## Information Collection Request

Supporting Statement

for Information Collection Request

for the National Listing of Fish Advisories

Renewal ICR

January 11 , 2011

EPA ICR Number 1959.04

O MB Control No. 2040

- 0226 (Non

- Regulatory)

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Office of Water Office of Science and Technology

1200 Pennsylvania Ave nue , NW Washington, DC 20460Information Collection Request

i TABLE OF CONTENTS

Section Page

1. Identification of the Information Collection

................................ ................................ ............. 1 1(a) Title of the Information Collection

................................ ................................ ................. 1 1(b) Short Characterization/Abstract

................................ ................................ ...................... 1

2. Need for and Use of the Col lection

................................ ................................ ........................... 4 2(a) Need/Authority for the Collection

................................ ................................ .................. 4 2(b) Practical Utility/Users of the Data

................................ ................................ .................. 4

3. Non

- duplication, Consultations, and Other Collection Criteria

................................ ................ 5 3(a) Non

- duplication

................................ ................................ ................................ .............. 5 3(b) Public Notice Required Prior to ICR Submission to OMB

................................ ............ 6 3(c) Consultations

................................ ................................ ................................ ................... 6 (i) Initial Fe deral Register Notice

................................ ................................ ............ 6 (ii) Questionnaire Preparation and Consultation

................................ ...................... 6 3(d) Effects of Less Frequent Collection

................................ ................................ ................ 6 3(e) General Guidelines

................................ ................................ ................................ .......... 7 3(f) Confidentiality

................................ ................................ ................................ ................ 7 3(g) Sensitive Questions

................................ ................................ ................................ ......... 7

4. The Respondents and the Information Requested

................................ ................................ .... 7 4(a) Respondents/SIC Codes

................................ ................................ ................................ .. 7 4(b) Information Requested

................................ ................................ ................................ .... 7 (i) Data items, including record keeping

................................ ................................ . 7 (ii) Respondent Activities

................................ ................................ ......................... 8

5. Th e Information Collected

– Agency Activities, Collection Methodology, and Information Management

................................ ................................ ................................ .............................. 9 5(a) Agency Activities

................................ ................................ ................................ ............ 9 5(b) Collection Methodology and Management

................................ ................................ ..... 9 5(c) Small Entity Flexibility

................................ ................................ ................................ . 10 5(d) Collection Schedule

................................ ................................ ................................ ...... 11

6. Estimating the Burden and the Cost of the Collection

................................ ............................ 11 6(a) Estimating Respondent Burden

................................ ................................ ..................... 11 6(b) Estimating Respondent Costs

................................ ................................ ....................... 13 (i) Estimating Labor Costs

................................ ................................ ..................... 14 (ii) Estimating Capital and Operations and Maintenance Costs

............................. 14 (iii) Capital/Start

- up vs. Operating and Maintenance Costs

................................ .... 14 (iv) Annualizing Capital Costs

................................ ................................ ................ 14 6(c) Estimating Agency Burden and Cost

................................ ................................ ............ 17 6(d) Estimating the Respondent Universe and Total Burden and Costs

.............................. 21 6(e) Bottom Line Burden Hours and Cost Tables

................................ ................................ 21 (i) Respondent Tally

................................ ................................ .............................. 21 (ii) The Agency Tally

................................ ................................ ............................. 21 (iii) Variations in the Annual Bottom Line

................................ .............................. 21 6(f) Reasons for Change in Burden

................................ ................................ ..................... 22 6(g) Burden Statement

................................ ................................ ................................ .......... 22Information Collection Request

ii Appendix A

– R elevant Sections of Statues, Regulations, or Judicial/Administrative Decrees Enabling the Collection of Information for the National Listing of Fish Advisories

........... A

- 1

Appendix B

– 200 8 Fish Advisory Fact Sheet

................................ ................................ ............ B

- 1

Appendix C

– Federal Register Notice for Original and Renewal ICR (2000, 2003 , 2007 )

..... C

- 1

Appendix D

– Survey Instrument for 20 10

– 20 12 NLFA Reporting Cycle s and the State Fish Advisory Program Questionnaire

................................ ................................ ......................... D

- 1Information Collection Request

1 

### 1. Identification of the Information Collection

1(a) Title of the Information Collection

Information Collection Request for the Na tional Listing of Fish Advisories

1(b) Short Characterization/Abstract

The National Listing of Fish Advisories is an integral component of several key environmental assessment activities. In February 1998, U.S. President Bill Clinton announced the Clean Water Action Plan to protect public health and restore the n ation’s waterways by providing states, T ribes, and communities with appropriate tools and resources

. Under the Clean Water Action Plan, the U.S. Environmental Protecti on Agency ( EPA ) implement ed a series of key actions to ensure effective public notice of fish and shellfish consumption risks and reduce

chemical contamination to levels that assure that locally caught fish and shellfish are safe to regularly eat

. This sur vey is one of the key actions under the Clean Water Action Plan. In April 1999, the A gency sent letters concerning fish consumption advisories to the heads of all state public health, environmental, and natural resource management agencies

, as well as to T ribes that operate the N ational W ater P rogram

. This letter emphasized the importance of a risk

- based fish advisory program to protect the health of women of child

- bearing age, children, and people who eat large amounts of locally caught fish for economic o r cultural reasons

.
A critical concern to EPA is w ater quality in our n ation’s waters

. The r elease of chemical contaminants from industrial production, increasing urbanization, and the introduction of new pesticides in agriculture pose potentially serious human health problems for the n ation’s

recreational waters

. These adverse effects have been one of EPA’s long

- standing concerns

. They are also directly related to such Clean Water Act (CWA) responsibilities as water quality standards and surface water qua lity, and to the Agency’s effort to ensure that U.S. waters are
“fishable” and “swimmable

. ” In addition, recent studies have confirmed that adverse health effects can result from consumption of fish from chemically contaminated waters

. Based on

results from the 200 8 National Listing of Fish A dvisories (NLFA) database, there are currently 4,249 advisories in effect in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, the U.S. Territor ies of

American Samoa and Guam , and five Native American T ribes , advising consume rs to limit or avoid consumption of certain species of chemically contaminated fish.

