[Federal Register: November 2, 2006 (Volume 71, Number 212)]
[Notices]
[Page 64521-64523]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr02no06-38]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[EPA-HQ-OAR-2006-0407; FRL-8238-5]
Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to OMB for
Review and Approval; Comment Request; Information Collection Activities
Associated With EPA's ENERGY STAR Program in the Commercial and
Industrial Sectors (Renewal); EPA ICR No. 1772.04, OMB Control No.
2060-0347
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) (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. The ICR, which is abstracted below,
describes the nature of the information collection and its estimated
burden and cost.
DATES: Additional comments may be submitted on or before December 4,
2006.
ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-
OAR-2006-0407, to: (1) EPA online using http://www.regulations.gov (our preferred method), by e-mail to a-and-r-Docket@epa.gov, or by mail to:
EPA Docket Center, Environmental Protection Agency, Air and Radiation
Docket and Information Center, Mailcode: 6102T, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave.,
NW., Washington, DC 20460, and (2) OMB by mail to: Office of
Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget
(OMB), Attention: Desk Officer for EPA, 725 17th Street, NW.,
Washington, DC 20503.
Note: The EPA Docket Center suffered damage due to flooding
during the last week of June 2006. The Docket Center is continuing
to operate. However, during the cleanup, there will be temporary
changes to Docket Center telephone numbers, addresses, and hours of
operation for people who wish to make hand deliveries or visit the
Public Reading Room to view documents. Consult EPA's Federal
Register notice at 71 FR 38147 (July 5, 2006) or the EPA Web site at
http://www.epa.gov/epahome/dockets.htm for
[[Page 64522]]
current information on docket operations, locations and telephone
numbers. The Docket Center's mailing address for U.S. mail and the
procedure for submitting comments to http://www.regulations.gov are
not affected by the flooding and will remain the same.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mary Susan Bailey, Climate Protection
Partnerships Division, Mailcode: 6202J, Environmental Protection
Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460; telephone
number: 202-343-9014; fax number: 202-343-2204; e-mail address:
bailey.marysusan@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 June 1, 2006 (71 FR 31179), EPA sought comments on this ICR
pursuant to 5 CFR 1320.8(d). EPA received no comments. Any additional
comments on this ICR should be submitted to EPA and OMB within 30 days
of this notice.
EPA has established a public docket for this ICR under Docket ID
No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2006-0407, which is available for online viewing at
http://www.regulations.gov, or in person viewing at the Air and
Radiation Docket and Information Center in the EPA Docket Center (EPA/
DC), EPA West, Room B102, 1301 Constitution Ave., NW., Washington, DC.
The EPA/DC Public Reading Room is open from 8 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 Air and
Radiation Docket and Information Center is 202-566-1742.
Use EPA's electronic docket and comment system at http://www.regulations.gov
, to submit or view public comments, access the
index listing of the contents of the docket, and to access those
documents in the docket that are available electronically. Once in the
system, select ``docket search,'' then key in the docket ID number
identified above. Please note that EPA's policy is that public
comments, whether submitted electronically or in paper, will be made
available for public viewing at http://www.regulations.gov as EPA
receives them and without change, unless the comment contains
copyrighted material, CBI, or other information whose public disclosure
is restricted by statute. For further information about the electronic
docket, go to http://www.regulations.gov.
Title: Information Collection Activities Associated with EPA's
ENERGY STAR Program in the Commercial and Industrial Sectors (Renewal).
ICR numbers: EPA ICR No. 1772.04, OMB Control No. 2060-0347.
ICR Status: This ICR is currently scheduled to expire on November
30, 2006. Under OMB regulations, the Agency may continue to conduct or
sponsor the collection of information while this submission is pending
at OMB. 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 title 40 of the CFR, after appearing in the Federal
Register when approved, are listed in 40 CFR part 9, are displayed
either by publication in the Federal Register or by other appropriate
means, such as on the related collection instrument or form, if
applicable. The display of OMB control numbers in certain EPA
regulations is consolidated in 40 CFR part 9.
Abstract: ENERGY STAR is a voluntary program helping businesses and
individuals protect the environment through superior energy efficiency.
The Program focuses on reducing utility-generated emissions by reducing
the demand for energy. In 1991, EPA launched the Green Lights program
to encourage corporations, State and local governments, colleges and
universities, and other organizations to adopt energy-efficient
lighting as a profitable means of preventing pollution and improving
lighting quality. Since then, EPA has rolled Green Lights into ENERGY
STAR and expanded ENERGY STAR to encompass organization-wide energy
performance improvement, such as building technology upgrades, product
purchasing initiatives, and employee training. At the same time, EPA
has streamlined the reporting requirements of ENERGY STAR and focused
on providing incentives for improvements (e.g., ENERGY STAR Awards
Program). EPA also makes tools and other resources available over the
Web to help the public overcome the barriers to evaluating their energy
performance and investing in profitable improvements.
