1625-0030
Supporting Statement
for
Oil and Hazardous Materials Transfer Procedures
OMB No.: 1625-0030
COLLECTION INSTRUMENTS: Instructions
A. Justification
1) Circumstances that make the collection of information necessary.
The Port and Tanker Safety Act1 authorizes the Coast Guard to develop regulations for equipment, methods, and procedures to prevent discharges of oil and hazardous materials from vessels, onshore facilities, and offshore facilities into the navigable waters of the United States. Consequently, the Coast Guard published oil pollution prevention requirements in 33 CFR Parts 154-156. This collection of information addressed the requirements for vessels in 33 CFR 155.720-820.
The statutory authority is 46 U.S. Code 70034.
2) Purpose of the information collection.
Vessel personnel are required to follow the vessel’s transfer procedures each time an oil or a hazardous material is transferred to or from the vessel or from tank to tank within the vessel. The purpose is to ensure that proper procedures are followed and to prevent the discharge of oil or hazardous material.
3) Consideration of the use of improved information technology.
The information required is particular and unique to each vessel. Due in part to the harsh and hazardous working environment, the regulations require that the transfer procedures be (1) legibly printed, and (2) permanently posted or available at a place where the procedures can be easily seen and used by all members of the crew when engaged in transfer operations.2 Thus, this collection is not amenable to the use of improved information technology.
Regarding Usability Testing, this ICR—
Public-facing instructions were tested by the staff of the CG Office of Standards Evaluation and Development (CG-REG) to ensure the use of plain language. Usability testing participants reported that they had no difficulty understanding the instructions. As a result, the USCG did not make any changes to the collection.
Is not related to a public benefit program as detailed in OMB M-22-10 (titled “Improving Access to Public Benefits Programs Through the Paperwork Reduction Act” dated April 13, 202).
Does not require the use of a form.
Is strictly a recordkeeping requirement.
Is required by international treaty, statute, and/or regulation as noted in section 1 of the Supporting Statement.
4) Efforts to identify duplication.
There are no State or local regulations relating to this issue. No similar information collection is conducted by other Federal agencies. Similar information does not exist.
5) Methods used to minimize the burden to small businesses if involved.
Owing to the nature of the industry, recordkeeping requirements for small entities are generally proportionately less. This can be attributed to smaller vessels, simpler transfer systems, and smaller numbers of people involved. The procedures are in a narrative form and no particular format is specified.
6) Consequences to the Federal program if collection were conducted less frequently.
If this information were not recorded, vessel personnel would be unfamiliar with the vessel’s transfer systems procedures, which might result in the accidental discharge of oil or hazardous materials, fire, or explosion. This information is a one-time requirement and revised whenever the vessels’ transfer system is modified. If the information were recorded less frequently, the procedures would become outdated and a hazard to all concerned parties.
7) Special collection circumstances.
This information collection is conducted in manner consistent with the guidelines in 5 CFR 1320.5(d)(2).
8) Consultation.
A 60-day Notice was published in the Federal Register to obtain public comment on this collection (See [USCG-2024-0288]; August 29, 2024, 89 FR 70197) and 30-Day Notice (November 18, 2024, 89 FR 90712) were published in the Federal Register to obtain public comment on this collection. The Coast Guard has not received any comments on this information collection.
9) Provide any payment or gift to respondents.
There is no offer of monetary or material value for this information collection.
10) Describe any assurance of confidentiality provided to respondents.
There
are no assurances of confidentiality provided to the respondents for
this information collection. This information collection request is
covered by the Marine Information for Safety and Law Enforcement
(MISLE) Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA). The link to the MISLE PIA is
provided below:
11) Additional justification for any questions of a sensitive nature.
There are no questions of sensitive language.
12) Estimates of annual hour and cost burdens to respondents.
The estimated number of annual respondents is 297.
The estimated number of annual responses is 297.
The estimated hour burden is 149 hours.
The estimated cost burden is $10,579.
The burden to respondents is provided in Appendix A. We estimate that it takes a Crewmember (Senior)(Vessel) about 30 minutes (0.5 hours) to prepare/revise a vessel’s transfer procedures. For the wage rate, we used the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) wage rate for Captains, Mates and Pilots of Water Vessels (53-5021) [May 2023, mean hourly wage, loaded 50%, and rounded]3
The frequency of response is not on a set schedule but happens whenever necessary. The Coast Guard estimates that five percent of the population annually prepares/revises these plans.
13) Estimate of annualized capital and start-up costs.
There are no capital, start-up or maintenance costs associated with this information collection.
14) Estimate of annualized Federal Government costs.
The estimated annual Federal Government cost is $8,004 (see Appendix B). Coast Guard enlisted personnel typically review transfer procedures during transfer monitor boardings. We estimate that a Petty Officer (E-5) will take about 0.15 hours (9 minutes) for each review. The wage rate shown is in accordance with the current edition of COMDTINST 7310.1(series) for “In-Government” personnel.
15) Explain the reasons for the change in burden.
The change in burden is an ADJUSTMENT due to a change (i.e., decrease) in the estimated annual number of responses. There is no proposed change to the recordkeeping requirements of this collection. The recordkeeping requirements, and methodology for calculating burden, remain unchanged.
16) Plans for tabulation, statistical analysis, and publication.
This information collection will not be published for statistical purposes.
17) Approval for not explaining the expiration date for OMB approval.
The Coast Guard will display the expiration date for OMB approval of this information collection.
18) Exception to the certification statement.
The Coast Guard does not request an exception to the certification of this information collection.
B. Collection of Information Employing Statistical Methods
This information collection does not employ statistical methods.
1 Prior to the 2018 recodification, found in 33 U.S. Code 1221 et seq.
2 See 33 CFR 155.740.
| File Type | application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document |
| File Title | Supporting Statement |
| Author | USCG |
| File Modified | 0000-00-00 |
| File Created | 2024-12-05 |