[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 40 (Wednesday, March 2, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 10087-10088]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-3999]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[OW-2004-0027; FRL-7879-8]


Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to OMB for 
Review and Approval; Comment Response; Information Collection Request 
for Cooling Water Intake Structures--New Facility (Renewal), EPA ICR 
Number 1973.03, OMB Control Number 2040-0241

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 an Information Collection 
Request (ICR) has been forwarded to the Office of Management and Budget 
(OMB) for review and approval. This is a request to renew an existing 
approved collection. This ICR is scheduled to expire on February 28, 
2005. Under OMB regulations, the Agency may continue to conduct or 
sponsor the collection of information while this submission is pending 
at OMB. 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 1, 2005.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, referencing docket ID number OW-2004-
0027, to (1) EPA online using EDOCKET (our preferred method), by e-mail 
to [email protected], or by mail to: EPA Docket Center, Environmental 
Protection Agency, Water Docket, Mail Code 4101T, 1200 Pennsylvania 
Ave. NW., Washington, DC 20460, and (2) 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.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jack Faulk, Office of Wastewater 
Management, Mail Code 4203M, Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 
Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460; telephone number: 202-
564-0768; fax number: 202-564-6431; 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 August 30, 2004 (69 FR 52883), EPA sought comments on this 
ICR pursuant to 5 CFR 1320.8(d). EPA received no comment.
    EPA has established a public docket for this ICR under Docket ID 
No. OW-2004-0027, which is available for public viewing at the Water 
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 Water Docket 
is (202) 566-2426. 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. 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.

[[Page 10088]]

    Title: Cooling Water Intake Structures--New Facility (Renewal)
    Abstract: The section 316(b) New Facility Regulation requires the 
collection of information from new facilities that use a cooling water 
intake structure (CWIS). Entities affected by this ICR are new power 
producing facilities (both utility and nonutility) and new 
manufacturing facilities that have large cooling water requirements. 
Four categories of manufacturing facilities tend to have large amounts 
of cooling water: paper and allied products, chemical and allied 
products, petroleum and coal products, and primary metals. Section 
316(b) of the Clean Water Act (CWA) requires that any standard 
established under section 301 or 306 of the CWA and applicable to a 
point source must require that the location, design, construction and 
capacity of CWISs at that facility reflect the best technology 
available (BTA) for minimizing adverse environmental impact. Such 
impact occurs as a result of impingement (where fish and other aquatic 
life are trapped on technologies at the entrance to cooling water 
intake structures) and entrainment (where aquatic organisms, eggs, and 
larvae are taken into the cooling system, passed through the heat 
exchanger, and then pumped back out with the discharge from the 
facility). These requirements seek to minimize the adverse 
environmental impact associated with the use of CWISs.
    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 in 40 CFR are listed in 40 CFR part 9 and are identified on 
the form and/or instrument, if applicable.
    Burden Statement: The annual average reporting and record keeping 
burden for the collection of information by facilities with a cooling 
water intake structure is estimated to be 2,107 hours per respondent 
(i.e., an annual average of 71,645 hours of burden divided among an 
anticipated annual average of 34 facilities). The Director reporting 
and record keeping burden for the review, oversight, and administration 
of these requirements is estimated to average 132 hours per respondent 
(i.e., an annual average of 4,623 hours of burden divided among an 
anticipated 35 States on average per year). 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: New power producing facilities and 
new manufacturing facilities that have large cooling water 
requirements.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 69.
    Frequency of Response: One-time application and annual reports 
thereafter.
    Estimated Total Annual Hour Burden: 76,268 hours.
    Estimated Total Annual Cost: $5,715,579 includes $789,478 
annualized O&M costs, $1,152,448 Capital expenses, and $3,773,653 in 
labor costs.
    Changes in the Estimates: There is an increase of 35,892 hours in 
the total estimated annual burden and an increase of $176,000 from the 
total estimated cost currently identified in the OMB Inventory of 
Approved ICR Burdens. The burden is based on the addition of the newly 
built facilities, as well as the continued performance of annual 
activities by facilities that received their permit during the first 
ICR approval period. The increase of hours and cost is attributed to 
the permit re-issuance activities that were not in the original ICR. 
These activities were not included in the original ICR because none of 
the new facilities required permit re-issuance during the initial 
approval period.

    Dated: February 20, 2005.
Oscar Morales,
Director, Collection Strategies Division.
[FR Doc. 05-3999 Filed 3-1-05; 8:45 am]
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