[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]
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