EPA believes there is a continuing need to maintain the overall quality and availability of public information concerning fish advisories, which includes, but is not limi ted to

, water quality standards, monitoring and assessment activities, and the issuance of advisories and bans

. Primary responsibility for these activities lies with each state; however, several state agencies often share responsibilities for these activit ies and the advisory results have not always been consistently reported

. In 1993, EPA began compiling information on fish advisories provided by the states in

its biannual 305(b) Water Quality Inventory Reports; however, EPA soon determined that some

state s did not report up

- to

- date information about fish advisories in their 305(b) reports. In many states, the water quality or environmental agencies were responsible for preparing the 305(b) report, while the state health department was generally primar ily r esponsib le for issuing the

advisories

. T o obtain the most updated information, EPA’s Office of Water began conducting a voluntary annual F ish A dvisory S urvey in 1994 as part of the data collection activities of the National Water Quality Inventory Reports ( CWA Sections 305[b], 303[d], 314[a], and 106[e]) (EPA ICR No. 1560.04; Office of Management and Budget [ OMB ] Control No. 2040

- 007) toInformation Collection Request

2 obtain the most up

- to

- date information on fish advisories

. The A gency began surveying the state health departments or other state agencies specifically responsible for the issuance of fish

advisories

. This information has been archived in EPA’s NLFA database since 1994

. In 2000, a new collection instrument was developed for the state F ish A dvisory P rogram S urvey because there were material changes in the proposed collection instrument that required the inclusion of additional questions i n the fish advisory program ’s areas of concern (State Fish Advisory Program Questionnaire)

, and the numbe r of respondents from which the information

was to be collected included additional T ribal groups that have issued advisories, T ribal groups with delegated power with respect to water quality standards, and T ribal groups with delegated power pending.

The changes to the 2004 to 2006 survey instrument were not substantive material changes from the previously approved 2000 survey instrument. The current instrument contains the same number of questions (98) as the 2000 and 2003 OMB

- approved survey instrume nt. The only changes made to the 2000 questionnaire for the 2004 to 2006 reporting cycles were as follows: minor grammatical changes or revised wording to clarify the question for the respondent and the

addition of checkable boxes to reflect additional cho ices where respondents previously were required to type in answers under an “Other (please specify)” category. The addition of new answer boxes was made after an analysis of the state responses from 2001 to 2003. New boxes were added only when five or more states provid ed the same response in the “Other (please specify)” category. The minor rewording of the 2004 to 2006 survey instrument included questions and answers changes. Minor changes to the questions were made in 2003 to provide

clarification of the question, and changes to the answer categories were made to add selections that could be easily checked by the respondents, thereby removing the need for respondents to key in lengthier answers.

The current NLFA survey questionnaire for the 20 10 to 20 12 cycle s collects quantitative advisory information on the number of new advisories issued by each state, territory, and T ribal organization annually using the same basic survey questionnaire that was developed in 2000 (with only minor rewording), including information on the

 Waterbody under advisory

, including the geographic location and extent of the advisory

 Fish or shellfish species (and size ranges) included in each advisory

 Chemical contaminant(s) identified in the advisory and the chemical residue leve ls

detected in various fish species sampled

 Waterbody type encompassed by advisory (e.g., lake, river, estuary, coastal waters)

 Target populations ( e.g., general population, pregnant women, nursing mothers, and young children) to w hich the advisory refers.

As in previous years, this information will be used to update the 2010, 2011, and 2012 NLFA narrative advisory information, compile and update the geographic information system (GIS) database for all advisories, and enhance and update the electronic fish tissue contaminant

residue datafile.

In addition, the State Fish Advisory Program Questionnaire part of the survey will request information on theInformation Collection Request

3  Differences in monitoring procedures used to collect fish and shellfish samples

 Types of advisories issued b y the state

 Sample preparation and chemical analysis procedures used to assess chemical

residues

 State fish advisory program funding sources

 Other uses of state fish advisory data

 Risk assessment methodologies used to evaluate chemical residue data and is sue fish consumption advisories and bans

 State efforts for targeting fish consumers (e.g., recreational and subsistence fishers)

 Risk management practices and authority for issuing fish advisories within the state

 Risk communication procedures used to com municate the human health risks associated with the consumption of chemically contaminated fish and shellfish species.

From this information, EPA can determine what steps to take, if any, to provide assistance to state, territorial, and T ribal fish advisor y programs to improve consistency in fish advisory programs among entities through the use of consistent sampling and analysis procedures and risk assessment, risk management, and risk communication procedures. Note: The current survey instrument proposed for use in the 2010 through 2012 reporting cycles is the same basic instrument that was developed for the previous 2004 to 2006 and 2007 to 2009 reporting cycle s

. EPA assembled the information collected under the previous Information Collection request ( I CR ) into an electronic database and graphic formats that can be readily analyzed and shared with responsible parties (e.g., EPA program and regional offices and other federal, state, territorial, and T ribal agencies), as well as with the general public

. Survey results are distributed in Fish Advisory Fact Sheets and are available on the Internet at EPA’s “National Listing of Fish

Advisor ies ” Web site at http://water.epa.gov/scitech/swguidance/fishshellfish/fishadvisories/advisories_index.cfm

. Information from these surveys has stimulated nationwide dialogue on fish consumption advisories involving agencies and the public; it is being used to identify and clarify issues that will lead to the continued development of national guidance for states on sampling and analysis, risk assessment procedures, risk management practices, and risk communication procedures that will further protect human health.

The nationwide collection of fish advisory information began in 1994 with a survey of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories (Guam, American Samoa, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands) and the Great Lakes Indian Fish & Wildlife Commission, involving a total of 56 potential respondents. In 2000, the fish advisory survey a dded 36 T ribal

agen cies during the first year and will continue to survey these same T ribal agencies

, as well as the original 56 respondents over the 3

- year period of this ICR ( 2011 to 2014 ); thus the EPA

estimates that up to 92 questionnaires will be sent out the first year and in the two succeeding

years

. The actual cost for a respondent to complete the questionnaire is anticipated to decrease each year because each person will be requested to provide only information that has changed during the preceding year

. When the sur vey is implemented, the total annual respondent costInformation Collection Request

4 under this ICR is estimated to be $ 125,697.09 ( 36.26 hours per year at an average labor rate of $ 37.52 per hour per respondent for 92 respondents ).



### 2. Need for and Use of the Collection

2(a) Need/Authority for the Collection

EPA needs this information to determine whether recreational and subsistence fishers are at additional risk of exposure to chemical contaminants through their consumption of locally caught fish and shellfish

. The survey will provide data on the types of contaminants that trigger the issuance of advisories, the monitoring designs the states used with respect to the numbers of samples collected and number of stations surveyed, the number of chemical contaminants being analyzed in fish tissue, the risk assessment methodology currently being used to evaluate the potential health risk to fish consumers, and how advisory information is being communicated to the target fish

- consuming population

. This survey is one of t he key actions under the Clean Water Action Plan

. In February 1998, the Clean Water Action Plan was initiated to protect public health and restore the n ation’s waters by providing states, territories, and T ribes with appropriate tools and resources

. Under the Clean Water Action Plan, EPA is implementing a series of key actions to ensure that recreational and subsistence caught fish are safe for human consumption

. The national survey is central to EPA’s efforts to assess and improve existing fish advisory pr ograms nationwide and to provide important public health information.

