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OMB Control No: 2050-0039	ICR Reference No: 201605-2050-001
Status: Historical Inactive	Previous ICR Reference No: 201505-2050-002
Agency/Subagency: EPA/OLEM	Agency Tracking No: 0801.21
Title: Requirements for Generators, Transporters, and Waste Management Facilities under the RCRA Hazardous Waste Manifest System – Proposed Fee Rule (Proposed Rule)
Type of Information Collection: Revision of a currently approved collection	Common Form ICR: No
Type of Review Request: Regular
OIRA Conclusion Action: Comment filed on proposed rule and continue	Conclusion Date: 08/30/2017
Retrieve Notice of Action (NOA)	Date Received in OIRA: 07/26/2016
Terms of Clearance: OMB files this comment in accordance with 5 CFR 1320.11( c ). This OMB action is not an approval to conduct or sponsor an information collection under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. This action has no effect on any current approvals. If OMB has assigned this ICR a new OMB Control Number, the OMB Control Number will not appear in the active inventory. For future submissions of this information collection, reference the OMB Control Number provided. OMB files this comment in accordance with 5 CFR 1320.11(c). OMB is withholding approval at this time. Prior to publication of the final rule, the agency should provide a summary of any comments related to the information collection and their response, including any changes made to the ICR as a result of comments. In addition, the agency must enter the correct burden estimates.

	Inventory as of this Action	Requested	Previously Approved
Expiration Date	05/31/2019	36 Months From Approved	05/31/2019
Responses	1,763,362	0	1,763,362
Time Burden (Hours)	3,473,577	0	3,473,577
Cost Burden (Dollars)	3,067,511	0	3,067,511

Abstract: Section 3002(a)(5) of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) directs the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to “...establish requirements respecting...use of a manifest system and any other reasonable means necessary to assure that all such hazardous waste generated is designated for treatment, storage, or disposal, and arrives at treatment, storage, or disposal facilities...for which a permit has been issued...” Under this authority, EPA published regulations for a manifest system on February 26, 1980 (45 FR 12724). EPA established requirements for manifest completion, transmittal, and recordkeeping for hazardous waste generators at 40 CFR Part 262, Subpart B, for transporters at Part 263, Subpart B, and for treatment, storage, and disposal facilities (TSDFs) at Parts 264 and 265, Subpart E. EPA also requires the use of the Uniform Hazardous Waste Manifest (UHWM or manifest). Since then, EPA has modified the manifest regulations on a number of occasions. On February 7, 2014, EPA finalized a rule to establish new requirements that will authorize the use of electronic manifests (or e-Manifests) as a means to track offsite shipments of hazardous waste from a generator’s site to the site of the receipt and disposition of the hazardous waste (79 FR 7518-7563). The final e-Manifest rule also implemented the provisions of the Hazardous Waste Electronic Manifest Establishment Act, P.L. 112-195, which directs EPA to establish a national electronic manifest system (or e-Manifest system). The rule clarifies explicitly that electronic manifest documents obtained from the Agency’s national e-Manifest system and completed in accordance with the rule’s provisions are the legal equivalent of the paper manifest forms that are currently authorized for use in tracking hazardous waste shipments. The electronic manifest documents authorized by the final regulation will be available to manifest users as an alternative to the paper manifest forms. EPA is now proposing a user fee methodology that would be applicable to the use of electronic and paper manifests that would be submitted to the e-Manifest system that is being established by EPA under the Act (called the proposed “fee rule”). After the implementation date for the e-Manifest system, certain users of the hazardous waste manifest will be required to pay a prescribed fee for each electronic and paper manifest they use and submit to the system, in order for EPA to recover its costs of developing and operating the e-Manifest system. EPA is also proposing several amendments to the regulations governing the use of electronic hazardous waste manifests and the completion of manifests. This ICR describes the existing hazardous waste manifest regulations, including the e-Manifest final rule. It also describes amendments in the proposed fee rule. In addition, it estimates the annual hour and cost burden to respondents and EPA under these existing and proposed requirements.

Burden increases because of Program Change due to Agency Discretion: No

Burden Increase Due to:

Burden decreases because of Program Change due to Agency Discretion: Yes

Burden Reduction Due to: Using Information Technology

Short Statement: The burden-hour decrease in this proposed rule ICR (0801.21) results from both program changes (-545,512 hours) as well as adjustments due to Agency discretion (925,224 hours), as follows: • The program changes result from the fact that the currently approved ICR (0801.20) addresses the existing paper-based manifest system; on the other hand, this ICR addresses the existing paper-based manifest system in addition to electronic manifesting under the e-Manifest final rule (79 FR 7518-7563). This ICR also addresses several amendments in the proposed fee rule. During the 3-year life of this ICR, EPA estimates that 28% of manifests will be prepared and transmitted electronically on average. The RIA of the proposed fee rule indicates that electronic manifesting will result in substantial savings to respondents. For example, it estimates that manifest preparation and transmittal will experience an 80% burden reduction when associated with electronic manifests. This ICR reflects these effects, where appropriate. The e-Manifest rule and proposed fee rule also add a few new requirements; however, their burden is more than offset by the burden decrease from electronic manifests. • The adjustments due to Agency discretion result from the fact that EPA updated the number of generators, as well as the number of manifests prepared per generator, in this ICR. Whereas ICR 0801.20 estimates 161,720 generators preparing manifests, this ICR estimates 50,642 generators preparing manifests. Note that the number of SQGs decreased significantly in this ICR. The SQG estimate in this ICR was taken from the RIA of the proposed fee rule. The RIA’s estimate is based on the estimation approaches and results in EPA’s Economic Analysis (EA) of the 2015 Hazardous Waste Generator Improvements proposed rule (80 FR 57918; September 25, 2015). In the EA, EPA pioneered methodologies to estimate active SQGs using data files that underpin the RCRA Biennial Report. In total, ICR 0801.20 estimates that 1.9 million manifests are prepared, transmitted and retained by all waste handlers annually, whereas this ICR estimates 1.4 million manifests annually. In addition, this ICR estimates user fees for paper and electronic manifests in accordance with the proposed fee rule (fees are reflected as O&M costs in this ICR). These fees result in an overall increase in costs. The Hazardous Waste Electronic Manifest Establishment Act, P.L. 112-195, authorizes EPA to impose on manifest users “reasonable service fees as the Administrator determines to be necessary to pay costs incurred in developing, operating, maintaining, and upgrading the system, including any costs incurred in collecting and processing data from any paper manifest submitted to the system after the date on which the system enters operation.” ICR 0801.20 does not include user fees because it addresses the current paper-based system which does not impose fees.

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