[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 111 (Friday, June 8, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 26664-26665]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-12375]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[EPA-HQ-OECA-2018-0248; FRL-9979-04-OECA]


Proposed Information Collection Request; Comment Request; Air 
Stationary Source Compliance and Enforcement Information Reporting 
(Renewal)

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is planning to 
submit an information collection request (ICR), ``Air Stationary Source 
Compliance and Enforcement Information Reporting'' (EPA ICR No. 
0107.12, OMB Control No. 2060-0096) to the Office of Management and 
Budget (OMB) for review and approval in accordance with the Paperwork 
Reduction Act. Before doing so, EPA is soliciting public comments on 
specific aspects of the proposed information collection as described 
below. This is a proposed extension of the ICR, which is currently 
approved through January 31, 2019. 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.
    We are also soliciting comment on several options for improving the 
reporting of Clean Air Act stationary source facility compliance 
information in order to improve the display, usability and accuracy of 
these data for presentation to the public through EPA's Enforcement 
Compliance History Online (ECHO) capability.

DATES: Comments must be submitted on or before August 7, 2018.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, referencing Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OECA-
2018-0248 online using www.regulations.gov (our preferred method), by 
email to [email protected], or by mail to: EPA Docket Center, 
Environmental Protection Agency, Mail Code 28221T, 1200 Pennsylvania 
Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20460.
    EPA's policy is that all comments received will be included in the 
public docket without change including any personal information 
provided, unless the comment includes profanity, threats, information 
claimed to be Confidential Business Information (CBI) or other 
information whose disclosure is restricted by statute.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: David A. Meredith, Enforcement 
Targeting and Data Division, Office of Compliance, (2222A), 
Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, 
DC 20460; telephone number: 202-564-4152; email address: 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    Supporting documents which explain in detail the information that 
the EPA will be collecting are available in the public docket for this 
ICR. The docket can be viewed online at www.regulations.gov or in 
person at the EPA Docket Center, WJC West, Room 3334, 1301 Constitution 
Ave. NW, Washington, DC. The telephone number for the Docket Center is 
202-566-1744. For additional information about EPA's public docket, 
visit http://www.epa.gov/dockets.
    Pursuant to section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the PRA, EPA is soliciting 
comments and information to enable it to: (i) Evaluate whether the 
proposed collection of information is necessary for the proper 
performance of the functions of the Agency, including whether the 
information will have practical utility; (ii) evaluate the accuracy of 
the Agency's estimate of the burden of the proposed collection of 
information, including the validity of the methodology and assumptions 
used; (iii) enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the 
information to be collected; and (iv) minimize the burden of the 
collection of information on those who are to respond, including 
through the use of appropriate automated electronic, mechanical, or 
other technological collection techniques or other forms of information 
technology, e.g., permitting electronic submission of responses. Burden 
is defined at 5 CFR 1320.03(b). EPA will consider the comments received 
and amend the ICR as appropriate. The final ICR package will then be 
submitted to OMB for review and approval. At that time, EPA will issue 
another Federal Register notice to announce the submission of the ICR 
to OMB and the opportunity to submit additional comments to OMB.
    Abstract: Air Stationary Source Compliance and Enforcement 
Information Reporting is an activity whereby State, Local, Native 
American, Territorial, and Commonwealth governments (hereafter referred 
to as either ``states/locals'' or ``state and local agencies'') make 
air stationary source compliance and enforcement information available 
to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA or the Agency) on a 
cyclic basis via input to the Air component of the Integrated 
Compliance Information System (ICIS-Air). ICIS-Air replaced the Air 
Facility System (AFS) in October 2014 when the Agency, with support 
from state and local agencies, completed the modernization of AFS into 
ICIS-Air.
    ICIS-Air supports EPA and state and local agency efforts to ensure 
compliance with the nation's environmental laws pertaining to air, via 
the collection and management of important Clean Air Act (CAA or the 
``Act'') compliance and enforcement information. ICIS-Air is a sub-
component of ICIS, which provides compliance and enforcement 
information on thousands of facilities regulated under numerous federal 
statutes. The information provided to EPA via ICIS-Air includes source 
characterization, compliance monitoring, and enforcement activities. 
EPA will use this information to assess progress toward meeting 
emission requirements developed under the authority of the CAA, and to 
protect and maintain air quality, public health, and the environment. 
Agencies receive delegation of the CAA through regulated grant 
authorities, and report compliance/enforcement activities undertaken at 
stationary sources pursuant to the Minimum Data Requirements (MDRs) as 
outlined in this ICR. The provisions of Section 114(a)(1) of the Clean 
Air Act, 42 U.S.C. Section 7414(a)(1) provide the broad authority for 
the reporting of compliance monitoring and enforcement information, 
along with Subpart Q--Reports in 40 CFR 51: Sections 51.324(a) and (b), 
and 51.327. This renewal requires the continuation of reporting of 
previously established MDRs via either direct, on-line entry or 
electronic data transfer (EDT) to ICIS-Air.
    U.S. EPA and states are cooperating to improve the display, 
usability, and accuracy of EPA's Enforcement and Compliance History 
Online (ECHO). ECHO is a critical tool for accessing and analyzing 
information about facilities regulated under the Clean Air Act and 
other environmental statutes. As a first step, a team of state and EPA 
representatives has identified some changes to ECHO that will enhance 
the user experience and improve ECHO's display of facility compliance-
related data. As such, EPA is soliciting state and local input on three 
options presented for the reporting of Federally Reportable Violation 
(FRV) dates. These options are presented in the 2/27/18 joint EPA-State 
paper written to identify improvements to the display, usability, and 
accuracy of EPA's ECHO. That

