[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 64 (Friday, April 3, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 16498-16499]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-8792]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRH-5990-5]


Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection; 
Comment Request; Environmental Information Customer Survey

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 EPA is planning to submit the 
following proposed Information Collection Request (ICR) to the Office 
of Management and Budget (OMB): Environmental Information Customer 
Survey: EPA ICR No. 1853.01. Before submitting the ICR to OMB for 
review and approval, EPA is soliciting public comment on specific 
aspects of the proposed information collection as described below.

DATES: Comments must be submitted on or before May 27, 1998.

ADDRESSES: Office of Policy, Planning and Evaluation, U.S. EPA, 
Mailcode 2164, 401 M Street, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20460. Information 
regarding this information collection request can be obtained by 
contacting the information contact listed below.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Heather Anne Case, telephone: (202) 
260-2360, fax: (202) 260-4903, [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Affected entities: Entities potentially 
affected by this action are those members of the general public who 
agree to participate in these voluntary, information collection 
activities.
    Title: Environmental Information Customer Survey; EPA ICR No.: 
1853.01.
    Abstract: This information collection request covers a series of 
general public surveys to be administered by the EPA's Center for 
Environmental Information Statistics (CEIS) and the Environmental 
Monitoring for Public Access and Community Tracking (EMPACT) program 
over the next three years. The objectives of these survey activities 
are derived from EPA's Strategic Plan (EPA/190-E-97-002, September, 
1997) which sets a national goal to improve public access to the 
Agency's environmental information resources. The proposed information 
collection activities will assist EPA to: (1) Identify and characterize 
segments of the Agency's information customer base (information users 
and audiences), and (2) assess their environmental information needs 
and access preferences. A customer's ``environmental information need'' 
refers to specific types of data and information, such as data on air 
pollution levels or information about the known health effects of a 
particular pollutant. An ``access preference'' refers to the various 
ways in which the public can obtain data and information (e.g., reading 
newspapers or reports, by telephone, using Internet Web sites, visiting 
EPA libraries).
    The CEIS and the EMPACT program are proposing to undertake, two, 
near-term, national telephone surveys of the public's environmental 
information needs and access preferences, to assure that early program 
development involves all interested information users. The results of 
these two survey activities will be used to: (1) Improve public access 
to data and information; (2) identify gaps between the public's 
environmental information needs and currently available Agency 
information resources; (3) develop new environmental information 
products and services; (4) enhance community-level, environmental 
measurement and monitoring capabilities; and, (5) regularly seek 
customers comments on their level of satisfaction with information 
products and services. The CEIS and the EMPACT program further propose 
to carry out several additional, customer survey activities to continue 
customer involvement in developing new projects, products and services.

Background Information

    In February 1997, EPA announced plans to create a Center for 
Environmental Information and Statistics (CEIS). The Center was given 
the responsibility to provide the public a convenient, reliable, source 
of information on environmental quality status and trends. The CEIS is 
part of a broader, Agencywide effort to improve public access to EPA's 
information resources. Improved public access will provide citizens the 
information that they need to protect public health and the environment 
in their communities. CEIS drafted a plan for surveying the

[[Page 16499]]

public's needs and access preferences for improving public access. This 
peer-reviewed, Customer Survey Plan (July 1997) employs well-
established, qualitative, research techniques to ascertain customer's 
needs and access preferences via the survey activities described below.
    The CEIS and the EMPACT program have already engaged more than 300 
EPA information users in a series of discussions and public meetings to 
identify their environmental information needs and access preferences. 
Many of those involved in these meetings have asked that EPA focus on 
improving public access by providing centralized points of contact at 
the national and regional levels. They have also expressed needs for 
having integrated datasets and information presented at various 
geographic scales (national, regional, state, watershed and community). 
Users are interested in having quality-assured, reliable data for 
developing their own reports. They are also looking for comprehensive 
reporting on environmental quality status and trends. The proposed 
survey will provide insights into the kinds of information that members 
of the general public may want, especially those members who may be 
unfamiliar with the Agency's information resources.
    Established in 1996, the EMPACT program is fostering a new approach 
to work with communities to collect, manage, and communicate 
environmental information on a real-time basis. The EMPACT program will 
be using the results of the proposed information collection activities 
to work with communities to make timely, accurate, and understandable 
environmental monitoring data available in 86 of the larger U.S. 
metropolitan areas.
    Table 1. provides a detailed description of proposed FY 1998-2001 
Environmental Information Customer Survey information collection 
activities.

   Table 1:--Proposed FY 1998-2001: Environmental Information Customer  
                            Survey Activities                           
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                        March 1998--October 1998                        
CEIS and the EMPACT program assessing environmental information needs   
 and access preferences:                                                
  2,000 telephone interviews (by EPA region)                            
  17,200 telephone interviews (in the 86 EMPACT program, metropolitan   
   areas).                                                              
Product or service concept testing:                                     
  12 focus groups or public meetings                                    
Actual product or service testing:                                      
  20 interviews with CEIS web site users                                
  4 focus groups to advance web site development                        
                                                                        
                       November 1998--October 1999                      
                                                                        
Assessing environmental information needs and access preferences:       
  1,000 responses to a general public questionnaire                     
Product or service concept testing:                                     
  40 focus groups or public meetings                                    
Actual product or service testing:                                      
  20 focus groups                                                       
  100 individual interviews                                             
Evaluating customer satisfaction with early products and services:      
  1,000 responses to a web site users' questionnaire                    
                       November 1999--October 2000                      
Assessing environmental information needs and access preferences:       
  2,000 telephone interviews (by EPA region)                            
  17,200 telephone interviews (throughout the 86 EMPACT metropolitan    
   areas).                                                              
Testing product or service concepts:                                    
  20 focus groups or public meetings                                    
Testing actual products or services:                                    
  20 focus groups                                                       
  100 individual interviews                                             
Evaluating customer satisfaction:                                       
  1,000 responses to a questionnaire                                    
                                                                        
                       November 2000--October 2001                      
                                                                        
Testing product or service concepts:                                    
  10 focus groups or public meetings                                    
Testing actual products or services:                                    
  20 focus groups                                                       
  100 individual interviews                                             
Evaluating customer satisfaction:                                       
  1000 responses to a questionnaire                                     
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    CEIS and the EMPACT program will coordinate the administration of 
any information collection activity in overlapping geographic areas of 
the country, in order to minimize information collection burden, 
wherever possible.
    An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required 
to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a current 
valid OMB control number. The OMB control numbers for EPA's regulations 
are listed in 40 CFR part 9 and 48 CFR Chapter 15. Consistent with 
these regulations, EPA would like to solicit public 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 estimated hour burden for CEIS and the EMPACT 
program national telephone surveys and other, future General Public 
Customer Survey activities is 26,100 hours. The average annual 
reporting burden is 6,500 hours and the estimated, average burden hour 
per response is 0.6 hours. Over the three-year period, numerous members 
of the public will be asked if they would voluntarily like to be 
included in the proposed survey activities. The CEIS and the EMPACT 
program estimate that about 41,500 actual respondents may become 
involved. Since these information collection activities are voluntary 
(respondents will not be asked to keep any records as a result of these 
activities), there are no estimated respondent costs associated with 
the proposed information collection activities.
    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.
    Because customer surveys involve iterative phases of activity, 
information collection activities, proposed to occur after this fiscal 
year, may change.

    Dated: March 30, 1998.
Arthur Koines,
Deputy Director, Office of Strategic Planning and Environmental Data.
Denice Shaw,
EMPACT Program Manager.
[FR Doc. 98-8792 Filed 4-2-98; 8:45 am]
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