2213ss06

Supporting Statement

for

Information Collection Request

Control of Evaporative Emissions from New and In-Use

Portable Gasoline Containers (Renewal)

EPA ICR 2213.06

Compliance Division

Office of Transportation and Air Quality

Office of Air and Radiation

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

PART A OF THE SUPPORTING STATEMENT

1. Identification of the Information Collection

(a) Title and Number of Information Collection.

Control of Evaporative Emissions from New and In-Use Portable Gasoline Containers (Renewal), ICR 2213.06, OMB 2060-0597.

(b) Short Characterization.

Under regulations promulgated on February 26, 2007 (72 FR 8428; 40 CFR Part 59, Subpart F), manufacturers of new portable gasoline containers (also “portable fuel container” or “PFC”) from 0.25 to 10.0 gallons in capacity are required to obtain certificates of conformity with the Clean Air Act. The rule applies to containers manufactured on or after January 1, 2009 (manufacturers and importers were given until June 30, 2009 and wholesale distributors until December 31, 2009 to dispose of stock manufactured before January 1, 2009). Certificates are valid from the effective date until the end of the production period, to a maximum of five years. This ICR covers the burdens associated with the applications for certification and the required annual reports of successful warranty claims, based on experience during the prior three years of the program. The applications are processed by the Compliance Division (CD), Office of Transportation and Air Quality, EPA. In essence, an application is in support of an emission limitation of 0.3 grams per gallon per day of hydrocarbons for the mandated five-year useful life of the container. Applicants submit test results conducted in accordance with the regulations, maintenance instructions and warranty information given to the purchasers, copies of the labels, and other information listed in section 4(b). Applications are submitted in no fixed format, although EPA did work with industry informally on application questions and provided non-confidential versions of acceptable received applications (“FOIA applications”) as examples to other potential applicants. Applications are submitted electronically to the EPA’s engine and vehicle compliance information system (EV-CIS).

The previous ICR authorization was based on an estimated eight respondents for 250 hours and $32,419.45 in costs, including $20,452 in annualized capital and O&M costs per year.

The burdens in this ICR are based on experience administering the program from January 1, 2016, through December 2018. Currently, there are 14 active EPA certificates of conformity issued to eight different companies. All certificates were issued for five years. Annual warranty reports are due July 1 for the previous calendar year. The portable fuel container (PFC) companies have not experienced any emission-related warranty claims, so no warranty reports have been received to date. However, every manufacturer must provide warranty reports to the EPA and those reporting estimates are provided later in this supporting statement. The current request estimates eight respondents for 249.65 hours and $27,902 in costs, including $14,010 for capital and O&M costs, including the costs of conducting tests, annually.

2. Need for and Use of the Collection

(a) Need/Authority for the Collection.

Statutory authority for the PFC controls is found in Sections 183(e) and 111 of the Clean Air Act, 42 U.S.C. sections 7511b(e) and 7414. The EPA is required under Section 183(e) of the Clean Air Act (Act) to regulate Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) emissions from the use of consumer and commercial products. Pursuant to Section 183(e)(3), the EPA published a list of consumer and commercial products and a schedule for their regulation on March 23, 1995 (60 FR 15264). Consumer products were included in Group I of the list, and standards were promulgated on September 11, 1998. In the Administrator's judgment, VOC emissions from the use of consumer products contribute to ground-level ozone formation in ozone non-attainment areas. PFCs are a consumer product which has been shown to be deficient in preventing VOCs in the form of fuel vapors from being emitted into the air. The certification program for PFCs was promulgated in 2007 (72 FR 8533; February 26, 2007). The regulations appear in 40 CFR Part 59, Subpart F (40 CFR §§ 59.600 - 59.699).

The information in a manufacturer’s application for certification is needed to ensure that the VOC emission standard will be met during the useful life of the container and that certified containers comply with the labeling, warranty, and other requirements of the regulations. Manufacturers may aggregate containers of like design into one emission family. This saves the manufacturer the expense of testing models of similar but not identical design. The regulations also allow subsequent recertification when a certificate has expired (“carry over”), where design and emissions characteristics are virtually unchanged.

