[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 116 (Friday, June 15, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 27981-27983]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-13027]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[EPA-HQ-OW-2011-0465; FRL-9979-51-OW]


Proposed Information Collection Request; Comment Request; Water 
Quality Standards Regulation (Renewal)

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency is planning to submit an 
information collection request (ICR), ``Water Quality Standards 
Regulation (Renewal)'' (EPA ICR No. 0988.13, OMB Control No. 2040-0049) 
to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval in 
accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act. Before doing so, the EPA 
is soliciting public comments on specific aspects of the proposed 
information collection as

[[Page 27982]]

described below. This ICR renews the Water Quality Standards Regulation 
ICR (most recently approved in 2016) and consolidates the burden and 
costs associated with activities previously reported in ICRs for two 
recent rules affecting the WQS program: The Water Quality Standards 
Regulatory Revisions (approved in 2015), and the Revised Interpretation 
of Clean Water Act Tribal Provision (approved in 2016). 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.

DATES: Comments must be submitted on or before August 14, 2018.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, referencing Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OW-
2011-0465, 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.
    The 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: Tanyan Bailey, Office of Water, Office 
of Science and Technology, Standards and Health Protection Division, 
(4305T), Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, 
Washington, DC 20460; telephone number: 202-564-3133; fax number: 202-
566-0409; email address: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Supporting documents which explain in detail 
the information that the EPA would be collecting are available in the 
public docket for this Information Collection Request (ICR) (Docket ID 
No. EPA-HQ-OW-2011-0465). 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 the EPA's public docket, visit http://www.epa.gov/dockets.
    Pursuant to section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the Paperwork Reduction Act 
(PRA), the 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. The EPA will consider the comments received and amend the 
proposed ICR as appropriate. The final ICR package will then be 
submitted to OMB for review and approval. At that time, the 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: Water quality standards (WQS) under the Clean Water Act 
(hereafter referred to as ``the Act'') are provisions of state,\1\ 
tribal,\2\ or federal law which consist of designated uses for waters 
of the United States, water quality criteria to protect those uses, and 
antidegradation requirements. WQS are established to protect public 
health or welfare, protect and enhance the quality of water, and serve 
the purposes of the Clean Water Act. Such standards serve the dual 
purposes of establishing the water quality goals for water bodies and 
serving as the regulatory basis for the establishment of water quality-
based treatment controls and strategies beyond technology-based levels 
of treatment required by sections 301(b) and 306 of the Act. The WQS 
Regulation establishes the framework for states and authorized tribes 
to adopt standards, and for the EPA to review and approve or disapprove 
them. For the purposes of this ICR, the WQS Regulation consists of 40 
CFR part 131 (Water Quality Standards), and portions of part 132 (Water 
Quality Guidance for the Great Lakes System) that are related to 
WQS.\3\ This ICR is for information collections needed to implement the 
WQS Regulation and required to obtain or retain benefits (e.g., relaxed 
regulatory requirements) under the WQS Regulation.
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    \1\ ``States'' in the EPA's WQS Regulation and in this document 
includes the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Guam, the 
Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, and 
the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.
    \2\ ``Tribes'' in this document refers to federally recognized 
tribes and ``authorized tribes'' refers to those federally 
recognized Indian tribes with authority to administer a CWA WQS 
program.
    \3\ These portions include 40 CFR 132.3, appendices A, B, C, D, 
E, and Procedures 1 and 2 of appendix F.
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    This ICR renews the WQS Regulation ICR, OMB control no. 2040-0049, 
expiration date 6/30/2019, and consolidates the burden and costs 
associated with activities previously reported in two related ICRs, 
which upon OMB approval will be discontinued as separate ICRs:
    [ssquf] The WQS Regulatory Revisions ICR, OMB control no. 2040-
0286, expiration date 12/31/2018; and,
    [ssquf] The Revised Interpretation of Clean Water Act Tribal 
Provision ICR, OMB control no. 2040-0289, expiration date 7/31/2019.
    This ICR renewal and consolidation describes the estimated burden 
for states, authorized tribes and certain Great Lakes dischargers 
associated with the information collections related to: Implementation 
of the requirements of 40 CFR part 131 (Water Quality Standards); 
implementation of the WQS portions of the 40 CFR part 132 (Water 
Quality Guidance for the Great Lakes System); tribal applications to be 
treated in a similar manner as a state (TAS); and, tribal requests for 
dispute resolution under CWA section 518(e). This ICR also covers 
periodic requests for voluntary WQS information from, or voluntary 
participation in workgroups by, state and tribes to ensure efficient 
and effective administration of the WQS program and further cooperative 
federalism.
    Form Numbers: None.
    Respondents/affected entities: Potential respondents to this ICR 
include: The 50 states, the District of Columbia, five territories, 
authorized tribes with EPA-approved Water Quality Standards (44 tribes 
as of May 2018), and a total of 18 additional tribal respondents over 
the three-year duration of the ICR (based on six additional tribal 
respondents expected to apply per year for TAS to administer the WQS 
program). In addition, an estimated total of 258 dischargers located in 
the Great Lakes watershed over the three-year duration of this ICR 
(based on an estimated 86 dischargers per year) could apply for certain 
forms of regulatory relief. The total number of potential respondents 
is thus 376. This corresponds to 2,693 responses per year (see draft 
Supporting Statement in the docket for this ICR).
    Respondent's obligation to respond: Some collections in this ICR 
are mandatory; some are required to obtain or retain benefits (e.g., 
relaxed regulatory requirements) pursuant to the

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WQS Regulation; and, some are voluntary.
    Estimated number of respondents: 2,693.
    Frequency of response: Variable depending on type of information 
collected (once every three years; annually; on occasion or as 
necessary; or, only once).
    Total estimated burden: From 376,097 to 514,987 hours per year. 
Burden is defined at 5 CFR 1320.03(b).
    Total estimated cost: From $17,103,064 to $23,173,945 of labor 
costs per year, and $263,520 of operations and maintenance costs per 
year. There are no annualized capital costs.
    Changes in Estimates: There is a decrease of 226,040 hours in the 
total upper estimates of respondent burden compared with the combined 
burden of the three ICRs currently approved by OMB and consolidated in 
this ICR. This decrease reflects adjustments made to the EPA's burden 
estimates based on experience gained since the previous ICRs were 
approved.

    Dated: June 6, 2018.
Deborah G. Nagle,
Acting Director, Office of Science and Technology.
[FR Doc. 2018-13027 Filed 6-14-18; 8:45 am]
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