[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 45 (Thursday, March 7, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Pages 10402-10404]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-5449]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-7154-3]


Agency Information Collection Activities: Collection; See List of 
ICRs To Be Submitted in Section A

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 two current 
Information Collection Requests (ICR) have been forwarded to the Office 
of Management and Budget (OMB) for renewal: Best Management Practices 
(``BMP''), Effluent Limitations Guidelines and Standards, Pulp, Paper, 
and Paperboard Manufacturing Category (EPA ICR No. 1829.02), expiring 
on March 31, 2002, and Milestones Plan, Effluent Limitations Guidelines 
and Standards, Bleached Papergrade Kraft and Soda Subcategory, Pulp, 
Paper, and Paperboard Manufacturing Category (EPA ICR No. 1877.02), 
expiring on February 28, 2002. OMB approved the current BMP information 
collection on March 2, 1999, and approved the current Milestones Plan 
collection on January 13, 1999. The ICRs describe the nature of the 
information collection and their expected burden and cost.

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DATES: Comments must be submitted on or before April 8, 2002.

ADDRESSES: Send comments, referencing EPA ICR No. 1829.02 and OMB 
Control No. 2040-0207, or EPA ICR No. 1877.02 and OMB Control No. 2040-
0202 to the following addresses: Susan Auby, U.S. Environmental 
Protection Agency, Collection Strategies Division (Mail Code 2822), 
1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Washington, FOR FURTHER INFORMATION: For 
a copy of the ICR contact Susan Auby at EPA at (202) 260-4901, by e-
mail at [email protected], or download off the Internet at http://www.epa.gov/icr and refer to EPA ICR No. 1829.02 and 1877.02. For 
technical information about the collections, contact Mr. Ahmar Siddiqui 
by telephone at (202) 260-1826, or by e-mail at [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction 
Act (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), this notice announces that EPA is 
submitting the following two ICRs to the Office of Management and 
Budget (OMB) for renewal:
    (1) Best Management Practices, Effluent Limitations Guidelines and 
Standards, Pulp, Paper, and Paperboard Manufacturing Category, EPA ICR 
No. 1829.02, OMB Control No. 2040-0207;
    (2) Milestones Plan, Effluent Limitations Guidelines and Standards, 
Bleached Papergrade Kraft and Soda Subcategory, Pulp, Paper, and 
Paperboard Manufacturing Category, EPA ICR No. 1877.02, OMB Control No. 
2040-0202.
    (1) Title: Best Management Practices, Effluent Limitations 
Guidelines and Standards, Pulp, Paper, and Paperboard Manufacturing 
Category, EPA ICR No. 1829.02, OMB Control No. 2040-0207, Expires on 
03/31/2002.
    Abstract: EPA has established Best Management Practices (BMPs) 
provisions as part of final amendments to 40 CFR part 430, the Pulp, 
Paper and Paperboard Point Source Category promulgated on April 15, 
1998 (see 63 FR 18504). These provisions, promulgated under the 
authorities of sections 304, 307, 308, 402, and 501 of the Clean Water 
Act, require that owners or operators of bleached papergrade kraft and 
soda mills and papergrade sulfite mills implement site-specific BMPs to 
prevent or otherwise contain leaks and spills of spent pulping liquors, 
soap and turpentine and to control intentional diversions of these 
materials (see 40 CFR 430.03).
    EPA has determined that these BMPs are necessary because the 
materials controlled by these practices, if spilled or otherwise lost, 
can interfere with wastewater treatment operations and lead to 
increased discharges of toxic, nonconventional, and conventional 
pollutants. For further discussion of the need for BMPs, see section 
VI.B.7 of the preamble to the amendments to 40 CFR part 430 (see 63 FR 
18561-18566).
    The BMP program includes information collection requirements that 
are intended to help accomplish the overall purposes of the program by, 
for example, training personnel, see 40 CFR 430.03(c)(4), analyzing 
spills that occur, see 40 CFR 430.03(c)(5), identifying equipment items 
that might need to be upgraded or repaired, see 40 CFR 430.03(c)(2), 
and performing monitoring--including the operation of monitoring 
systems--to detect leaks, spills and intentional diversion and 
generally to evaluate the effectiveness of the BMPs, see 40 CFR 
430.03(c)(3), (c)(10), (h), and (i). The regulations also require mills 
to develop and, when appropriate, amend plans specifying how the mills 
will implement the specified BMPs and to certify to the permitting or 
pretreatment authority that they have done so in accordance with good 
engineering practices and the requirements of the regulation (see 40 
CFR 430.03(d), (e) and (f)). The purpose of those provisions is, 
respectively, to facilitate the implementation of BMPs on a site-
specific basis and to help the regulating authorities to ensure 
compliance without requiring the submission of actual BMP plans. 
Finally, the recordkeeping provisions are intended to facilitate 
training, to signal the need for different or more vigorously 
implemented BMPs, and to facilitate compliance assessment (see 40 CFR 
430.03(g)).
    EPA has structured the regulation to provide maximum flexibility to 
the regulated community and to minimize administrative burdens on 
National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit and 
pretreatment control authorities that regulate bleached papergrade 
kraft and soda and papergrade sulfite mills. Although EPA does not 
anticipate that it will be necessary for mills to submit any 
confidential business information (CBI) or trade secrets as part of 
this ICR, all data claimed as CBI will be handled by EPA pursuant to 40 
CFR part 2.
    Comments to First Notice: EPA received no comments to the first 
notice of submission of this ICR to OMB.
    Burden Statement: The annual public reporting and record keeping 
burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 468 
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: Entities potentially affected by 
this action are those operations that chemically pulp wood fiber using 
kraft or soda methods to produce bleached papergrade pulp, paperboard, 
coarse paper, tissue paper, fine paper, and/or paperboard; those 
operations that chemically pulp wood fiber using papergrade sulfite 
methods to produce pulp and/or paper; and State and local governments 
which regulate areas where such operations are located.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 130.
    Frequency of response: Periodic.
    Estimated Total Annual Hour Burden: 60,909.
    Estimated Total Annualized Capital, O&M Cost Burden: $0.
    The recurring burden for a mill to periodically review and amend 
the BMP plan, prepare spill reports, perform additional monitoring, 
hold refresher training, and conduct recordkeeping and reporting is 
estimated to be 617, 641 and 665 hours annually per mill for simple, 
moderately complex, and complex mills, respectively. The total 
recurring cost for mills associated with the BMP requirements is 
estimated at $1,807,670.
    The recurring burden to State NPDES and pretreatment control 
authorities is estimated at ten hours per year per facility for 
reviewing periodic (e.g., annual or semi-annual) monitoring reports and 
conducting compliance reviews. The total recurring costs for State 
NPDES and pretreatment control authorities is estimated at $32,100.
    (2) Title: Milestones Plan, Effluent Limitations Guidelines and 
Standards, Bleached Papergrade Kraft and Soda Subcategory, Pulp, Paper, 
and Paperboard Manufacturing Category, EPA ICR No. 1877.02, OMB Control 
No. 2040-0202, Expires on 02/28/2002.
    Abstract: EPA established the Milestones Plan requirements as an 
element of the Voluntary Advanced

