September 27, 1996
Ms. Sandy Farmer
Information Policy Branch (2137)
Environmental Protection Agency
401 M Street, SW
Washington, DC 20460
Dear Ms. Farmer: The Office of Advocacy of the U.S. Small Business Administration is submitting these comments on the TRI Form A, the alternate threshold form, provided as a substitute for the longer nine page Form R. As you may know, the Office of Advocacy, by petition, initiated the rulemaking process that developed the Form A. We are very pleased that EPA created this form, producing several hundred thousand hours in annual paperwork savings, according to the agency. However, the Form A is only available to a very narrow proportion of the reports that truly warrant the "short form."
Currently, a facility may only use the Form A (certification form) if the total wastes do not exceed 500 pounds in a single year (less than two pounds/day). In other words, the facility must count all releases, all transfers for treatment, disposal, and amounts recycled on or off-site and amounts used in energy recovery. This is too restrictive for many facilities to use. Over one hundred similar comments are found in the earlier rulemaking record which led to the adoption of the Form A in 1994.
In 1994, EPA estimated that about 20,100 of the 82,000 Form R's qualify for Form A at this 500 pound threshold (1992 TRI data). However, if one removes amounts recycled or energy recovered, and counts only true releases and transfers for treatment and disposal, 33,000 reports would be covered, even at 500 pounds! At 500 pounds releases and off-site transfers, (which excludes recycling/energy recovery), only 4 million pounds of releases and transfers are omitted from the Form R's of a total of over 2 billion pounds in the database (only about 0.2%). Therefore, 500 pounds of releases and transfers is a very conservative option for the certification form, providing full Form R's for 99.8% of all releases and transfers, the only source of risk to the community.
Furthermore, one could easily justify 2000 or 5000 pounds of release/transfers. Either of these figures would result in Form R coverage of over 99% of all TRI releases and transfers. EPA also has the choice of using risk-based thresholds, considering both chronic and acute effects. The great majority of reports pertain to commodity chemicals, such as ammonia, sulfuric acid, hydrochloric acid, and toluene with well-known toxicity. Conservative risk-based thresholds can be easily established for such chemicals. Furthermore, EPA has been working on the Toxic Release Indicators (risk indicators) project for years, which should provide a wealth of information to allow it to develop a risk-based threshold, if it prefers that approach over a single Form A threshold.
We have attached the comments that we filed regarding the TRI expansion industries, including a report produced for us by Policy, Planning & Evaluation, Inc. Those contain specific recommendations for revising the Form A for SIC 5169 (chemical wholesalers), and all other industries. We adopt those recommendations by reference here. Also, those documents establish that the releases from SIC 5169 are entirely minimal. At most, these facilities should be required only to file Form A's for these chemicals.
In order to demonstrate "practical utility" under the OMB regulations, EPA has the burden to show that any of the TRI reports from this industry, with releases of that magnitude, could pose a significant risk to health or the environment. Having reviewed the reports in the record, and from the three states with TRI data for SIC 5169, we find no significant risks posed by any of the releases from this industry.
Recommendations:
1. OMB should require EPA to initiate rulemaking to expand coverage of Form A to be completed in time for the 1997 reporting year, to include an analysis of all Form A's received this year, as required by OMB in its previous approval.
2. OMB should only approve the Form A through the completion of the TRI expansion industry rulemaking. The Form A for the expansion industries should be approved at the time the expansion industry final rule is promulgated. An expanded Form A should be made available, at that time, to all new expansion industries.
3. The use of Form A should be expanded by increasing the allowable "reportable amount" from 500 pounds to a higher figure, such as 2000 or 5000 pounds, or to a properly derived risk-based figure. Energy recovery and recycling should not be counted in the "reportable amount."
4. The alternate threshold itself should be raised from 1 million pounds to 10 million pounds or higher. (See comments on this issue in the Form A rulemaking.)
5. OMB should consider disapproving Form R, under the separate paperwork review, for releases that are below a specified threshold release quantity, based on a risk-based analysis.
6. EPA should be required, as part of its paperwork analysis, to demonstrate a significant risk posed by TRI releases reported on Form R, as a condition of approval of the Form R for those releases. Releases with insignificant risks may be reported on the Form A, if such reporting is deemed necessary at all.
Sincerely,
Kevin Bromberg
Assistant Chief Counsel for Environmental Policy
cc: OIRA Desk Officer
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