05-17368. Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission for OMB Review and Approval; Comment Request; NSPS for Metallic Mineral Processing Plants (Renewal), ICR Number 0982.08, OMB Number 2060-0016

AGENCY:

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION:

Notice.

SUMMARY:

In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act, this document announces that an Information Collection Request (ICR) has been forwarded to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval. This is a request to renew an existing approved collection. This ICR is scheduled to expire on September 30, 2005. Under OMB regulations, the Agency may continue to conduct or sponsor the collection of information while this submission is pending at OMB. This ICR describes the nature of the information collection and its estimated burden and cost.

DATES:

Additional comments may be submitted on or before September 30, 2005.

ADDRESSES:

Submit your comments, referencing docket ID number OECA-2004-0043, to (1) EPA online using EDOCKET (our preferred method), by e-mail to [e-mail], or by mail to: EPA Docket Center, Environmental Protection Agency, Enforcement and Compliance Docket and Information Center, Mail Code 2201T, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20460, and (2) 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.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Gregory Fried, Compliance Assessment and Media Programs Division, Office of Compliance, 2223A, Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20460; telephone number: [phone]; fax number: [phone]; 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 December 1, 2004, (69 FR 69909) 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 Number OECA-2004-0043, which is available for public viewing at the Enforcement and Compliance Docket and Information Center in the EPA Docket Center (EPA/DC), EPA West, Room B102, 1301 Constitution Avenue, 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 Enforcement and Compliance Docket and Information Center 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. When 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. 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, Confidential Business Information (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 www.epa.gov/​edocket.

Title: NSPS for Metallic Mineral Processing Plants (Renewal).

Abstract: The New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) for Metallic Mineral Processing Plants were proposed on August 24, 1982, and promulgated on February 21, 1984. These standards apply to the following facilities in Metallic Mineral Processing Plants: Each crusher and screen in open-pit mines; each crusher, screen, bucket elevator, conveyor belt transfer point, thermal dryer, product packaging station, storage bin, enclosed storage area, truck loading and unloading station at the mill or concentrator, commencing construction, modification or reconstruction after the date of proposal. The NSPS does not apply to facilities located in underground mines, or to facilities performing the beneficiation of uranium ore at uranium ore processing plants.

Particulate matter (PM) is the pollutant regulated under this subpart. The standards limit the particulate matter emissions from the stack to 0.05 grams per dry standard cubic meter and to 7 percent opacity. Those sources that are using a wet scrubbing control device are exempted from the 7 percent opacity requirement. No affected facility may discharge any process fugitive emissions that exhibit greater than 10 percent opacity.

Response to the collection of information is mandatory under 40 CFR part 60, subpart LL. Owners or operators of the affected facilities described must make initial notifications, including notification of any physical or operational change to an existing facility that may increase the regulated pollutant emission rate; notification of the demonstration of the continuous monitoring system (CMS), and notification of the initial performance test. Performance test reports are needed as these are the Agency's records of a source's initial capability to comply with emission standards, and note the operating conditions, flow rate and pressure drop, under which compliance was achieved. Owners of affected facilities are required to install, calibrate, maintain, and operate a continuous monitoring system to measure the change in the pressure of the gas stream through the scrubber and the scrubbing liquid flow rate. Owners or operators are also required to maintain records of the occurrence and duration of any startup, shutdown, or malfunction in the operation of an affected facility, or any period during which the monitoring system is inoperative.

Semiannual excess emissions reports and monitoring systems performance reports will include the exceeded findings of any control device operating parameters, (specified in CFR 40 60.735, Recordkeeping and Reporting), the date and time of the deviance, the nature and cause of the malfunction (if known) and the corrective measures taken, and identification of the time period during which the CMS was inoperative (this does not include zero and span checks nor typical repairs/adjustments). These notifications, reports and records are required, in general, of all sources subject to NSPS.

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: The annual public reporting and recordkeeping burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 52 hours per response. Burden means the total time, effort, or financial resources expended by persons to generate, maintain, retain, 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: Metallic Mineral Processing Plants.

Estimated Number of Respondents: 20.

Frequency of Response: On occasion, initially and semiannually.

Estimated Total Annual Hour Burden: 2,306 hours.

Estimated Total Annual Costs: $199,140 which includes $0 annualized capital/startup costs, $13,000 annual O&M costs, and $186,140 Respondent Labor costs.

Changes in the Estimates: There is an increase of 546 hours in the total estimated burden currently identified in the OMB Inventory of Approved ICR Burdens. This increase is due to an increase in the estimated number of sources that will be reconstructed or make or physical/operational changes. In addition, the increase in burden is due to the inclusion of burden hour estimates for management and clerical personnel at the plant.

Dated: August 22, 2005.

Oscar Morales,

Director, Collection Strategies Division.