[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 55 (Wednesday, March 24, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 15665-15666]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-06097]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[EPA-HQ-OW-2011-0465; FRL 10021-17-OW]


Proposed Information Collection Request for Water Quality 
Standards Regulation (Renewal)

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is planning to 
submit an information collection request (ICR), ``Water Quality 
Standards Regulation (Renewal)'' (EPA ICR No. 0988.14, 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, EPA is soliciting public comments on specific aspects of the 
proposed information collection as described below. This ICR renews the 
Water Quality Standards Regulation ICR, which is currently approved 
through December 31, 2021. 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 May 24, 2021.

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.
    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: Menchu Martinez, 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: 202-566-1218; email 
address: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Supporting documents which explain in detail 
the information that EPA would be collecting are available in the 
public docket for this 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 EPA's public docket, visit 
http://www.epa.gov/dockets.
    Pursuant to section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the Paperwork Reduction Act 
(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. 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, 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 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, consisting of 40 CFR part 131, establishes the framework 
for states and authorized tribes to adopt standards, and for EPA to 
review and approve or disapprove them. This ICR is for information 
collections needed to implement the WQS regulation, required to obtain 
or retain benefits (e.g., relaxed regulatory requirements) under the 
WQS regulation, and requested on a voluntary basis to gather technical 
program information.
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    \1\ ``States'' in 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.
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    This ICR renews the WQS Regulation ICR, OMB control no. 2040-0049, 
expiration date 12/31/2021. This ICR renewal describes the estimated 
burden for states and authorized tribes associated with the information 
collections related to implementation of the requirements of 40 CFR 
part 131 (Water Quality Standards). This ICR also covers periodic 
requests for voluntary WQS information from states 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

[[Page 15666]]

include: The 50 states, the District of Columbia, five territories, 
authorized tribes with EPA-approved water quality standards (45 tribes 
as of February 2021), and a total of 18 additional tribal respondents 
over the three-year duration of the ICR. The total number of potential 
respondents is thus 119.
    Respondent's obligation to respond: Some collections in this ICR 
are mandatory, some are required to obtain or retain benefits pursuant 
to the WQS Regulation, and some are voluntary.
    Estimated number of respondents: 119.
    Frequency of response: Variable (once every three years, on 
occasion or as necessary, or only once) depending on type of 
information collected.
    Total estimated burden: 466,242 hours per year. Burden is defined 
at 5 CFR 1320.03(b).
    Total estimated cost: $21,409,833 in labor costs and $263,520 in 
operations and maintenance costs per year. There are no annualized 
capital costs.
    Change in estimates: A decrease of 41,645 hours in estimated 
respondent burden compared with the currently approved ICR. The 
decrease reflects removal of one completed collection and transfer and 
consolidation of two collections with the ICR of another program, and 
adjustments to reflect changes in the estimated number of respondents.
    See Supporting Statement in the docket for more information.

Deborah Nagle,
Director, Office of Science and Technology, Office of Water.
[FR Doc. 2021-06097 Filed 3-23-21; 8:45 am]
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