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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 185 / Tuesday, September 28, 2021 / Proposed Rules
or the owner with the largest ownership interest in the facility.
B. How does the Agency use parent company data?
After receiving annual TRI reporting forms, EPA uses TRIs parent company data to better understand typical industry practices regarding chemical use and waste management activities.
Pursuant to PPA section 6607, TRI
reporting facilities must also report information on source reduction and other waste management activities.
The TRI National Analysis, published annually see: https www.epa.gov/
trinationalanalysis, looks at how the top parent companies based on quantity of production-related waste managed managed their wastes in terms of recycling, treatment, energy recovery, and releases. EPA uses this parent company-level data to compare the methods by which the various parent companies are managing their wastes, especially when considering the number of facilities owned by each parent company, in keeping with the PPA.
Similarly, the TRI National Analysis highlights the top source reduction activities used by the top parent companies based on number of source reduction activities, such as improved process modifications and product substitutions Ref. 3. Further, considering facilities owned by the same parent company allows EPA to compare waste management and pollution prevention activities within a given sector, particularly when a parent company is primarily composed of same-sector facilities. In addition to improving EPAs understanding of industry waste management and source reduction practices, collecting parent company-level data allows TRI data users and reporting facilities to highlight best practices, which may also help other facilities and companies achieve the pollution prevention goals of the PPA. A more precise understanding of the structures and practices at TRI facilities leads to improvements in the source reduction information that is relied upon to develop effective control strategies PPA
section 6602a.
C. What are the benefits of foreign parent company data?
Environmental agencies, industry, and the public also use TRI data. EPA
program offices use TRI data, along with other data, to help establish programmatic priorities, evaluate potential hazards to human health and the natural environment, and undertake appropriate regulatory and/or enforcement activities. EPA believes
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that TRI data on the facilitys foreign parent company are of interest to the public because of the potential social benefits resulting from the availability of these data. Making TRI information on foreign parent companies available to the public may provide incentives for facilities to reduce TRI chemical releases. For example, the public availability of release information aggregated at the foreign parent company level may induce these parent companies to encourage facilities to reduce releases when such changes would not otherwise be in the parent companys interest if release information were not in the public domain. Potential social benefits derived from voluntary follow-on activities include decreased costs of waste treatment and disposal, lower probability of accidental releases and lower clean-up costs in the event of such releases, reduced contamination of natural resources, improved air and water quality, and reduced risks to human health. Such social benefits would be partially offset by the social costs to implement the changes, such as using flare gas recovery recycling and installing vapor recovery systems. The net social benefits of the information provided by the proposed rule and the possible follow-on activities equal the difference between the total benefits and the total costs of the activities leading to reduced releases Ref. 2.
For facilities that are owned by a foreign company i.e., the facility itself or its highest-level U.S.-based parent company are owned by a foreign-based company, identifying foreign parent companies would bring additional clarity on reporting guidelines. Current TRI reporting definitions result in the facility reporting a U.S.-based parent entity that is often a subsidiary or holding company of a larger, foreign company. In many cases, facility personnel know the foreign companys name more readily than the domestic holding companys name. Further, in cases where TRI facilities are directly owned by a foreign company, with no U.S.-based subsidiary or holding company, the facilities are unable to report any parent company under the existing definition, only indicating No U.S. Parent Company for TRI reporting purposes in the TRI reporting form checkbox. Issues surrounding foreign ownership of TRI reporting facilities have caused reporting uncertainty for facilities in the past. The reporting of the highest-level foreign company in these situations would help improve TRI reporting for facilities by possibly allowing TRI reporting software to help
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suggest parent company names submitted by facilities with similar parent company data and industrial activities.
Reporting a facilitys foreign parent company name and its Dun and Bradstreet identification number DU
NS number, if applicable, would not only create greater certainty among relevant TRI reporting facilities, it would also provide TRI data users with more accurate parent company-level data. Including foreign parent company data would enhance parent company data collected at the U.S. level. Notably, this would allow TRI data users to compare the data across the same foreign parent when no U.S.-based parent exists and conduct the same trend analyses as users could for the highest-level U.S.-based parent. For TRI
data analysis purposes, listing a subsidiary or holding company rather than the actual parent company is an impediment to TRI data users seeking to conduct a more accurate and comprehensive assessment of the waste management and source reduction activities by parent companies. As multiple subsidiaries or holding companies may exist underneath larger corporations, excluding foreign parent companies proves difficult to aggregate at the actual parent company level.
Whereas facilities whose highest-level parents are foreign-based cannot be identified easily by current TRI data, requiring the reporting of a highest-level foreign parent would allow EPA and its data users to analyze trends at a more appropriate corporate level, similar to current analysis of U.S.-based companies. Under complex corporate ownership structures, TRI facilities ultimately owned by foreign parent companies are required to report a U.S.based company that may not be easily recognizable as an entity within a larger, foreign firm. For instance, holding companies and subsidiaries with different names from their foreign parent are currently listed in TRI data under the subsidiary and lesser-known names that do not accurately represent the true ownership structure of a facility. This may skew analyses of TRI
parent company data by suggesting foreign firms may not be as involved in the ownership and operation of TRI
reporting facilities as U.S.-based companies. Collecting and analyzing data on foreign parent companies of TRI
facilities would provide more accurate data for TRI data users.
D. Will additional information need to be reported to TRI under this proposal?
EPA will continue to provide a data element in the facility identification
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