[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 122 (Tuesday, June 25, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 38021-38022]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-15126]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy


Proposed Amendment of Agency Information Collection

AGENCY: Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Department of 
Energy (DOE).

ACTION: Submission for Office of Management and Budget (OMB) review; 
comment request.

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SUMMARY: The Department of Energy is proposing to merge two information 
collections into one more broad collection, one of which is approved 
and one of which was previously proposed pursuant to the Paperwork 
Reduction Act of 1995. The approved collection is being used to develop 
a scorecard that will assist DOE's Clean Cities coalitions and 
stakeholders in assessing the level of readiness of their communities 
for plug-in electric vehicles (PEV). Information collected via the 
scorecard is intended to allow DOE to provide respondents with an 
objective assessment of their communities' readiness for PEV adoption 
and an understanding of their commitment to successful deployment of 
PEVs, and is needed to ensure appropriate evaluation of progress in 
deploying PEVs. The other, previously proposed information collection 
would be used to develop information that will enable DOE to measure 
the impact and progress of DOE's National Clean Fleets Partnership 
(Partnership). The Partnership is an initiative through which DOE 
provides large private-sector fleets with technical assistance and 
expertise to incorporate alternative fuels and fuel saving measures 
into their operations successfully. The initiative builds on the 
established success of DOE's Clean Cities Program. The Partnership was 
developed with input from fleet managers, industry representatives, 
Clean Cities program staff, and Clean Cities coordinators. DOE is also 
proposing to amend the PEV Scorecard information collection request by 
expanding the number of entities estimated to participate in the 
voluntary PEV Scorecard information collection.

DATES: Comments regarding this collection must be received on or before 
July 25, 2013. If you anticipate that you will be submitting comments, 
but find it difficult to do so within the period of time allowed by 
this notice, please advise the OMB Desk Officer of your intention to 
make a submission as soon as possible. The Desk Officer may be 
telephoned at (202) 395-4650.

ADDRESSES: Written comments should be sent to:
    Desk Officer for the Department of Energy, Office of Information 
and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget, New Executive 
Office Building, Room 10102, 735 17th Street NW., Washington, DC 20503
    And to
    Mr. Dennis Smith, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy 
(EE-2G), U.S. Department of Energy, 1000 Independence Avenue SW., 
Washington, DC 20585-0121, or by fax at 202-586-1600, or by email at 
[email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Dennis Smith at the address listed 
above in ADDRESSES.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The PEV Scorecard information collection was 
previously proposed and available for public comment. See 77 FR 19275 
(March 30, 2012) and 77 FR 39690 (July 5, 2012) and has since been 
cleared for use under OMB No. 1910-5171. The Clean Fleets Partnership 
information collection request also was previously proposed and 
available for public comment. See 77 FR 65374 (October 26, 2012) and 78 
FR 14519 (March 6, 2013). Because both requests were developed by and 
for the DOE Clean Cities Program, DOE is proposing to merge these two 
requests so that they would operate under the same OMB No. 1910-5171. 
Merging the two information collections would not affect any of the 
management of the information collection requests themselves, or 
management of the information collected.
    DOE is also proposing to amend the estimated burden associated with 
the PEV Scorecard information collection request. Initially, DOE 
envisioned that only Clean Cities coordinators, of which there 
approximately 90 presently, would avail themselves of the PEV Scorecard 
and feedback it will provide. The PEV Scorecard has been received 
enthusiastically by communities beyond the Clean Cities coalitions. In 
the first month, the public was accessing the PEV Scorecard in numbers 
unanticipated, making it such that the approved limit, 100 respondents, 
will be reached before all Clean Cities coordinators have an 
opportunity to access the PEV Scorecard. To ensure all Clean Cities 
coordinators and leaders of other communities are able to access the 
PEV Scorecard, DOE is proposing to increase the total number of 
unduplicated responses, from 100 to 1,250. The number represents the 
possible number of participating communities, which in turn is based on 
the approximate number of ``Principal Cities'' within Core Based 
Statistical Areas (the U.S. Census Bureau defines there to be 
approximately 1,250) DOE wants to increase the number of potential 
respondents to ensure all Clean Cities coordinators are able to 
participate, and also to address the expression of interest on the part 
of Clean Cities coordinators to support multiple municipalities in 
completing the PEV Scorecard within their coalition.
    As merged, the amended information collection request contains: (1) 
OMB No. 1910-5171; (2) Information Collection Request Title: Clean 
Cities Vehicle Programs; (3) Type of Request: Amended collection; (4) 
Purpose: DOE's Clean Cities initiative has developed two voluntary 
mechanisms by which communities and certain fleets can get a better 
understanding of their readiness to deploy alternative fuel vehicles 
and their progress in doing so. The voluntary PEV Scorecard is intended 
to assist its coalitions and stakeholders in assessing the level of 
readiness of their communities for plug-in electric vehicles. The 
principal objective of the scorecard is to provide respondents with an 
objective assessment and estimate of their respective community's 
readiness for PEV deployment as well as understand the respective 
community's commitment to deploying these vehicles successfully. DOE 
intends the scorecard to be completed by a city/county/regional 
sustainability or energy coordinator. As the intended respondent may 
not be aware of every aspect of local or regional PEV readiness, 
coordination among local stakeholders to gather appropriate information 
may be necessary. See also 77 FR 19275 (March 30, 2012).
    For the PEV Scorecard information collection request, DOE now 
expects that many communities beyond simply the Clean Cities coalitions 
may want to avail themselves of the opportunity to assess their 
respective community's PEV readiness. Therefore, DOE expects a total 
respondent population of approximately 1,250 respondents. Selecting the 
multiple choice answers in completing a scorecard questionnaire is 
expected to take under 30 minutes,

[[Page 38022]]

although additional time of no more than 20 hours may be needed to 
assemble information necessary to be able to answer the questions, 
leading to a total burden of approximately 25,625 hours. Assembling 
information to update questionnaire answers in the future on a 
voluntary basis would be expected to take less time, on the order of 10 
hours, as much of any necessary time and effort needed to research 
information would have been completed previously;
    For the Clean Fleets Partnership information collection request, 
the Partnership is targeted at large, private-sector fleets that own or 
have contractual control over at least 50 percent of their vehicles and 
have vehicles operating in multiple States. DOE expects approximately 
50 fleets to participate in the Partnership and, as a result, DOE 
expects a total respondent population of approximately 50 respondents. 
Providing initial baseline information for each participating fleet, 
which occurs only once, is expected to take 60 minutes. Follow-up 
questions and clarifications for the purpose of ensuring accurate 
analyses are expected to take up to 90 minutes. The total burden is 
expected to be 125 hours.
    The combined burden for the two information collections is 25,750 
hours.
    (5) Type of Respondents: Public; (6) Annual Estimated Number of 
Respondents for both information collections: 1,300; (7) Annual 
Estimated Number of Total Responses: 1,300; (7) Annual Estimated Number 
of Burden Hours: 25,750 (25,625 for PEV Scorecard, and 125 for Clean 
Fleets Partnership); and (8) Annual Estimated Reporting and 
Recordkeeping Cost Burden: There is no cost associated with reporting 
and recordkeeping.

     Authority: 42 U.S.C. 13233; 42 U.S.C. 13252 (a)-(b); 42 U.S.C. 
13255.

    Issued in Washington, DC, on: June 12, 2013.
Patrick B. Davis,
Director, Vehicle Technologies Office, Energy Efficiency and Renewable 
Energy.
[FR Doc. 2013-15126 Filed 6-24-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-P