[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 250 (Monday, December 30, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Pages 79609-79610]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-32903]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[OAR-2002-0091; FRL-7433-3]


Agency Information Collection Activities: Submission of EPA ICR 
No. 0940.17 (OMB No. 2060-0084) to OMB for Review; Comment Request

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: Ambient Air Quality 
Surveillance (Renewal) (OMB Control Number 2060-0084, EPA ICR No. 
0940.17 which will expire December 31, 2002. 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 January 29, 2003.

ADDRESSES: See detailed instructions in SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: David Lutz, Emission, Monitoring, and 
Analysis Division, Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards, (C339-
02), Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, NC 27711, 
telephone (919) 541-5476, FAX (919) 541-1903.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: EPA has submitted the following ICR to OMB 
for review and approval according to the procedures prescribed in 5 CFR 
1320.12. On March 7, 2002 (47 FR 10401), EPA sought comments on this 
ICR pursuant to 5 CFR 1320.8(d). EPA received no comments.
    EPA has established a public docket for this ICR under Docket ID 
No. OAR-2002-0091, which is available for public viewing at the Air and 
Radiation Docket and Information Center Docket in the EPA Docket Center 
(EPA/DC), EPA West, Room B102, 1301 Constitution Ave., NW., Washington, 
DC. The EPA Docket Center Public Reading Room is open from 8:30 a.m. to 
4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding legal holidays. The 
telephone number for the Reading Room is (202) 566-1744, and the 
telephone number for the Air and Radiation Docket and Information 
Center Docket is (202) 566-1742. An electronic version of the public 
docket is available through EPA Dockets (EDOCKET) at http://www.epa.gov/edocket. Use EDOCKET to submit or view public comments, 
access the index listing of the contents of the public docket, and to 
access those documents in the public docket that are available 
electronically. Once in the system, select ``search,'' then key in the 
docket ID number identified above.
    Any comments related to this ICR should be submitted to EPA and OMB 
within 30 days of this notice, and according to the following detailed 
instructions: (1) Submit your comments to EPA online using EDOCKET (our 
preferred method), by e-mail to http://www.epa.gov/oar/docket.html, or 
by mail to: EPA Docket Center, Environmental Protection Agency, 
Mailcode: (C339-02), 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460, 
and (2) Mail your comments to OMB at: Office of Information and 
Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget (OMB), Attention: 
Desk Officer for EPA, 725 17th Street, NW., Washington, DC 20503.
    EPA's policy is that public comments, whether submitted 
electronically or in paper, will be made available for public viewing 
in EDOCKET as EPA receives them and without change, unless the comment 
contains copyrighted material, CBI, or other information whose public 
disclosure is restricted by statute. When EPA identifies a comment 
containing copyrighted material, EPA will provide a reference to that 
material in the version of the comment that is placed in EDOCKET. The 
entire printed comment, including the copyrighted material, will be 
available in the public docket. Although identified as an item in the 
official docket, information claimed as CBI, or whose disclosure is 
otherwise restricted by statute, is not included in the official public 
docket, and will not be available for public viewing in EDOCKET. For 
further information about the electronic docket, see EPA's Federal 
Register notice describing the electronic docket at 67 FR 38102 (May 
31, 2002), or go to www.epa.gov./edocket.
    Title: Ambient Air Quality Surveillance, (OMB Control No. 2060-
0084, EPA ICR Number 0940.17). This is a request to renew an existing 
approved collection that will expire December 20, 2002 . Under OMB 
regulations, the Agency may continue to conduct or sponsor the 
collection of information while this submission is pending at OMB.
    Abstract: The general authority for the collection of ambient air 
quality data is contained in sections 110 and 319 of the Clean Air Act 
(42 U.S.C. 1857). Section 110 makes it clear that State generated air 
quality data is central to the air quality management process through a 
system of State implementation plans (SIP). Section 319 was added via 
the 1977 Amendments to the Act and spells out the key elements of an 
acceptable monitoring and reporting scheme. To a large extent, the 
requirements of section 319 had already been anticipated in the 
detailed strategy document prepared by EPA's Standing Air Monitoring 
Work Group (SAMWG). The regulatory provisions to implement these 
recommendations were developed through close consultation with the 
State and local agency representatives serving on SAMWG and through 
reviews by ad-hoc panels from the State and Territorial Air pollution 
Program Administrators and the Association of Local Air Pollution 
Control Officials. These modifications to the previous regulations were 
issued as final rules on May, 10, 1979 (44 FR 27558) and are contained 
in 40 CFR part 58.
    Major amendments which affect the hourly burdens, were made in 1983 
for lead, 1987 for PM-10, 1993 for the enhanced monitoring for ozone, 
and 1997 for PM-2.5. The specific required activities for the burden 
include establishing and operating ambient air monitors and samplers, 
conducting sample analyses for all pollutants for which a national 
ambient air quality standard (NAAQS) has been established, preparing, 
editing, and quality assuring the data, and submitting the ambient air 
quality data and quality assurance data to EPA.
    Some of the major uses of the data are for judging attainment of 
the NAAQS, evaluating progress in achieving/maintaining the NAAQS or 
State/local

[[Page 79610]]

standards, developing or revising SIP's, evaluating control strategies, 
developing or revising national control policies, providing data for 
model development and validation, supporting enforcement actions, 
documenting episodes and initiating episode controls, documenting 
population exposure, and providing information to the public and other 
interested parties.
    Burden Statement: The annual public reporting and recordkeeping 
burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 
18,497 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. An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not 
required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays 
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.
    Respondents/Affected Entities: State/local Agencies
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 130
    Frequency of Response: Quarterly
    Estimated Total Annual Hour Burden: 2,404,606.
    Estimated Total Annual Cost: $196,406,873, includes $81,327,810 
annualized capital or O&M costs.
    Changes in the Estimates: There is no change in hours in the total 
estimated burden currently identified in the OMB Inventory of Approved 
ICR Burdens.

    Dated: December 18, 2002.
Oscar Morales,
Director, Collection Strategies Division.
[FR Doc. 02-32903 Filed 12-27-02; 8:45 am]
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