[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 102 (Tuesday, May 29, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 29496-29497]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-10223]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[EPA-HQ-OW-2007-0142; FRL-8319-1]


Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposed Collection; 
Comment Request; Cooling Water Intake Structure Phase II Existing 
Facilities (Renewal), EPA ICR No. 2060.03, OMB Control No. 2040-0257

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 May 31, 2007. 
Under OMB regulations, the Agency may continue to conduct or sponsor 
the collection of information while this submission is pending at OMB. 
The ICR which is abstracted below describes the nature of the 
collection and the estimated burden and cost.

DATES: Additional comments may be submitted on or before June 28, 2007.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, referencing docket ID number EPA-HQ-
OW-2007-0142, to (1) EPA online using www.regulations.gov (our 
preferred method), by e-mail to [email protected], or by mail to: EPA 
Docket Center (EPA/DC), 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: Amelia Letnes, State and Regional 
Branch, Water Permits Division, OWM, Mail Code: 4203M, Environmental 
Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460; 
telephone number: (202) 564-5627; 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 March 1, 2007 (72 FR 9328), EPA sought comments on this ICR 
pursuant to 5 CFR 1320.8(d). EPA received no comments on the draft ICR.
    EPA has established a public docket for this ICR under Docket ID 
No. EPA-HQ-OW-2007-0142, which is available for public viewing online 
at http://www.regulations.gov, or in person viewing at the Water Docket 
in the EPA Docket Center (EPA/DC), EPA West, Room 3334, 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. Use EPA's electronic docket and comment system at 
http://www.regulations.gov, to submit or view public comments, access 
the index listing of the contents of the docket, and to access those 
documents in the docket that are available electronically. Once in the 
system, select ``docket search,'' then key in the docket ID number 
identified above.

[[Page 29497]]

    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 at http://www.regulations.gov, 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 the electronic docket. 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 the electronic docket.
    Title: Cooling Water Intake Structure Phase II Existing Facilities 
(Renewal).
    ICR Numbers: EPA ICR Number 2060.03, OMB Control Number 2040-0257.
    Abstract: The section 316(b) Phase II Existing Facility rule 
requires the collection of information from existing point source 
facilities that generate and transmit electric power (as a primary 
activity) or generate electric power but sell it to another entity for 
transmission, use a cooling water intake structure (CWIS) that uses at 
least 25 percent of the water it withdraws from waters of the United 
States for cooling purposes, and have a design intake flow of 50 
million gallons per day (MGD) or more. 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 CWIS) 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). The 316(b) Phase II rule establishes requirements 
applicable to the location, design, construction, and capacity of CWISs 
at Phase II existing facilities. These requirements establish the BTA 
for minimizing adverse environmental impact associated with the use of 
CWISs.
    On January 25, 2007, the United States Court of Appeals for the 
Second Circuit remanded to EPA certain provisions in the 2004 Final 
Regulations to Establish Requirements for Cooling Water Intake 
Structures at Phase II Existing Facilities (See Riverkeeper, Inc. v. 
U.S. EPA, No. 04-6692-ag(L) [2d Cir. Jan. 25, 2007]). EPA is continuing 
to review the decision to determine its impact on the Phase II Rule. 
This ICR does not address changes to EPA regulations as a result of the 
court decision, since those revisions are not yet finalized.
    Burden Statement: The annual average reporting and record keeping 
burden for the collection of information by facilities responding to 
the Section 316(b) Phase II Existing Facility rule is estimated to be 
2,983 hours per facility respondent (i.e., an annual average of 
1,157,216 hours of burden divided among an anticipated annual average 
of 388 facilities). The state Director reporting and record keeping 
burden for the review, oversight, and administration of the rule is 
estimated to average 2,034 hours per state respondent (i.e. an annual 
average of 83,383 hours of burden divided among an anticipated 41 
States on average per year). Burden means the total time, effort, or 
financial resources expended by persons to generate, maintain, or 
disclose or provide information to or for a Federal agency. This 
includes the time needed to review instructions; develop, acquire, 
install, and use 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 information.
    Respondents/Affected Entities: 316(b) Phase II existing facilities 
and NPDES authorized states.
    Estimated Annual Number of Respondents: 429 (388 facilities and 41 
states)
    Frequency of Response: Bi-annually, every five years.
    Estimated Total Annual Hour Burden: 1,240,599 hours.
    Estimated Total Annual Cost: $80,556,134. This includes an 
estimated labor burden cost of $65,592,289 and an estimated cost of 
$14,963,845 for capital investment or operating and maintenance.
    Changes in the Estimates: The change in burden results mainly from 
the shift from the approval period to the renewal period of the 316(b) 
Phase II Existing Facilities rule. This ICR covers the last 2 years of 
the permit approval period (i.e. years 4 and 5 after implementation) 
and the first year of the renewal period (i.e. year 6 after 
implementation). Activities for renewing an NPDES permit already issued 
under the 316(b) Phase II Existing Facilities rule are less burdensome 
than those for issuing a permit for the first time. Additionally, for 
the approval period ICR (EPA ICR No. 2060.02), EPA assumed that all 
facilities complying with the rule would be in NPDES-authorized States. 
EPA has moved away from this assumption, and, for this ICR, all 
calculations are based on the estimated number and type of facilities 
in authorized and non-authorized States.

    Dated: May 17, 2007.
Sara Hisel-McCoy,
Acting Director, Collection Strategies Division.
[FR Doc. E7-10223 Filed 5-25-07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P