EPA is collecting this information under the authority of CWA 104, which provides for the collection of information to be used to protect human health and the environment. Copies of

the relevant section of the CWA are provided in Appendix A.

2(b) Practical Utility/Users of the Data

EPA uses information collected in the NLFA to address issues in three specific areas for state fish advisory programs

 Enhancing the public’s right

- to

- know abo ut the safety of fish and shellfish harvested from local waters by making this information available on a NLFA database

 Improving the scientific and policy foundation in support of state, territorial, T ribal,

and local actions

 Providing up

- to

- date sampling and analysis methods, risk assessment, risk management, and risk communication procedures for the states to use to better protect the health of recreational and subsistence fishers in a more timely and comprehensive

manner.

The information collected in th is survey will be used to update the existing NLFA database

. This information will be compiled to determine the status and nature of chemical contamination in the

n ation’s waters, the level of effort directed by jurisdictions to monitor and evaluate fish t issue residue data at their monitoring sites, and the location and geographic extent of the fish advisories and bans issued each year

. EPA will use the analysis to plan more effective research and policies to reduce risks to consumers of locally caught, ch emically contaminated fish.

The Office of Water use s and will continue to use the information, especially the state and national summary data, to examine the success of current advisory programs

. The Office ofInformation Collection Request

5 Water will share this information with other p rogram offices, such as the Office of Research and Development and the Office of Policy, Economics and Innovation , to evaluate scientific research needs and policy implications

. EPA Regions will use the information to address concerns regarding fish adviso ries and monitoring programs

. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other federal agencies will also be able to use this information

. The information compiled in this survey will permit state, T ribal, and local agencies, such as public health agencies, environmental protection agencies, and fish and wildlife departments, to easily review cumulative information on monitoring programs and fish advisories for the purpose of developing public information materials (e.g.

, state fish advisory Web sit es and/or fishing regulation brochures) and prioritizing resources to address water quality concerns directly related

to chemical contamination of fish.

Summary and individual state data will also be made available to non

- governmental organizations and to the public

. By accessing the data through the Internet, the public will be able to readily determine whether the waterbody they want to fish has been monitored to assess the level of chemical contamination in the fish and whether an advisory or ban has bee n issued

. This will provide the consumers with information that they can use to make informed decisions concerning the waterbodies they fish in and the amount and types of fish they consume.

The information to be collected from all respondents includes the name, address, and other contact information for the agency responsible for issuing the fish advisories and answering public or technical inquiries

. These references provide a means for obtaining current fish advisory information, as well as professional networking resources and referrals for improving water quality at our nation’s fishable waterbodies. A copy of the most recent fish advisory fact sheet distributed to the public via the Internet is provided in Appendix B.



### 3. Non

- duplication, Consultations , and Other Collection Criteria

3(a) Non

- duplication

The fish advisory program information requested from respondents under this renewal ICR has been collected in some form since 1994 and is not currently available from any other sources. The survey of fis h advisories has been performed since 1994 under previously approved ICRs for the 305(b) Water Quality Collection Effort (OMB Control No. 2040

- 007; EPA ICR No. 1560.03 and 1560.04); however, T ribal organizations had not been comprehensively targeted by

the se surveys

. EPA examined the information collected from each of the previous surveys and

determined that none of them addressed all of its needs to inventory the locations of the nation’s

waterbodies under advisories

, as well as to compile nationwide infor mation on state, territory,

and T ribal fish advisory programs.

In 2000, because the Office of Water wanted to obtain additional information on fish advisories from the 50 states, the District of Columbia, five U.S. territories, and additional T ribal

groups , a new ICR was submitted to OMB for approval to cover additional questions and respondents not covered by the 305(b) Water Quality Collection Effort. Since 2000, the survey of fish advisories has been performed under an approved ICR for the National Listi ng of

Advisories (OMB Control No. 2040

- 0 2 26; EPA ICR No. 1959.0 1

, expiring on 01/31/2004 ; EPA

ICR No. 1959.0 2 , expiring on 0 9/30 /200 7 ; EPA ICR No. 1959.03, expiring on 02/28/2011 )

. A copy of th ese Federal Register n otice s is provided in Appendix C.Information Collection Request

6 EPA developed a new questionnaire in 2000, which was reviewed by fish advisory

contacts from nine states

. To reduce respondent burden and eliminate duplication, EPA worked to design concise and comprehensive questions for the 2000 State Fish Advisory Progr am Questionnaire

. The 2003 questionnaire was modified only slightly fo r the survey effort to be

covered under th e ICR for 2004

– 2006

. The questionnaire has not been modified for the survey

effort to be covered under the current ICR for 2010

– 2012 reporting c ycles

. EPA anticipates no change in the survey’s ability to meet the needs of the federal government and other interested parties.

3(b) Public Notice Required Prior to ICR Submission to OMB

In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, EPA issued a public notice in

the Federal Register on October 25 , 20 11 (7 5 FR 65479), soliciting comments for a 60

- day period . EPA received no comments on this ICR in response t o the Federal Register notice.

3(c) Consultations

(i) Questionnaire Preparation and Consultation

To prepare the survey for the collection effort covered under this renewal ICR, EPA reviewed all questionnaires that had previously been used to collect information for the 2007

– 2009 NLFA data collection efforts

, as well as respondent comments from these surveys. The results were used to refine the questionnaire in order to encourage greater respondent participation, and improve data analysis and interpretation

. The final survey for the 2010

– 2012 cycle s is based on these reviews, consultation w ith the states and T ribes at the 2000, 2001, 2002

, 2004, 2005 , 2007, and 2009 bie nn i al EPA Fish Forums attended by state fish advisory contacts, recent internal EPA discussions with various program offices, and other considerations.

3(d) Effects of Less Frequent Collection

The survey will be sent to respondents once per year, in the early spring

. The information

is needed annual ly to provide up

- to

- date information on monitoring and fish advisories that occurred during the previous 12

- month (calendar year) fishing season. Pollution sources and other circumstances change regularly, so it is important to document the changes in fish

a dvisories as soon as possible after the states’ issue their yearly fishing regulations

, including advisories, typically during spring

. Jurisdictions that are responsible for fish monitoring generally collect fish each year during summer and fall

, and then send the fish tissue samples for analysis during fall and winter

. Risk assessments are conducted when residue analysis of the fish tissue samples have been completed

, typically in late winter.

