This Collected of Information is not approved. EPA has not established that the information to be collected is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the Agency, including that it will have practical utility, as required by 5 CFR 1320.9(a). The justification provided with this ICR for its practical utility consists of a single sentence: "EPA will ultimately use the data collected to develop regulatory options for minimizing environmental impacts caused by by cooling water intake structures." (ICR Supporting Statement, p.6) The statutory basis for such regulations is Section 316(b) of the Clean Water, which provides that any standard established pur- suant to Section 301 or 306 of the Act and applicable to a point source shall require that the location, design, construction, and capacity of colling water intake structures reflect the best technology available (BTA) for minimizing adverse environmental impact. The Act is silent on how this requirement is to be implemented. Currently, it is implemented on a site-specific basis by NPDES permit writers, who are required to ensure that all permits meet the statutory criteria. EPA apparently believes that this approach is not adequate, but has provided no information with this ICR, either to OMB or for public comment under 5 CFR 1320.8(d) or 1320.10(a), to support that belief. Before EPA undertake such a large information collection (130,000 hours were requested for the screener survey alone), it must document the need for additional regulations. This should include evidence that significant adverser environmental impacts are occurring as a result of cooling water intake structures, evidence that point sources are not currently using best tech- nology available to minimize such impacts, and evidence that a national regulatory approach of the type this information collection is designed to support would be more effective at implementing the statutory requirements that the current approach relying on site specific informtion, best professional judgement of NPDES permit writers, and state regulations tailored to local conditions and concerns. In providing evidence of currently occurring adverse envionmental impacts, the Agency should clearly state its interpretation of this term and the basis for that interpretation. In this con- text, OMB notes that while the Act provides no definition of the term as it is used in Section 316(b), Section 316(a) authorizes the Administrator to impose standards for thermal discharge from point sources that are no more stringent than necessary "to assure the protection and propagation of a balanced, indigenous population of shellfish, fish, and wildlife" in and on the body of water into which the discharge is to be made. The Agency should consider whether this is a reasonable standard against which to assess adverse environmental impact for purposes of Section 316(b) as well. This ICR also rails to satisfy the requirement to reduce to the extent practicable and appropriate the burden on persons who shall provide information to or for the Agency, as specificed in 5 CFR 1320.9(c). The purpose of a screener survey is to identify facilities that may be within the scope of a rule and gather enough information about them to construct appropriate strata from which to select a sample of facilities to receive a more detailed survey. EPA has not documented that all of the information requested in this survey (consisting of a 40-page questionnaire that is projected to take 50 hours on average to complete) is necessary to accomplish this purpose. Once the Agency has established the practical utility of this information, as discussed above, it also needs to carefully consider exactly what information, and at what level of detail and precision, is needed in order to identify in-scope facilities and construct appropriate strata, and then limit the screener survey to just this information.
table that charts list comparision
Inventory as of this Action
Requested
Previously Approved
10/31/1999
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
The U.S. Environmental Agency ("EPA") is currently developing regulations under section 316(b) of the Clean Water Act ("CWA"), 33 U.S.C. section 1326(b). The screener questionnaire is the first step of a two-step regulatory information collection effort to support the section 316(b) regulatory development. Primarily, EPA will use the information collected to design a sample frame for the detailed industry questionnaire that EPA intends to administer after the screener questionnaire. The respondents cover a broad spectrum of industries. The respondents for the screener questionnaire are as follows: Nonutility....
On behalf of this Federal agency, I certify that the collection of information encompassed by this request complies with 5 CFR 1320.9 and the related provisions of 5 CFR 1320.8(b)(3).
The following is a summary of the topics, regarding the proposed collection of information, that the certification covers:
(i) Why the information is being collected;
(ii) Use of information;
(iii) Burden estimate;
(iv) Nature of response (voluntary, required for a benefit, or mandatory);
(v) Nature and extent of confidentiality; and
(vi) Need to display currently valid OMB control number;
If you are unable to certify compliance with any of these provisions, identify the item by leaving the box unchecked and explain the reason in the Supporting Statement.
Industry Screener Questionnaire: Phase I Cooling Water Intake Structures