpansion Rule, when such ownershave no other business interest in theoperation of such establishments. Thisamendment is unrelated to the purposeof this rule which is to change TRIreporting from SIC codes to NAICScodes. The Agency is simply using theopportunity of this rulemaking toextend the exemption to all facilitiesthat are covered under TRI.
III. Background Information
What Is the General Background for This Action?
Section 313 of EPCRA and section6607 of the PPA require owners andoperators of certain facilities called
‘‘
covered facilities
’’
to annually report toEPA, and to the State in which thefacility is located, their releases andother waste management quantities of listed toxic chemicals. 42 U.S.C. 11023,13106. In general, a covered facility isone that: (1) Manufactures, processes, orotherwise uses one or more chemicalslisted in the EPCRA section 313 list of toxic chemicals in excess of specifiedthreshold quantities; (2) has 10 or morefull-time employees or the equivalent20,000 hours per year and; (3) isclassified in an applicable SIC code. 42U.S.C. 11023(b)(1)(A); 40 CFR 372.22.Information collected pursuant tosection 313 of EPCRA and section 6607of PPA is organized into the nationalTRI data base which is readilyaccessible to the public, researchers,industry, government agencies, andother interested parties.When Congress enacted EPCRA in1986, it specifically identified themanufacturing sector, which includedfacilities in SIC major group codes 20through 39 (see Executive Office of thePresident, Office of Management andBudget, Standard IndustrialClassification Manual 1987 (hereinafterreferred to as the 1987 SIC Manual), as being subject to the reportingrequirements of section 313. Section313(b)(1)(A) states:
The requirements of this section shallapply to owners and operators of facilitiesthat have 10 or more full time employees andthat are in Standard Industrial ClassificationCodes 20 through 39 (as in effect on July 1,1985) and that manufactured, processed orotherwise used a toxic chemical listed undersubsection (c) of this section in excess of thequantity of that chemical established undersubsection (f) of this section during thecalendar year for which a release form isrequired under this section.
In addition, in 1997, pursuant tosection 313(b)(1)(B), EPA added sevenindustry groups to the list of industriesrequired to report to EPA and Stategovernments. See 62 FR 23833, May 1,1997 (hereinafter referred to as theIndustry Expansion Rule). Theseindustries included metal mining, coalmining, electrical utilities that combustcoal and/or oil for the purpose of generating power for distribution incommerce, facilities regulated under theResource Conservation and RecoveryAct (RCRA) subtitle C, chemicalwholesalers, petroleum terminals and bulk stations and solvent recoveryservices. As a result, those facilitieswith the following SIC codedesignations (that meet all otherapplicable threshold criteria for TRIreporting) must report toxic chemicalreleases and other waste managementquantities of toxic chemicals each year:SIC major group codes 10 (except 1011,1081, and 1094), 12 (except 1241), or 20through 39; industry codes 4911, 4931,or 4939 (limited to facilities thatcombust coal and/or oil for the purposeof generating power for distribution incommerce); 4953 (limited to facilitiesregulated under the ResourceConservation and Recovery Act, subtitleC, 42 U.S.C. 6921
et seq
.); 5169; 5171;or 7389 (limited to facilities primarilyengaged in solvent recovery services on
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