Regular annual collections of this information over a period o f several years have shown

that the number of fish advisories continues to increase nationwide

. In addition, this information has helped to characterize the pollutants that triggered these advisories

. For example, as of 2008

, mercury was the chemical conta minant responsible for 80 percent of all advisories issued nationwide and five pollutants (mercury, dioxins/furans, polychlorinated biphenyls [ PCBs ]

, chlordane, and dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane [ DDT ] ) accounted for 9 7 percent of the

advisories issued. R egular annual collection of this information has also permitted the identification of advisory trends within various waterbodies so that trends can be identified and resources allocated to deal with the most pressing problems

. Less frequent or irregularly scheduled reporting of advisory information is not sufficient to obtain information for the purposes of this survey because longer periods between reports or unequal periods of reportingInformation Collection Request

7 would decrease the value of the information obtained

, and respondents might have more difficulty in completing the survey if past yearly records were archived

. In addition, regular annual collection of this information over several years will permit the evaluation of water quality standards compliance and pollution problems occurring in waterbodies under advisory, so that trends can be identified and resources allocated to deal with the problems of greatest

concern.

3(e) General Guidelines

This survey adheres to OMB’s general guidelines for information collection

. 3(f) Conf identiality

Information sought is maintained for public record by the state public health agency or other state agencies and no sensitive material is involved.

3(g) Sensitive Questions

No questions concerning sexual behavior or attitudes, religious beliefs , or other matters usually considered private are included in this information collection.



### 4

. The Respondents and the Information Requested

4(a) Respondents/SIC Codes

The following categories of respondents will be surveyed:

State (or other entity) h ealth d epartments

9431 Administration of p ublic h ealth programs (Administration of p ublic h ealth

p rograms , including the following : C ategorical health program administration

— government, communicable disease program administration

— government,
environmental health programs

— government, and public health agencies

— non

operating).

State (or other entity) EPAs

9511 Air and Water Resource and Solid Waste Management (Administration of Environmental Quality , including the following : W ater control and quality agencies

— government and environmental protection agencies

— government )

. 4(b) Information Requested

(i) Data items, including record keeping

(1) Specific Information on Each Advisory or Ban Within the Jurisdiction (records to be maintained by the jurisdiction for th e public record at least 2 years following completion of the survey each year that the questionnaire is conducted)

 Waterbody name, location, and narrative description of geographic extent of advisory

 Waterbody type (lake, river, estuary, coastal marine wat ers, Great Lakes waters,

multi

- class, bayou, canal)

 Chemical pollutant(s) detected in fish tissue samples that resulted in issuance of the advisoryInformation Collection Request

8  Date advisory was issued

 Species of fish and size ranges sampled for which the advisory was issued

 Type of advisory issued and population that is targeted (no consumption for the general population, no consumption for sensitive subpopulations

, such as pregnant or nursing women and children, restricted consumption for the general population,

restricted c onsumption for sensitive subpopulation, or commercial fishing ban)

 Tissue data that supports the advisory determination including contaminant, residue concentration, type(s) of sample (s) (e.g., fillet, whole, plug), and locational

coordinates for the data/ sample locations (e.g., station IDs, site names, locations, counties, lat itude /long itude ).

(2) General Information on State Fish Advisory Programs w ithin the Jurisdiction

 Name, address, phone number, fax number, and e

- mail address of respondent (State

fis h advisory contact)

 Agency or a gencies with overall responsibility for fish advisories or bans in the jurisdiction

 Establishment of risk assessment procedures for issuing advisories

 Monitoring and chemical analysis program implementation and costs

 Advisory program implementation and costs

 Agency responsibility for risk management and for issuing advisories or bans

 Public notification procedures for communicating information on advisories and bans.

(3) Mapping the Location of Each Fish Consumption Advisory o r Ban (latitude/longitude

coordinates for the advisory or hard copy of a marked map that show s the location and extent of

the advisory or electronic shapefile/coverage of advisory locations)

A copy of the proposed survey instrument for the 2010 through 2012 NLFA reporting cycles and the State Fish Advisory Progra m Questionnaire is included as Appendix D.

(ii) Respondent Activities

The following activities are required for a respondent to assemble and submit the above

mentioned data items:

 Review transmi ttal email with instructions on what data should be provided

 Gather advisory data to update the NLFA database (including waterbody name and geographic extent, fish species/size class, pollutant, and type of advisory), and fish

tissue residue data files

 Gather geographic data by creating shapefiles/GIS coverages, providing latitude/longitude coordinates, and/or by marking locations of current fish advisories

on electronic or hard copy maps

 Review instructions and questions in the State Fish Advisory Progr am Questionnaire (approximately 100 questions)

 Gather information needed to complete all questions on the surveyInformation Collection Request

9  Complete survey answers electronically by typing in information on an electronic questionnaire

 Return marked maps, shapefiles/GIS coverages sho wing advisory locations, or listing of latitude/longitude coordinates, and fish tissue residue data for new advisories by email or on diskette by mail to EPA.



### 5. The Information Collected

– Agency Activities, Collection Methodology,

and Information Management

5(a) Agency Activities

Agency activities associated with the collection of information by this survey consist of the following:

 Update current mailing list of all state, territory, and T ribal organizations, and develop survey tracking database t o track responses

 Develop the transmittal letter, the State Fish Advisory Progra m Questionnaire, instructions for completing updates to the NLFA database, procedures for providing mapping/locational information, and recommend ed fish tissue data format

 Mod ify/populate the existing NLFA database with new fish advisory information

 Load the electronic questionnaire into a data entry tool

 Record receipt of completed State Fish Advisory Program Q uestionnaires, advisory revisions, marked map(s) or shapefiles/GIS coverages or latitude/longitude files, and fish tissue residue data; submit reminders to nonrespondents via e

- mail and telephone

calls ; review State Fish Advisory Program Q uestionnaires for complet eness and correctness of responses ; review/verify advisory boundary markings on map(s) ; and review and reformat fish tissue residue data files as appropriate

 Enter appropriate geographic information on location of updated or new advisories into GIS database, and review/verify data entries

 Perform data analysis su mmaries of national and state advisory information

 Prepare an annual update of the Fish Advisory Fact Sheet and an annual update of the State Fish Advisory Program Summary Report of information obtained from the State Fish Advisory Progra m Questionnaire

 D istribute results of the advisory updates in the Fish Advisory Fact Sheet electronically on the Internet and in hard copy reports to up to 92 state and T ribal participants and other interested members of the general public (total of 200 copies)

 Archive the State Fish Advisory Questionnaire responses, fish advisory locational data (maps, shapefile/GIS coverages, or electronic latitude/longitude files), and fish tissue residue data for at least 2 years.

