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2008 Coalbed Methane Industry Screener

INSTRUCTION GUIDE

Instructions for Completing the Screener

Please read all instructions.

Contents: 

• Part I – EPA’s Purpose for Collecting the Data

• Part II – Duty to Respond Within 30 Days

• Part III – Filing for An Extension 

• Part IV – Claiming Business Information to be Confidential

• Part V – Contacting Us

• Part VI – Returning the Screener
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Part I – EPA’s Purpose for Collecting the Data

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is conducting this screener as part of its annual 

review of existing effluent guidelines, which is required by the Clean Water Act (CWA) sections 

301(d) and 304(b). As part of this review, EPA is collecting information about coalbed methane 

(CBM) extraction operations as part of its effort to determine whether to initiate a rulemaking to 

potentially revise the effluent guidelines for the Oil and Gas Extraction Point Source Category (40 

CFR Part 435) to include limits for pollutants discharged in CBM produced water. The screener 

collects only information that EPA needs to select a representative sample of the industry for the 

detailed questionnaire. Some establishments will receive more than one survey. These 

establishments, according to our records, operate in more than one basin and/or state. These 

establishments are required to fill out a survey for each of the basins and/or states. 

To ensure that the detailed questionnaire sample: 

• Contains only CBM operations, the screener verifies that the establishment operates CBM 

wells. For the purpose of the screener, EPA is defining CBM wells to be wells that produced 

or will be producing at least some of their gas from coal bearing strata. They include wells 

that commingle CBM with conventional gas, wells that produce water for the purpose of 

dewatering prior to production, wells that are temporarily shut in, or otherwise awaiting 

production. 

• Includes small businesses, the screener asks whether the parent company is “small” 

according to the Small Business Administration.

• Is contacted when most projects will have complete financial data for 2008, the screener 

asks for the date when either the audited or unaudited data will be available. 

• Identifies basins and specific projects using names familiar to the operator, the screener 

requests the operator’s name or identifier for the basin and project. 

• Includes projects of various sizes, the screener asks for total gas production, number of 

wells, and whether the project was owned by the same establishment for the entire year. 

• Includes projects that discharge into rivers and streams, the screener requests information 

about produced water discharge practices. 

Part II – Duty to Respond Within 30 Days

EPA is conducting this data collection under the authority of Section 308 of the CWA (Federal 

Water Pollution Control Act, 33 U.S.C. Section 1318). You must respond to this questionnaire 

within 30 days of receiving it. Failure to respond, late filing, or failure to comply with the 

instructions may result in criminal fines, civil penalties, and other sanctions, as provided by law. 

The public reporting and recordkeeping burden for this collection of information is estimated to 

average 5 hours per response. Burden means the total time, effort, or financial resources expended 

by persons and the Federal Agency to generate, maintain, retain, or disclose or provide information. 

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 
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review the collection of information; and transmit or otherwise disclose 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. 

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-OW-2006-0771, which is available for public viewing at the Water Docket in the 

EPA Docket Center (EPA/DC), EPA West, Room B102, 1301 Constitution Ave., NW, Washington, 

DC 20004. 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 Water Docket is (202) 566-2426. An electronic 

version of the public docket is available through the federal data management system (FDMS) at 

http://www.regulations.gov. Use FDMS 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. 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 Officer for EPA. Please include the EPA Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OW-2006-0771 

and OMB control number (2040-0279) in any correspondence. 

Part III – Filing for an Extension

If you wish to request an extension, you must do so in writing within 14 days of receipt of this 

questionnaire. Written requests may be e-mailed to Mr. Carey Johnston at johnston.carey@epa.gov 

with “CBM Survey Extension Request” in the e-mail subject line, or may be mailed to:

United States Postal Service 1 or 2-Day Delivery (e.g., FedEx)

Mr. Carey Johnston Mr. Carey Johnston 

U.S. EPA, Office of Water U.S. EPA, Office of Water 

Mail Code: 4303T Room 6231G, EPA West 

1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. 1301 Constitution Avenue, NW 

Washington, DC 20460 Washington, DC 20004 

Extension requests will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. Submittal of an extension request to 

EPA does not alter the due date of your questionnaire unless and until EPA agrees to the extension 

and establishes a new date.