To join ENERGY STAR, organizations are asked to complete a
Partnership Letter or Agreement that establishes their commitment to
energy efficiency. Partners agree to undertake efforts such as
baselining, tracking, and benchmarking their organization's energy
performance by using tools such as those offered by ENERGY STAR;
developing and implementing a plan to improve energy performance in
their facilities and operations by following the energy management
strategy provided by ENERGY STAR; and educating staff and the public
about their Partnership with ENERGY STAR, and highlighting achievements
with the ENERGY STAR, where available.
Partners also may be asked to periodically submit information to
EPA as needed to assist in program implementation. For example, EPA
maintains the Service and Product Provider Directory to provide the
public with easy access to energy efficiency services and products that
can help companies lower operating costs and increase their bottom
line. Businesses wishing to appear in this directory are asked to
submit a completed profile that details their services and products.
Partnership in ENERGY STAR is voluntary and can be terminated by
Partners or EPA at any time. EPA does not expect organizations to join
the program unless they expect participation to be cost-effective and
otherwise beneficial for them.
In addition, Partners and any other interested party can help EPA
promote energy-efficient technologies by evaluating the efficiency of
their buildings using EPA's on-line tools (e.g., Portfolio Manager) and
applying for recognition.
If a claim of confidential business information (CBI) is asserted,
EPA will manage that information in accordance with EPA's provisions on
confidentiality.
Burden Statement: The annual public recordkeeping and reporting
burden for joining the ENERGY STAR program and related activities is
expected to vary depending on the type of Partner. The burden per
Partner is expected to range from about 2 hours for a Commercial and
Industrial Sector Partner to prepare/submit a Partnership Letter to 7
hours for an Energy Efficiency Program Sponsor to prepare/submit a
Partnership Agreement and related information (e.g., a brief plan
outlining the key activities it intends to undertake to cooperatively
promote ENERGY STAR in the commercial and/or industrial markets). These
burden estimates include the time for reading the instructions and
requirements, gathering information, and preparing/submitting the
information to EPA. The burden for benchmarking in Portfolio Manager is
estimated to vary depending on the type of benchmarking method. The
burden per respondent for manual benchmarking is estimated to be 30
minutes to read Portfolio Manager instructions, 5 hours to gather and
enter building data for a new benchmark, and 1.5 hours to perform a
repeat benchmark. The burden per respondent for the import tool is
estimated to be 30 minutes for reading the Portfolio Manager
instructions and 1 hour for
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collecting building data, downloading it into the tool, and emailing it
to EPA. The burden per respondent for ENERGY STAR Exchange Services is
estimated to be 20 hours for the host to set up its account and
automated process, 2 hours to collect building data and set up each
customer, and 15 minutes per month to submit customer information to
EPA and retrieve/relay scores to customers. The burden for entering
information into the ENERGY STAR Energy Performance Indicator (EPI) is
estimated to range from 10 to 15 minutes per plant. This includes time
for reading the EPI's instructions and entering data in order to
generate a score. Finally, the burden per respondent for applying to
EPA for recognition is estimated to vary depending on the type of
recognition. The burden per respondent is estimated to range from 15
minutes for preparing/submitting a plant's energy efficiency score to
EPA for recognition (e.g., for EPA permission to display a banner or
plant flag) to 26.5 hours for preparing/submitting an application to
EPA for an ENERGY STAR Award.
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
which have subsequently changed; 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: Organizations participating in
ENERGY STAR in the Commercial and Industrial Sectors.
Approximate Number of Respondents: 6,000.
Frequency of Response: One-time, on occasion, monthly, annually,
and/or periodically, depending on the type of respondent and
collection.
Estimated Total Annual Hour Burden: 54,500.
Estimated Total Annual Cost: $5,436,710, including $3,574,491 in
labor costs and $1,862,219 in O&M costs. There are no capital/start-up
costs to respondents.
Changes in the Estimates: There is a decrease of 28,843 hours in
the total estimated annual burden hours currently identified in the OMB
Inventory of Approved ICR Burdens. The majority of this decrease
occurred because EPA adjusted the number of respondents and the burden
for some activities based on improved and updated data and analysis.
The burden estimates in ICR 1772.04 reflect EPA's program experience
gained over the past three years. In addition, EPA modified some of its
information collections to address EPA and stakeholder needs.
Dated: October 28, 2006.
Oscar Morales,
Director, Collection Strategies Division.
[FR Doc. E6-18497 Filed 11-1-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P