5(b) Collection Methodology and Management

To collect an d analyze the information associated with this ICR, EPA will primarily use an electronic questionnaire, paper maps, PC s, and applicable database and digitizing software.Information Collection Request

10 All potential state, territorial, or T ribal respondents in the mailing list database w ill receive email requests to provide new advisory information and complete the State Fish Advisory Program Questionnaire. The transmittal email s will explain the purpose of the NLFA update survey and the State Fish Advisory Program Q uestionnaire and provi de procedures to permit the respondents to complete the State Fish Advisory Program Questionnaire electronically

. Respondents will submit their fish advisory data electronically to EPA for incorporation into the NLFA database. However

, a t a minimum

, each respondent is requested to return the marked map or a shapefile/GIS coverage or latitude/longitude coordinates of advisory locations and tissue residue data supporting the issued advisories to EPA by email or on a diskette by mail

. E mail reminder s wi ll be sent to respondents who have not returned their advisory map(s)

, electronic shapefile/GIS coverage

, electronic file of tissue residue data, and updated fish advisory data ; or have not completed the electronic State Fish Advisory Program Questionnaire within 30 days.

EPA will ensure the accuracy and completeness of collected information by reviewing

each submission

. Fish advisory data will be submitted electronically to EPA for incorporation

into the NLFA and data will not be added to the existing data base until approved by EPA

. The State Fish Advisory Questionnaire will be available electronically to be completed by respondents. In the event that a state, territory

, or T ribal agency cannot access the questionnaire electronically , the survey will be com pleted manually

. Manual data entries will be double

checked to ensure the accuracy and completeness of data entry

. Data entries of survey answers made electronically by respondents will also be reviewed to ensure that all questions were completed

. Tissue r esidue data will be reviewed and reformatted into a Microsoft A ccess file as necessary to make it compatible in structure with other state fish tissue residue data in the NLFA tissue residue data repository.

Data analyses will be performed through queries and simple compilations of summary statistics (e.g., number of fish advisories reported ; number of advisories issued for a specific

chemical contaminant (e.g., mercury ); number of advisories issued for the general population as opposed to number of advisor ies issued to protect pregnant women, nursing mothers

, and

children ; or number of rivers, lakes, estuaries, or coastal marine waters under advisory)

. Maps received from respondents will be checked to determine whether instructions were followed and the map s marked so that the information can be entered into a GIS database

. Back

- up copies of the data will be made regularly during the survey and maintained in a separate location for at least 2 years.

Summary results of the annual surveys will be posted on EPA ’s NLFA Web page

. Individual state reports will be accessible by the public through querying EPA’s Web page

. Annual Fish Advisory Fact Sheets summarizing the most current information on fish advisories

will also be available on the same Web site.

5(c) Small Entity Flexibility

No alternatives have been found to be more cost effective than direct solicitation of the state health departments or other state, territorial, or T ribal entities responsible for issuing fish

advisories and that generate this infor mation as a matter of public information for distribution to

their residents

. No additional gathering of information is required by the state health departments or other entities responsible for each fis h advisory because advisories and records are their p ublic health responsibilities

. “Sm all Governmental Jurisdictions” (defined for the purpose of thisInformation Collection Request

11 information collection as a government or territories or T ribes having a population of less than 50,000) may be included in this survey.

The completion of th e survey (including the addition of updated advisory information, marking maps, providing fish tissue residue data, and completing the State Fish Advisory Program Q uestionnaire) is v oluntary

. Thus, smaller entities that cannot provide the staff and

resourc es to complete the survey are not required to do so

. Identification of such smaller entities that do not initially respond will permit the development of options to assist the smaller entities in completing the survey, such as permitting more time for resp onding, simplifying the response procedures, or providing contractor assistance in completing the survey

. The option of completing the fish advisory survey and State Fish Advisory Program Questionnaire electronically will be encouraged, which should provid e an easier and more effective means for transmitting and receiving the information, provided the entities have email or Internet access

. Based on past experience with state health departments and other state, territorial, and T ribal

entities involved in i ssuing fish advisories, the vast majority have email or Internet access

. 5(d) Collection Schedule

The survey materials will be available to the respondents in early spring to obtain information on the previous year’s fish advisories, sampling

, and analysis programs , and risk assessment, risk management, and risk communication procedures

. If the completed survey materials have not been returned within 30 days, then an e

- mail reminder will be sent to all nonrespondents

. In addition, follow

- up tel ephone call s will be made to the nonrespondents to determine what, if any, assistance they need to complete th e questionnaire

. If the completed survey materials have not been returned within 60 days, the survey will be considered to be

unobtainable

. Data w ill be analyzed

, and summary advisory information will be made available to the public by September each year.



### 6. Estimating the Burden and the Cost of the Collection

6(a ) Estimating Respondent Burden

EPA reviewed burden estimates generated by an e

- mailed inquiry of nine state health departments in 2000 and made the following assumptions in determining respondent burden based on responses obtained from four states

. ( The annual respondent burden and cost presented

in Table 1 reflects the estimated average an nual labor hours and costs, calculated to occur during

the 3

- year OMB

- approved period of this ICR )

.

 Labor hours are based on initial assumptions that up to 92 potential respondents will be asked to participate in the survey annually

. Thus, the total number of surveys that might be processed during this ICR is 276 (3

- year approval period).

 Senior

- level managers (e.g., director, chief) are most likely to receive the survey materials and review instructions; however, it is anticipated that a lower

- level

techni cal staff member would provide the new advisory data electronically , copy fish residue data onto a diskette for mailing to EPA, fill out the State Fish Advisory Program Questionnaire el ectronically, and mark the fish advisory locations on the maps, provide shapefiles/GIS coverages or latitude/longitude coordinates

. T herefore, the average annualized respondent hour burden to review instructions for the NLFA is

0.7 5 hours, as shown below

.Information Collection Request

12 (0.25 h ou r

– manager/year + 0.5 h ou r

– technician/year) = 0.75 h ou rs

 The amount of time needed to gather advisory data to update the NLFA varies considerably, depending on how many new fish advisories have been issued within the jurisdiction during the past year and/or how many revisions there are to previously issued advisorie s. For example, during the 2003 cycl e, 25 states reported no new advisories for the year, while the 31 remaining states repo rted from 1 to 73

new advisories. However, approximately 20 states also made revisions to existing advisory files. Similar differences among the states in the number of new and revised advisories reported have been observed over the past several years

. Because the amount of time needed to complete the new advisory information or update existing information will vary depending on the number of advisories within the respondent’s jurisdiction, a respondent with one fish advisory might require 0.25 hours while a respondent with 20 advisories might require 5 hours

. The number of respondents with “low” and “high” fish advisory report ing burdens is unknown at this time

