[Federal Register: February 3, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 22)]
[Notices]
[Page 5145-5146]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr03fe04-59]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[OW-2003-0081, FRL-7617-3]
Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection;
Comment Request; Survey Questionnaire To Determine the Effectiveness,
Costs, and Impacts of Sewage and Graywater Treatment Devices for Large
Cruise Ships Operating in Alaska, EPA ICR Number OW-2003-0014, OMB
Control Number 20XX-XXXX
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 EPA is planning to submit a
proposed Information Collection Request (ICR) to the Office of
Management and Budget (OMB). This is a request for a new collection.
Before submitting the ICR to OMB for review and approval, EPA is
soliciting comments on specific aspects of the proposed information
collection as described below.
DATES: Comments must be submitted on or before April 5, 2004.
ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, referencing docket ID number OW-2003-
0081, to 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, EPA Docket Center, Environmental Protection Agency,
Water Docket, EPA West, 4101T, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington,
DC 20460.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Elizabeth Kim, Oceans and Coastal
Protection Division, Office of Water, 4504T, Environmental Protection
Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460; telephone
number: (202) 566-1270; fax number: (202) 566-1546; e-mail address:
kim.elizabeth@epa.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: EPA has established a public docket for this
ICR under Docket ID number OW-2003-0081, 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
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 obtain a copy of the draft
collection of information, 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 within
60 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, Confidential Business
Information (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.
Affected entities: Entities potentially affected by this action are
operators of cruise lines and individual cruise ships authorized to
carry for hire 500 or more passengers that operate in and near waters
of the State of Alaska.
Title: Survey Questionnaire to Determine the Effectiveness, Costs,
and Impacts of Sewage and Graywater Treatment Devices for Large Cruise
Ships Operating in Alaska.
Abstract: On December 12, 2000, Congress passed HR 4577 (Pub. L.
106-554), ``Department of Labor, Health and Human Services, and
Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act.'' This act included
a section, entitled ``Title XIV: Certain Alaskan Cruise Ship
Operations'' (33 U.S.C. 1902 Note). Title XIV set requirements for the
discharge of sewage and graywater from cruise ships capable of carrying
for hire 500 or more passengers while operating in the waters of the
Alexander Archipelago and the navigable waters of the United States
within the State of Alaska and within the Kachemak Bay National
Estuarine Research Reserve. Title XIV also authorized that:
the Administrator [of the EPA] may promulgate effluent standards for
treated sewage (human body waste and the wastes from toilets and
other receptacles intended to receive or retain human body waste)
and graywater (galley, dishwasher, bath, and laundry waste water)
from cruise vessels operating in the waters of the Alexander
Archipelago or the navigable waters of the United States within the
State of Alaska or within the Kachemak Bay National Estuarine
Research Reserve. Regulations implementing such standards shall take
into account the best available scientific information on the
environmental effects of the regulated discharges and the
availability of new technologies for wastewater treatment.
EPA has begun an effort to develop and promulgate regulations, as
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necessary and appropriate, for controlling the discharge of sewage and
graywater from cruise ships covered by Title XIV. Title XIV provides
that the authority of sections 308(a) and 308(b) of the Clean Water
Act, regarding records, reports, and inspections, shall be available to
carry out the provisions of the Act (section 1413). EPA is in the
process of preparing an ICR for OMB approval for gathering data in
support of this rulemaking. The ICR would request approval to collect
information from cruise lines and each cruise ship covered by Title
XIV.
The information to be gathered with a survey questionnaire would
include: general information regarding the cruise line and each of the
cruise vessels authorized to carry for hire 500 or more passengers in
waters in and near Alaska (e.g., size, capacity, ports of call);
description of sources of graywater; ship-board plumbing systems; data
describing the effectiveness of sewage and graywater treatment systems
and marine sanitation devices (MSDs) operating on these large vessels
at removing pollutants of concern; costs of these systems; pollution
prevention programs and management practices; information pertinent to
environmental assessment; and financial information and data necessary
for economic impact analysis. When possible, EPA would use available
information to complete answers to some questions. In these cases, the
respondent would be asked to verify the information and update it if
necessary. The survey questionnaire would provide instructions on the
procedures for making CBI claims, if necessary, and the respondents
would be informed of the rules governing protection of CBI, obtained
under the Clean Water Act, for information that warrants such claims.
In a related effort that would not be covered by the Paperwork
Reduction Act, EPA intends to sample and analyze wastewaters from three
to five yet-to-be selected vessels operating in Alaska during the
summer of 2004. The purpose of this sampling would be to characterize
the on-board performance of various sewage and graywater treatment
systems. EPA would like to solicit comments on this sampling effort.
Subsequent to the publication of this notice, EPA intends to consult
with cruise lines and other stakeholders to select technologies and
vessels to be sampled, and will make specific information for this
activity available for further public comment in the second Federal
Register notice for the survey ICR.
EPA also intends to continue to supplement these primary sources by
gathering additional publicly available information and data from the
Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation (ADEC) and the U.S.
Coast Guard (USCG), the cruise ship industry, and other stakeholders.
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.
The EPA would like to solicit comments to:
(i) Evaluate whether the proposed collection of information is
necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the Agency,
including whether the information will have practical utility;
(ii) Evaluate the accuracy of the Agency's estimate of the burden
of the proposed collection of information, including the validity of
the methodology and assumptions used;
(iii) Enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information
to be collected; and
(iv) Minimize the burden of the collection of information on those
who are to respond, including through the use of appropriate automated
electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or
other forms of information technology, e.g., permitting electronic
submission of responses.
Burden Statement: EPA estimates that 12 cruise line operators would
respond to the survey for each of the 32 vessels operating in Alaska.
EPA estimates it would take an average of approximately 48 hours to
complete and review responses to the survey questionnaire and
associated data submissions for each cruise ship that is certified by
the U.S. Coast Guard to discharge continuously in the waters in and
near Alaska under 33 CFR 159.309. This estimate includes the burden for
verifying and updating ``draft'' responses provided by EPA to a portion
of the questions. EPA estimates that the total burden for cruise lines
operating the 18 vessels certified to discharge continuously under 33
CFR 159.309 would be approximately 864 hours, or $34,000 assuming an
average labor rate for the likely range of personnel involved in
responding.
For the remaining 14 ships that do not have wastewater treatment
systems authorized to discharge continuously, EPA estimates it would
take an average of approximately 16 hours to complete and review
responses to the survey questionnaire. EPA estimates that the total
burden for these 14 vessels would be approximately 224 hours, or $9,000
assuming an average labor rate for the likely range of personnel
involved in responding.
EPA estimates that the total burden to the 12 cruise lines
operating 32 vessels for responding to the survey questionnaire would
be approximately 1088 hours, or $43,000. EPA estimates that there would
be no start up or capital cost associated with responding to the
surveys described above.
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.
Dated: January 20, 2004.
Suzanne E. Schwartz,
Director, Oceans and Coastal Protection Division.
[FR Doc. 04-2154 Filed 2-2-04; 8:45 am]
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