[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 98 (Wednesday, May 21, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 29201-29202]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-11760]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

 Geological Survey

[GX14N05ESB0500]


Agency Information Collection Activities: Request for Comments on 
the Registry of Climate Change Vulnerability Assessments

AGENCY: U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), Interior.

ACTION: Notice of a new information collection, Registry of Climate 
Change Vulnerability Assessments.

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SUMMARY: We (the U.S. Geological Survey) are notifying the public that 
we have submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) the 
information collection request (ICR) described below. To comply with 
the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA) and as part of our continuing 
efforts to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, we invite the 
general public and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to 
comment on this ICR.

DATES: To ensure that your comments are considered, the OMB must 
receive them on or before June 20, 2014.

ADDRESSES: Please submit your written comments on this information 
collection directly to the Office of Management and Budget, Office of 
Information and Regulatory Affairs, Attention: Desk Officer for the 
Department of the Interior, at [email protected] (email); or 
(202) 395-5806 (fax). Please also forward a copy of your comments to 
the Information Collection Clearance Officer, U.S. Geological Survey, 
807 National Center, 12201 Sunrise Valley Drive, Reston, VA 20192 
(mail); 703-648-7195 (fax); or [email protected] (email). 
Reference ``Information Collection 1028-NEW: Registry of Climate Change 
Vulnerability Assessments'' in all correspondence.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Robin O'Malley, National Climate 
Change and Wildlife Science Center, U.S. Geological Survey, 12201 
Sunrise Valley Drive, Mail Stop 400, Reston, VA 20192 (mail); 703-648-
4086 (phone); or [email protected] (email). You may also find 
information about this ICR at www.reginfo.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Abstract

    The USGS proposes to collect information on existing assessments of 
the vulnerability of various natural resources and societal assets to 
climate change (hereafter VA or ``vulnerability assessments''). This 
information will include the organization conducting the study, study 
location, topical focus of the assessment, methodology and supporting 
data used, and point of contact information. Because many governmental 
and nongovernmental parties are conducting such assessments, and 
because their conclusions, methodologies, and related data assets may 
be of interest or utility to others contemplating such assessments, the 
USGS will make the information collected available on the Web in the 
form of a simple registry-type database. Users, including the general 
public, scientists, resource management agencies, and others will be 
able to search the database by various keywords of interest.

II. Data

    OMB Control Number: 1028-NEW.
    Title: Registry of Climate Change Vulnerability Assessments.
    Type of Request: Approval of new information collection.
    Respondent Obligation: None (participation is voluntary).
    Frequency of Collection: This information will be collected 
initially and reviewed at least annually. All listed Registry projects 
will be contacted and requested to update their information; Federal 
agencies participating in the Registry will conduct ``data calls'' 
according to agency practice to identify new agency projects, and 
external partners will be reminded via Web posting and community-of-
practice networking that new projects may be added to the Registry. 
Additional entries may be added at any time, as information becomes 
available.
    Description of Respondents: Federal agencies, state, tribal and 
nongovernmental partners, individual scientists, and others involved in 
the conduct of climate change vulnerability assessments.
    Estimated Total Number of Annual Responses: Approximately 1,360 
responses (i.e., additions to the registry)

[[Page 29202]]

are expected in the initial data collection phase (first year), 
including approximately 1200 from Federal organizations, 110 from 
state, local and tribal institutions, and 50 from private entities 
(nongovernmental organization, academic, commercial). In subsequent 
years, annual additions to the registry are expected to be 100 or fewer 
from all sources.
    Estimated Time per Response: We estimate that it will take one hour 
per person to document a single assessment project for inclusion in the 
registry. In future years, reviewing project information to ensure 
currency or identifying new projects is expected to require de minimis 
effort.
    Estimated Annual Burden Hours: 160 for non-Federal entities in year 
one and less than 50 in each subsequent year. The requirements of the 
Paperwork Reduction Act regarding estimation of annual burden hours do 
not apply to information collections from Federal agencies and are not 
addressed here.
    Estimated Reporting and Recordkeeping ``Non-Hour Cost'' Burden: 
There are no ``non-hour cost'' burdens associated with this collection 
of information.
    Public Disclosure Statement: The PRA (44 U.S.C. 3501, et seq.) 
provides that an agency may not conduct or sponsor and you are not 
required to respond to a collection of information unless it displays a 
currently valid OMB control number. Until the OMB approves a collection 
of information, you are not obliged to respond.
    Comments: On August 21, 2013, we published a Federal Register 
notice (78 FR 162) announcing that we would submit this ICR to OMB for 
approval and soliciting comments. The comment period closed on October 
21, 2013. We received two comments in response to that notice, each 
emphasizing support for the project. Specifically, the comments 
suggested that development of a registry would be necessary for 
cataloguing existing assessments and that such a registry will increase 
understanding of the nation's progress towards determining climate 
change impacts and provide insights for adaptation planning. 
Additionally, one commenter felt the registry will be useful for 
comparing assessment methods from different disciplines (e.g., 
ecosystems, infrastructure) and potentially reveal unrecognized 
connections or causal relationships between climate change and societal 
or natural resource vulnerabilities (e.g., ecosystem shifts and changes 
in vector-borne and zoonotic disease incidence). Suggested improvements 
included ensuring that the registry is relevant for all disciplines 
assessing vulnerability and implementing adaptation actions, including 
the public health and health care delivery services sectors. Our 
initial intent was to ensure that the registry would be available to 
all parties interested in questions of vulnerability and adaptation. We 
have, therefore, expanded the focus of the registry to explicitly 
include the health sectors cited in the received comments.

III. Request for Comments

    We again invite comments concerning this ICR as to: (a) Whether the 
proposed collection of information is necessary for the agency to 
perform its duties, including whether the information is useful; (b) 
the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of the proposed 
collection of information; (c) how to enhance the quality, usefulness, 
and clarity of the information to be collected; and (d) how to minimize 
the burden on the respondents, including the use of automated 
collection techniques or other forms of information technology.
    Please note that comments submitted in response to this notice are 
a matter of public record. Before including your personal mailing 
address, phone number, email address, or other personally identifiable 
information in your comment, you should be aware that your entire 
comment, including your personally identifiable information, may be 
made publicly available at any time. While you can ask the OMB in your 
comment to withhold your personally identifiable information from 
public review, we cannot guarantee that it will be done.

Robin I. O'Malley,
Policy and Partnership Coordinator, National Climate, Change and 
Wildlife Science Center, US Geological Survey.
[FR Doc. 2014-11760 Filed 5-20-14; 8:45 am]
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