. For the purposes of this ICR, EPA estimates (based on the responses from four states), on the average, that it will require 9.25 hours to complete the new advisory information and revise existing data. Information reque sted is compiled by each jurisdiction for the public record; hence little, if any, additional time will be needed to gather the

information

. We estimate that 9.25 hours will be needed each year to gather the advisory information as shown below

. (1.0 h ou r

– m anager/year + 6.25 h ou r

– technician/year + 2.0 h ou r

– clerical/year) = 9.25

h ou rs

 The amount of time needed to gather geographic data

, develop shapefiles/GIS coverages, determine latitude/longitude coordinates, or manually mark locations of

the advisories on a map also varies considerably, depending on how many new fish advisories have been issued within the jurisdiction during the past year. For example, during the 2003 cycle, 25 states reported no new advisories for the year while the remaining states report ed from 1 to 73 new advisories

. Similar differences among the states in the number of new advisories reported have been observed over the past several years

. Information requested is compiled by each jurisdiction for the public record; hence little, if any , additional time will be needed to gather the information

. We estimate (based on the responses from four states) that 7 hours will be needed each year to gather the geographic data, create a shapefile/GIS coverage, determine latitude/longitude coordinates , or mark advisory locations on a map as shown below

. (0.5 h ou r

– manager/year + 4.5 h ou r

– technician/year + 2.0 h ou r

– clerical/year) = 7.0

h ou rs.

 Respondents submitting their fish advisory data electronically will require less clerical time than in the past f or preparing and copying advisory information. We

estimate that 2 .25 hours will be needed each year to update advisory data as shown

below

. (0.5 h ou r

– manager/year + 1

. 25 h ou r

– technician/year + 0

. 5 h ou r

– clerical/year) = 2 .25

h ou rsInformation Collection Request

13  Senior

- level managers (e.g., director, chief) are most likely to receive the survey materials relating to the State Fish Advisory Program Questionnaire; however, it is anticipated that a lower

- level technical staff memb er would actually complete the questi onnaire electronically

. Thus, it is estimated that both the manager and the technical person could spend 3.13 hours each year reviewing the instructions and questions on the State Fish Advisory Program Questionnaire ; t herefore, the average annualized respo ndent hour burden to review instructions and answer questions is 3.13 hours, as shown below

. ( 0.5 h ou r

- manager/year + 2.63 h ou r

- technician/year) = 3.13 hours

 T he amount of time needed to gather all information to update the State Fish Advisory Program Qu estionnaire should be relatively comparabl e across jurisdictions depending on how many state agencies are involved in the fish advisory activities. All states are requested to complete every question to their best knowledge

. Information requested is compil ed by each jurisdiction for the public record, hence little, if any, additional time will be needed to gather the information

. We estimate that 7.25 hours will be needed each year to gather the advisory information needed to complete the

State Fish Advisor y Program Questionnaire as shown below

. (1.5 h ou r

– manager/year + 5.75 h ou r

– technician/year) = 7.25 hrs.

 For the 2010 through 2012 survey reporting cycles, each state fish contact will receive an electronic copy of the questionnaire with the previous year’s answers filled in. In this way, respondents will only need to report information that has changed during the previous reporting period, based on a review of their questionnaire responses submitted for the 2009 cycle. We estimate that 5.0 hours will be needed each year to complete the answers to the State Fish Advisory Program Questionnaire electronically as shown below

. (4.25 h ou r

– technician/year + 0.75 h ou r

– clerical/year) = 5.0 h ou rs

 A ll respondents will likely have to mail back some types of information to EPA each year even if they report the fish advisory data and complete the State Fish Advisory Program Q uestionnaire electronically. Products that may need to be mailed back to EPA include hard copies of new advisory information (if a respondent cannot enter data electronically), hard cop ies of maps with advisories marked, or electronic shapefiles/GIS coverages, or hard copy listings or electronic listin gs of latitude/longitude coordinates (all respondents with new advisories), a diskette containing fish tissue residue data that supports new advisories (all respondents with new advisories), and/or the hard copy of the State Fish Advisory Program Q uestionn aire (if a respon dent cannot enter data electronically)

. Based on the responses from four states, we estimate 1.63 hours will be needed to complete this activity as shown below:

(1.38 h ou r

– technician/year + 0.25 h ou r

– clerical/year) = 1.63 h ou rs

6(b) Estimating Respondent Costs

The following resources and assumptions were made to estimate respondent costs for this

information collection:Information Collection Request

14 (i) Estimating Labor Costs

 Labor rates were obtained from the Bureau of Labor Statistics ’ Employment Cost

Trends at http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/ecec.pdf

, and the following categories

were used:

Manager (W hite collar: E xecutive, administrative, and managerial) $ 33.09 /hour

Technical (White collar) $ 23.24 /hour

Clerical (Administrative support, including clerical) $ 17.03 /hour

A benefits/overhead multiplication factor of 1.6 was used to obtain the total cost of employment for state (or other entity) respondents.

(ii) Estimating Capital and Operations and Maintenance Costs

 No capital/start

- up costs are anticipated for the jurisdictions participating in the

survey because they already collect the information requested for the public record

. Ninety percent of all respondents who were surveyed in 2002 (during the 2003 reporting cycle) have Internet acce ss ; however, it is not required for participating in the survey.

 The only operations and maintenance (O&M) cost required for this information collection by the respondent is the purchase of a state map (estimated to cost $5.00),

which will be used to mark the advisories, and a compact disk ( estimated to cost $0. 6 0), which will be used to download his or her latitude/longitude coordinate data, shapefiles/GIS coverages, or fish tissue residue data

. Jurisdictions already maintain the information requested in t his collection for the public record

. EPA will provide

r eturn postage for the map, the tissue residue data diskette, fish advisory information (as applicable), and the State Fish Advisory Program Questionnaire (as applicable). Currently, most jurisdictions provide these data electronically via email.

 EPA estimates that all respondents would submit the fish advisory survey and the State Fish Advisory Program Questionnaire electronically

, but anticipates all states, at

a m inimum , will be returning the marked up state map showing advisory locations and one diskette containing shapefile/GIS coverage, latitude/longitude coordinates

, or tissue residue data

. We assume an average of five fish advisories per jurisdiction and

a 20

- page q uestionnaire at $0.10 per page copying charge ($2.50)

. This is based on the average number of new advisories issued nationwide during the 2000

– 2002 reporting years.

(iii) Capital/Start

- up vs. Operating and Maintenance Costs

 It is believed that the capital /start

- up and O&M costs have been appropriately derived

for this information collection.

