[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 85 (Wednesday, May 4, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 23152-23153]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-8866]


=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[OAR-2004-0501; FRL-7907-1]


Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection; 
Comment Request; Reporting Under EPA's Green Power Partnership and 
Combined Heat and Power (CHP) Partnership--EPA ICR No. 2173.01

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 3501 
et seq.), this notice announces that EPA is planning to submit the 
following proposed Information Collection Request (ICR) to the Office 
of Management and Budget (OMB): Reporting Requirements Under EPA's 
Green Power Partnership and Combined Heat and Power (CHP) Partnership--
EPA ICR No. 2173.01. Before submitting the ICR to OMB for review and 
approval, EPA is soliciting comments on specific aspects of the 
proposed information collection as described below.

DATES: Comments must be submitted on or before July 5, 2005.

ADDRESSES: Follow the detailed instructions in SUPPLEMENTARY 
INFORMATION.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jim Sullivan, Climate Protection 
Partnerships Division, Office of Atmospheric Programs, 6202J, 
Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., 
Washington, DC 20460; telephone number: (202) 343-9241; fax number: 
(202) 565-2134; e-mail address [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The EPA has established a public docket for 
this ICR under Docket ID No. OAR-2004-0501, which is available for 
public viewing at the Air and Radiation Docket and Information Center 
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 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 obtain 
a copy of the draft collection of information, 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 within 
60 days of this notice, and according to the following detailed 
instructions: 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, Air and 
Radiation Docket and Information Center, MC 6102T, 1200 Pennsylvania 
Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460.
    EPA's policy is that public comments, whether submitted 
electronically or on paper, will be made available for public viewing 
in EDOCKET as EPA receives them and without change, unless the comment 
contains copyrighted material, confidential business information (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.
    Affected Entities: Entities potentially affected by this action are 
corporations, institutions, state, local, and tribal agencies that 
voluntarily agree to work with EPA to purchase or market green power or 
to support the use of CHP.
    Title: Reporting Requirements Under EPA's Green Power Partnership 
and CHP Partnership--EPA ICR No. 2173.01.
    Abstract: In an effort to aid implementation of the President's May 
2001 National Energy Strategy, as well as the President's February 2002 
Climate Change Strategy, EPA has launched two new partnership programs 
with industry and other stakeholders: The Green Power Partnership and 
the CHP Partnership. These partnership programs encourage organizations 
to invest in clean, efficient energy technologies, including renewable 
energy and CHP.
    The EPA has developed this ICR to obtain authorization to collect 
information from organizations participating in the Green Power 
Partnership and CHP Partnership to ensure that they are meeting their 
voluntary renewable energy and CHP goals and to assure the credibility 
of these partnership programs. Organizations that join these programs 
voluntarily agree to the following respective actions: (1) Designating 
a Green Power or CHP Partnership liaison; (2) for the Green Power 
Partnership, reporting to EPA, on an annual basis, their progress 
toward their green power commitment via a 1-page Green Power Partner 
Yearly Report; (3) for the CHP Partnership, reporting to EPA 
information on their existing CHP projects and project development 
activity via the CHP Partner Projects Data Form. The EPA uses the data 
obtained from its Partners to assess the success of these programs in 
achieving their national energy and greenhouse gas reduction goals.
    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.
    The EPA would like to solicit comments to:
    (i) Evaluate whether the proposed collection of information is 
necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the agency, 
including whether the information will have practical utility;
    (ii) evaluate the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden 
of the proposed collection of information, including the validity of 
the methodology and assumptions used;

[[Page 23153]]

    (iii) enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information 
to be collected; and
    (iv) minimize the burden of the collection of information on those 
who are to respond, including through the use of appropriate automated 
electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or 
other forms of information technology, e.g., permitting electronic 
submission of responses.
    Burden Statement: The annual public reporting and recordkeeping 
burden for this three (3) year collection of information is estimated 
to equal 3,980 hours and to average 3.4 hours per year per respondent. 
The average number of annual burden hours per type of response is: 4.9 
hours for a Letter of Intent (a one-time burden for Green Power and CHP 
Partners); for the Green Power Partnership, 2.4 hours for the Green 
Power Partner Yearly Report; for the CHP Partnership, 2.0 hours for end 
user Partners to complete the CHP Partner Projects Data Form report on 
completed CHP projects (a one-time report), or 1.7 hours per year for 
CHP project updates for Partners with ongoing CHP project development 
activities.
    Partners from both programs may also submit voluntary updates of 
simple information, such as contact information or company profiles, 
via the Web site. These updates would take from 15 minutes to 0.5 hours 
per response. A subset of Partners may participate in brief (i.e., 15 
minute) telephone calls with EPA to clarify questions pertaining to the 
Letter of Intent, Green Power Partner Yearly Report, or CHP Partner 
Projects Data Form. All of these activities are included in the annual 
burden estimate.
    The estimated number of annual respondents averaged over three (3) 
years is 1,164, which includes an average of 1,033 respondents for the 
Green Power Partnership and 131 for the CHP Partnership.
    There are no capital or start-up costs associated with this 
information collection. The average annual operation and maintenance 
cost resulting from this (3) three year collection of information is $3 
per respondent. The average annual labor cost is $254 per respondent. 
The resulting total annual cost averaged over the three year period is 
$298,886. 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.

    Dated: April 19, 2005.
Kathleen Hogan,
Director, Climate Protection Partnerships Division.
[FR Doc. 05-8866 Filed 5-3-05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P