feasible, the guidance developed by the EPA shall be consistent with the reasonable application of such regulatory limitations and exemptions in the private sector. The guidance shall ensure reporting consistent with the goal of public access to information under section 313 of EPCRA and section 6607 of PPA. The guidance shall be submitted to the AEEs established under section 301(d) of Executive Order 13101 for review and endorsement. Each agency shall apply any guidance to reporting at its facilities as soon as practicable but no later than for reporting for the next calendar year following release of the guidance.
(e) The EPA shall coordinate with other interested Federal agencies to carry out pilot projects to collect and disseminate information about the release and other waste management of chemicals associated with the environmental response and restoration at their facilities and sites. The pilot projects will focus on releases and other waste management of chemicals associated with environmental response and restoration at facilities and sites where the activities generating wastes do not otherwise meet EPCRA section 313 thresholds for manufacture, process, or other use. Each agency is encouraged to identify applicable facilities and voluntarily report under subsection (a) of this section the releases and other waste management of toxic chemicals managed during environmental response and restoration, regardless of whether the facility otherwise would report under subsection (a). The releases and other waste management of chemicals associated with environmental response and restoration voluntarily reported under this subsection will not be included in the accounting established under sections 503(a) and (c) of this order.
Sec. 502. Release Reduction: Toxic Chemicals. To attain the goals of section 204 of this order:
(a) Beginning with reporting for calendar year 2001 activities, each agency reporting under section 501 of this order shall adopt a goal of reducing, where cost effective, the agency's total releases of toxic chemicals to the environment and off-site transfers of such chemicals for treatment and disposal by at least 10 percent annually, or by 40 percent overall by December 31, 2006. Beginning with activities for calendar year 2001, the baseline for measuring progress in meeting the reduction goal will be the aggregate of all such releases and off-site transfers of such chemicals for treatment and disposal as reported by all of the agency's facilities under section 501 of this order. The list of toxic chemicals applicable to this goal is the EPCRA section 313 list as of December 1, 2000. If an agency achieves the 40 percent reduction goal prior to December 31, 2006, that agency shall establish a new baseline and reduction goal based on agency priorities. (b) Where an agency is unable to pursue the reduction goal established in subsection (a) for certain chemicals that are mission critical and/or needed to protect human health and the environment or where agency off-site transfer of toxic chemicals for treatment is directly associated with environmental restoration activities, that agency may request a waiver from the EPA for all or part of the requirement in subsection (a) of this section. As appropriate, waiver requests must provide: (1) an explanation of the mission critical use of the chemical; (2) an explanation of the nature of the need for the chemical to protect human health; (3) a description of efforts to identify a less harmful substitute chemical or alternative processes to reduce the release and transfer of the chemical in question; and (4) a description of the off-site transfers of toxic chemicals for treatment directly associ-
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