The Environmental Protection Agency
and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration are
promulgating final light duty vehicle greenhouse gas emissions
standards and Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards rules
designed to decrease emissions of greenhouse gases. This ICR deals
with EPA's portion of the rule, which impacts the Emissions
(certification) and IUVP information collections. Only
approximately 33 of the 53 respondents covered by the Emissions IC
are affected by the rule; small business entities are excluded.
Small businesses are already excluded from the IUVP IC. None of the
other ICs are affected. The annual cost to the government is
startup costs and operations for information technology; other work
is anticipated to be done by existing staff.
The rule has three major
information collection cost components. First, there are new CO2
emissions standards and new compliance standards for nitrous oxide
(N2O) and methane (CH4) emissions. The CO2 and CH4 standards will
require no new testing or equipment, only the reporting of data
available from the existing required EPA city and highway tests in
a new format, whereas the N2O standard may require the addition of
new analyzer equipment for some manufacturers. Second, the
manufacturer's in-use vehicle program (IUVP) will add a highway
test to the current city (FTP) test requirements, so that the
information will be available to test in-use compliance with the
new standards. This proposal will also require that the selected
vehicles be tested for compliance with the N2O standard, entailing
possible associated capital costs to install N2O analyzers. Third,
there will be new reporting and recordkeeping burdens. The largest
of these will be startup costs for reprogramming computer systems
to report the new information EPA requires in the necessary
formats; this having been accomplished, reporting will be done
within the existing Verify information system and the incremental
burdens on respondents are expected to be minor. New reporting
elements include a GHG compliance plan, analogous to the pre-model
year report already supplied to NHTSA; and averaging, banking and
trading accounting, analogous to ABT in the current Tier 2 program,
but with some unique, optional credit provisions. The changes in
burden from the draft ICR are very largely due to an increase in
the possible startup capital costs associated with upgrading
industry information systems to conform to the new testing and
reporting requirements. Hours and costs associated with applying
for and calculating some of the GHG credits have also been adjusted
upward slightly.
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.
2387ss01.doc
Motor Vehicle Emission and Fuel Economy Compliance: Light Duty Vehicles and Light Duty Trucks Emissions