[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 181 (Thursday, September 18, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 49007-49009]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-24835]


=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-5895-1]


Agency Information Collection Activities

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency.

ACTION: Notice.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 3501 
et seq.), this notice announces that the United States Environmental 
Protection Agency (EPA) is planning to request approval from the Office 
of Management and Budget (OMB) to conduct a screener survey of 
facilities potentially subject to Section 316(b) of the Clean Water 
Act, 33 U.S.C 1326(b). Before the Agency submits the proposed 
Information Collection Request (ICR) to OMB for review and approval, 
EPA is soliciting comments from the public on the proposed ``Industry 
Screener Questionnaire for Cooling Water Intake Structures.''

DATES: Comments and requests for information must be received by EPA no 
later than November 17, 1997.

ADDRESSES: Address comments on the draft screener questionnaire to Ms. 
Deborah G. Nagle, U.S. EPA, Engineering and Analysis Division, Mail 
Code (4303), Office of Science and Technology, 401 M Street S.W., 
Washington, DC 20460. EPA will also accept comments electronically. The 
E-mail address for comments is ``[email protected].'' 
Electronic comments must include the sender's name, address, and 
telephone number. A copy of the proposed screener questionnaire can be 
obtained from the Internet at ``http://www.epa.gov/owm/wm030000.htm.'' 
You must use ADOBE ACROBAT READER to read the document; the document is 
a PDF file. If you do not have Internet access, you may obtain a copy 
of the screener questionnaire by faxing a request to Deborah Nagle at 
(202)260-7185. The draft screener that is being made available includes 
all pertinent instructions, information request questions, and 
definitions.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

    Affected Entities: Entities potentially affected by this action are 
those which are subject to section 316(b) of the Clean Water Act, which 
utilize a cooling water intake structure. These entities include, among 
others, facilities in the Non-utility Steam Electric Generation, Paper 
and Allied Products, Chemical and Allied Products, Petroleum and Coal 
Products, Primary Metal Industry sectors. EPA also plans to collect 
information related to the regulatory burden that would be created by 
implementation of a final Section 316(b) rule on state governmental 
authorities responsible for issuing National Pollutant Discharge 
Elimination systems permits. Impacts on these state government entities 
could include either increased costs as a result of additional efforts 
needed to implement a final section 316(b) rule or cost savings 
realized from using a final section 316(b) rule instead of facility-
specific best professional judgment to establish permit requirements.
    Title: Industry Screener Questionnaire: Cooling Water Intake 
Structures.
    Abstract: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is 
currently developing regulations under Section 316(b) of the Clean 
Water Act, 33 U.S.C. 1326(b). Section 316(b) provides that any standard 
established pursuant to Sections 301 or 306 of the Clean Water Act 
(CWA) and applicable to a point source shall require that the location, 
design, construction, and capacity of cooling water intake structures 
shall reflect the best technology available (BTA) for minimizing 
adverse environmental impact. Such impacts occur as a result of 
impingement (where fish and other aquatic life are trapped in cooling 
water intake screens) and entrainment (where aquatic organisms, eggs 
and larvae are sucked into the cooling system, through the heat 
exchanger, and then pumped back out). As the result of a lawsuit by a 
coalition of environmental groups headed by the Hudson Riverkeeper 
(Cronin, et al. v. Reilly, 93 Civ. 0314 (AGS)), the United States 
District Court, Southern District of New York entered a Consent Decree 
on October 10, 1995. The Consent Decree established a seven year 
schedule for EPA to take final action with respect to regulations 
addressing impacts from cooling water intake structures.
    To ensure that the regulation is based upon accurate information, 
EPA is conducting a variety of data-gathering activities. The screener 
questionnaire represents one mechanism through which EPA is gathering 
background data on cooling water design and use. EPA is using a 
screener survey for two reasons. First, EPA will use data collected by 
the survey in determining the number and type of facilities that the 
Section 316(b) regulations will cover. Second, EPA will use the 
information collected to design a sampling plan for a detailed 
technical questionnaire that will be administered after the screener. 
EPA will send the

[[Page 49008]]