(iv) Annualizing Capital Costs

 No capital costs are anticipated for this information collection

. The electronic version of the NLFA survey and the State Fish Advisory Program Q uestionnaire is offered asInformation Collection Request

15 an option, not as a requirement

. Completion of either the electronic version or a paper version is voluntary.Information Collection Request

16 Table 1. Annual Respondent Burden and Cost

Information Collection Activity Hours and Costs Per Respondent (Years 1

- 3) Total Hours and Costs (Year 1) Total Hours and Costs (Year 2) Total Hours and Costs (Year 3)

Mgr.
Hours

at $3 3

. 09 /

hour Tech.
Hours

at $23 .24 /

Hour Cler.

Hours

at $1 7 .0 3 /

Hour Resp.
Hours Labor
Cost Capital
Start

Up
Cost O&M
Cost No. of Resp. Total Resp.
Hours Total Resp.
Cost No. of Resp. Total Resp.
Hours Total Resp.
Cost No. of Resp. Total Resp.
Hours Total Respond.

Cost

Review instructions
for new advisories 0.25 0.5 0.00 0.75 $ 31.83 $0.00 $0.00 92 69 $ 2,928.18 92 69 $ 2,928.18 92 69 $ 2,928.18

Gather advisory data including fish

tissue data 1.00 6.25 2.00 9.25 $ 339.84 $0.00 $0.60 92 851 $ 31,320.48 92 851 $ 31,320.48 92 851 $ 31,320.48

Gather geographic

information and mark maps 0.50 4.50 2.00 7.00 $ 248.30 $0.00 $5.00 92 644 $ 23,303.23 92 644 $ 23,303.23 92 644 $ 23,303.23

Enter advisory data electronically or via

paper copy 0.50 1.25 0.5 2 .25 $ 86.58 $0.00 $0.00 92 207 $ 7,969. 49 92 207 $ 9,969.49 92 207 $ 7,969.49

9 9

Review instructions and questionnaire questions 0.50 2.63 0.00 3.13 $ 124.27 $0.00 $0.00 92 287.96 $ 11,432.46 92 287.96 $ 11,432.46 92 287.96 $ 11,432.46

Gather information for questionnaire 1.50 5.75 0.00 7.25 $ 293.22 $0.00 $0.00 92 667 $ 26,976.61 92 667 $ 26,976.61 92 667 $ 26,976.61

Enter answers to questionnaire electronically or on

paper 0.00 4.25 0.75 5.00 $ 178.47 $0.00 $0.00 92 460 $ 16, 419.06 92 460 $ 16, 419 .06 92 460 $ 16, 419 .06

Return maps, residue data, diskette, advisory
information and questionnaire by
mail 0.00 1.38 0.25 1.63 $ 58.13 $0.00 $0.00 92 149.96 $ 5,347.58 92 149.96 $ 5,347.58 92 149.96 $ 5,347.58

Subtotals 4.25 2 6 .51 5.50 3 6

. 2 6 $ 1, 360 .62 $0.00 $ 5.6 0 varies 3, 335 .92 $ 125,697.09 varies 3, 335 .92 $ 1 25,697.09 varies 3, 335 .92 $ 1 25,697.09

1 Labor cost includes a benefits/overhead multiplication factor of 1.6.Information Collection Request

17 6(c) Estimating Agency Burden and Cost

Agency burden is estimated based on the assumption that 10 percent of the labor hours

per year for each activity will be work done by EPA and 90 percent of the labor hours per year will be work done by a contractor

. In addition, management oversight of work performed by technical and clerical staff is estimated to require 20 percent of the labor hours for ea ch activity.

 Federal employee rates were obtained from the 2010 OPM General Schedule (GS) Salary Table for the Washington, DC

, area for the midpoint of each salary grade ( Available at the Web site http://www.opm.gov/oca/10tables/pdf/dcb_h.pdf ), and the following categories were used:

Manager (GS 15) $ 67.21 /hour

Technical (GS 14) $ 57.13 /hour

Clerical (GS 7) $ 22.92 /hour

A benefits/overhead multiplication factor of 1.6 was used to obtain the total labor cost for

EPA.

 No capital/startup costs are anticipated for the Agency.

 O&M costs include costs of contractor services (including printing survey materials and computer time) and outgoing and return postage for each survey to return map(s) and/or survey and/or State Fish Advisory Program Q uesti onnaires ea ch year.

T able 2 includes the estimated costs for each year of the ICR period

. T he following resources and assumptions were used to prepare the burden estimate for each activity:

 Preparation of the mailing list and survey tracking database is es timated based on initial assumptions that up to 92 potential respondents nationwide will be sent the

survey each year

. Agency labor includes identifying potential respondents and sources for contact information (name, agency, address, phone number, fax num ber,

and e

- mail address) and is estimated to take 0.04 hours per respondent

. O&M costs include contractor services to revise the mailing list and the survey and questionnaire tracking database, and enter and verify contact information, based on approximate ly 0.2 hours per respondent, with an estimated rate of $ 95 .00/hour (labor, overhead, and other direct costs)

. Agency labor and contractor service estimates are based on an

estimated 100 edits to the respondent contact names and addresses annually

. It is no t likely that the number of respondents will change significantly after the first year

because all state, territorial, and T ribal organizations will be identified and contacted for the first mailing

. Because the contact information will likely only need to be entered once, the Agency labor and contractor services are divided by three to provide

an annu alized estimate for the ICR.

 To revise the existing 200 9 survey package including the transmittal email

, survey
, instructions, and mapping procedures requires an estimated number of Agency hours of 0.11 hours per respondent

. Fixed O&M costs include 40 contractor hours per year to modify survey materials

.Information Collection Request

18  The NLFA database for storing and analyzing the fish advisory information is already in place

. Agency labor for this activity is estimated at 0.02 hours per respondent. Fixed O&M costs include 80 contractor hours per year to modify th is database.

 Each year, the Agency will submit the survey materials to respondents

. (The materials to be submitted will include a request for information on advisories that have been issued or revised during the preceding 12 months, map(s) and fish tissue residue data only need to be submitted for the new advisories issued during the pr evious year, and the previous year’s State Fish Advisory Program Questionnaire with the request that responses be updated to reflect information that has changed during the preceding calendar year

. EPA ’s oversight of this activity is estimated to be 0.02 h ours per respondent

. Contractor services required to conduct this activity include 0.25 hours per respondent per year to prepare the materials and answer respondents’ questions about the survey

. O&M costs also include outgoing and return postage paid by th e Agency ($2. 00 per survey x 2 = $4.00 per year ).

