[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 206 (Wednesday, October 26, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 61812-61813]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-21373]



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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[ORD-2005-0003; FRL-7988-9]


Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to OMB for 
Review and Approval; Comment Request; Market-Based Stormwater 
Management in the Shepherd Creek Watershed in Cincinnati, OH, EPA ICR 
Number 2178.01

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 for a new collection. 
This ICR describes the nature of the information collection and its 
estimated burden and cost.

DATES: Additional comments may be submitted on or before November 25, 
2005.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, referencing docket ID number ORD-2005-
0003, 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, ORD Docket, Mail Code 28221T, 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: Hale W. Thurston, ORD, NRMRL, Mail 
Code 499, 26 W. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, Cincinnati, OH, 45268; 
telephone number: 513.569.7627; fax number: 513.487.2511; 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 Wednesday, July 13, 2005 (70 FR 40329), 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. ORD-2005-0003, which is available for public viewing at the ORD 
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 ORD 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. 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: Market-based Stormwater Management in the Shepherd Creek 
Watershed in Cincinnati, Ohio.
    Abstract: The Sustainable Technology Division (STD) of the National 
Risk Management Research Laboratory (NRMRL) in the Office of Research 
and Development (ORD) of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) 
is proposing to conduct a survey of individual property owners in the 
Shepherd Creek watershed in Cincinnati, OH. The survey will elicit how 
residents value the voluntary adoption of on-site best management 
practices as part of a comprehensive stormwater runoff control policy. 
The focus will be on estimating the minimum payment required to induce 
individual landowners to devote a portion of their property to runoff 
reducing best management practices.
    This data collection is motivated by the current stormwater related 
problems within the United States in general, and in the greater 
Cincinnati metropolitan area in particular. Urban and suburban 
development changes the natural landscape making it more impervious to 
rain and snow. The resulting stormwater runoff is one of the most 
significant contributors to water quality degradation in the United 
States through larger and more frequent floods, increased erosion of 
stream beds and banks, disruption of natural habitat in receiving 
waters, and increased pollution loadings of metals, toxics, and 
nutrients. Precipitation falls over large geographic areas, and the 
resulting runoff will flow across a myriad of parcels with varying land 
uses, which are, in turn, under the control of numerous property 
owners. Perhaps in reaction to these conditions, stormwater control 
policies have concentrated on solutions that build centralized capacity 
to direct and hold excess runoff within the storm sewer system. An 
alternative approach to stormwater control would be to develop a 
decentralized approach that disperses runoff detention throughout the 
watershed, thus reducing runoff before it reaches the sewer system. 
This approach promises both hydrological benefits of reducing the in-
stream damages that will continue to occur in a centralized system, as 
well as potential cost-savings in terms of meeting environmental 
quality standards.
    Although the installation, operation, and maintenance costs for 
best management practices are relatively well known, these are only a 
portion of the total costs of adoption. The opportunity costs (e.g.: 
the costs of partial loss of use of property) associated with BMP 
adoption are privately held by individual landowners, and can 
potentially comprise the largest share of total abatement adoption 
costs. To better understand the economic potential of a voluntary and 
decentralized runoff control program, it is necessary to assess the 
opportunity costs associated with best management practice adoption. 
The proposed survey provides a means of gathering this information. It 
also asks 10-12 non-invasive demographic questions.
    The survey will be conducted using six (6) groups of ten (10) 
residential landowners from the Shepherd Creek watershed. Participation 
will be completely voluntary. Residents who wish to participate in the 
study will be identified and recruited through a liaison from the 
Hamilton County Soil and Water Conservation District, who is

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familiar with the community. The survey will be conducted using a 
computer simulated nonuniform-price, sequential auction for the 
procurement of best management practices. Participants will be 
presented with a selection of best management practices that are 
feasible for use on their actual parcel. Information regarding how each 
BMP will perform on their specific parcel, as well as the installation, 
operation, and maintenance costs will be provided. The auction is 
designed to compensate residents for their costs of adopting best 
management practices on their property. Participants who wish to adopt 
BMPs will submit bids that consist of the size and type of the BMPs and 
the minimum compensation that they require. The goal is to pay those 
landowners who adopt the most effective best management practices at 
the lowest price. Survey results will then be used to estimate the 
minimum payments required to achieve control stormwater runoff through 
on-site best management practices. Data will be stored on U.S. 
Environmental Protection Agency computer files that protect respondent 
confidentiality. Summary results will be made available to the public.
    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 public reporting and recordkeeping 
burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 2 
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: Homeowners in the Shepherd Creek 
Area of Cincinnati, OH.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 60.
    Frequency of Response: On Occasion.
    Estimated Total Annual Hour Burden: 120.
    Estimated Total Annual Cost: $3,000, includes $0 annualized capital 
or O&M costs.

    Dated: October 19, 2005.
Sara Hisel McCoy,
Acting Director, Collection Strategies Division.
[FR Doc. 05-21373 Filed 10-25-05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P