[Federal Register: May 24, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 100)]
[Notices]
[Page 29533-29535]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr24my04-55]
=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[OW-2003-0073; FRL-7666-3]
Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to OMB for
Review and Approval; Comment Request; National Pollutant Discharge
Elimination System (NPDES) Compliance Assessment/Certification
Information (Renewal), EPA ICR Number 1427.07, OMB Control Number 2040-
0110
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
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 5/31/2004.
Under OMB regulations, the Agency may continue to conduct or sponsor
the collection of
[[Page 29534]]
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 June 23, 2004.
ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, referencing docket ID number OW-2003-
0073, 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),
Attention: Desk Officer for EPA, 725 17th Street, NW., Washington, DC
20503.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jack Faulk, Environmental Protection
Agency, Mail Code 4203M, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington, DC
20460; telephone number: 202-564-0768; fax number: 202-564-6431; e-mail
address: faulk.jack@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 December 9, 2003 (68 FR 68618), 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-2003-0073, 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 http://www.epa.gov/edocket.
Title: National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES)
Compliance Assessment/Certification Information (Renewal).
Abstract: This ICR updates the burden and costs associated with the
data requirements necessary for a permitting authority to determine
whether an existing NPDES or sewage sludge permittee is in compliance
with the conditions of its permit for the discharge of pollutants to
waters of the United States or for the use or disposal of sewage
sludge. Most compliance assessment data is generated by permittees and
submitted to the appropriate permitting authority. The permitting
authority uses the information to determine compliance with permit
conditions and if any noncompliance poses a threat to human health or
the environment. If noncompliance is detected, the permitting authority
will take the appropriate enforcement action based on the frequency and
the degree of seriousness of the violation.
This ICR calculates the burden associated with compliance
assessment information (other than discharge monitoring reports)
required by parts 122 and 501 and certification or alternative
requirements contained in the effluent limitations guidelines and
standards regulations for various point source categories. This ICR
adds burden and costs previously collected under OMB ICR No. 2040-0230,
Best Management Practices, Alternatives, Effluent Limitations
Guidelines and Standards, Oil and Gas Extraction Point Source Category
(40 CFR part 435). These requirements include routine submittals, such
as annual certifications and reports submitted when a compliance
schedule milestone is reached; non-routine submittals, such as an
unanticipated bypass; and certifications for exemptions of monitoring
requirements for certain industrial categories.
Where information submitted contains trade secrets or similar
confidential business information, the respondent has the authority to
request that this information be treated as confidential business
information. All data so designated will be handled pursuant to 40 CFR
part 2. Pursuant to section 308(b) of the Clean Water Act, effluent
data may not be treated as confidential.
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: The annual public reporting and recordkeeping
burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 4
hours per response. 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 and local governments, tribes,
private industry, and public and private entities covered under an
NPDES discharge permit (or required to oversee NPDES permit
implementation).
Estimated Number of Respondents: 416,964.
Frequency of Response: Varies.
Estimated Total Annual Hour Burden: 1,809,580.
Estimated Total Annual Cost: $69,446,000, includes $0 annualized
capital, $0 annual O&M and $69,446,000 annual labor costs.
Changes in the Estimates: There is an increase of 434,168 hours in
the total estimated burden currently identified in the OMB Inventory of
Approved ICR Burdens. This increase in burden is due
[[Page 29535]]
to the incorporation of ICR 2040-0230 into ICR 2040-0110, and is the
result of an increase in the universe of permittees covered by storm
water general permits and their applicable burden for recordkeeping and
reporting compliance activities. Other aspects of this ICR are
essentially unchanged (or changed minimally) from the previous ICR.
Dated: May 12, 2004.
Oscar Morales,
Director, Collection Strategies Division.
[FR Doc. 04-11670 Filed 5-21-04; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P