[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 183 (Tuesday, September 22, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 50567-50569]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-25324]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[AD-FRL-6166-6]


Agency Information Collection Activities: Submission for OMB 
Review; Comment Request; Information Collection Request for Electric 
Utility Steam Generating Unit Mercury Emissions Collection Effort

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: Electric Utility Steam 
Generating Unit Mercury Emissions Information Collection Effort; EPA 
ICR No. 1858.01. 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 October 22, 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. 1858.01. The ICR supporting statement and other relevant 
materials are also available from the EPA's website listing Federal 
Register documents at http://www.epa.gov/ttn/oarpg/t3pfpr.html.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

[[Page 50568]]

    Title: Information Collection Request for Electric Utility Steam 
Generating Unit Mercury Emissions Information Collection Effort (EPA 
ICR No. 1858.01). This is a new collection.
    Abstract: This ICR is intended to provide EPA information that will 
aid its decision making regarding mercury emissions from electric 
utility steam generating units. It will also provide the public with 
information about mercury emissions from these plants. Section 
112(n)(1)(A) of the Clean Air Act (the Act) requires EPA to perform a 
study of the hazards to public health reasonably anticipated to occur 
as a result of emissions by electric utility steam generating units of 
hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) after imposition of the requirements of 
the Act and to prepare a Report to Congress containing the results of 
the study. The study has been completed and the Final Report to 
Congress was issued on February 24, 1998.
    Section 112(n)(1)(A) of the Act also requires the Administrator to 
regulate electric utility steam generating units under section 112 if 
she finds that such regulation is appropriate and necessary after 
``considering the results of the study'' noted above. The Administrator 
interprets the quoted language as indicating that the results of the 
study are to play a principle, but not exclusive, role in informing the 
Administrator's decision as to whether it is appropriate and necessary 
to regulate electric utility steam generating units under section 112. 
The Administrator believes that in addition to considering the results 
of the study, she may collect and consider any additional information 
which may be helpful to inform this decision, as well as possible 
subsequent decisions, regarding mercury emissions from electric utility 
steam generating units.
    In the Final Report to Congress, the EPA stated that the available 
information, on balance, indicates that mercury emissions from electric 
utility steam generating units (primarily those of coal-fired units) 
are of potential concern for public health. The EPA acknowledged that 
there are substantial uncertainties that make it difficult to assess 
electric utility steam generating unit mercury emissions and controls, 
and that further research, monitoring, and/or evaluation would reduce 
those uncertainties. Among those uncertainties are: (1) The amount of 
mercury being emitted by all electric utility steam generating units on 
an annual basis (including how much is emitted from various individual 
types of units); (2) the speciation (or valence state) of the mercury 
which is being emitted (e.g., how much is divalent vs. elemental 
mercury); and, (3) the effectiveness of various sulfur dioxide 
(SO2) control technologies in reducing the amount of each 
form of mercury which is emitted (including how factors such as control 
device, fuel type, and plant configuration affect emissions and 
speciation).
    The EPA has designed this information collection effort so as to 
address these uncertainties in as cost-effective a manner as possible. 
For example, rather than require all coal-fired plants to perform stack 
testing or continuous emissions monitoring to determine their 
emissions, the EPA intends to require coal sampling by all of the 
plants and stack testing by only a stratified random sample of plants. 
The information gained by the stack tests will allow EPA to better 
calculate the effect on emissions of current emissions control 
technology for the universe of coal-fired plants meeting the definition 
of electric utility steam generating unit (section 112(a)(8) of the 
Act; generally units above 25 megawatts electric (MWe), including 
independent power producers (IPPs) and cogenerators meeting the 
definition).
    To address the question of the amount of mercury potentially being 
emitted by all coal-fired electric utility steam generating units 
meeting the definition on an annual basis, the ICR includes a 
requirement for the owners/operators of all such units to periodically 
provide the results of certain analyses, to include mercury, of each 
shipment of coal which they receive, along with the quantity and source 
of the coal. To the extent that such analyses can be most cost 
effectively provided by the coal suppliers, the Agency encourages this 
approach, provided that the analyses represent coal that is fired by 
the electric utility steam generating unit (i.e., no further cleaning 
of the coal occurs).
    To address the questions of emitted species and SO2 
control device effectiveness for mercury removal, the ICR also includes 
provisions requiring use of the latest mercury emission stack testing 
methodology to acquire additional speciated mercury data on both 
controlled and uncontrolled air emissions from a representative sample 
of units. This will allow EPA to determine factors that characterize 
the relationship between coal mercury content and other coal 
characteristics, the species of mercury formed in the unit, and the 
mercury removal performance of various existing emission control 
devices.
    The coal-fired units are grouped into categories according to coal 
characteristics and method of SO2 control so that a more 
representative sample of coal-fired units can be selected for stack 
testing. Coal characteristics are related to the coal type, which is 
defined as either bituminous (including anthracite and waste anthracite 
and bituminous for this ICR), subbituminous, and lignite. Sulfur 
dioxide control is defined as either a dry-scrubber (any type/model), 
wet-scrubber (any type/model), fluidized bed combustion (FBC; any 
type), coal gasification (any type), or no mechanical control at all 
(including the use of low sulfur or compliance coals or coal blending).
    Information necessary to identify all coal-fired units is publicly 
available for facilities owned and operated by publicly-owned utility 
companies, Federal power agencies, rural electric cooperatives, and 
investor-owned utility generating companies. However, similar 
information is not publicly available for nonutility generators 
qualifying under the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act (PURPA). 
Such units include, but may not be limited to, IPPs, qualifying 
facilities, and cogenerators. To obtain the information necessary to 
identify all coal-fired units in this sector for both the coal sampling 
and analysis and for selection of units for speciated stack sampling, 
the Agency will solicit from all such facilities, under authority of 
section 114, information relating to the type of coal used, the method 
of firing the coal, and the method of SO2 control.
    The EPA expects that the information requested as part of this 
effort will only be required for one year. The Agency will shortly 
propose a regulation to lower the Emergency Planning and Community 
Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) section 313 activity thresholds for reporting 
releases of certain toxic chemicals, including mercury and mercury 
compounds, to the Toxic Release Inventory (TRI). The EPA plans to begin 
collecting information on mercury emissions from electric utility steam 
generating units under the new threshold in the year 2000.
    Under EPCRA section 313, facilities are not required to measure 
their emissions specifically to report to TRI, but may use readily 
available data (including monitoring data) collected pursuant to other 
provisions of law. This ICR is authorized by section 114 of the Clean 
Air Act, which allows EPA to require electric utility steam generating 
unit owners and operators to perform analyses that they may not 
currently perform and, therefore, that would provide emissions 
estimates that may be more precise than those that would otherwise be 
provided under EPCRA

