[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 53 (Wednesday, March 19, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Pages 13298-13299]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-6579]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[OEI-2002-0011; FRL-7469-4]


Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission of EPA ICR 
No. 2083.01 to OMB for Review and Approval; 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: Estimating the Value of 
Improvements to Coastal Waters--A Pilot Study of A Coastal Water 
Valuation Survey. The ICR describes the nature of the information 
collection and its estimated burden and cost.

DATES: Additional comments may be submitted on or before April 18, 
2003.

ADDRESSES: Follow the detailed instructions in SUPPLEMENTARY 
INFORMATION.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr. Nicole Owens, National Center for 
Environmental Economics, Office of Policy, Economics, and Innovation, 
Mail Code 1809T, Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania 
Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460; telephone number: (202) 566-2302; fax 
number: (202) 566-2338; e-mail address: [email protected].

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 June 28, 2002 (67 FR 43592), 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. OEI 2002-0011, which is available for public viewing at the Office 
of Environmental Information (OEI) 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 OEI Docket is (202) 566-1752. 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 [email protected], or by mail to: EPA 
Docket Center, Environmental Protection Agency, Mailcode: 28221T, 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 http://www.epa.gov/edocket.
    Title: Estimating the Value of Improvements to Coastal Waters--A 
Pilot Study of A Coastal Valuation Survey (EPA ICR Number 2083.01). 
This is a request for a new collection.
    Abstract: This Information Collection Request (ICR) is for a pilot 
survey being conducted by the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) 
National Center for Environmental Economics (NCEE). The purpose of the 
pilot survey is to conduct research on and test various aspects of a 
computerized stated preference survey designed to estimate willingness 
to pay for water quality improvements in coastal waters. Specifically, 
we will:
    [sbull] Test the quality and effectiveness of the computerized 
survey instrument in yielding robust estimates for both use and non-use 
values of improvements to coastal water quality;
    [sbull] Test the effect of the use of color in computerized survey 
instruments;
    [sbull] Test the appropriateness of the design values used in the 
choice questions;
    [sbull] Test the effect of a $5 incentive on the response rate;
    [sbull] Test the effectiveness of the survey administration mode 
for periodic, panel surveys, and
    [sbull] Test the effectiveness of the survey administration mode 
for environmental surveys.
    The subject of the survey was chosen for a variety of reasons. 
First, at this time, no suitable information exists that will allow the 
estimation of the benefits of statewide or national changes in coastal 
water quality. Existing studies focus on estimating recreational (use) 
values for very specific reaches of coastal waters, thus limiting the 
use of the resulting estimates for benefit transfer and ignoring non-
use values completely (e.g., Parsons et al. (2000) and Koaru, 1995). 
Second, the results of this survey will complement those from an 
ongoing freshwater quality survey (USEPA, 2000). Currently, States, 
tribes, and other jurisdictions measure water quality by determining if 
water bodies are clean enough to support basic uses, such as swimming, 
fishing, and aquatic life. In keeping with these definitions of water 
quality, the survey will provide estimates of willingness to pay (WTP) 
for more fishable and swimmable coastal and estuarine waters as well as 
healthier marine and estuarine aquatic environments. In the valuation 
portion of the survey, respondents will be asked a series of five 
questions in which they are asked to compare two programs with the 
status quo. The programs each affect water quality for the various uses 
in different ways and cost varying amounts to implement. Analysis of 
the resulting data will yield WTP estimates for improvements to each of 
the attributes.
    Further development of the survey cannot be completed without a 
pilot survey. The pilot survey will take place in California using a 
computerized survey instrument. The survey instrument is specific to 
the state of California and, depending upon the results of the pilot 
survey, may be used

[[Page 13299]]

to estimate willingness to pay for water quality improvements for the 
three specific uses noted above. Once the pilot survey is complete and 
EPA is convinced of the adequacy of the questionnaire, EPA's National 
Center for Environmental Economics hopes to develop parallel versions 
of the survey instrument for the remaining 20 coastal states in the 
contiguous United States as well as a version for inland states. The 
coastal state versions of the survey will elicit resident's willingness 
to pay for coastal water improvements within the respondent's home 
state. The inland version of the survey will elicit willingness to pay 
for coastal water improvements generally. Together these data will 
provide valuable information to estimate improvements to coastal waters 
that may improve the quality of cost-benefit analyses and decision-
making at EPA.
    The pilot survey is designed to collect information using Knowledge 
Networks, a survey research firm with a pre-recruited panel of 
individuals throughout the United States who complete surveys using 
WebTV. We are requesting permission to conduct a pilot survey of 600 
respondents in California. It should be noted, however, that no 
expectations have been formed regarding the administration mode for 
future pilots or surveys using this or parallel survey instruments. 
While we expect to continue using a self-administered computerized 
format, we plan to explore alternative modes of administration.
    The only burden imposed by the pilot survey on respondents will be 
the time required to complete the survey. Based upon a limited number 
of cognitive pretest interviews, the survey developers estimate that 
this will involve an average of 30 minutes per respondents. With a 
total of 600 respondents for the pilot survey this involves a total of 
150 hours. Based on an average hourly rate of $22.15 (including 
employer costs of all employee benefits), the survey developers expect 
that the average per-respondent cost for the pilot survey will be 
$11.08 and the corresponding one-time total cost to all respondents 
will be $6645.00. This information collection does not involve any 
special equipment, thus, respondents will not incur any capital or 
operation and maintenance (O&M) costs.
    Responses to the pilot survey will be voluntary. Typically, panel 
members are free to choose whether or not to respond to any particular 
survey as long as they meet survey quotas set in their agreement with 
the research firm. The survey will fully conform to federal 
regulations--specifically the Privacy Act of 1974 (5 U.S.C. 552a), the 
Hawkins-Stafford Amendments of 1988 (Pub. L. 100-297), and the Computer 
Security Act of 1987.
    The pilot survey data will be collected and stored electronically 
by the survey research firm, and all identifying information will be 
removed by the survey research firm prior to transfer to EPA. EPA will 
perform all data analyses used to determine the efficacy of this survey 
instrument for estimating the values associated with improved coastal 
water quality.
    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, and are 
identified on the form and/or instrument, if applicable.
    Burden Statement: The annual public reporting and recordkeeping 
burden for this collection of information is estimated to average \1/2\ 
hour 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: Individuals living in the State of 
California.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 600.
    Frequency of Response: 1.
    Estimated Total Annual Hour Burden: 300 hours.
    Estimated Total Annual Cost: $6645, includes $0 annualized capital 
or O&M costs.

    Dated: March 3, 2003.
Oscar Morales,
Director, Collection Strategies Division.
[FR Doc. 03-6579 Filed 3-18-03; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P