[Federal Register: August 19, 2003 (Volume 68, Number 160)]
[Notices]
[Page 49769-49770]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr19au03-46]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[OW-2003-0027; FRL-7545-7]
Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to OMB for
Review and Approval; Comment Request; State Water Quality Program
Management Resource (Gap) Analysis, EPA ICR Number 1945.02, OMB Control
Number 2040-0216
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 3501
et seq.), this document announces that an Information Collection
Request (ICR) has been forwarded to the Office of Management and Budget
(OMB) for review and approval. This is a request to renew an existing
approved collection. This ICR is scheduled to expire on September 30,
2003. Under OMB regulations, the Agency may continue to conduct or
sponsor the collection of information while this submission is pending
at OMB. This ICR describes the nature of the information collection and
its estimated burden and cost.
DATES: Additional comments may be submitted on or before September 18,
2003.
ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, referencing docket ID number OW-2003-
0027, to (1) EPA online using EDOCKET (our preferred method), by e-mail
to ow-docket@epa.gov, or by mail to: EPA Docket Center, Environmental
Protection Agency, Water Docket, Mail Code: 4101T, 1200 Pennsylvania
Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460, and (2) OMB at: Office of Information
and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget (OMB),
[[Page 49770]]
Attention: Desk Officer for EPA, 725 17th Street, NW., Washington, DC
20503.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jane Ephremides, Resources Management
and Evaluation Staff, Office of Wastewater Management, Office of Water,
Mail Code: 4201M , Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania
Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460; telephone number: (202) 564-0643; fax
number: (202) 301-2399; e-mail address: ephremides.jane@epa.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: EPA has submitted the following ICR to OMB
for review and approval according to the procedures prescribed in 5 CFR
1320.12. On May 8, 2003 (68 FR 24374), EPA sought comments on this ICR
pursuant to 5 CFR 1320.8(d). EPA received no comments.
EPA has established a public docket for this ICR under Docket ID
No. OW-2003-0027, which is available for public viewing at the Water
Docket in the EPA Docket Center (EPA/DC), EPA West, Room B102, 1301
Constitution Ave., NW., Washington, DC. The EPA Docket Center 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 Reading
Room is (202) 566-1744, and the telephone number for the Water Docket
is (202) 566-2426. An electronic version of the public docket is
available through EPA Dockets (EDOCKET) at http://www.epa.gov/edocket.
Use EDOCKET to submit or view public comments, access the index listing
of the contents of the public docket, and to access those documents in
the public docket that are available electronically. Once in the
system, select ``search,'' then key in the docket ID number identified
above.
Any comments related to this ICR should be submitted to EPA and OMB
within 30 days of this notice. EPA's policy is that public comments,
whether submitted electronically or in paper, will be made available
for public viewing in EDOCKET as EPA receives them and without change,
unless the comment contains copyrighted material, CBI, or other
information whose public disclosure is restricted by statute. When EPA
identifies a comment containing copyrighted material, EPA will provide
a reference to that material in the version of the comment that is
placed in EDOCKET. The entire printed comment, including the
copyrighted material, will be available in the public docket. Although
identified as an item in the official docket, information claimed as
CBI, or whose disclosure is otherwise restricted by statute, is not
included in the official public docket, and will not be available for
public viewing in EDOCKET. For further information about the electronic
docket, see EPA's Federal Register notice describing the electronic
docket at 67 FR 38102 (May 31, 2002), or go to www.epa.gov/edocket.
Title: State Water Quality Program Management Resource (Gap)
Analysis.
Abstract: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in partnership
with States, is conducting this voluntary State Water Quality
Management Resource Analysis (Gap Analysis) to help enumerate current
and future funding needs and to help identify innovative strategies for
reducing resource gaps. To gather preliminary information in a short
time frame, the Gap Analysis was originally divided into two phases.
Phase I consisted of the development of an initial, national estimate
of the resource gap faced by water quality management programs to
provide a general idea of the magnitude of the resource gap faced by
States.
Phase II of the Gap Analysis involved developing a detailed,
activity-based workload model to provide a common framework and
consistent methodology for States and EPA to estimate the cost to the
States to meet the objectives of the Clean Water Act (CWA) over the
next five years. In order to complete the model, EPA's Office of
Wastewater Management (OWM) gathered data from 21 States on current and
future resources needed for water quality management activities.
Phase III of the Gap Analysis will build upon the information
collected in Phase II, which used an estimate of current State
expenditures on water quality activities. Under Phase III, States will
complete a portion of the Phase II modules to update the needs numbers
to reflect regulatory changes or changes to their programs. In
addition, States will be asked to complete an activity-based model for
current expenditures that mirrors the model for needs. This baseline
spending data will allow the States and EPA to more accurately estimate
the gap between expenditures and needed resources.
Phase III of the Gap Analysis is a one-time collection effort by
OWM, and responses to this information collection request (ICR) are
voluntary. The collection is necessary to develop an estimate of the
gap in resources facing water quality management programs, both for
individual States and the nation.
An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required
to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a
currently valid OMB control number. The OMB control numbers for EPA's
regulations in 40 CFR are listed in 40 CFR part 9 and are identified on
the form and/or instrument, if applicable.
Burden Statement: EPA estimates the burden to be 61 hours per
respondent for each respondent that chooses to submit information.
Burden means the total time, effort, or financial resources
expended by persons to generate, maintain, retain, or disclose or
provide information to or for a Federal agency. This includes the time
needed to review instructions; develop, acquire, install, and utilize
technology and systems for the purposes of collecting, validating, and
verifying information, processing and maintaining information, and
disclosing and providing information; adjust the existing ways to
comply with any previously applicable instructions and requirements;
train personnel to be able to respond to a collection of information;
search data sources; complete and review the collection of information;
and transmit or otherwise disclose the information.
Respondents/Affected Entities: State water quality management
programs.
Estimated Number of Respondents: 20.
Frequency of Response: One time.
Estimated Total Annual Hour Burden: 1207.
Estimated Total Annual Cost: $37,648, includes $0 annualized
capital or O&M costs.
Changes in the Estimates: There is a decrease of 2396 hours in the
total estimated burden currently identified in the OMB Inventory of
Approved ICR Burdens. This decrease is a result of a different phase of
a voluntary, one-time information collection and is due to changes in
program requirements and an adjustment to the original estimates.
Dated: August 12, 2003.
Doreen Sterling,
Acting Director, Collection Strategies Division.
[FR Doc. 03-21185 Filed 8-18-03; 8:45 am]
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