May 19: U.S. EPA issued final confidentiality business information (CBI) determinations for data elements to be reported under 34 subparts of the Greenhouse Gas Reporting (GHG) Rule. In the action, EPA also amended the regulations that govern the handling procedures for data collected under the Clean Air Act (CAA). EPA said the action does not include data elements that are inputs to emission equations. The Subparts, which refer to specific industrial sectors and operations, covered by the final action include: A,C, D, E, F, G, H, K, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, Y, V, X, T, Z, AA, BB, CC, EE, FF, GG, HH, II, LL, MM, NN, OO, PP, and TT. The final confidentiality determinations and amendment to 40 CFR 2.301 will be published in the Federal Register soon. In the meantime a prepublication copy is available (See link below).
The final rule which will become effective 60-days following publication indicates that, "This action finalizes the confidentiality determinations for certain data elements required to be reported under the Mandatory Greenhouse Gas Reporting Rule. This action also finalizes amendments to the Special rules governing certain information obtained under the Clean Air Act, which authorizes EPA to release or withhold as confidential reported data under the Mandatory Greenhouse Gas Reporting Rule according to the final determinations for such data without taking further procedural steps. This action does not include final confidentiality determinations for data elements that are in the 'Inputs to Emission Equations' category."
According to a fact sheet, in addition to finalizing confidentiality determinations for data elements to be reported under 34 subparts of the GHG Reporting Program, the action:
- Delineates which data elements can be released to the public and which ones will be treated as confidential.
- Is also amending the regulations that govern EPA's handling of information obtained under the Clean Air Act. The amendments allow EPA to release or withhold as CBI data elements according to these final confidentiality determinations.
- Is not [emphasis in original] making final confidentiality determinations for data elements that are "Inputs to Emission Equations." In December 2010, EPA proposed to defer reporting of "Inputs to Emissions Equations" so that EPA can obtain and review additional information to resolve issues related to reporting and public availability of data elements that are "Inputs to Emission Equations."
- Is not [emphasis in original] making final confidentiality determinations for the data elements to be reported under eight subparts. EPA plans to re-propose confidentiality determinations for the data collected under these eight subparts.
EPA indicated that it typically makes confidentiality determinations under the Clean Air Act (CAA) on a case-by-case basis. However, due to the large numbers of entities expected to report under the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program (over 13,000) and the large number of data reporting elements (over 1,900), EPA concluded that case-by-case determinations would not result in a timely release of non-confidential data. As a result, EPA said it:
- grouped data elements into data categories and generally made confidentiality determinations on a category basis.
- evaluated the data reporting elements to determine which data elements are "emission data" and, therefore, are not eligible for confidential treatment.
- (for the remaining data elements), evaluated whether the data elements qualify for confidential treatment. In particular, EPA evaluated whether the data are already publicly available and whether the release of the data would be "likely to cause substantial harm to the reporting business's competitive position.
- solicited comment on the proposed determinations during a 60-day public comment period and addressed those comments in this final action.
- And, for a list of the data elements along with the corresponding final confidentiality determinations, EPA issued a memorandum "Final Data Category Assignments and Confidentiality Determinations for Part 98 Reporting Elements" (See the link below).
Access the EPA Confidentiality Determinations for Part 98 Data website for link to all related information and background (click here). Access the prepublication copy of the final rule (click here). Access a fact sheet on the final rule (click here). Access the EPA memorandum (click here). Access more information on EPA's Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program (GHGRP) including guidance and a schedule of training opportunities (click here). [*Air, *Climate]