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Technology Incentives Program (VATIP) codified at 40 CFR 430.24(b). The 
Milestone Plan requirements were promulgated as amendments to VATIP on 
July 7, 1999 (see 64 FR 36582) and are codified at 40 CFR 430.24(b)(3). 
The Milestones Plan provisions, promulgated under the authorities of 
sections 301, 304, 306, 308, 402, and 501 of the Clean Water Act, 
require owners or operators of bleached papergrade kraft and soda mills 
enrolled in the VATIP to submit information to describe each envisioned 
new technology component or process modification the mill intends to 
implement in order to achieve the VATIP Best Available Technology (BAT) 
limits, including a master schedule showing the sequence of 
implementing new technologies and process modifications and identifying 
critical-path relationships within the sequence.
    EPA has determined that the Milestones Plan will provide valuable 
benchmarks for reasonable inquiries into progress being made by 
participating mills toward achieving interim and ultimate tier limits 
of the VATIP and will offer the necessary flexibility to the mill and 
the permit writer so that the milestones selected to be incorporated 
into the mill's NPDES permit reflect the unique situation of the mill.
    The Milestones Plan must include the following information for each 
new individual technology or process modification: (1) A schedule of 
anticipated dates for associated construction, installation, and/or 
process changes; (2) the anticipated dates of completion for those 
steps; (3) the anticipated date that the Advanced Technology process or 
individual component will be fully operational; (4) and the anticipated 
reductions in effluent quantity and improvements in effluent quality as 
measured at the bleach plant (for bleach plant, pulping area and 
evaporator condensates flow and BAT parameters other than Adsorbable 
Organic Halides (AOX)) and the end of the pipe (for AOX) (see 40 CFR 
430.24(c)(3)). For those technologies or process modifications that are 
not commercially available or demonstrated on a full-scale basis at the 
time of Plan development, the Plan must include a schedule for 
initiating and completing research (if necessary), process development, 
and mill trials (see 40 CFR 430.24(c)(3)(i)). The Plan must also 
include contingency plans in the event that any of the technologies or 
processes specified in the Milestones Plan need to be adjusted or 
alternative approaches developed to ensure that the ultimate tier 
limits are achieved by the deadlines specified in 40 CFR 
430.24(b)(4)(ii) (see 40 CFR 430.24(c)(4)).
    EPA has structured the Plan to provide maximum flexibility to the 
regulated community and to minimize administrative burdens on NPDES 
permit authorities that regulate bleached papergrade kraft and soda 
mills. All data claimed as CBI or trade secrets submitted by the mills 
as part of this ICR will be handled by EPA pursuant to 40 CFR part 2. 
Although EPA does not anticipate that it will be necessary for mills to 
submit any CBI or trade secrets as part of this ICR, if a mill claims 
all or part of the milestones plan as CBI, the mill must prepare and 
submit to the NPDES permitting authority a summary of the plan for 
public release (see 40 CFR 430.24(c)).
    Comments to First Notice: EPA received no comments to the first 
notice of submission of this ICR to OMB.
    Burden Statement: The annual public reporting and record keeping 
burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 120 
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: Entities potentially affected by 
this action are those existing, direct discharging mills with 
operations that chemically pulp wood fiber using kraft or soda methods 
to produce bleached papergrade pulp, paperboard, coarse paper, tissue 
paper, fine paper, and/or paperboard and that choose to participate in 
the Voluntary Advanced Technology Incentives Program established under 
40 CFR 430.24(b).
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 29 mills.
    Frequency of response: The burden for a mill (which chooses to 
participate voluntarily in the incentives program) to prepare and 
submit a Milestones Plan is estimated to average approximately 120 
hours per respondent. This is a one-time burden. State NPDES permitting 
authorities burden to review the Milestones Plans is estimated at 16 
hours per respondent as an initial burden with an average recurring 
annual review burden of 6 hours per respondent. There is no recurring 
burden for mill respondents associated with this information 
collection.
    Estimated Total Annual Hour Burden: 1,418 hours.
    Estimated Total Annualized Capital, O&M Cost Burden: $0.

    Dated: February 26, 2002.
Oscar Morales,
Director, Collection Strategies Division.
[FR Doc. 02-5449 Filed 3-6-02; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P