[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 20 (Thursday, January 30, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 5428-5429]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-01679]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[EPA-HQ-OAR-2013-0691; FRL-10003-50-OMS]


Information Collection Request Submitted to OMB for Review and 
Approval; Comment Request; Fine Particulate Matter (PM2.5) National 
Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) State Implementation Plan (SIP) 
Requirements Rule (Renewal)

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has submitted an 
information collection request (ICR), Fine Particulate Matter 
(PM2.5) National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) State 
Implementation Plan (SIP) Requirements Rule (EPA ICR Number 2258.05, 
OMB Control Number 2060-0611), to the Office of Management and Budget 
(OMB) for review and approval in accordance with the Paperwork 
Reduction Act. This is a proposed renewal of the existing ICR for the 
PM2.5 NAAQS State Implementation Plan (SIP) Requirements 
Rule, which is currently approved through January 31, 2020. Public 
comments were previously requested via the Federal Register on October 
1, 2019, during a 60-day comment period. This notice allows for an 
additional 30 days for public comments. A fuller description of the ICR 
is given below, including its estimated burden and cost to the public. 
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: Additional comments may be submitted on or before March 2, 2020.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, referencing Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-
2013-0691, online using http://www.regulations.gov (our preferred 
method), 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, or other information 
whose disclosure is restricted by statute.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms. Leigh Herrington, Office of Air 
Quality Planning and Standards, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 
by phone at (919) 541-0882 or by email at [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 
http://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.
    Abstract: The PM2.5 NAAQS SIP Requirements Rule became 
effective on October 24, 2016 (81 FR 58010). This rule provides the 
framework of Clean Air Act (CAA) requirements for air agencies to 
develop state implementation plans to help attain and maintain the 
PM2.5 NAAQS. States have applied this framework to develop 
attainment plans and redesignation requests and maintenance plans for 
areas designated nonattainment for the 1997 PM2.5 NAAQS, the 
2006 PM2.5 NAAQS, and the 2012 PM2.5 NAAQS.
    The ICR finalized with the PM2.5 NAAQS SIP Requirements 
Rule estimated, for the 3 years following the ICR approval date, the 
burden associated with plan development and plan revisions related to 
ongoing implementation efforts in 31 areas designated nonattainment for 
the 1997, 2006 and 2012 PM2.5 NAAQS. The estimates included 
the burden to develop and submit, and the burden to the EPA to review 
and to approve or disapprove, attainment plans to meet the requirements 
prescribed in CAA sections 110 and part D, subparts 1 and 4 of title I. 
A PM2.5 NAAQS attainment plan contains rules and other 
measures designed to improve air quality and achieve the NAAQS by the 
deadlines established under the CAA. It also must address several 
additional CAA requirements related to demonstrating timely attainment 
and must contain contingency measures in the event the nonattainment 
area does not achieve reasonable further progress throughout the 
attainment period or in the event the area does not attain the NAAQS by 
its attainment date. States that have attained by the applicable 
attainment date may be eligible to submit a redesignation request and 
maintenance plan to receive a redesignation from ``nonattainment'' to 
``attainment.'' After a state submits an attainment or maintenance 
plan, the CAA requires the

[[Page 5429]]

EPA to approve or disapprove the plan. Tribes may develop or submit 
attainment plans but are not required to do so.
    Form Numbers: None.
    Respondents/affected entities: State and local governments.
    Respondent's obligation to respond: Mandatory (40 CFR parts 50, 51, 
and 93).
    Estimated number of respondents: 8.
    Frequency of response: Once per triggering event.
    Total estimated burden: 25,500 hours (per year). Burden is defined 
at 5 CFR 1320.03(b).
    Total estimated costs: $1,600,000 (per year), which includes no 
annualized capital or operation & maintenance costs.
    Changes in Estimates: There is a decrease of 65,100 annual hours in 
the total estimated respondent burden compared with the ICR currently 
approved by OMB. This decrease is primarily a result of a reduction in 
the number of designated nonattainment areas.

Courtney Kerwin,
Director, Regulatory Support Division.
[FR Doc. 2020-01679 Filed 1-29-20; 8:45 am]
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