The record keeping requirements are likewise in support of a demonstration that the emissions family certified will meet the emissions standard in the regulation. The records specified are to be provided to EPA upon request.

The annual warranty reports are needed to assure that the containers survive normal use and provide EPA important information on the success of its certification program, weaknesses therein, or examples or patterns of noncompliance. Containers showing excessive warranty claims could be candidates for in-use testing by EPA. Although EPA does not have the authority to recall PFCs, the warranty information along with possible in-use testing by EPA could be used as grounds to withhold subsequent certification or to enter into an enforcement action under the Clean Air Act.

(b) Practical Utility/Users of the Information.

Agency personnel will use the information collected to:

• Determine if a manufacturer’s PFCs meet the VOC emission standard when new;

• Issue a certificate of conformity to the manufacturer so that it can market the covered containers;

• Issue carry-over certificates of conformity from a previous production period instead of requiring the manufacturer to perform new tests, but only if the emission data from the previous production period remains the appropriate emission-data unit;

• Issue certificates of conformity to the manufacturer for containers that are substantially similar to the tested prototype and waive the testing process required for a new design (“carry across”);

• Determine whether the PFCs are meeting the VOC emission standard in-use; and

• Reject a manufacturer’s application if a PFC design is not meeting the VOC emission standard in use or take other appropriate action.

3. Non-duplication, Consultations, and Other Collection Criteria

(a) Non-duplication.

The information collected includes product and manufacturing specifications, testing documentation, and successful warranty claims. Similar information is collected by the State of California and approximately 13 other states that have adopted the California Portable Gasoline Container regulation¹. However, the California regulation is different from the federal program in the following areas such that the information is unsuitable for information collection required by the federal rule:

• The test fuel and the temperature cycles used in the federal program represent nationwide ambient temperatures and fuels, while those required in the California regulation reflect California fuels and ambient conditions.

• The federal rule requires the reporting of successful warranty claims concerning fuel containers sold as certified under the rule. While the California regulation also requires that the manufacturer issue warranties, it does not require them to report on the outcomes of successful claims against them.

2. Public Notice Required Prior to ICR Submission to OMB

An announcement soliciting public comment on this ICR was published in the Federal Register on April 24, 2019 (84 FR 17159). A copy of the draft ICR was placed in the docket. No comments were received.

(c) Consultations

For this renewal, EPA consulted the following individual(s):

Organization Name Phone Number

Scepter USA. Sergio Garza 918.544.2140   

No Spill, LLC Tom Cray 913-888-9200

Testing Services Group Brian Campbell 810-358-0565

These manufacturers and testing laboratories have been consulted in previous renewals for PFCs. For example, Testing Services Group has previously commented on contract costs for testing and application preparation that was particularly helpful.

(d) Effects of Less Frequent Collection.

Certificates of conformity are issued for the production period of the models covered in the emissions family, not to exceed five years. All certificates to date have been issued for five years. However, when a gasoline container design is a “carried over” or a new version of a container that is substantially similar to a current container (“carry across”), the amount of new information required is substantially reduced. Warranty reports are required by regulation to be submitted annually.

(e) General Guidelines.

This ICR adheres to the guidelines for federal data requesters, as provided at 5 CFR 1320.5(d)(2), with the exception that the regulation requires that records concerning the application for certification be maintained for five years (except for routine testing data for one year). The five-year requirement is consistent with the maximum production period and the consequent five-year duration of certificates. The retention is necessary to allow the agency to adequately monitor compliance. Information on successful warranty claims is required for each model by July 1 of the following year. There is no requirement to report unsuccessful claims against container warranties. There is no requirement by EPA for the manufacturers to retain that information beyond the extent necessary to report it annually.

(f) Confidentiality.

Any information submitted to EPA for which a claim of confidentiality is made will be safeguarded according to EPA regulations at 40 CFR 2.201 Part 2, as stated explicitly in the regulations (40 CFR §59.695). This section sets forth how to make confidentiality claims and how documents raising confidentiality issues will be handled by the EPA.

7. Sensitive Questions.

This collection does not involve matters of a sensitive nature.

4. The Respondents and the Information Requested

(a) Respondents/SIC and NAICS Codes.

