[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 249 (Tuesday, December 30, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 67864-67865]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-33966]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-5941-8]


Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection; 
Comment Request; Compliance Information Project, EPA ICR No. 1802.01

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 3501 
et seq.), this document announces that EPA is planning to submit the 
following proposed Information Collection Request (ICR) to the Office 
of Management and Budget (OMB): Compliance Information Project (CIP), 
EPA ICR 1802.01. 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 February 28, 1998.

ADDRESSES: Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance, Office of 
Planning and Policy Analyses; U.S. EPA; 401 M Street, SW (2201A); 
Washington, DC 20460.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: John Stoody, (202) 564-5118 / (202) 
501-0701 (fax), Office of Planning and Policy Analysis, Office of 
Enforcement and Compliance Assurance.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

    Affected Entities: State compliance and enforcement personnel, 
especially field inspectors.
    Title: Compliance Information Project (CIP)(EPA ICR No. 1802.01).
    Abstract: The Compliance Information Project (CIP) is a new 
approach under development by the Office of Enforcement and Compliance 
Assurance (OECA) to gather and analyze compliance information that is 
not already routinely collected by EPA and State environmental 
personnel in evaluating compliance for planning and targeting purposes. 
The Agency is conducting the CIP to address concerns that our present 
methods and processes for identifying and using compliance information 
do not capture, internalize or use all of the compliance information 
potentially available to the Agency or the States.
    The purpose of the CIP is to identify external compliance 
information which is readily available to the Agency or the States, but 
uncaptured or unutilized by current systems or methods. Uncaptured and 
unutilized compliance information is outside, or external to, the 
present knowledge base. For the purposes of this Project, such 
unaccounted for compliance information may be referred to as an 
``information externality.'' An information externality becomes 
internalized when EPA or the States collect and use it. Two examples 
are unutilized studies, reports, or audits produced by States, private 
parties, or other government agencies, and observations by field 
personnel which, for one reason or another, escape our traditional 
methods for collecting and documenting information.
    The CIP is designed to channel unidentified or unutilized 
compliance information to the personnel who design and implement our 
information, targeting, and planning systems. The Agency will use the 
CIP to internalize compliance information externalities by collecting 
and cataloging this information, identifying issues or possible 
conclusions, and passing the information on to the appropriate 
government personnel for further analysis and use. Such compliance 
information may fill gaps in the Agency's or the States' databases, 
guide us to previously unidentified compliance problems, enhance our 
ability to describe our successes, or help us in other ways.
    Through the CIP, EPA will collect information in the form of 
compliance reports, studies and published articles on compliance with 
Federal environmental statutes. The Agency will also conduct field 
personnel roundtable interviews in each of the ten EPA Regions, and 
invite a representative from each State to participate along with 
Regional personnel. The Agency will provide interview guides to each of 
the participants in advance of the roundtable. Participants unable to 
attend the roundtable may respond in writing. Participants attending 
the roundtable may prepare advance comments and forward them to the CIP 
staff. Non-Federal respondents may include State compliance and 
enforcement personnel, especially field inspectors. Responses to the 
information collection request are voluntary and not required to obtain 
or retain any benefit. The Agency will not ask for nor collect, as part 
of this project, references to specific persons, facilities, or cases. 
The Agency will use information received to make observations and draw 
inferences where appropriate. The Agency will not, however, conduct a 
statistical analysis of the results.
    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. In any event, EPA is seeking the 
voluntary participation of State environmental enforcement personnel 
and has no intention of requiring a State response. The OMB control 
numbers for EPA's regulations are listed in 40 CFR part 9 and 48 CFR 
Chapter 15.
    EPA is soliciting 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.

[[Page 67865]]

Burden Statement

    EPA plans to conduct ten sets of interviews involving non-Federal 
respondents in the form of roundtables. EPA will contact 50 non-Federal 
respondents. The interview will place a burden of 16 hours on each 
respondent and cost in time of $43 per respondent per hour. Thus, the 
total expected respondent burden is estimated at 800 hours and $34,400.
    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 respond to a collection of information; search 
existing data sources; complete and' review the collection of 
information; and transmit or otherwise disclose the information.

    Dated: December 19, 1997.
Susan O'Keefe,
Deputy Director, Office of Planning and Policy Analysis, Office of 
Enforcement and Compliance Assurance.
[FR Doc. 97-33966 Filed 12-29-97; 8:45 am]
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