[Federal Register: August 26, 2009 (Volume 74, Number 164)]
[Notices]
[Page 43118-43119]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr26au09-41]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[EPA-HQ-OAR-2003-0162; FRL-8949-3]
Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to OMB for
Review and Approval; Comment Request; Information Collection Request
for Proposed Regional Haze Regulations; EPA ICR No. 1813.07, OMB
Control No. 2060-0412
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 September 25,
2009.
ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, referencing Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-
2003-0162, to (1) EPA online using http://www.regulations.gov (our
preferred method), by e-mail: docket.oeca@epa.gov, or by mail to: EPA
Docket Center, Agency Information Collection Request Activities:
Proposed Collection and Comment Request for the Regional Haze
Regulations Docket, Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2003-0162, Environmental
Protection Agency, Air and Radiation Docket and Information Center,
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 Office for EPA,
725 17th Street, NW., Washington, DC 20503.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Todd Hawes, Air Quality Policy
Division, Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards, (C539-04),
Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina
27711; telephone number: (919) 541-5591; fax number: (919) 541-0824; e-
mail address: hawes.todd@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, 2009 (74 FR 21680), EPA sought comments on this ICR
pursuant to 5 CFR 1320.8(d). EPA received no comments during the
comment period. 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-2003-0162, which is available for online viewing at
http://www.regulations.gov, or in person at the Air 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 Air Docket 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, confidential
[[Page 43119]]
business information (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: Proposed Regional Haze Regulations (Renewal).
ICR numbers: EPA ICR No. 1813.07, OMB Control No. 2060-0412.
ICR status: This ICR is scheduled to expire on October 31, 2009.
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, and 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: This ICR is for activities related to the implementation
of EPA's 1999 regional haze rule for the time period between October
31, 2009, and October 30, 2012, and renews the previous ICR. The
regional haze rule, as authorized by sections 169A and 169B of the
Clean Air Act (CAA), requires States to develop implementation plans to
protect visibility in 156 Federally-protected Class I areas. Tribes may
choose to develop implementation plans. For this time period, States
will be completing their implementation plans to comply with the rule.
Before any agency, department, or instrumentality of the Federal
government engages in, supports in any way, provides financial
assistance for, licenses, permits, approves any activity, that agency
has the affirmative responsibility to ensure that such action conforms
to the State Implementation Plan (SIP) required under the regional haze
rule. Section 176(c) of the CAA (42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.) require that
all Federal actions conform with the SIP requirements. Depending on the
type of action, the Federal entities must collect information
themselves, hire consultants to collect the information or require
applicants/sponsors of the Federal action to provide the information.
Burden Statement: The annual public reporting and recordkeeping
burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 37
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 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: 859.
Frequency of response: Annual.
Estimated total average number of responses for each respondent: 1.
Estimated total annual burden hours: 31,841 hours.
Estimated total annual costs: $1,880,000, which is comprised of
labor costs exclusively. This includes $0 for both capital investment
and maintenance and operational costs.
Changes in the Estimates. There are only minor revisions to the
cost estimates since the last renewal of this ICR (July 11, 2006; 71 FR
39104). The last collection request anticipated the program progressing
from the planning stages to implementation. That transition has been
somewhat delayed as most States were late in getting their
implementation plans submitted by the December 2007 deadline. Also, the
decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit to both vacate
(on July 11, 2008) and subsequently remand (on December 23, 2008) the
Clean Air Interstate Rule has added much uncertainty to the
implementation phase of the program. Consequently, the amount of effort
anticipated in July 2006 remains the same today, and burden estimates
are essentially unchanged, except for revised labor and wage rates
using 2007 cost estimates. Also, in 2006, it was estimated that one
Tribe would submit a SIP; however no Tribes elected to submit SIPs and
the number of respondents has been reduced by one.
Dated: August 20, 2009.
John Moses,
Director, Collection of Strategies Division.
[FR Doc. E9-20600 Filed 8-25-09; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P