ated with environmental restoration activities. The EPA shall respond to the waiver request within 90 days and may grant such a waiver for no longer than 2 years. An agency may resubmit a request for waiver at the end of that period. The waiver under this section shall not alter requirements to report under section 501 of this order.
(c) Where a specific component (e.g., bureau, service, or command) within an agency achieves a 75 percent reduction in its 1999 reporting year publicly reported total releases of toxic chemicals to the environment and off-site transfers of such chemicals for treatment and disposal, based on the 1994 baseline established in Executive Order 12856, that agency may independently elect to establish a reduction goal for that component lower than the 40 percent target established in subsection (a) of this section. The agency shall formally notify the Workgroup established in section 306 of this order of the elected reduction target.
Sec. 503. Use Reduction: Toxic Chemicals, Hazardous Substances, and Other Pollutants. To attain the goals of section 205 of this order:
(a) Within 18 months of the date of this order, each agency with facilities shall develop and support goals to reduce the use at such agencies' facilities of the priority chemicals on the list under subsection (b) of this section for identified applications and purposes, or alternative chemicals and pollutants the agency identifies under subsection (c) of this section, by at least 50 percent by December 31, 2006.
(b) Within 9 months of the date of this order the Administrator, in coordination with the Workgroup established in section 306 of this order, shall develop a list of not less than 15 priority chemicals used by the Federal Government that may result in significant harm to human health or the environment and that have known, readily available, less harmful substitutes for identified applications and purposes. In addition to identifying the applications and purposes to which such reductions apply, the Administrator, in coordination with the Workgroup shall identify a usage threshold below which this section shall not apply. The chemicals will be selected from listed EPCRA section 313 toxic chemicals and, where appropriate, other regulated hazardous substances or pollutants. In developing the list, the Administrator, in coordination with the Workgroup shall consider: (1) environmental factors including toxicity, persistence, and bio-accumulation; (2) availability of known, less environmentally harmful substitute chemicals that can be used in place of the priority chemical for identified applications and purposes; (3) availability of known, less environmentally harmful processes that can be used in place of the priority chemical for identified applications and purposes; (4) relative costs of alternative chemicals or processes; and (5) potential risk and environmental and human exposure based upon applications and uses of the chemicals by Federal agencies and facilities. In identifying alternatives, the Administrator should take into consideration the guidance issued under section 503 of Executive Order 13101.
(c) If an agency, which has facilities required to report under EPCRA, uses at its facilities less than five of the priority chemicals on the list developed in subsection (b) of this section for the identified applications and purposes, the agency shall develop, within 12 months of the date of this order, a list of not less than five chemicals that may include priority chemicals under subsection (b) of this section or other toxic chemicals, hazardous
