Information Collection Request Submitted to OMB for Review and Approval; Comment Request; Data Requirements Rule for the 1-Hour Sulfur Dioxide Primary National Ambient Air Quality Standard (Renewal), 50835-50836 [2019-20954]

Agencies

• ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 187 (Thursday, September 26, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 50835-50836]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-20954]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[EPA-HQ-OAR-2013-0711; FRL-10000-16-OMS]


Information Collection Request Submitted to OMB for Review and 
Approval; Comment Request; Data Requirements Rule for the 1-Hour Sulfur 
Dioxide Primary National Ambient Air Quality Standard (Renewal)

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has submitted a 
renewal of an information collection request (ICR), Data Requirements 
Rule for the 1-Hour Sulfur Dioxide Primary National Ambient Air Quality 
Standard (EPA ICR Number 2495.03, Office of Management and Budget (OMB) 
Control Number 2060-0696) to OMB for review and approval in accordance 
with the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA). This is a proposed extension of 
the existing ICR for the Data Requirements Rule for the 1-Hour Sulfur 
Dioxide Primary NAAQS (SO2 Data Requirements Rule), which is 
currently approved through September 30, 2019. Public comments were 
previously requested via the Federal Register on July 12, 2019, during 
a 60-day comment period. This notice allows for an additional 30 days 
for public comments. A fuller description of the proposed ICR renewal 
is given below, including the estimated burden and cost to respondents 
to meet the requirements of the SO2 Data Requirements Rule. 
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 October 28, 2019.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-
OAR-2013-0711, at https://www.regulations.gov. Follow the online 
instructions for submitting comments. Once submitted, comments cannot 
be edited or removed from Regulations.gov. The EPA may publish any 
comment received to its public docket. Do not submit electronically any 
information you consider to be Confidential Business Information (CBI) 
or other information the disclosure of which is restricted by statute. 
Multimedia submissions (audio, video, etc.) must be accompanied by a 
written comment. The written comment is considered to be the official 
comment and should include discussion of all points you wish to make. 
The EPA will generally not consider comments or comment contents 
located outside of the primary submission (i.e. on the web, cloud, or 
other file sharing system). For additional submission methods, the full 
EPA public comment policy, information about CBI or multimedia 
submissions, and general guidance on making effective comments, please 
visit https://www.epa.gov/dockets/commenting-epa-dockets.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr. Larry D. Wallace, Office of Air 
Quality Planning and Standards, Air Quality Policy Division, C504-05, 
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, NC; 
telephone number: (919) 541-0906; fax number: (919) 541-5509; 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 Avenue NW, Washington, DC. The telephone 
number for the Docket Center is (202) 566-1744. For additional 
information about the EPA's public docket, visit https://www.epa.gov/dockets.
    Abstract: This ICR addresses reporting and recordkeeping activity 
defined by the final Data Requirements for the 2010 1-Hour Sulfur 
dioxide (SO2) Primary National Ambient Air Quality Standards 
rule (SO2 Data Requirements Rule) (See 80 FR 51052, August 
21, 2015).
    Through the SO2 Data Requirements Rule and the initial 
ICR, EPA required states to characterize ambient air quality around 
SO2 sources with emissions that were greater than 2,000 tons 
per year (tpy) or that were otherwise included as a listed source. In 
this ICR, EPA addresses ongoing requirements that apply to listed 
sources for which air agencies chose the monitoring pathway as well as 
sources for which air agencies chose the modeling pathway. The number 
of listed sources for which air agencies chose the monitoring pathway, 
and thus are required to submit ongoing monitoring information, are 73 
sources in 24 states (77 monitors total). The number of listed sources 
for which air agencies chose the modeling pathway that are required to 
submit ongoing data reports, and, potentially, updated modeling, are 
170 sources in 43 states.
    Air quality management agencies that elected to conduct ambient 
monitoring for listed DRR sources are responsible for reporting ambient 
air quality data information and retaining quality assurance/quality 
control records and monitoring network documentation. Where possible 
these activities are carried-out electronically using EPA's Air Quality 
System (AQS).
    Air quality management agencies that elected to conduct air quality 
modeling of the areas containing listed DRR sources to provide the 
necessary air quality data to EPA are responsible for submitting 
ongoing data reports. If EPA requires that the air agency conduct 
updated air quality modeling for the area, the air agency has 12 months 
to submit the updated modeling to EPA.
    Form Numbers: None.
    Respondents/affected entities: State, local and tribal air 
pollution management control agencies.
    Respondent's obligation to respond: Mandatory (40 CFR part 51).
    Estimated number of respondents: 24 states or local agencies for 
monitoring, and 43 states or local agencies for modeling.
    Frequency of response: Varies by requirement. Quarterly for 
monitoring data and annually for ongoing data verification reporting.
    Total estimated burden: 26,948 hours (per year) for monitoring 
(specific hours for modeling not estimated, but labor costs are 
included in the estimated cost for modeling below). Burden is defined 
at 5 CFR 1320.03(b).
    Total estimated cost: $2,539,815 (per year) for monitoring, 
includes $189,246 annualized capital or operation and maintenance costs 
for monitoring, and $5,100,000 (per year) for modeling.
    Changes in Estimates: The revisions in the monitoring and modeling 
burden result, in large part, from EPA having resolved uncertainty that 
inflated calculations in the previous ICR. While that ICR calculated 
burden for both the monitoring and the modeling scenarios assuming each 
one would be used by all possible sources, EPA now has the

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ability to know how many sources will be using one approach or the 
other. Further adjustments to this ICR's burden estimates result for 
EPA having more accurately expressed the split between labor and non-
labor costs used for the modeling scenario.

Courtney Kerwin,
Director, Collection Strategies Division.
[FR Doc. 2019-20954 Filed 9-25-19; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6560-50-P