Creation of a New System of Records Notice: Case Records System, 55794-55796 [2014-22164]

Agencies

• ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 180 (Wednesday, September 17, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 55794-55796]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-22164]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[EPA-HQ-OEI-2014-0197; FRL 9916-58-OEI]


Creation of a New System of Records Notice: Case Records System

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Office of 
Administrative Law Judges (OALJ) is giving notice that it proposes to 
create a new system of records pursuant to the provisions of the 
Privacy Act of 1974 (5 U.S.C. 552a). The EPA is implementing the Case 
Records System, which is a system of records, to manage its 
administrative adjudicatory proceedings. The Case Records System is a 
docketing, filing, case tracking, and document management system used 
to store and manage documents relevant to administrative adjudicatory 
proceedings before the OALJ. Litigants, administrative law judges 
(ALJs), and other interested parties may submit a variety of documents 
to the system, including pleadings, motions, briefs, exhibits, orders, 
hearing transcripts and initial decisions.

DATES: Effective Date: Persons wishing to comment on this system of 
records notice must do so by October 27, 2014.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-
OEI-2014-0197, by one of the following methods:
     www.regulations.gov: Follow the online instructions for 
submitting comments.
     Email: oei.docket@epa.gov.
     Fax: 202-566-1752.
     Mail: OEI Docket, Environmental Protection Agency, 
Mailcode: 2822T, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave. NW., Washington, DC 20460.
     Hand Delivery: OEI Docket, EPA/DC, WJC West Building, Room 
3334, 1301 Constitution Ave. NW., Washington, DC. Such deliveries are 
only accepted during the Docket's normal hours of operation, and 
special arrangements should be made for deliveries of boxed 
information.
    Instructions: Direct your comments to Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OEI-
2014-0197. The EPA's policy is that all

[[Page 55795]]

comments received will be included in the public docket without change 
and may be made available online at www.regulations.gov, including any 
personal information provided, unless the comment includes information 
claimed to be Confidential Business Information (CBI) or other 
information for which disclosure is restricted by statute. Do not 
submit information that you consider to be CBI or otherwise protected 
through www.regulations.gov. The www.regulations.gov Web site is an 
``anonymous access'' system, which means the EPA will not know your 
identity or contact information unless you provide it in the body of 
your comment. If you send an email comment directly to the EPA without 
going through www.regulations.gov your email address will be 
automatically captured and included as part of the comment that is 
placed in the public docket and made available on the Internet. If you 
submit an electronic comment, the EPA recommends that you include your 
name and other contact information in the body of your comment and with 
any disk or CD-ROM you submit. If the EPA cannot read your comment due 
to technical difficulties and cannot contact you for clarification, the 
EPA may not be able to consider your comment. Electronic files should 
avoid the use of special characters, any form of encryption, and be 
free of any defects or viruses. For additional information about the 
EPA's public docket visit the EPA Docket Center homepage at https://www.epa.gov/epahome/dockets.htm.
    Docket: All documents in the docket are listed in the 
www.regulations.gov index. Although listed in the index, some 
information is not publicly available, e.g., CBI or other information 
for which disclosure is restricted by statute. Certain other material, 
such as copyrighted material, will be publicly available only in hard 
copy. Publicly available docket materials are available either 
electronically in www.regulations.gov or in hard copy at the OEI 
Docket, EPA/DC, WJC West Building, Room 3334, 1301 Constitution Ave. 
NW., Washington, DC. The Public Reading Room is open from 8:30 a.m. to 
4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday excluding legal holidays. The 
telephone number for the Public Reading Room is (202) 566-1744, and the 
telephone number for the OEI Docket is (202) 566-1742.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Bruce Franklin, Administrative 
Manager, OALJ, can be reached at (202) 564-6214.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

