[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 128 (Monday, July 6, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 36400-36401]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-17811]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-6121-1]


Agency Information Collection Activities: Submission for OMB 
Review; Comment Request; Regional Compliance Assistance Program 
Evaluation

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 the following Information 
Collection Request (ICR) has been forwarded to the Office of Management 
and Budget (OMB) for review and approval: Agency Generic Information 
Collection Request: Regional Compliance Assistance Program Evaluation, 
EPA ICR No. 1860.01. The ICR describes the nature of the information 
collection and its expected burden and cost; where appropriate, it 
includes the actual data collection instrument.

DATES: Comments must be submitted on or before August 5, 1998.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Contact Sandy Farmer at EPA by phone 
at (202) 260-2740, by email at [email protected], or 
download off the Internet at http://www.epa.gov/icr and refer to EPA 
ICR No. 1860.01.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
    Title: Agency Generic Information Collection Request: Regional 
Compliance Assistance Program, (EPA ICR No. 1860.01). This is a new 
collection.
    Abstract: Since EPA's Office of Enforcement and Compliance 
Assurance (OECA) was formed three years ago, there has been an 
increased focus on the use of compliance assistance as an appropriate 
tool to assist the regulated community in improving its compliance. In 
particular, OECA has focussed its compliance assistance on small 
business and small communities that have not had much exposure to 
traditional enforcement and therefore may not be fully aware of their 
compliance obligations. Compliance assistance consists of information 
and technical assistance provided to the regulated community to help it 
meet the requirements of environmental law. First and foremost, 
compliance assistance ensures that the regulated community understands 
its obligations by providing clear and consistent descriptions of 
regulatory requirements. The bulk of OECA's compliance assistance 
activities are undertaken in our regional offices. Regional compliance 
assistance activities commonly include: hotlines, workshops/seminar/
trainings, compliance guides (e.g., plain language explanations of 
regulations, videos), and on-site visits. Since compliance assistance 
is a rather new tool for OECA, we are very interested in learning about 
its effectiveness. In particular, we are interested in learning about 
the ``outcome'' of compliance assistance on a continuum of potential 
outcomes. The continuum includes determining the ``reach'' of activity 
within the intended audience; determining their ``satisfaction'' with 
the activity; and determining what ``behavioral changes'' they make as 
a result of the activity. The purpose of this generic ICR is to enable 
OECA to collect data on the program effectiveness of their compliance 
assistance program so that we can begin to understand which of our 
various types of compliance assistance activities are most effective as 
well as to obtain anecdotal information on the outcomes of these 
assistance efforts. Moreover, since measuring the impact of compliance 
assistance is a new activity for OECA, we are also interested in 
experimenting with different types of measurement methods (e.g., 
comment cards, mailed surveys, phone surveys) to better direct our 
program evaluation program. Moreover, we are interested in learning if 
this data can be obtained using generalizable methods and will be 
supporting our measurement activities with analysis in this area.
    In each instance we will be measuring whether or not the compliance 
assistance activity is meeting its intended goal. Typical goals for 
compliance assistance activities include: informing the regulated 
community of their compliance obligations (e.g., plain-language 
guides); assisting the regulated community in their understanding of 
complex federal and/or state requirements (e.g., section 215 of the 
Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act asks EPA to 
undertake demonstration projects with states to develop compliance 
assistance tools that integrate state and federal rules); and 
motivating behavioral change (e.g., pollutants reduced, permits 
adopted) from on-site visits, and in-depth workshops/trainings. This 
activity is being undertaken to assist EPA in its implementation of the 
National Performance Measures Strategy that was finalized on December 
22, 1997.
    None of the information collected by this action results in or 
requests

[[Page 36401]]

sensitive information of any nature from the states.
    An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required 
to respond to, a collection of information unless it display 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 
Federal Register document required under 5 CFR 1320.8(d), soliciting 
comments on this collection of information was published on April 21, 
1998. No comments were received.
    Burden Statement: The annual public reporting and recordkeeping 
burden for this collection of information is estimated to average .125 
hours per response. 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.
    Respondents/Affected Entities: Businesses receiving compliance 
assistance from EPA.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 465,489.
    Frequency of Response: Sporadic.
    Estimated Total Annual Hour Burden: 19,470 hours.
    Estimated Total Annualized Cost Burden: $218,090.
    Send comments on the Agency's need for this information, the 
accuracy of the provided burden estimates, and any suggested methods 
for minimizing respondent burden, including through the use of 
automated collection techniques to the following addresses. Please 
refer to EPA ICR No. 1860.01 in any correspondence.

Ms. Sandy Farmer, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, OPPE Regulatory 
Information Division (2137), 401 M Street, SW, Washington, DC 20460;
    and
Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and 
Budget, Attention: Desk Officer for EPA, 725 17th Street, NW, 
Washington, DC 20503.

    Dated: June 25, 1998.
Joseph Retzer,
Director, Regulatory Information Division.
[FR Doc. 98-17811 Filed 7-2-98; 8:45 am]
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