BNA's Environment & Safety Division -- Lead Story -
[Cached Version]
Published on: 9/3/1999
Last Visited: 8/13/2000
Margaret Schneider, principal deputy assistant administrator for EPA's Office of Environmental Information, said she is extraordinarily proud of the wide range of projects that are under way following the agency reorganization nine months ago that created OEI.
OEI staff have made significant process on several major rules and projects, even though they had to handle a security problem with EPA's World Wide Web, compile the 1998 Toxic Release Inventory, and pursue a funding increase to promote data integration in fiscal year 2001, which begins Oct. 1, Schneider said.
Four significant rules are expected to be issued this fall by OEI, she said.They are :.an advance notice of proposed rulemaking to overhaul EPA's rules governing confidentiality claims.
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Schneider said EPA will restart a rulemaking to overhaul the agencywide confidentiality rules by soliciting comments from the public in an advance notice of proposed rulemaking that will be issued sometime in the fall.Given the amount of time that has lapsed since the initial proposal, there has been lots of new case law and new technology.EPA plans to go back an look over these rules again, she said.The proposal was issued in 1994 (59 Fed.Reg. 60, 446).
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The administration is quite committed to completing a rule that would lower the reporting threshold of lead on the TRI, Schneider said.EPA sent the rule to OMB in mid-July for a 90-day review before it is published.
EPA is facing a Nov. 1 deadline for adopting the TRI lead rule because the underlying statue requires EPA to have in place all TRI reporting requirements by Nov. 1 of the year preceding the reporting period.
Completing the TRI lead rule is among EPA Administrator Carol M. Browner's top five priorities, Schneider said, adding that she did not know exactly where the TRI rule ranked.After Labor Day, efforts to move the rule should pick up, Schneider said, noting that fundamental issues are already being raised about the rule and about metals in the environment.
Schneider noted that OEI had hoped to release the annual TRI data early in 2000, but the release date was postponed to mid-May due to complications stemming from the large number of companies filing their first reports.The state fact books and TRI details about the 1998 data are expected to be released in August, she added.
The TRI data release in 2001 may not occur much earlier in the year, Schneider said, because we will be explaining TRI to a new group of EPA leaders following the presidential election.New Funds SoughtThe ongoing appropriations process in Congress may not bring new funding to launch a multiyear initiative to integrate EPA and state information, Schneider said, noting this is a project that has been designed by both state and federal officials.
The program is called the National Environmental Information Exchange Network, although it has had several other names throughout its development, Schneider said.
Working with the states, EPA would design and build the infrastructure needed to sustain the network, according to OEI documents.The network would allow EPA and its partners to exchange data, improve quality of data, reduce redundancy of data collected, and reduce the burden on information users, OEI documents said.
She said EPA's Office of Environmental Information is seeking $ 30 million for fiscal 2001 : $ 14 million for EPA and $ 16 million for state governments.This level of funding would be needed for each of the subsequent three or four years, she said.
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Schneider said OEI also has several nonregulatory projects that are expected to be released in the fall.
One is a facility registry system, which is a database that contains unique facility identification information for companies that must comply with EPA rules.The agency expects to make publicly available for inspection and correction of the first 50, 000 records during the fall.
A second project is an information products bulletin, which is a list of upcoming information products that would be expected to generate considerable attention when they are released.EPA expects to issue a interim bulletin in the fall, followed by the first regular bulletin in the spring.
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On the facility registry system, Schneider said she hopes EPA can make the transition to housing this information in one database without having to go through the rulemaking process.The stumbling block on this has been reconciling the definition of facility in various EPA rules and laws, she said.
By this fall, OEI expects to issue a plan describing data standards that would be used to promote data exchange, she said.Long-Range Blueprint ComingIn addition to the emerging rules and projects, OEI plans to design a blueprint or information plan in the coming months, Schneider said.
This would be a forward-thinking process in order to get a clear sense of where we be headed in terms of technology and other issues for the next three to five years, she said.For example, in this effort EPA would try to link together various issues surrounding access and technology and evaluate whether the agency is reaching all of the people it needs to, Schneider said.
EPA's information security concerns, which have demanded a lot of resources in recent months, will continue to be a significant, ongoing part of EPA's planning, she said.
On the security of EPA's electronic data systems, Schneider said the agency has adopted about 70 percent of the recommendations in a General Accounting Office audit.That audit, which has never been released publicly, reportedly identified so many weaknesses in EPA's systems that the agency's entire Internet presence was suspended for several weeks in early 2000.
The agency is still working to restore electronic access where it has yet to be restored, she said.Most agency workers have had remote access to the agency's electronic mail system since March, and there are ongoing pilot projects to test the security of other remote access needs, she said.Link to State LeadersSchneider said the Office of Environmental Information enjoys a good relationship with various state groups.
She said the Environmental Council of the States has been instrumental in helping to identify and implement the top priorities of the office.
OEI officials said EPA does not plan to fund the fall meeting of the TRI group that is part of the Forum of State Tribal Toxics Action.FOSTTA is an EPA-sponsored group the meets periodically to discuss chemical issues at EPA and in state and local governments.No decision has been made about whether OEI will provide funding for this group in the future, officials said.
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Schneider, a civil servant, had held the top post at the information office since it was created in 1999.
However, Schneider said her title has changed from acting assistant administrator to principal deputy assistant administrator due to the seven-month tenure limit imposed by the Federal Vacancy Act.
there be still hope that the president will nominate someone to hold the top post at OEI for the remaining four months of this administration, Schneider said.
However, since political appointee Edwin Levine was named to the office as a deputy in May, some of the pressure for political leadership has been relieved, Schneider said.Levine is the other deputy assistant administrator and interim chief information officer.
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EPA's top information official, Margaret Schneider, told BNA Aug. 3 that the agency does not support the TRI changes that were discussed at the OMB meeting.She said EPA shares OMB's desire to improve the efficiency of data collections, reduce the effort required to access agency data, and improve overall data quality.However, it remains our view that public access and right-to-know are EPA's top priorities, she said.
OMB's proposal to delete 100 of RCRA's substantive requirements would eliminate protections that discourage generators, transporters, and storage and disposal facilities from mismanaging or illegally disposing of hazardous wastes, the coalition said.Schneider said she could not comment on the potential RCRA changes.
Confidentiality Protections Outlined
The statutes administered by the Environmental Protection Agency do not limit companies' ability to seek confidentiality protections for data they send to EPA, according to an EPA report released Aug. 4.
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