02-32388. Agency Information Collection Activities: Submission of ICR No. 0220.09 (OMB No. 2040-0168) to OMB for Review and Approval; Comment Request

AGENCY:

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION:

Notice.

SUMMARY:

In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), this document announces that the following Information Collection Request (ICR) has been forwarded to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval: Clean Water Act Section 404 State-Assumed Programs (OMB Control No. 2040-0168, EPA ICR No. 0220.09). The ICR, which is abstracted below, describes the nature of the information collection and its estimated burden and cost.

DATES:

Comments must be submitted on or before January 23, 2003.

ADDRESSES:

Follow the detailed instructions in the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Lori Williams, Office of Wetlands, Oceans and Watersheds, Wetlands Division (4502T), Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460; telephone number: 202-566-1376; fax number: 202-566-1349; e-mail address: [e-mail].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

EPA has submitted the following ICR to OMB for review and approval according to the procedures prescribed in 5 CFR 1320.12. On July 16, 2002, EPA sought comments on this ICR pursuant to 5 CFR 1320.8(d). EPA received no comments.

EPA has established a public docket for this ICR under Docket ID No. OW-2002-0032, which is available for public viewing at the Water Docket in the EPA Docket Center, (EPA/DC) EPA West, Room B102, 1301 Constitution Ave., NW., Washington, DC. The EPA Docket Center Public Reading Room is open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding legal holidays. The telephone number for the Reading Room is [phone], and the telephone number for the Water Docket is [phone]. An electronic version of the public docket is available through EPA Dockets (EDOCKET) at http://www.epa.gov/​edocket. Use EDOCKET to submit or view public comments, access the index listing of the contents of the public docket, and to access those documents in the public docket that are available electronically. Once in the system, select “search,” then key in the docket ID number identified above.

Any comments related to this ICR should be submitted to EPA and OMB within 30 days of this notice, and according to the following detailed instructions:

(1) Submit your comments to EPA online using EDOCKET (our preferred method), by e-mail to [e-mail], or by mail to: EPA Docket Center, Environmental Protection Agency, Mailcode: 4101T, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460, and

(2) Mail your comments to OMB at: Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget (OMB), Attention: Desk Officer for EPA, 725 17th Street, NW., Washington, DC 20503.

EPA's policy is that public comments, whether submitted electronically or in paper, will be made available for public viewing in EDOCKET as EPA receives them and without change, unless the comment contains copyrighted material, CBI, or other information whose public disclosure is restricted by statute. When EPA identifies a comment containing copyrighted material, EPA will provide a reference to that material in the version of the comment that is placed in EDOCKET. The entire printed comment, including the copyrighted material, will be available in the public docket. Although identified as an item in the official docket, information claimed as CBI, or whose disclosure is otherwise restricted by statute, is not included in the official public docket, and will not be available for public viewing in EDOCKET. For further information about the electronic docket, see EPA's Federal Register notice describing the electronic docket at 67 FR 38102 (May 31, 2002), or go to http://www.epa.gov/​edocket.

Title: Information Collection Request for Clean Water Act Section 404 State-Assumed Programs (OMB Control No. 2040-0168, EPA ICR Number 0220.09). This is a request to renew an existing approved collection that is scheduled to expire on January 31, 2003. Under the OMB regulations, the Agency may continue to conduct or sponsor the collection of information while this submission is pending at OMB.

Abstract: Section 404(g) of the Clean Water Act authorizes States (and Tribes) to assume the section 404 permit program. States/Tribes must demonstrate that they meet the statutory and regulatory requirements (40 CFR part 233) for an approvable program. Specified information and documents must be submitted by the State/Tribe to EPA to request assumption. Once the required information and documents are submitted and EPA has a complete assumption request package, the statutory time clock for EPA's decision to either approve or deny the State/Tribe's assumption request starts. The information contained in the assumption request is made available to the other involved Federal agencies (Corps of Engineers, Fish and Wildlife Service, and National Marine Fisheries Service) and to the general public for review and comment.

States/Tribes must be able to issue permits that comply with the 404(b)(1) Guidelines, the environmental review criteria. States/Tribes and the reviewing Federal agencies must be able to review proposed projects to evaluate, avoid, minimize and compensate for anticipated impacts. EPA's assumption regulations establish recommended elements that should be included in the State/Tribe's permit application, so that sufficient information is available to make a thorough analysis of anticipated impacts. These minimum information requirements are based on the information that must be submitted when applying for a section 404 permit from the Corps of Engineers.

EPA is responsible for oversight of assumed programs to ensure that State/Tribal programs are in compliance with applicable requirements and that State/Tribal permit decisions adequately consider, avoid, minimize and compensate for anticipated impacts. States/Tribes must evaluate their programs annually and submit the results in a report to EPA. EPA's assumption regulations establish minimum requirements for the annual report.

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. The OMB control numbers for EPA's regulations are listed in 40 CFR part 9 and 48 CFR chapter 15, and are identified on the form and/or instrument, if applicable.

Burden Statement: This collection of information is separated into three pieces. The annual public reporting and recordkeeping burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 520 hours to request program assumption, 5 hours to complete a permit application, and 80 hours to prepare the annual report. Burden means the total time, effort, or financial resources expended by persons to generate, maintain, retain, or disclose or provide information to or for a Federal agency. This includes the time needed to review instructions; develop, acquire, install, and utilize technology and systems for the purposes of collecting, validating, and verifying information, processing and maintaining information, and disclosing and providing information; adjust the existing ways to comply with any previously applicable instructions and requirements; train personnel to be able to respond to a collection of information; search data sources; complete and review the collection of information; and transmit or otherwise disclose the information.

Respondents/Affected Entities: States/Tribes, permit applicants.

Estimated Number of Respondents: 20,006.

Frequency of Response: one time to request assumption; one time when requesting a permit; annually for the annual permit.

Estimated Total Annual Hour Burden: 101,360.

Estimated Total Annual Cost: $37,200 includes $0 annualized capital or O&M costs.

Changes in the Estimates: There is a change of an additional 693 hours from the currently approved hours in the OMB Inventory of Approved ICR Burdens; this is a math correction/adjustment.

Dated: December 17, 2002.

Oscar Morales,

Director, Collection Strategies Division.