[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 74 (Wednesday, April 19, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 18466-18468]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-07927]
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DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY
[Docket No. DHS-2017-0015]
Notice of Request for Revision to and Extension of a Currently
Approved Information Collection for Chemical-Terrorism Vulnerability
Information
AGENCY: National Protection and Programs Directorate, DHS.
ACTION: 60-Day Notice and request for comments; Revision of Information
Collection Request: 1670-0015.
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SUMMARY: The Department of Homeland Security (DHS or the Department),
National Protection and Programs Directorate (NPPD), Office of
Infrastructure Protection (IP), Infrastructure Security Compliance
Division (ISCD), will submit the following Information Collection
Request to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and
clearance in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. DHS
proposes to remove five of the six instruments previously approved to
support the Chemical-terrorism Vulnerability Information (CVI) program
under the Chemical Facility Anti-terrorism Standards (CFATS)
regulations, 6 CFR 27.400. DHS also proposes to extend this collection
with revisions to reduce the estimated burden for the remaining
instrument in this collection.
DATES: Comments are encouraged and will be accepted until June 19,
2017. This process is conducted in accordance with 5 CFR 1320.8.
ADDRESSES: Interested persons are invited to submit comments on the
proposed revision to, and extension of, this approved information
collection through the Federal eRulemaking Portal at http://www.regulations.gov. All submissions received must include the words
``Department of Homeland Security'' and the docket number DHS-2017-
0015. Except as provided below, comments received will be posted
without alteration at http://www.regulations.gov, including any
personal information provided.
Comments that include trade secrets, confidential commercial or
financial information, CVI,\1\ Sensitive Security Information (SSI),\2\
or Protected Critical Infrastructure Information (PCII) \3\ should not
be submitted to the public regulatory docket. Please submit such
comments separately from other comments in response to this notice.
Comments containing trade secrets, confidential commercial or financial
information, CVI, SSI, or PCII should be appropriately marked and
packaged in
[[Page 18467]]
accordance with applicable requirements and submitted by mail to the
DHS/NPPD/IP/ISCD CFATS Program Manager at the Department of Homeland
Security, 245 Murray Lane SW., Mail Stop 0610, Arlington, VA 20528-
0610.
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\1\ For more information about CVI see 6 CFR 27.400 and the CVI
Procedural Manual at http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/chemsec_cvi_proceduresmanual.pdf.
\2\ For more information about SSI see 49 CFR part 1520 and the
SSI Program Web page at http://www.tsa.gov.
\3\ For more information about PCII see 6 CFR part 29 and the
PCII Program Web page at http://www.dhs.gov/protected-critical-infrastructure-information-pcii-program.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Questions and requests for additional
information may be directed to the CFATS Program Manager via email at
_____________________________________-
[email protected] or telephone at (866) 323-2957.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Section 550 of the Homeland Security
Appropriations Act of 2007, Public Law 109-295 (2006), provided the
Department with the authority to regulate the security of high-risk
chemical facilities. On April 9, 2007, the Department issued an Interim
Final Rule (IFR), implementing this statutory mandate at 72 FR 17688.
In December of 2014, the President signed into law the Protecting and
Securing Chemical Facilities from Terrorist Attacks Act of 2014 (the
CFATS Act of 2014), Public Law 113-254, which authorized the Chemical
Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards program in the Homeland Security Act
of 2002, as amended, Public Law 107-296.\4\
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\4\ Section 2 of the CFATS Act of 2014 adds a new Title XXI to
the Homeland Security Act of 2002. Title XXI contains new sections
numbered 2101 through 2109. Citations to the Homeland Security Act
of 2002 throughout this document reference those sections of Title
XXI. In addition to being found in amended versions of the Homeland
Security Act of 2002, those sections of Title XXI can also be found
in sec. 2 of the CFATS Act of 2014, or in 6 U.S.C. 621-629.
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The CFATS regulation (available at 6 CFR part 27) govern the
security at covered chemical facilities that have been determined by
the Department to be at high risk for terrorist attack. See 6 CFR part
27. CFATS represents a national-level effort to minimize terrorism risk
to such facilities. Its design and implementation balance maintaining
economic vitality with securing facilities and their surrounding
communities. The regulations were designed, in collaboration with the
private sector and other stakeholders, to take advantage of protective
measures already in place and to allow facilities to employ a wide
range of tailored measures to satisfy the regulations' Risk-Based
Performance Standards.
In 6 CFR 27.400, CFATS establishes the requirements that covered
persons must follow to safeguard certain documents and other
information developed under the regulations from unauthorized
disclosure. This information is identified as ``Chemical-terrorism
Vulnerability Information'' and, by law, receives protection from
public disclosure and misuse. The instruments within this collection
will be used to manage the CVI program in support of CFATS. The current
information collection for the CVI program (IC 1670-0015) will expire
on September 30, 2017.\5\
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\5\ The current information collection for CVI may be found at
https://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAViewICR?ref_nbr=201303-1670-003.