[[Page 26665]]

paper is attached to the docket for this FR notice.
    As suggested by the 2/27/18 joint EPA-State paper written to 
identify improvements to the display, usability, and accuracy of ECHO, 
we are asking commenters, if they would like, to indicate a preference 
for one of the three FRV date reporting options agencies may choose to 
display on ECHO: 1a. FRV Determination Date and Case File Resolved 
Date; 1b. Violation Occurrence Start Date and Occurrence End Date; 2. 
FRV Determination Date. Option 1a would require the linking of formal 
enforcement actions to the case file, and in the absence of formal 
enforcement action, the entry of Resolving Action Type and Date. Option 
1b would add two data elements to the minimum data requirements. Option 
2 continues the status quo in which the FRV Determination Date is 
either reported voluntarily by the agency or auto-generated by ICIS-Air 
to match the date on which the agency submitted the FRV data to ICIS-
Air.
    The EPA-State paper expressed the authors' belief that EPA's ECHO 
could better display CAA violations if FRV dates are consistently 
reported. Several members of the workgroup that created the paper 
expressed the view that EPA should select an approach for FRV date 
reporting and request the entry of the necessary data, via this ICR 
renewal process. EPA encourages you to share the views of your 
organization on this topic.
    EPA currently intends to continue the status quo with respect to 
the minimum data requirements associated with reporting FRVs. However, 
EPA is open to changing its viewpoint based upon the feedback received 
from stakeholders in response to this Federal Register notice.
    Respondents: State, Local, Territorial, Indian Nations, and 
Commonwealth governments.
    Respondent's obligation to respond: Mandatory, see Section 
114(a)(1) of the Clean Air Act, 42 U.S.C. Section 7414(a)(1).
    Estimated number of respondents: 99.
    Frequency of response: Every 60 days.
    Annual estimated burden: 51,413 hours.
    Annual estimated cost: $2,688,901. There are no annualized capital/
startup or operations & maintenance costs.
    Changes in Estimates: When developing the previous ICR, ICIS-Air 
was not yet implemented in a production environment and EPA estimated 
burden to the best of its ability based on the Agency's knowledge of 
ICIS-Air. At that time, EPA believed that states and locals, as a 
whole, would experience a reduction in reporting burden due to the ease 
of reporting to ICIS-Air, a modern and more robust information system. 
For this ICR renewal, EPA will use experience from the last three years 
to provide burden estimates that adequately reflect the actual burden. 
EPA will consider any comment received and will conduct consultation 
with delegated agencies that are direct users of ICIS-Air, as well as 
those using EDT to report MDRs. Since ICIS-Air is a relatively new 
platform, the estimates provided are likely to change.

    Dated: May 23, 2018.
Randolph L. Hill,
Director, Enforcement Targeting & Data Division, Office of Compliance.
[FR Doc. 2018-12375 Filed 6-7-18; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6560-50-P