[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 249 (Tuesday, December 30, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 67864-67865]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-33966]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[FRL-5941-8]
Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection;
Comment Request; Compliance Information Project, EPA ICR No. 1802.01
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 3501
et seq.), this document announces that EPA is planning to submit the
following proposed Information Collection Request (ICR) to the Office
of Management and Budget (OMB): Compliance Information Project (CIP),
EPA ICR 1802.01. Before submitting the ICR to OMB for review and
approval, EPA is soliciting comments on specific aspects of the
proposed information collection as described below.
DATES: Comments must be submitted on or before February 28, 1998.
ADDRESSES: Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance, Office of
Planning and Policy Analyses; U.S. EPA; 401 M Street, SW (2201A);
Washington, DC 20460.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: John Stoody, (202) 564-5118 / (202)
501-0701 (fax), Office of Planning and Policy Analysis, Office of
Enforcement and Compliance Assurance.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Affected Entities: State compliance and enforcement personnel,
especially field inspectors.
Title: Compliance Information Project (CIP)(EPA ICR No. 1802.01).
Abstract: The Compliance Information Project (CIP) is a new
approach under development by the Office of Enforcement and Compliance
Assurance (OECA) to gather and analyze compliance information that is
not already routinely collected by EPA and State environmental
personnel in evaluating compliance for planning and targeting purposes.
The Agency is conducting the CIP to address concerns that our present
methods and processes for identifying and using compliance information
do not capture, internalize or use all of the compliance information
potentially available to the Agency or the States.
The purpose of the CIP is to identify external compliance
information which is readily available to the Agency or the States, but
uncaptured or unutilized by current systems or methods. Uncaptured and
unutilized compliance information is outside, or external to, the
present knowledge base. For the purposes of this Project, such
unaccounted for compliance information may be referred to as an
``information externality.'' An information externality becomes
internalized when EPA or the States collect and use it. Two examples
are unutilized studies, reports, or audits produced by States, private
parties, or other government agencies, and observations by field
personnel which, for one reason or another, escape our traditional
methods for collecting and documenting information.
The CIP is designed to channel unidentified or unutilized
compliance information to the personnel who design and implement our
information, targeting, and planning systems. The Agency will use the
CIP to internalize compliance information externalities by collecting
and cataloging this information, identifying issues or possible
conclusions, and passing the information on to the appropriate
government personnel for further analysis and use. Such compliance
information may fill gaps in the Agency's or the States' databases,
guide us to previously unidentified compliance problems, enhance our
ability to describe our successes, or help us in other ways.
Through the CIP, EPA will collect information in the form of
compliance reports, studies and published articles on compliance with
Federal environmental statutes. The Agency will also conduct field
personnel roundtable interviews in each of the ten EPA Regions, and
invite a representative from each State to participate along with
Regional personnel. The Agency will provide interview guides to each of
the participants in advance of the roundtable. Participants unable to
attend the roundtable may respond in writing. Participants attending
the roundtable may prepare advance comments and forward them to the CIP
staff. Non-Federal respondents may include State compliance and
enforcement personnel, especially field inspectors. Responses to the
information collection request are voluntary and not required to obtain
or retain any benefit. The Agency will not ask for nor collect, as part
of this project, references to specific persons, facilities, or cases.
The Agency will use information received to make observations and draw
inferences where appropriate. The Agency will not, however, conduct a
statistical analysis of the results.
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. In any event, EPA is seeking the
voluntary participation of State environmental enforcement personnel
and has no intention of requiring a State response. The OMB control
numbers for EPA's regulations are listed in 40 CFR part 9 and 48 CFR
Chapter 15.
EPA is soliciting comments 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.
[[Page 67865]]
Burden Statement
EPA plans to conduct ten sets of interviews involving non-Federal
respondents in the form of roundtables. EPA will contact 50 non-Federal
respondents. The interview will place a burden of 16 hours on each
respondent and cost in time of $43 per respondent per hour. Thus, the
total expected respondent burden is estimated at 800 hours and $34,400.
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 respond to a collection of information; search
existing data sources; complete and' review the collection of
information; and transmit or otherwise disclose the information.
Dated: December 19, 1997.
Susan O'Keefe,
Deputy Director, Office of Planning and Policy Analysis, Office of
Enforcement and Compliance Assurance.
[FR Doc. 97-33966 Filed 12-29-97; 8:45 am]
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