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The Department proposes the following revisions from the previously
approved collection:
Removal of the following instruments: (1) ``Determination
of CVI''; (2) Determination of a ``Need to Know'' by a Public
Official''; (3) ``Disclosure of CVI Information; (4) Notification of
Emergency or Exigent Circumstances''; and (5) ``Tracking Log for CVI
Received'' from this collection. As required by 5 CFR 1320.5, the
Department reevaluated the continued need for each instrument in this
collection. This evaluation resulted in a finding these instruments
have historically been used rarely.
The Department expects that in many instances when the Department
may need or want to collect information regarding emergency and/or
unauthorized disclosure of CVI, the collection would not be covered by
the Paperwork Reduction Act because the information would be collected
during the conduct of an investigation involving specific individuals
or entities. See 44 U.S.C. 3518(c)(2) and 5 CFR 1320.4(a). The
Department now encourages State and local officials to gain information
regarding chemical facilities in their jurisdictions from the
Department rather than from the facilities. Accordingly, these
officials are now generally directed to IP Gateway. The information
that must be collected routinely in order for such officials to gain
access to IP Gateway has been authorized under OMB Control No. 1670-
0009.
A reduction of the number of respondents for the CVI
Authorization instrument from 30,000 to 20,000. This estimate is based
on historical data and the anticipated impact of the Department's
revision of its Chemical Security Assessment Tool (CSAT) and
enhancement of its risk tiering methodology for the CFATS program. See
81 FR 47001 (Jul. 20, 2016).
The Department's Methodology in Estimating the Burden for the Chemical-
Terrorism Vulnerability Information Authorization Number of Respondents
The current information collection estimated that 30,000
respondents (rounded estimate) would submit a request for a CVI
Authorization annually. Based on data collected between CY 2014-2016,
13,115 respondents on average submitted information to obtain CVI
Authorization on an annual basis. Historical data also indicates that
the peak number of respondents for this instrument was 18,727 in 2008.
However, the Department expects that annual usage in the next three
years may increase from the CY 2014-2016 average based on new users who
must become CVI authorized to submit Top-Screens following the
Department's revision of CSAT and enhancement of its risk tiering
methodology. See 81 FR 47001 (Jul. 20, 2016). For these reasons, the
Department has revised the estimated number of respondents to 20,000.
Estimated Time per Respondent
In the current information collection, the estimated time per
respondent to prepare and submit a CVI Authorization is one hour. Based
on data collected between Calendar Year (CY) 2014-2016 by the CSAT
system measuring time spent by users to complete this instrument, the
average response time is 0.50 hours (30 minutes). Based upon this data,
the Department proposes to reduce the estimated time per respondent to
prepare and submit this instrument to 0.50 hours (30 minutes).
Annual Burden Hours
The annual burden hours for the CVI Authorization is [0.50 hours x
20,000 respondents x 1 response per respondent], which equals 10,000
hours.
Total Capital/Startup Burden Cost
The Department provides access to CSAT free of charge and assumes
that each respondent already has computer hardware and access to the
internet for basic business needs. Therefore, there are no annualized
capital or start-up costs incurred by chemical facilities of interest
or high-risk chemical facilities for this information collection.
Total Recordkeeping Burden
There are no recordkeeping burden costs incurred by chemical
facilities of interest or high-risk chemical facilities for this
information collection.
[[Page 18468]]
Total Annual Burden Cost
The Department assumes that the majority of individuals who will
complete this instrument are Site Security Officers (SSOs), although a
smaller number of other individuals may also complete this instrument
(e.g., Federal, State, and local government employees and contractors).
For the purpose of this notice, the Department maintains this
assumption. Therefore, to estimate the total annual burden, the
Department multiplied the annual burden of 10,000 hours by the average
hourly wage rate of SSOs of $67.72 per hour. Therefore, the total
annual burden cost for the CVI Authorization instrument is $677,200
[10,000 total annual burden hours x $67.72 per hour].
Analysis
Agency: Department of Homeland Security, National Protection and
Programs Directorate, Office of Infrastructure Protection,
Infrastructure Security Compliance Division.
Title: CFATS Chemical-terrorism Vulnerability Information.
OMB Number: 1670-0015.
Instrument: Chemical-terrorism Vulnerability Information
Authorization.
Frequency: ``On occasion'' and ``Other''.
Affected Public: Business or other for-profit.
Number of Respondents: 20,000 respondents (rounded estimate).
Estimated Time per Respondent: 0.50 hours.
Total Burden Hours: 10,000 annual burden hours.
Total Burden Cost (capital/startup): $0.
Total Recordkeeping Burden: $0.
Total Burden Cost: $677,200.
David Epperson,
Chief Information Officer, National Protection and Programs
Directorate, Department of Homeland Security.
[FR Doc. 2017-07927 Filed 4-18-17; 8:45 am]
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