General Information

    The EPA proposes to create a new system of records under the 
Privacy Act to manage documents relevant to administrative adjudicatory 
proceedings before the OALJ. The OALJ is an independent office in the 
EPA's Office of Administration and Resources Management (OARM). The 
Administrative Law Judges (ALJs) conduct hearings and render decisions 
in proceedings between the EPA or other federal government agencies and 
persons, businesses, government entities, and other organizations which 
are regulated or alleged to be regulated under environmental laws. ALJs 
preside in enforcement and permit proceedings in accordance with the 
Administrative Procedure Act. Most enforcement actions before the ALJs 
are for the assessment of civil penalties and case documents are 
generally made available to the public.
    The Case Records System is a docketing, filing, case tracking, and 
document management system used to store and manage documents relevant 
to administrative adjudicatory proceedings before the OALJ. The system 
is maintained by OALJ in Washington, DC and consists of file folders 
locked in file cabinets in the office and electronic documents stored 
in a password-protected computer database. The system is accessible to 
employees of the OALJ in connection with the performance of their 
authorized duties. When fully implemented, except for information 
protected from disclosure by law, the information in the system will be 
published on the internet. The general public will be provided ``read-
only'' access via the internet.
    Litigants and ALJs may submit a variety of documents to the system, 
including pleadings, motions, briefs, exhibits, orders, hearing 
transcripts and initial decisions. Some of the documents in the system 
may contain personally identifiable information (PII) of a sensitive 
nature (``sensitive PII'' as defined in EPA's Privacy Policy, CIO-
2151.0 (2007), e.g., social security numbers, or comparable 
identification number; financial information associated with 
individuals; and medical information associated with individuals). 
Because case documents are generally made available to the public, the 
OALJ encourages parties to carefully review documents and redact 
sensitive PII prior to submitting the documents to the OALJ. The OALJ 
will examine documents submitted for filing in its system that are 
likely to contain sensitive PII and redact that information prior to 
making the documents available to the public.

    Dated: August 28, 2014.
Renee P. Wynn,
Acting Assistant Administrator and Acting Chief Information Officer.
EPA-66

System Name:
    Case Records System.

System Location:
    The paper records will be located at the EPA, Office of 
Administration and Resources Management (OARM), Office of 
Administrative Law Judges (OALJ), Ronald Reagan Building, Room M1200, 
1300 Pennsylvania Ave. NW., Washington, DC 20004. The electronic 
records will be located on Agency servers housed in Research Triangle 
Park, North Carolina.

Categories of Individuals Covered by the System:
    This system covers any persons, including public citizens, 
representatives of federal, state, or local governments and businesses 
who submit documents in contested administrative adjudicatory 
proceedings before the EPA OALJ.

Categories of Records in the System:
    The sources of information in the system are limited to documents 
submitted by the parties to a matter (e.g., briefs, motions, exhibits) 
and by the ALJ presiding over the matter (e.g., orders, initial 
decisions). Parties may submit a wide range of document types to the 
OALJ containing various types of information including, but not limited 
to, names, addresses, social security numbers, medical and/or financial 
information contained in opinions of law, pleadings, motions, exhibits, 
and other documents submitted by the parties to a matter and the 
presiding ALJ. This includes information found in individual tax 
returns and other documents related to a party's ability to pay a 
monetary civil penalty.

Authority for Maintenance of the System:
    42 U.S.C. 11001 et seq. (Emergency Planning & Community Right-to-
Know Act (EPCRA)); 42 U.S.C. 6901 et seq. (Resource Conservation and 
Recovery Act (RCRA)); 15 U.S.C. 2601 et seq. (Toxic Substances Control 
Act (TSCA)); 7 U.S.C. 136 et seq. (Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and 
Rodenticide Act (FIFRA)); 42 U.S.C. 9601 et seq. (Comprehensive 
Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA)); 33 
U.S.C. 1251 (Federal Water Pollution Control Act (FWPCA), commonly 
known as the Clean Water

[[Page 55796]]

Act (CWA)); 42 U.S.C. 7401 (Clean Air Act (CAA)); 40 CFR 22.4 
(Consolidated Rules of Practice Governing the Administrative Assessment 
of Civil Penalties and the Revocation/Termination or Suspension of 
Permits).

