[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 64 (Friday, April 3, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 16498-16499]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-8792]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[FRH-5990-5]
Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection;
Comment Request; Environmental Information Customer Survey
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: In compliance 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): Environmental Information Customer
Survey: EPA ICR No. 1853.01. Before submitting the ICR to OMB for
review and approval, EPA is soliciting public comment on specific
aspects of the proposed information collection as described below.
DATES: Comments must be submitted on or before May 27, 1998.
ADDRESSES: Office of Policy, Planning and Evaluation, U.S. EPA,
Mailcode 2164, 401 M Street, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20460. Information
regarding this information collection request can be obtained by
contacting the information contact listed below.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Heather Anne Case, telephone: (202)
260-2360, fax: (202) 260-4903, case.heather@epamail.epa.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Affected entities: Entities potentially
affected by this action are those members of the general public who
agree to participate in these voluntary, information collection
activities.
Title: Environmental Information Customer Survey; EPA ICR No.:
1853.01.
Abstract: This information collection request covers a series of
general public surveys to be administered by the EPA's Center for
Environmental Information Statistics (CEIS) and the Environmental
Monitoring for Public Access and Community Tracking (EMPACT) program
over the next three years. The objectives of these survey activities
are derived from EPA's Strategic Plan (EPA/190-E-97-002, September,
1997) which sets a national goal to improve public access to the
Agency's environmental information resources. The proposed information
collection activities will assist EPA to: (1) Identify and characterize
segments of the Agency's information customer base (information users
and audiences), and (2) assess their environmental information needs
and access preferences. A customer's ``environmental information need''
refers to specific types of data and information, such as data on air
pollution levels or information about the known health effects of a
particular pollutant. An ``access preference'' refers to the various
ways in which the public can obtain data and information (e.g., reading
newspapers or reports, by telephone, using Internet Web sites, visiting
EPA libraries).
The CEIS and the EMPACT program are proposing to undertake, two,
near-term, national telephone surveys of the public's environmental
information needs and access preferences, to assure that early program
development involves all interested information users. The results of
these two survey activities will be used to: (1) Improve public access
to data and information; (2) identify gaps between the public's
environmental information needs and currently available Agency
information resources; (3) develop new environmental information
products and services; (4) enhance community-level, environmental
measurement and monitoring capabilities; and, (5) regularly seek
customers comments on their level of satisfaction with information
products and services. The CEIS and the EMPACT program further propose
to carry out several additional, customer survey activities to continue
customer involvement in developing new projects, products and services.
Background Information
In February 1997, EPA announced plans to create a Center for
Environmental Information and Statistics (CEIS). The Center was given
the responsibility to provide the public a convenient, reliable, source
of information on environmental quality status and trends. The CEIS is
part of a broader, Agencywide effort to improve public access to EPA's
information resources. Improved public access will provide citizens the
information that they need to protect public health and the environment
in their communities. CEIS drafted a plan for surveying the
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public's needs and access preferences for improving public access. This
peer-reviewed, Customer Survey Plan (July 1997) employs well-
established, qualitative, research techniques to ascertain customer's
needs and access preferences via the survey activities described below.
The CEIS and the EMPACT program have already engaged more than 300
EPA information users in a series of discussions and public meetings to
identify their environmental information needs and access preferences.
Many of those involved in these meetings have asked that EPA focus on
improving public access by providing centralized points of contact at
the national and regional levels. They have also expressed needs for
having integrated datasets and information presented at various
geographic scales (national, regional, state, watershed and community).
Users are interested in having quality-assured, reliable data for
developing their own reports. They are also looking for comprehensive
reporting on environmental quality status and trends. The proposed
survey will provide insights into the kinds of information that members
of the general public may want, especially those members who may be
unfamiliar with the Agency's information resources.
Established in 1996, the EMPACT program is fostering a new approach
to work with communities to collect, manage, and communicate
environmental information on a real-time basis. The EMPACT program will
be using the results of the proposed information collection activities
to work with communities to make timely, accurate, and understandable
environmental monitoring data available in 86 of the larger U.S.
metropolitan areas.
Table 1. provides a detailed description of proposed FY 1998-2001
Environmental Information Customer Survey information collection
activities.
Table 1:--Proposed FY 1998-2001: Environmental Information Customer
Survey Activities
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March 1998--October 1998
CEIS and the EMPACT program assessing environmental information needs
and access preferences:
2,000 telephone interviews (by EPA region)
17,200 telephone interviews (in the 86 EMPACT program, metropolitan
areas).
Product or service concept testing:
12 focus groups or public meetings
Actual product or service testing:
20 interviews with CEIS web site users
4 focus groups to advance web site development
November 1998--October 1999
Assessing environmental information needs and access preferences:
1,000 responses to a general public questionnaire
Product or service concept testing:
40 focus groups or public meetings
Actual product or service testing:
20 focus groups
100 individual interviews
Evaluating customer satisfaction with early products and services:
1,000 responses to a web site users' questionnaire
November 1999--October 2000
Assessing environmental information needs and access preferences:
2,000 telephone interviews (by EPA region)
17,200 telephone interviews (throughout the 86 EMPACT metropolitan
areas).
Testing product or service concepts:
20 focus groups or public meetings
Testing actual products or services:
20 focus groups
100 individual interviews
Evaluating customer satisfaction:
1,000 responses to a questionnaire
November 2000--October 2001
Testing product or service concepts:
10 focus groups or public meetings
Testing actual products or services:
20 focus groups
100 individual interviews
Evaluating customer satisfaction:
1000 responses to a questionnaire
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CEIS and the EMPACT program will coordinate the administration of
any information collection activity in overlapping geographic areas of
the country, in order to minimize information collection burden,
wherever possible.
An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required
to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a current
valid OMB control number. The OMB control numbers for EPA's regulations
are listed in 40 CFR part 9 and 48 CFR Chapter 15. Consistent with
these regulations, EPA would like to solicit public 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, 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.
Burden Statement: The estimated hour burden for CEIS and the EMPACT
program national telephone surveys and other, future General Public
Customer Survey activities is 26,100 hours. The average annual
reporting burden is 6,500 hours and the estimated, average burden hour
per response is 0.6 hours. Over the three-year period, numerous members
of the public will be asked if they would voluntarily like to be
included in the proposed survey activities. The CEIS and the EMPACT
program estimate that about 41,500 actual respondents may become
involved. Since these information collection activities are voluntary
(respondents will not be asked to keep any records as a result of these
activities), there are no estimated respondent costs associated with
the proposed information collection activities.
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.
Because customer surveys involve iterative phases of activity,
information collection activities, proposed to occur after this fiscal
year, may change.
Dated: March 30, 1998.
Arthur Koines,
Deputy Director, Office of Strategic Planning and Environmental Data.
Denice Shaw,
EMPACT Program Manager.
[FR Doc. 98-8792 Filed 4-2-98; 8:45 am]
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