[Federal Register: May 29, 2007 (Volume 72, Number 102)]
[Notices]
[Page 29496-29497]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr29my07-43]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[EPA-HQ-OW-2007-0142; FRL-8319-1]
Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposed Collection;
Comment Request; Cooling Water Intake Structure Phase II Existing
Facilities (Renewal), EPA ICR No. 2060.03, OMB Control No. 2040-0257
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 May 31, 2007.
Under OMB regulations, the Agency may continue to conduct or sponsor
the collection of information while this submission is pending at OMB.
The ICR which is abstracted below describes the nature of the
collection and the estimated burden and cost.
DATES: Additional comments may be submitted on or before June 28, 2007.
ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, referencing docket ID number EPA-HQ-
OW-2007-0142, 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 (EPA/DC), 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: 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 1, 2007 (72 FR 9328), EPA sought comments on this ICR
pursuant to 5 CFR 1320.8(d). EPA received no comments on the draft ICR.
EPA has established a public docket for this ICR under Docket ID
No. EPA-HQ-OW-2007-0142, which is available for public viewing online
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 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. 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.
[[Page 29497]]
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 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. 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 the electronic docket. 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 the electronic docket.
Title: Cooling Water Intake Structure Phase II Existing Facilities
(Renewal).
ICR Numbers: EPA ICR Number 2060.03, OMB Control Number 2040-0257.
Abstract: The section 316(b) Phase II Existing Facility rule
requires the collection of information from existing point source
facilities that generate and transmit electric power (as a primary
activity) or generate electric power but sell it to another entity for
transmission, use a cooling water intake structure (CWIS) that uses at
least 25 percent of the water it withdraws from waters of the United
States for cooling purposes, and have a design intake flow of 50
million gallons per day (MGD) or more. 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. Such impact occurs as a result of
impingement (where fish and other aquatic life are trapped on
technologies at the entrance to CWIS) 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 316(b) Phase II rule establishes requirements
applicable to the location, design, construction, and capacity of CWISs
at Phase II existing facilities. These requirements establish the BTA
for minimizing adverse environmental impact associated with the use of
CWISs.
On January 25, 2007, the United States Court of Appeals for the
Second Circuit remanded to EPA certain provisions in the 2004 Final
Regulations to Establish Requirements for Cooling Water Intake
Structures at Phase II Existing Facilities (See Riverkeeper, Inc. v.
U.S. EPA, No. 04-6692-ag(L) [2d Cir. Jan. 25, 2007]). EPA is continuing
to review the decision to determine its impact on the Phase II Rule.
This ICR does not address changes to EPA regulations as a result of the
court decision, since those revisions are not yet finalized.
Burden Statement: The annual average reporting and record keeping
burden for the collection of information by facilities responding to
the Section 316(b) Phase II Existing Facility rule is estimated to be
2,983 hours per facility respondent (i.e., an annual average of
1,157,216 hours of burden divided among an anticipated annual average
of 388 facilities). The state Director reporting and record keeping
burden for the review, oversight, and administration of the rule is
estimated to average 2,034 hours per state respondent (i.e. an annual
average of 83,383 hours of burden divided among an anticipated 41
States on average per year). Burden means the total time, effort, or
financial resources expended by persons to generate, maintain, or
disclose or provide information to or for a Federal agency. This
includes the time needed to review instructions; develop, acquire,
install, and use 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 information.
Respondents/Affected Entities: 316(b) Phase II existing facilities
and NPDES authorized states.
Estimated Annual Number of Respondents: 429 (388 facilities and 41
states)
Frequency of Response: Bi-annually, every five years.
Estimated Total Annual Hour Burden: 1,240,599 hours.
Estimated Total Annual Cost: $80,556,134. This includes an
estimated labor burden cost of $65,592,289 and an estimated cost of
$14,963,845 for capital investment or operating and maintenance.
Changes in the Estimates: The change in burden results mainly from
the shift from the approval period to the renewal period of the 316(b)
Phase II Existing Facilities rule. This ICR covers the last 2 years of
the permit approval period (i.e. years 4 and 5 after implementation)
and the first year of the renewal period (i.e. year 6 after
implementation). Activities for renewing an NPDES permit already issued
under the 316(b) Phase II Existing Facilities rule are less burdensome
than those for issuing a permit for the first time. Additionally, for
the approval period ICR (EPA ICR No. 2060.02), EPA assumed that all
facilities complying with the rule would be in NPDES-authorized States.
EPA has moved away from this assumption, and, for this ICR, all
calculations are based on the estimated number and type of facilities
in authorized and non-authorized States.
Dated: May 17, 2007.
Sara Hisel-McCoy,
Acting Director, Collection Strategies Division.
[FR Doc. E7-10223 Filed 5-25-07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P