Access to Confidential Business Information by Enrollees Under the Senior Environmental Employment Program

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-8785-1]

Access to Confidential Business Information by Enrollees Under the Senior Environmental Employment Program

AGENCY:

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION:

Notice.

SUMMARY:

EPA has authorized grantee organizations under the Senior Environmental Employment (SEE) Program and their enrollees access to information which has been submitted to EPA under the environmental statutes administered by the Agency. Some of this information may be claimed or determined to be confidential business information (CBI).

DATES:

Comments concerning CBI access will be accepted on or before March 25, 2009.

ADDRESSES:

Comments should be submitted to: Susan Street, National Program Manager, Senior Environmental Employment Program (MC 3605A), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Ariel Rios Building, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Susan Street at (202) 564-0410.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

The Senior Environmental Employment (SEE) program is authorized by the Environmental Programs Assistance Act of 1984 (Pub. L. 98-313), which provides that the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency may “make grants to, or enter into cooperative agreements with,” specified private nonprofit organizations for the purpose of “providing technical assistance to Federal, State, and local environmental agencies for projects of pollution prevention, abatement, and control.” Cooperative agreements under the SEE program provide support for many functions in the Agency, including clerical support, staffing hot lines, providing support to Agency enforcement activities, providing library services, compiling data, and support in scientific, engineering, financial, and other areas.

In performing these tasks, grantees and cooperators under the SEE program and their enrollees may have access to potentially all documents submitted under the Clean Air Act (CAA), the Clean Water Act (CWA), the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA), the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), the Emergency Planning & Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA), the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA), and the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), to the extent that these statutes allow disclosure of confidential information to “authorized representatives of the United States” or to “contractors.” Some of these documents may contain information claimed as confidential.

EPA provides confidential information to enrollees working under the following cooperative agreements:

Cooperative

agreement No.

Organization

National Association for Hispanic Elderly

Q-833410

NAHE

Q-833436

NAHE

Q-833757

NAHE

National Asian Pacific Center on Aging

QS-833692

NAPCA

Q-834156

NAPCA

Q2-834198

NAPCA

National Caucus and Center on Black Aged, Inc.

Q-833567

NCBA

Q-833568

NCBA

Q-833569

NCBA

Q-833570

NCBA

Q-833571

NCBA

Q-833572

NCBA

Q-833598

NCBA

Q-833599

NCBA

Q-833600

NCBA

National Council On the Aging, Inc.

Q-833413

NCOA

Q-833439

NCOA

QS-833832

NCOA

Q-834129

NCOA

Q-834130

NCOA

QS-834157

NCOA

National Older Workers Career Center

Q-833890

NOWCC

Q-833982

NOWCC

Q-833987

NOWCC

Q-834011

NOWCC

Q-834038

NOWCC

Q-834039

NOWCC

Q-834095

NOWCC

Q-834096

NOWCC

Q-834112

NOWCC

Q-834119

NOWCC

Q-834122

NOWCC

Q-834124

NOWCC

Senior Service America, Inc.

Q-833403

SSAI

Q-833808

SSAI

Q-833880

SSAI

Q-833883

SSAI

Q-833884

SSAI

Q-834162

SSAI

Among the procedures established by EPA confidentiality regulations for granting access to confidential business information is notification to the submitters of CBI that SEE-grantee organizations and their enrollees will have access to this information. See 40 CFR 2.301(h)(2)(iii) for information submitted under the CAA, 40 CFR 350.23 for EPCRA, and corresponding provisions of 40 CFR 2.302-2.311, for other statutes listed above. This document is intended to fulfill that requirement.

The grantee organizations are required by the cooperative agreements to protect confidential information. SEE enrollees are required to sign confidentiality agreements and to adhere to the same security procedures as Federal employees.

Dated: March 10, 2009.

Susan Street,

SEE Program Manager.

[FR Doc. E9-6161 Filed 3-19-09; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6560-50-P