2022-13379. Information Collection Request Submitted to OMB for Review and Approval; Comment Request; Brownfields Program-Accomplishment Reporting (Renewal)

AGENCY:

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION:

Notice.

SUMMARY:

The Environmental Protection Agency has submitted an information collection request (ICR), Brownfields Program—Accomplishment Reporting (Renewal) (EPA ICR Number 2104.09, OMB Control Number 2050-0192) to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act. This is a proposed extension of the ICR, which is currently approved through December 31, 2024. Public comments were previously requested via the Federal Register on March 23, 2022 during a 60-day comment period. This notice allows for an additional 30 days for public comments. A fuller description of the ICR is given below, including its estimated burden and cost to the public. 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:

Additional comments may be submitted on or before July 25, 2022.

ADDRESSES:

Submit your comments, referencing Docket ID Number EPA-HQ-SFUND-2012-0104, to EPA online using www.regulations.gov (our preferred method) or by mail to: EPA Docket Center, Environmental Protection Agency, Mail Code 2821T, 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.

Submit written comments and recommendations to OMB for the proposed information collection within 30 days of publication of this notice to www.reginfo.gov/​public/​do/​PRAMain. Find this particular information collection by selecting “Currently under 30-day Review—Open for Public Comments” or by using the search function.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Kelly Gorini, Office of Brownfields and Land Revitalization, (5105T), Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20460; telephone number: [phone]; fax number: [phone]; email address: [e-mail] .

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 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.

Abstract: This ICR covers the collection of information from those organizations that receive cooperative agreements, contracts, and Targeted Brownfields Assessment (TBA) funds from EPA under the authority of the section 104(k) of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) as amended by the Brownfields Utilization, Investment, and Local Development (BUILD) Act (Pub. L. 115-141). CERCLA 104(k), as amended, authorizes EPA to award grants or cooperative agreements and contract funding to states, tribes, local governments, other eligible entities, and nonprofit organizations to support the assessment and cleanup of brownfields sites. Under section 101(39) of CERCLA, a brownfields site means real property, the expansion, redevelopment, or reuse of which may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant. Cooperative agreement recipients (“recipients”) have general reporting and record keeping requirements as a condition of their cooperative agreement that result in burden. A portion of this reporting and record keeping burden is authorized under 2 CFR part 1500 and identified in the EPA's general grants ICR (OMB Control Number 2030-0020). EPA requires Brownfields program recipients to maintain and report additional information to EPA on the uses and accomplishments associated with funded brownfields activities. EPA intends to expand programmatic reporting requirements to include TBA contractors and technical assistance contractors. EPA will use several forms to assist recipients and contractors in reporting the information and to ensure consistency of the information collected. EPA uses this information to meet Federal stewardship responsibilities to manage and track how program funds are being spent, to evaluate the performance of the Brownfields Cleanup and Land Revitalization Program, to meet the Agency's reporting requirements under the Government Performance Results Act, and to report to Congress and other program stakeholders on the status and accomplishments of the program.

Respondents/affected entities: State/local/tribal governments; Non-Profits; Contractors.

Respondent's obligation to respond: Required to obtain or Retain Benefits (2 CFR part 1500).

Estimated number of respondents: 6,562 (total).

Frequency of response: Bi-annual for subtitle CERCLA 128 recipients; quarterly for CERCLA 104(k) recipients.

Total estimated burden: 3,808 hours (per year). Burden is defined at 5 CFR 1320.03(b).

Total estimated cost: $480,509 (per year), includes $0 annualized capital or operation & maintenance costs.

Changes in the Estimates: There is decrease of 2,335 hours in the total estimated respondent burden compared with the ICR currently approved by OMB. This decrease can be attributed to tremendous improvements in the ACRES database to streamline reporting requirements. Additional ACRES training and outreach efforts have also greatly increased grantees familiarity with the database. Grantees have reported that ACRES is now more intuitive, and the layout is significantly easier to follow. Grantees interviewed for this burden estimate self-reported data entry times at half the burden hours compared to estimates gathered 2 years ago. These combined factors result in the significant burden reduction.

Courtney Kerwin,

Director, Regulatory Support Division.