2018-18952. Information Collection Request Submitted to OMB for Review and Approval; Comment Request; Cross-State Air Pollution Rule and Texas SO2

AGENCY:

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION:

Notice.

SUMMARY:

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has submitted an information collection request (ICR), “Cross-State Air Pollution Rule and Texas SO₂ Trading Programs (EPA ICR No. 2391.05, OMB Control No. 2060-0667) 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 October 31, 2018. Public comments were previously requested via the Federal Register on April 16, 2018 during a 60-day comment period. The public comment period was extended for an additional 29 days via the Federal Register on June 14, 2018. 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 October 1, 2018.

ADDRESSES:

Submit your comments, referencing Docket ID Number No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2018-0209, online using www.regulations.gov (our preferred method), by email to [e-mail], or by mail to: EPA Docket Center, Environmental Protection Agency, Mail Code 28221T, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20460, and (2) OMB via email to [e-mail]. Address comments to OMB Desk Officer for EPA.

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.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Karen VanSickle, Clean Air Markets Division, Office of Air and Radiation, (6204M), Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20460; telephone number: 202-343-9220; fax number: 202-343-2361; 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: EPA is renewing an ICR for the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR) trading programs to allow for continued implementation of the programs. The information collection requirements under all five CSAPR trading programs are reflected in the existing ICR as most recently revised in 2016. In 2017, Texas sources were removed from two CSAPR trading programs and EPA promulgated the Texas SO₂ Trading Program using the CSAPR trading programs as a model. This ICR renewal reflects the 2017 termination of information collection requirements for Texas sources under the two CSAPR trading programs and the 2019 re-establishment of some of the same requirements for some of the same sources under the Texas trading program. Most affected sources under the CSAPR and Texas trading programs are also subject to the Acid Rain Program (ARP). The information collection requirements under the CSAPR and Texas trading programs, which consist primarily of requirements to monitor and report emissions data in accordance with 40 CFR part 75, substantially overlap and are fully integrated with ARP information collection requirements. The burden and costs of overlapping requirements are accounted for in the ARP ICR (OMB Control Number 2060-0258). This ICR accounts for information collection burden and costs under the CSAPR and Texas trading programs that are incremental to the burden and costs already accounted for in the ARP ICR. All data received by EPA will be treated as public information.

Form Numbers: Agent Notice of Delegation #5900-172, Certificate of Representation #7610-1, General Account Form #7610-5, Allowance Transfer Form #7610-6, Retired Unit Exemption #7610-20, Allowance Deduction #7620-4.

Respondents/affected entities: Industry respondents are stationary, fossil fuel-fired boilers and combustion turbines serving electricity generators subject to the CSAPR and Texas trading programs, as well as non-source entities voluntarily participating in allowance trading activities. Potential state respondents are states that can elect to submit state-determined allowance allocations for sources located in their states.

Respondents' obligation to respond: Industry respondents: voluntary and mandatory (Sections 110(a) and 301(a) of the Clean Air Act). State respondents: voluntary.

Estimated number of respondents: 1,028 industry respondents, including 978 affected sources and 50 non-source entities participating in allowance trading activities, and 27 potential state respondents.

Frequency of response: On occasion, quarterly, and annually.

Total estimated burden: 134,423 hours (per year). Burden is defined at 5 CFR 1320.03(b).

Total estimated cost: $18,563,878 (per year), which includes $8,207,545 annualized capital or operation & maintenance costs.

Changes in Estimates: There is decrease of 40,699 hours in the total estimated respondent burden compared with the ICR currently approved by OMB. This decrease is due almost entirely to adjustments in the estimated numbers of respondents and transactions and the time required to complete certain activities. Changes in programs—i.e., the removal of Texas units from two CSAPR trading programs and the start of the Texas SO₂ Trading Program—together are responsible for approximately 574 hours of the overall decrease.

Courtney Kerwin,

Director, Regulatory Support Division.