Respondents to this information collection are manufacturers of PFCs. They fall within standard industrial classification (SIC) 3411 and within the North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS) code of 332431 (metal can manufacturing) or SIC 3089, NAICS 326199 (all other plastic product manufacturing).

(b) Information Requested.

(i) Data items.

The required data items are specifically enumerated in the regulations (40 CFR §59.623):

(a) Describe the emission family's specifications and other basic parameters of the emission controls. List each distinguishable configuration in the emission family. Include descriptions and part numbers for all detachable components such as spouts and caps.

(b) Describe and explain the method of emission control.

(c) Describe the products you selected for testing and the reasons for selecting them.

(d) Describe the test equipment and procedures that you used, including any special or alternate test procedures you used (see §59.650).

(e) List the specifications of the test fuel to show that it falls within the required ranges specified in §59.650.

(f) Include the maintenance and use instructions and warranty information you will give to the ultimate purchaser of each new PFC (see §59.613).

(g) Describe your emission control information label (see §59.615).

(h) State that your product was tested as described in the application (including the test procedures, test parameters, and test fuels) to show you meet the requirements of this subpart.

(i) Present emission data to show your products meet the applicable emission standards. Where applicable, §§59.626 and 59.627 may allow you to submit an application in certain cases without new emission data.

(j) Report all test results, including those from invalid tests or from any other tests, whether or not they were conducted according to the test procedures of §§59.650 through 59.653. We may ask you to send other information to confirm that your tests were valid under the requirements of this subpart.

(k) Unconditionally certify that all the products in the emission family comply with the requirements of this subpart, other referenced parts of the CFR, and the Clean Air Act.

(l) Include estimates of U.S.-directed production volumes.

(m) Include the information required by other sections of this subpart.

(n) Include other relevant information, including any additional information requested by EPA.

(o) Name an agent for service located in the United States. Service on this agent constitutes service on you or any of your officers or employees for any action by EPA or otherwise by the United States related to the requirements of this subpart.

An additional reporting requirement is listed in 40 CFR §59.628(e):

Send us an annual warranty report summarizing successful warranty claims by emission family under §59.612, including the reason for the claim. You must submit the report by July 1 for the preceding calendar year.

There is also a one-to-one correspondence between the recordkeeping requirements and the requirements listed in the regulations (40 CFR §59.628):

(a) Organize and maintain the following records:

(1) A copy of all applications and any other information you send us.

(2) Any of the information we specify in §59.623 that you were not required to include in your application.

(3) A detailed history of each emission-data unit. For each emission-data unit, include all of the following:

(i) The emission-data unit's construction, including its origin and buildup, steps you took to ensure that it represents production containers, any components you built specially for it, and all the components you include in your application for certification.

(ii) All your emission tests, including documentation on routine and standard tests, as specified in §§59.650 through 59.653, and the date and purpose of each test.

(iii) All tests to diagnose emission-control performance, giving the date and time of each and the reasons for the test.

(iv) Any other relevant events or information.

(4) Production figures for each emission family divided by assembly plant.

(5) If you identify your PFCs by lot number or other identification numbers, keep a record of these numbers for all the containers you produce under each certificate of conformity.

(b) Keep data from routine emission tests (such as test cell temperatures and relative humidity readings) for one year after we issue the associated certificate of conformity. Keep all other information specified in paragraph (a) of this section for five years after we issue your certificate.

(c) Store these records in any format and on any media, as long as you can promptly send us organized, written records in English if we ask for them. You must keep these records readily available. We may review them at any time.

(d) Send us copies of any maintenance instructions or explanations if we ask for them.

5. Send us an annual warranty report summarizing successful warranty claims by emission family under §59.612, including the reason for the claim. You must submit the report by July 1 for the preceding calendar year.

(ii) Respondent Activities.

The applications are in no set format but generally follow the enumerated application requirements specified in §59.623 (see 4(b)(i) above). The respondent will have to document gasoline container specifications in detail, such as physical size, shapes, materials, quality of component fit, and production methods, in submitting its application(s) for certification. The respondent will also perform tests and keep records on them. The respondent must collect and keep information on successful warranty claims for annual reporting. The respondent must also retain records on the units produced, apply serial numbers to individual containers, and track the serial numbers to their certificates of conformity. Many of these activities are performed in the production of any modern consumer product, but clearly some of the information is uniquely required by the gasoline container regulation.

