03-7368. Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission of EPA ICR No. 1842.04 (OMB No. 2040-0188) 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: Notice of Intent for Storm Water Discharges Associated with Construction Activity under a NPDES General Permit. This ICR describes the nature of the information collection and its estimated burden and cost.

DATES:

Additional comments may be submitted on or before April 28, 2003.

ADDRESSES:

Follow the detailed instructions in SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Jack Faulk, Water Permits Division, Office of Wastewater Management, Mail Code 4203M, Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460; telephone number: 202-564-0768; 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 6, 2002, (67 FR 72668), 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-2003-0010, 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, Water Docket, Mail Code: 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: Notice of Intent for Storm Water Discharges Associated with Construction Activity under a NPDES General Permit (OMB Control Number 2040-0188, EPA ICR Number 1842.04). This is a request to renew an existing approved collection that is scheduled to expire on March 31, 2003. Under OMB regulations, the Agency may continue to conduct or sponsor the collection of information while this submission is pending at OMB.

Abstract: This ICR calculates the burden and costs associated with the preparation of the Notice of Intent (NOI) for Storm Water Discharges Associated with Construction Activity under a NPDES General Permit, and the Storm Water Pollution Prevention Plan (SWPPP). EPA uses the data contained in the NOIs to track facilities covered by the storm water general permit and assess permit compliance. EPA has developed a format for construction NOIs. The standardized one-page form is called: Notice of Intent (NOI) for Storm Water Discharges Associated with Construction Activity Under a NPDES General Permit. The construction NOI only requires the respondent to note whether or not a SWPPP has been prepared. The following information is requested:

—Name, address, phone number of the facility

—Status of the owner/operator (whether federal, state, public, or private)

—Name and location of the project (City, State, ZIP, Latitude, Longitude, County)

—Whether the facility is located on Indian Country Lands

—Whether a Storm Water Pollution Prevention Plan (SWPPP) has been prepared

—Optional: location for viewing SWPPP and telephone number for scheduling viewing times: Address, City, State, ZIP

—The name of the receiving water

—Estimated construction start date and completion date

—The estimated area to be disturbed (to nearest acre)

—An estimate of the likelihood of a discharge

—Whether any protected species or critical habitat in the project area

—Which section of the permit through which permit eligibility with regard to protection of endangered species is satisfied

Responses are required to obtain coverage under the NPDES General Permit for storm water discharges associated with construction activities.

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 38.3 hours per response by large construction NPDES permittees in NPDES-authorized states and territories and 40.5 hours per response for construction activities in states and territories where EPA is the permitting authority. 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: Owners/operators of large construction activities.

Estimated Number of Respondents: 201,259.

Frequency of Response: Once initially, prior to commencement of construction.

Estimated Total Annual Hour Burden: 7,729,696 hours.

Estimated Total Annual Cost: $264,919,148, includes $0 annualized capital or O&M costs.

Changes in the Estimates: There is an increase of 3,166,793 hours in the total estimated burden currently identified in the OMB Inventory of Approved ICR Burdens. This increase in the applicant respondent and NPDES-authorized state burden is due to a technical correction to the methodology used to estimate the number of construction sites covered by a permit. The methodology used in this ICR to estimate of the number of construction sites is consistent with the methodology used to estimate the number of small construction sites, consistent with the NPDES Storm Water Program Phase II ICR, OMB Control No. 2040-0211, EPA ICR No. 1820.03.

Dated: March 18, 2003.

Oscar Morales,

Director, Collection Strategies Division.