Part IV – Claiming Business Information to be Confidential

If no business confidentiality claim accompanies the information when it is received by EPA, 

EPA may make the information available to the public without further notice.

Regulations governing the confidentiality of business information are contained in the Code of 

Federal Regulations (CFR) at Title 40 Part 2, Subpart B. You may assert a business confidentiality 

claim covering part or all of the information you submit, other than effluent data and information or 

data that is otherwise publicly available, as described in 40 CFR 2.203(b): 
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“(b) Method and time of asserting business confidentiality claim. A business which is submitting information 

to EPA may assert a business confidentiality claim covering the information by placing on (or attaching to) the 

information, at the time it is submitted to EPA, a cover sheet, stamped or typed legend, or other suitable form 

of notice complying language such as ‘trade secret,’ ‘proprietary,’ or ‘company confidential.’ Allegedly 

confidential portions of otherwise non-confidential documents should be clearly identified by the business, and 

may be submitted separately to facilitate identification and handling by EPA. If the business desires 

confidential treatment only until a certain date or until the occurrence of a certain event, the notice should so 

state.”

You may claim as confidential all information included in the response to a question by stating so in 

the Remarks section of the Screener. Note that you may be required to justify any claim of 

confidentiality at a later time. Note also that facility effluent data are not eligible for confidential 

treatment, pursuant to Section 308(b) of the CWA, and thus will be treated as non-confidential even 

if identified as CBI in the Remarks section. In addition, information that is publicly-available 

should not be claimed confidential

EPA Contract No.

. Note also that information claimed confidential cannot be 

accessed, verified, or used by the industry to evaluate data and analyses supporting the results of the 

CBM study.

Information covered by a claim of confidentiality will be disclosed by EPA only to the extent of, 

and by means of, the procedures set forth in 40 CFR Part 2, Subpart B. In general, submitted 

information protected by a business confidentiality claim may be disclosed to other employees, 

officers, or authorized representatives of the United States concerned with implementing the CWA. 

Exemption 4 of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) protects from disclosure "trade secrets and 

commercial or financial information obtained from a person and privileged or confidential." See 5 

U.S.C. 552(b)(4). 

Information covered by a claim of confidentiality will be made available to the following EPA 

contractors and subcontractors to enable them to perform the work required by their contracts with 

EPA.

Contractor Name(s)

68-C-02-095 Eastern Research Group, Inc.

EP-C-07-029 PG Environmental, LLC, Eastern Research Group, Inc.

EP-C-05-030 Battelle

GS-10F-0209P Advanced Resources International, Inc.

All EPA contracts provide that contractor employees use the information only for the purpose of 

performing the work required by their contracts and will not disclose any CBI to anyone other than 

EPA without prior written approval from each affected business or from EPA’s legal office. EPA 

has approved written procedures for each contractor on how they will gather, safeguard, and secure 

CBI. Any comments you may wish to make on this issue must be submitted in writing along with 

your completed survey. 
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Part V – Contacting Us

Frequently asked questions regarding the screener can be found on the EPA Website at 

http://www.epa.gov/guide/cbm/. 

If you would like an electronic version of the screener questionnaire, it is available on the EPA 

Website at http://www.epa.gov/guide/cbm/

Internet Electronic Mailing Address:

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EPA has contracted with two private firms, PG Environmental and ERG, to operate a telephone and 

electronic mail helpline to assist respondents with any questions or concerns about the screener. 

You will receive a reply within 1 business day of contacting the helpline: 

CBM Helpline: 1-800-764-4414 

cbmscreener@pgenv.com

Part VI – Returning the Screener

After you have completed the screener, please return it to:

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 

CBM Industry Screener 

c/o PG Environmental, LLC 

570 Herndon Parkway 

Suite 500 

Herndon, VA 20170