Purpose(s):
    The information contained in the system is primarily for the 
purpose of ALJs to render determinations with respect to matters before 
them and communicating the determinations to the appropriate 
individuals and organizations, as well as to the general public. When 
fully implemented, the electronic filing portion of the system will 
provide for online filing, tracking, and accounting of filings (e.g., 
pleadings, motions, briefs, exhibits, orders, and determinations) in 
all cases, both pending and archived. Other uses of the system and the 
information contained, therein, include:
     Responding to Freedom of Information Act requests;
     Providing the chief judge management information necessary 
to assess workload, assign incoming cases and monitor case progress;
     Allowing individual judges to monitor the progress of 
assigned cases;
     Providing ready access to case docketing information to 
support staff to enable timely response to complainants, government and 
private counsel, and respondents concerning the status of a particular 
case; and
     Promoting adjudicative transparency by providing public 
access to OALJ litigation documents.

Routine Uses of Records Maintained in the System, Including Categories 
of Users and the Purposes of Such Uses:
    General Routine Uses A, E, F, G, H, K, and L apply to this system. 
Records may also be disclosed to the general public.

Policies and Practices for Storing, Retrieving, Accessing, Retaining, 
and Disposing of Records in the System:
     Storage: The records in the system are stored in paper 
files and computer databases.
     Retrievability: Paper files are retrieved by the names of 
the parties to a particular case or the docket number. All records 
stored in computer databases are full-text indexed and are searchable 
by any data element. Once fully implemented, the general public will be 
able to access most records over the Internet by any data element.
     Safeguards: Paper records are maintained in lockable file 
cabinets in secure, access-controlled rooms, areas, or buildings. 
Computer records are maintained in a secure, password protected 
computer database on servers located in secure, access-controlled 
rooms, areas or buildings at Agency facilities in Research Triangle 
Park, North Carolina. When fully implemented, the electronic filing 
portion of the system (known as the ``OALJ E-Filing System'') will warn 
the user that information submitted via the OALJ E-Filing System is 
made public and that users should redact any sensitive PII from the 
document prior to submitting it. Users of the OALJ E-Filing System must 
affirm that they have read and understood the warning each time prior 
to submitting the document electronically. The OALJ published a Privacy 
Act Statement & Notice of Disclosure of Confidential and Personal 
Information on its Web site, which instructs users how to submit 
documents that contain un-redacted PII. Notwithstanding this public 
notice, the OALJ will examine documents submitted for sensitive 
personally identifiable information (PII) and, if found, redact the PII 
prior to making the document available to the public. The OALJ Case 
Tracking System portion of the Case Records System allows the employees 
of OALJ to exclude specific documents from being published to the 
Internet.
     Retention and Disposal: The records will be maintained 
under EPA Records Schedules 508, 509, and 510.
     System Manager(s) Address and Contact Information: Bruce 
Franklin, Administrative Manager, Office of Administrative Law Judges, 
Ronald Reagan Building, Room M1200, 1300 Pennsylvania Avenue NW., 
Washington, DC 20004.

Notification Procedure:
    Any individual who wants to know whether this system of records 
contains a record about him or her, who wants access to his or her 
record, or who wants to contest the contents of a record, should make a 
written request to the EPA FOIA Office, Attn: Privacy Act Officer, MC 
2822T, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20460.

Record Access Procedure:
    Request for access must be made in accordance with the procedures 
described in the EPA's Privacy Act regulations at 40 CFR part 16. 
Requesters will be required to provide adequate identification, such as 
a driver's license, employee identification card, or other identifying 
document. Additional identification procedures may be required in some 
instances.

Contesting Records Procedures:
    Requests for correction or amendment must identify the record to be 
changed and the corrective action sought. Complete EPA Privacy Act 
procedures are described in EPA's Privacy Act regulations at 40 CFR 
part 16.

Record Source Categories:
    Sources include parties to administrative adjudicatory proceedings 
before the OALJ and the employees within the OALJ. A party may be any 
persons, including public citizens and representatives of federal, 
state, or local governments, and businesses who submit documents in 
contested administrative adjudicatory proceedings before the EPA OALJ.

System Exempted From Certain Provisions of the Act:
    Nothing in this notice shall allow an individual access to any 
information compiled in reasonable anticipation of a civil action or 
proceeding. 5 U.S.C. 552a(d)(5).

[FR Doc. 2014-22164 Filed 9-16-14; 8:45 am]
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