5. The Information Collected--Agency Activities, Collection Methodology, and Information Management.

(a) Agency Activities.

During the renewal period the most significant portion of EPA’s activity for the PFC regulation will be spent reviewing new applications and renewal applications. Other activities include processing exemptions, exceptions and answering questions concerning details of the testing and certification requirements, including researching the answers and communicating by email and telephone. Submissions to change or modify the application for certification after EPA approval of the application (sometimes called a “running change”) must also be reviewed for possible impacts and manufacturers’ evaluations thereof. A part of this process involves determining if “carry over” or “carry across” of data from a previous model year or addition of a new container model to an existing emissions family is appropriate or if instead new testing will be required. EPA has the right to select a number of containers for testing to confirm that the containers are indeed meeting the emissions standard, but no confirmatory testing burden is anticipated in this estimate. EPA will also be reviewing the annual submissions of successful warranty claims and processing exemption requests.

(b) Collection Methodology and Management.

Applicants submit their applications for certification in the document module of EPA’s EV-CIS. All system users go through an initial registration process that includes submission of basic information and assignment of a manufacturer code. Warranty reports must also be submitted through the EV-CIS document module, with no set format.

(c) Small Entity Flexibility.

There are several provisions available for small and larger entity flexibility in the regulations. Hardship deadline extensions for compliance with the standard are available where, due to circumstances neither foreseeable nor preventable, compliance would jeopardize the solvency of the company. Exemptions are for up to one year and are renewable. There are also exemptions for containers intended only for export, used for the sole purpose of testing, competition, or for national security. As with other certification programs, small (as well as larger manufacturers) have the ability to carry over emission data from a previous production year. They may also request to use alternative testing methods or emissions data already collected using other procedures. The PFC program currently collects no certification fees.

(d) Collection Schedule.

The PFC regulation applies to all gasoline containers as defined in the regulations manufactured on or after January 1, 2009. Information collections are on a production period basis, five years in all cases so far. Warranty reports are on a calendar year basis, with reports due July 1 for the previous calendar year.

6. Estimating the Burden and Cost of the Collection

These estimates represent the average annual burden that will be incurred by the affected industry during the three-year period beginning on September 30, 2019, with a margin for error.

(a) Estimating Respondent Burden.

The previous ICR, 2213.05, estimated 250.4 hours and $11,967.55 in labor hours and labor costs and $20,400 in startup capital and O&M costs, for a total of $32,419.45 per year for eight estimated respondents, assuming a total of two and a half applications per year.

This ICR estimates 249.65 labor hours from eight manufacturers. This figure primarily reflects the following adjustments: we conservatively ask for authorization to cover roughly three applications per year, and because warranty violations have not been reported so far, the labor associated with annual warranty reports is decreased. In addition, new manufacturers have entered the PFC industry and some existing manufacturers left the PFC industry, so we assume eight manufacturers will remain in the industry.

This ICR does not include the costs of developing products that comply with the Clean Air Act, only the burdens of making the showing to EPA that they comply. SGS S.A. (formerly Société Générale de Surveillance) (SGS hereafter), formerly Technical Services Group LLC (TSG), which does nearly all the contract work, states that it charges under $2,000 for application preparation and submission and under $5,000 for testing work. Because the facility does a wide variety of testing, including for these clients, it is difficult to allocate these contracted costs among labor, capital, and O&M, so we may refer to these costs as non-labor costs to the manufacturer and allocate a set amount for application O&M costs to cover contract testing. Currently, TSG has been acquired by SGS and the practice of certifying and testing for a manufacturer is not used to the same degree as previously performed. Through our contacts with manufacturers we are confident we have allocated the appropriate time for manufacturer labor in developing the PFC certification application, supplying reporting and record-keeping compliance information to the EPA, as well as allocating appropriately costs for contract lab testing. Certification and compliance testing are generally determined as a combined contract cost and are recorded in our worksheet as Application O&M costs for all contract testing performed for manufacturers.