[[Page 50569]]

section 313. Facilities that have emissions information gathered 
through actual emissions monitoring or testing would be required to use 
the results of such monitoring or testing in compiling their reports 
under EPCRA section 313. Other facilities would be required to apply 
the results of the stack testing performed under this ICR (i.e., the 
publicly available data on coal mercury and the emissions factors 
developed from those data) to estimates of the mercury content of coal 
when reporting mercury releases to the TRI.
    A final decision has not yet been made as to the new threshold for 
mercury under EPCRA section 313. If, after providing an opportunity for 
notice and comment, the EPA decides on a threshold for mercury that 
omits a significant portion of coal-fired power plants, the EPA may 
require that information be submitted under section 114 of the Act for 
additional years. Also, if for any reason, information collection on 
mercury emissions under the new lower threshold for mercury is delayed 
beyond the year 2000, the EPA may require the coal sampling, but not 
the stack testing, beyond one year.
    The responses to the survey are mandatory and are being collected 
under the authority of section 114 of the Act. If a respondent believes 
that disclosure of certain information requested would compromise a 
trade secret, it would need to be clearly identified as such and will 
be treated as confidential until a determination is made. Any 
information subsequently determined to constitute a trade secret will 
be protected under 18 U.S.C. 1905. If no claim of confidentiality 
accompanies the information when it is received by the EPA, it may be 
made available to the public without further notice (40 CFR 2.203, 
September 1, 1976).
    An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required 
to respond to, a collection of information that is sent to ten or more 
persons unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number. The 
OMB control numbers for EPA's approved information collection requests 
are listed in 40 CFR part 9 and 48 CFR Ch. 15. The Federal Register 
notice required under 5 CFR 1320.8(d), soliciting comments on this 
collection of information, was published on April 9, 1998 (63 FR 
17406); over 120 comments were received, including several from 
organizations representing more than a single entity.
    Burden Statement: The annual public reporting and recordkeeping 
burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 1 
hour per respondent for the first component, 41 hours per respondent 
for the second component,and 90 hours per respondent for the third 
component. 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: 1,100.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 1,100.
    Frequency of Response: Quarterly for coal analyses; once per year 
for emission testing.
    Estimated Total Annual Hour Burden: 45,445 hours.
    Estimated Total Annualized Cost Burden: $18,891,000.
    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. 1858.01 in any correspondence.
Ms. Sandy Farmer, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, OP Regulatory 
Information Division (2137), 401 M Street, SW, Washington, D.C. 20460
      and
Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and 
Budget, Attention: Desk Officer for EPA, 725 17th Street, NW, 
Washington, D.C. 20503.

    Dated: September 17, 1998.
Joseph Retzer,
Director, Regulatory Information Division.
[FR Doc. 98-25324 Filed 9-21-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P