[Federal Register: June 25, 2008 (Volume 73, Number 123)]
[Notices]
[Page 36071-36072]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr25jn08-71]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[EPA-HQ-OW-2004-0027, FRL-8685-2]
Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposed Collection;
Comment Request; Cooling Water Intake Structures New Facility Rule
(Renewal); EPA ICR No. 1973.04, OMB Control No. 2040-0241
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 June 30, 2008.
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.
DATES: Additional comments may be submitted on or before July 25, 2008.
ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, referencing Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OW-
2004-0027, to (1) EPA online using http://www.regulations.gov (our
preferred method), by e-mail to ow-docket@epa.gov, or by mail to: EPA
Docket Center, Environmental Protection Agency, Water Docket, Mailcode:
28221T, 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.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Amelia Letnes, State and Regional
Branch, Water Permits Division, OWM Mail Code: 4203M, Environmental
Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460;
telephone number: (202) 564-5627; e-mail address:
letnes.amelia@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 March 28, 2008 (73 FR 16,669), 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-OW-2004-0027, which is available for online viewing at
http://www.regulations.gov, or in person viewing at the Water Docket in
the EPA Docket Center (EPA/DC), EPA West, Room 3334, 1301 Constitution
Ave., NW., Washington, DC. The EPA/DC 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.
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, Confidential Business Information (CBI), or other
information whose public disclosure is restricted by statute. For
further
[[Page 36072]]
information about the electronic docket, go to http://
www.regulations.gov.
Title: Cooling Water Intake Structures New Facility Rule (Renewal).
ICR numbers: EPA ICR Number: 1973.04, OMB Control No. 2040-0241.
ICR Status: This ICR is scheduled to expire on June 30, 2008. 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: The section 316(b) New Facility Rule requires the
collection of information from new facilities that use a Cooling Water
Intake Structure (CWIS). Section 316(b) of the Clean Water Act (CWA)
requires that any standard established under section 301 or 306 of the
CWA and applicable to a point source must require that the location,
design, construction and capacity of CWISs at that facility reflect the
best technology available (BTA) for minimizing adverse environmental
impact. (See 66 FR 65256.) Such impact occurs as a result of
impingement (where fish and other aquatic life are trapped on
technologies at the entrance to cooling water intake structures) and
entrainment (where aquatic organisms, eggs, and larvae are taken into
the cooling system, passed through the heat exchanger, and then pumped
back out with the discharge from the facility). The rule establishes
standard requirements applicable to the location, design, construction,
and capacity of cooling water intake structures at new facilities.
These requirements seek to minimize the adverse environmental impact
associated with the use of CWISs.
Burden Statement: The annual average reporting and recordkeeping
burden for the collection of information by facilities responding to
the section 316(b) New Facility Rule is estimated to be 1,885 hours per
respondent (i.e., an annual average of 113,084 hours of burden divided
among an anticipated annual average of 60 facilities). The Director
reporting and recordkeeping burden for the review, oversight, and
administration of the rule is estimated to average 111 hours per
respondent (i.e., an annual average of 5,125 hours of burden divided
among an anticipated 46 States on average per year). 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.
The ICR provides a detailed explanation of the Agency's estimate,
which is only briefly summarized here:
Estimated total number of potential respondents: 60 facilities and
46 States and Territories.
Frequency of response: Annual, every 5 years.
Estimated total average number of responses for each respondent:
5.3 for facilities and 6.1 for States and Territories.
Estimated total annual burden hours: 118,209 (113,084 for
facilities and 5,125 for States and Territories).
Estimated total annual costs: $8.5 million per year. This includes
an estimated burden cost of $6.7 million and an estimated cost of
approximately $1.8 million for capital investment or maintenance and
operational costs.
Changes in the estimates: There is an increase of 41,941 hours in
the total estimated respondent burden compared with that identified in
the ICR currently approved by OMB. This increase is due to the addition
of the newly built facilities, as well as the continued performance of
annual activities by facilities that received their permit during the
first ICR approval period. In addition, this ICR includes additional
repermitting burdens and costs which were not in the first renewal ICR
because not all of the new facilities required repermitting during the
first renewal ICR.
Dated: June 19, 2008.
Sara Hisel-McCoy,
Director, Collection Strategies Division.
[FR Doc. E8-14417 Filed 6-24-08; 8:45 am]
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