The Clean Water Act (CWA) directs EPA to develop regulations, called effluent guidelines, to limit the amount of pollutants that are discharged to surface waters or to sewage treatment plants. The effluent guidelines for the steam electric power generating point source category apply to steam electric generating units at establishments that are primarily engaged in the generation of electricity for distribution and sale, resulting primarily from a process using nuclear or fossil-type fuels, such as coal, oil and natural gas.
EPA first identified the industry during its 2005 annual review of discharges from categories with existing effluent guidelines regulations, when publicly available data indicated that this industry ranked high in discharges of toxic and nonconventional pollutants. Because of these findings, EPA initiated a more detailed study of the industry and collected data through site visits, wastewater sampling, a limited data request, and secondary sources of data. EPA determined that steam electric power plants are responsible for a significant amount of the toxic pollutant loadings discharged to surface waters by point sources. Further information regarding these conclusions can be found in EPA's study, Steam Electric Power Generating Point Source Category: Final Detailed Study Report (EPA 821-R-09-008). This ICR will support the review and revision of the Steam Electric ELGs.
EPA is requesting the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to review and approve the ICR for Steam Electric Power Generating Effluent Guidelines. The ICR will aid in the collection of information from a wide range of steam electric power generating industry operations to characterize waste streams, understand the processes that generate the wastes, gather environmental data, and assess the availability and affordability of treatment technologies. These data will be used to perform detailed technical and economic analyses that will support EPA's rulemaking.
EPA has identified approximately 1,200 fossil- and nuclear-fueled steam electric power plants that are potentially within scope of the data collection objectives of the questionnaire. To reduce burden on the industry, EPA intends to distribute the questionnaire to a statistically-sampled subset of these facilities. After addressing comments provided during the first FRN publication comment period, which ended on December 28, 2009, EPA estimates that approximately 734 fossil- or nuclear-fueled steam electric plants will be required to complete Parts A and I of the questionnaire. This is a decrease in the number of respondents, from 760 to 734. The questionnaire consists of multiple sections which have been tailored to address specific processes, specific data needs, or types of power plants. Parts A and I of the questionnaire will be sent to all questionnaire recipients (734 plants); the remaining sections will be sent to discrete subpopulations of questionnaire recipients. Overall, EPA estimates a reduction of 11,640 hours in respondent burden as a result of the revisions of the questionnaire.
The questionnaire will collect general plant information and selected technical information about the plant processes and the electric generating units. The information that will be collected includes economic data and technical information about flue gas desulfurization (FGD) wastewater, ash handling, process equipment cleaning operations, wastewater treatment, surface impoundment and landfill operations, and nuclear operations. The questionnaire will also require certain power plants to collect and analyze samples of leachate from surface impoundments and landfills containing coal combustion residues. More details about information requested in each section of the questionnaire are provided in the ICR supporting statement.
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.
ICR-memo-to-OMB _steam electric_ _17 May 2010_.pdf
2368ss01.doc
Private Sector