[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 160 (Tuesday, August 19, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 44123-44124]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-21921]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-5877-4]


Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection; 
Comment Request; Mid-Atlantic Integrated Assessment (MAIA) Inventory of 
Environmental Data Collection Programs and Sites

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 notice announces that

[[Page 44124]]

EPA is planning to submit the following proposed Information Collection 
Request (ICR) to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB): Mid-
Atlantic Integrated Assessment (MAIA) Inventory of Environmental Data 
Collection Programs and Sites (EPA ICR #1819.01). 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 October 20, 1997.

ADDRESSES: Comments must be submitted to Office of Research and 
Development, Community Based Assessment Team, 201 Defense Highway, 
Suite 200, Annapolis, MD 21401.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Patricia Gant, phone (410) 573-2744, facsimile (410) 573-2771, e-mail: 
[email protected]

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

    Affected entities: Entities potentially affected by this action are 
those which conduct environmental monitoring programs within the states 
of Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Delaware, and the 
District of Columbia. Parts of states which have water bodies that 
drain into the Delaware River (New Jersey), Chesapeake Bay (New York), 
and Albemarle-Pamlico Sound (North Carolina) also are included in this 
information collection. The affected organizations include state and 
county governments, interstate groups such as river basin commissions 
and some nongovernmental groups.
    Title: Mid-Atlantic Integrated Assessment (MAIA) Inventory of 
Environmental Data Collection Programs and Sites (EPA ICR #1819.01).
    Abstract: The National Environmental Monitoring Initiative is a 
program designed to link large-scale survey information and remote 
sensing with ecological process research at a network of multi-
resource, intensive monitoring areas. The goal, through this 
integration, is to provide a greater understanding of the factors that 
control ecosystem health at regional scales where resource management 
decisions are made. The development of this program is being led by the 
White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Committee on the 
Environment and Natural Resources (CENR).
    The CENR has recommended within that a georeferenced data base 
containing metadata about ongoing monitoring programs be developed and 
made available on the Internet. This data base would become part of a 
framework for integrating the nation's environmental monitoring and 
research network. Potential resource manager and scientist users would 
then be able to easily determine the relevance of each program's data 
to their own application.
    One such application supports the Community-Based Environmental 
Protection (CBEP) approach which is an EPA initiative which relies on 
science, information sharing, partnership-building, and socioeconomics. 
These factors are integrated in a geographic context to optimize 
benefits for human and ecological communities. Region III has joined 
with the Office of Research and Development (ORD) to form the 
Community-Based Assessment Team (CBAT) to support this initiative to 
integrate science, technology, and information management into a 
complete package of science-based tools that can be applied to 
environmental planning at the community level. To this end, the CBAT is 
spearheading an effort to produce an interactive, spatial inventory of 
environmental monitoring programs in the Mid-Atlantic region as an 
information resource on the extent of environmental data bases. This 
inventory also will support the CENR and the InterAgency Multi-
Resolution Land Characteristics (MRLC) Consortium as a format and 
prototype for additional U.S. regions.
    The data in the inventory will be available electronically and on 
the Internet for use by a variety of resource managers, regulators, the 
scientific community, and the informed public. It will allow the user 
to identify the location, purpose, agency/institution participation, 
parameter characteristics (type, frequency, format), and data 
disposition for each inventoried program. The specific application made 
by the MAIA CBAT is to identify data that may be used in ongoing and 
future ecological assessments in the mid-Atlantic region.
    The inventory will contain information on program design, program 
administration, and specific meta-data on parameters that are monitored 
in aquatic, terrestrial, atmospheric media. The survey will be 
distributed in paper form to monitoring program managers and voluntary 
response will be made with the assistance, in person or by telephone, 
of EPA representatives. 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 of EPA's regulations are listed in 40 CFR part 9 and 48 
CFR ch. 15.
    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: The average hour burden to respond to the survey 
questionnaire is eight hours. Only one response is requested. 
Approximately 300 respondents have been identified. No start-up costs 
are anticipated as it is expected that monitoring information being 
requested is readily available. The total hour burden is thus estimated 
at 2,400 hours. This burden translates to a cost of $161,538 (based 
upon average salary of $70,000/annum times 2 for benefits). 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: August 8, 1997.
Patricia M. Jackson,
Acting Director, National Health and Environmental Effects Laboratory.
[FR Doc. 97-21921 Filed 8-18-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-M