detailed questionnaire to a subset of the facilities that received the 
screener questionnaire. EPA has designed the screener questionnaire to 
collect information on such topics as cooling water use within industry 
groups, cooling water intake structure capacities, types of intake 
water sources, and intake structure design configurations and control 
technologies. In addition, EPA is requesting facility and firm level 
economic data. This economic data will enable EPA to consider cooling 
water use across a broad variety of facility and firm sizes. 
Ultimately, the screener questionnaire will help EPA reduce the 
administrative burden of the detailed technical questionnaire on 
industry.
    The screener questionnaire will be administered under authority of 
Section 308 of the Clean Water Act, 33 U.S.C. 1318; therefore, all 
recipients of the screener questionnaire are required to complete and 
return the questionnaire to EPA. The survey instrument will be mailed 
after OMB approves the ICR. 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 are listed in 40 CFR Part 9 and 
48 CFR Chapter 15. The ICR that EPA intends to submit to OMB will 
include a discussion of the comments on the draft screener 
questionnaire that EPA has received to date and the comments received 
as the result of today's announcement. EPA solicits comment on all 
aspects of the screener questionnaire, and specifically solicits 
comment on the following issues:
    (I) Whether the proposed screener is necessary for the proper 
performance of the functions of the Agency, including whether the 
information will have practical utility;
    (ii) The accuracy of the Agency's estimate of the burden of the 
proposed screener, including the validity of the methodology and 
assumptions used;
    (iii) The screener's quality, utility, and clarity; and
    (iv) Minimization of the burden of the screener on those who are to 
respond, including through the use of appropriate automated electronic, 
mechanical, or other technology collection techniques or other forms of 
information technology collection techniques or other forms of 
information technology, e.g., permitting electronic submission of 
responses.
    Burden Statement: 
    The total national burden estimate for all parts of this screener 
is 368,500 hours. The burden estimates are based on EPA administering 
6,700 screener questionnaires. EPA estimates that each facility will 
require, on the average, fifty five hours to complete the screener 
questionnaire. 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.
    In developing the screener questionnaire, EPA conducted a program 
of outreach to industry and other government entities with the 
objective of minimizing reporting burden. The outreach program included 
distribution of the draft screener questionnaire to industry 
associations and environmental groups plus a meeting to discuss 
comments. EPA also made presentations at many professional and industry 
association meetings. The following are the industry associations that 
participated in the EPA outreach program: Utility Water Act Group, 
American Forest and Paper Association, American Iron and Steel 
Institute, American Petroleum Institute, Chemical Manufacturers 
Association, and Edison Electric Institute. EPA also requested comments 
on the screener questionnaire from the Electric Power Research 
Institute. Based on comments received from these early outreach 
activities, EPA decided to first administer a screener questionnaire 
(except to electric utilities) followed by a detailed technical 
questionnaire. The screener is designed to assist EPA in selecting an 
appropriate sample of facilities that employ cooling water intake 
structures to receive the detailed technical questionnaire. Electric 
utilities will receive only the detailed technical questionnaire 
because for these facilities the Agency has the majority of the data 
that is being requested in the screener. Consistent with the Energy 
Information Administration's (EIA) definition of a electric utility, 
EPA for the purposes of this screener questionnaire has defined 
electric utility as ``a corporation, person, agency, authority, or 
other legal entity or instrumentality that owns and/or operates 
facilities within the United States, its territories, or Puerto Rico 
for the generation, transmission, distribution, or sale of electric 
energy primarily for use by the public and files forms listed in the 
Code of Federal Regulation, Title 18, Part 141.'' The Agency has 
coordinated extensively with EIA to determine what information is 
publicly available. EPA does not intend to include questions that seek 
publicly available information in the questionnaires.
    EPA significantly lowered the burden to industry by systematically 
reducing the number of industrial facilities to receive the screener 
questionnaire from a possible 412,000 facilities to about 6,700 
facilities. Based on water intake and cooling water use from the 1982 
Census of Manufacturers, EPA identified six industrial sectors to 
receive the screener questionnaire or the detailed technical 
questionnaire or both. These six industrial sectors are: Utility Steam 
Electric, Nonutility Steam Electric, Chemicals & Allied Products, 
Primary Metals Industry, Petroleum & Coal Products, and Paper & Allied 
Products. Together, EPA estimates that these six sectors account for 
over 99 percent of all cooling water withdrawals and total 50,000 
facilities. EPA also eliminated industrial subcategories which 
documented zero or minimal cooling water use, thereby further reducing 
the number to be surveyed to about 7,514 facilities. Of these 7,514 
facilities, there are 874 operating utility steam electric facilities 
that will not receive the screener questionnaire, bringing the number 
of facilities to receive the screener questionnaire down to about 
6,700. This number may be reduced even more as EPA continues to refine 
the ``sample frames'' for the categories of facilities that will 
receive the screener questionnaire. (A ``sample frame'' identifies all 
the individual facilities within a category across the United States.) 
However, limiting the survey sample frame as described above is not 
intended to limit the scope or applicability of the 316(b) regulation.
    Since the nonutilities are scattered throughout many industrial 
categories, the nonutility sample frame will include facilities from 
multiple industries. Consistent with EIA's definition of a nonutility, 
EPA for the purposes of this screener questionnaire has defined a 
nonutility as ``a corporation, person, agency, authority, or other 
legal entity or instrumentality that owns electric generating capacity 
and is not an electric utility. Nonutility power producers include 
Federal Energy Regulatory commission (FERC) Qualifying Cogenerators, 
FERC Qualifying Small Power Producers, and

[[Page 49009]]

Other Nonutility Generators (including Independent Power Producers) 
without a designated franchised service area, and which do not file 
forms listed in the Code of Federal Regulations, Title 18, Part 141.'' 
For the purposes of this screener questionnaire EPA has defined other 
nonutility generators to include independent power producers (IPP) 
which are wholesale electricity producers other than qualifying 
facilities under Public Utility Regulatory Policy Act (PURPA), that are 
unaffiliated with franchised utilities in the area in which the IPP's 
are selling power and that lack significant marketing power. IPPs do 
not possess transmission facilities and do not sell power in any retail 
service territory where they have a franchise.
    Finally, EPA will maintain a temporary, no-charge telephone number 
that survey recipients may call to obtain assistance in completing the 
data collection surveys. EPA believes that the no-charge telephone 
number will greatly reduce burden by helping recipients to answer 
specific questions within the context of their individual operations.

    Dated: September 3, 1997.
Tudor T. Davies,
Director, Office of Science and Technology.
[FR Doc. 97-24835 Filed 9-17-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P