This ICR uses $7,500 per application cost for new applications, allocated approximately one third to labor and two thirds to the contractor’s remaining O&M costs, following the Regulatory Impact Analysis and the prior ICR. Carry-over applications only require labor costs, with no testing (O&M) costs.

2. Estimating Respondent Costs.

(i) Estimating Labor Costs

Rates for managers, mechanical engineer technicians, and administrative staff are from the May 2018 National Industry-Specific Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates http:// http:// http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/naics4_326100.htm#11-0000 and http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/naics4_332400.htm#00-0000). With an overhead multiplier of 1.31, these are $86.56 for management, $52.37 for engineering and technical assistance, and $25.85 for administrative assistance. Applying these figures to the application, warranty, and record keeping labor totals above, the total labor cost is $9,130.

(ii) Estimating Capital and Operations and Maintenance Costs

We assume $5,000 in O&M costs for testing, for 2.8 new applications per year, for a total O&M cost of $14,000 per year for the industry. We estimate only one new market entrant over the next five-year certification period, resulting an average annual capital costs of $10.

(c) Estimating Agency Burden and Cost.

The program is now in place and the considerable startup efforts are in the past. One hour per application by a GS 13, Step 10, EPA employee is estimated for review of the PFC certifications. There are no secretarial or database management costs, as these are too small to differentiate from the much larger EV-CIS baseline as part of the motor vehicle certification information collection. The EPA employee cost is $86.96 per certification review. The EPA labor estimate is based on Office of Personnel Management SALARY TABLE 2017-base (https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/pay-leave/salaries-wages/salary-tables/pdf/2015/GS.pdf ). For 2.8 applications per year, the estimated annual Agency burden is $243.49. We anticipate nominal effort in eliciting and reviewing warranty action reports, which to date have included only notice of no warranty actions. We therefor estimate at an average of one hour for each of a maximum of eight manufacturer reports per year for a total of $695.68. The Agency total is therefore 10.8 hours and $939.17.

4. Estimating the Respondent Universe and Total Burden and Costs

The following assumptions were used to estimate the respondent universe and total burden and costs for industry to comply with the various requirements of the rule.

• We estimate eight manufactures of gasoline containers for the domestic market. This manufacturer estimation is consistent with the prior ICR renewal. There are currently nine manufacturers that have valid certificates, but one manufacturer appears to be leaving the industry.

• We conservatively anticipate 14 applications in the next five years, or about 2.5 applications a year.

• We expect the majority of the applications we receive over the next five years to require PFC testing.

• Manufactures will continue to contract for testing services and most certificate application preparation.

(e) Bottom Line Burden Hours and Cost Tables

(i) Respondent Tally

RESPONDENTS	8
BURDEN HOURS	250
LABOR COST	$13,892
OPERATING COST	$14,000
CAPITALIZED COST	$10
TOTAL COST	$27,902

(ii) Agency Tally

EMPLOYEES	1
STARTUP	$0
LABOR HOURS	10.8
LABOR COST	$ 939.17

(f) Reasons for Change in Burden

The number of manufacturers remains at eight and we do not anticipate any net changes in that figure in the next three years. The decrease in anticipated costs is due to the removal of three emissions applications.

(g) Burden Statement

The annual public reporting and recordkeeping burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 26 hours per respondent. 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. 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.

To comment on the Agency's need for this information, the accuracy of the provided burden estimates, and any suggested methods for minimizing respondent burden, including the use of automated collection techniques, EPA has established a public docket for this ICR under Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2013-0118, which is available for online viewing at www.regulations.gov, or in person viewing at the Air and Radiation Docket and Information Center Docket in the EPA Docket Center (EPA/DC), EPA West, Room 3334, 1301 Constitution Avenue, 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 (202) 566-1744, and the telephone number for the Air and Radiation Docket and Information Center is (202) 566-1742. An electronic version of the public docket is available at www.regulations.gov . Use this site 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. Also, you can send comments to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget, 725 17th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20503, Attention: Desk Office for EPA. Please include the EPA Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2013-0118 and OMB Control Number 2060-0597 in any correspondence.

A
ppendix A – Detailed Burden Calculation Table

1 “Certification Procedure for Portable Fuel Containers and Spill-Proof Spouts”, California Air Resources Board July 22, 2005