[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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