 Survey operations includ e recording receipt of completed questionnaires and marked map(s), electronic shape files/GIS coverages, and electronic fish tissue residue files; sending e

- mail reminders to nonresp ondents and making telephone contacts with nonrespondents and respondents in situations where additional information is required for clarification, if needed ; e

- mailing acknowledgment of materials that are

received ; and reviewing survey materials for compl eteness and accuracy of responses

. EPA estimates that it will not be involved in these operations except for minor oversight (0.02 hours per respondent per year)

. Contractor services to perform these operations are based on 1 hour per respondent per year.

 EPA expects that the new fish advisory data and State Fish Advisory Progra m Questionnaires will be provided electronically by respondents

. F ish tissue residue

data from all states will have to be reviewed and reformatted for uploading to the fish

tissue database, and all data entries (fish advisory, mapping, fish tissue residue data, and State Fish Advisory Program Questionnaire responses) wil l have to be entered

into the database and reviewed and verified

. EPA estimates that it will not be

involved in th ese operations except for minor oversight (0.03 hours per respondent per year)

. Contractor services to enter data for those respondent s are expected to be 3 hours per respondent per year. Contractor services to reformat fish tissue data files for all respo ndents are expected to be 6 hours per respondent per year and contractor services for reviewing/revising all fish advisory data, mapping data, State Fish Advisory Program Questionnaires, and fish tissue data are estimated to be 2 hours per respondent.

 Data analysis of new and updated advisory information and state fish advisory program information will be performed to obtain summary statistics for inclusion in the Fish Advisory Fact Sheet and the annual State Fish Advisory Program Summary Report, respective ly

. The Agency will provide technical direction to a contractor to perform the analyses and discuss and review the results, estimated at 0.06 hours per respondent per year

. Contractor services will require 0.5 hours per respondent per year for analysis.Information Collection Request

19  EP A will prepare a summary report of fish advisory information (Fish Advisory Fact Sheet) and a summary report of information obtained from the survey (State Fish Advisory Program Summary Report)

. EPA will provide technical direction to a

contractor to prepa re both the fact sheet and the summary report

, including reviewing drafts and the final fact sheet and report, which is estimated at 0.55 hours per respondent per year. It is anticipated that the contractor will require 2 hours per respondent per year to p roduce the fact sheet and summary report, including a hard copy and an electronic version of each suitable for posting on the NLFA Web site

.

 EPA will distribute the summary results of the NLFA database (Fish Advisory Fact Sheet) in an electronic version th at will be posted on the NLFA Web site. EPA also will provide technical oversight of the publication process, estimated at 0.05 hours per respondent per year

. Fixed O&M costs include estimated Government Printing

Office costs of $50 per paper report (appro ximately 500 pages) x 200 copies plus postage of $4.30 per copy x 200 copies (total = $10,860)

. The Internet version of the

NLFA database containing the Fish Advisory Fact Sheet and the updated fish advisory data will be designed so that the states, territories, T ribes, and the general public can automatically view the fish advisory information pertaining to the waterbody of interest. O&M costs also include funds for co ntractor services to maintain the database and perform troubleshooting, if needed, estimated at $5,000 per

year.Information Collection Request

20 Table 2. Agency Burden and Cost

Information Collection Activity Hours Burden and Cost (Year 1) Total Hours and Costs

Mgr.
Hours at $ 67.21 /

Hour Tech
Hours at $ 57.13 /

Hour Clerical

Hours at $ 22.92 /

Hour Agency
Hours/ Resp. Labor Cost/Resp. Capital/
Start

- Up

Cost Fixed O&M
Cost Non_Fixed
O&M Cost 1 Number of Resp. Total O&M (fixed and

non
- fixed) Total Agency

Hours Total Agency
Cost

Prepare mailing list and survey tracking database 0.01 0.02 0.01 0.04 $ 3.27 $0.00 $0.00 $1 9 .00 92 $1, 748 .00 3.68 $ 2,048.86

Revise survey materials 0.01 0.1 0 0.11 $ 10.22 $0.00 $3, 8 00.00 $0.00 92 $3, 8 00.00 10.12 $ 4,739.89
Set up database for storing and tracking questionnaire responses and electronic options for answering the questionnaire 0.02 0 0 0.02 $ 2.15 $0.00 $ 7,6 00.00 $0.00 92 $ 7,600 .00 1.84 $ 7,797.87

Submit survey materials to respondents; answer respondents’ questions 0.01 0.01 0 0.02 $ 1.99 $0.00 $0.00 $2 7.75 92 $2, 553 .00 1.84 $ 2,736.03

Record receipt of completed survey materials; perform
follow

- up and quality control
activities 0.01 0.01 0 0.02 $ 1.99 $0.00 $0.00 $ 95 .00 92 $ 8,740 .00 1.84 $ 8,923.03

Enter information from survey materials into database, if needed,
reformat tissue data and review/verify data entries 0 0.03 0 0.03 $ 2.74 $0.00 $0.00 $ 2 85 .00 9 2 $2 6,220.00 2.76 $ 92

, 392

. 29

$ 570 .00 92 $ 52,440 .00

$ 190 .00 92 $ 17,480 .00

Perform data analysis 0.01 0.05 0 0.06 $ 5.65 $0.00 $0.00 $ 47.50 92 $ 4,370 .00 5.52 $ 4,889.41

Prepare fact sheet and summary report of
information obtained from the survey 0.05 0.5 0 0.55 $ 51.08 $0.00 $0.00 $1 9 0.00 92 $ 17,480 .00 50.60 $ 22,179.43

Distribute results of the

survey 0 0.05 0 0.05 $ 4.57 $0.00 $15,860.00 $0.00 92 $15,860.00 4.60 $16,2 80.48

Store the advisory data, questionnaire responses and advisory location data 0 0.03 0.03 0.06 $ 3.84 $0.00 $1,000.00 $0.00 92 $1,000.00 5.52 $1,3 53.50

Subtotals 0.12 0.8 0.04 0.96 $ 87.50 $0.00 $2 8

, 26 0.00 $1, 424.25 Varies $ 159,291 88.32 $167,230.57

1 Includes costs of contractor services and postage.Information Collection Request

21  Data obtained from the NLFA survey

, including mapping and fish tissue residue data, and State Fish Advisory Progr am Q uestionnaire, will be stored in appropriate media

. EPA will provide technical oversight to ensure that data storage meets its requirements and program objectives

. Labor is e stimated at 0.06 hours per respondent

per year

. Fixed O&M costs include an estimate for computer equipment maintenance for this program of $1,000 per year.

6(d) Estimating the Respondent Universe and Total Burden and Costs

The respondent universe for this ICR is calculated based on a total number of 276

surveys to be completed during the 3

- year ICR period for an average of up to 92 respondents (representing fish advisory contacts from 50 states, District of Columbia, five U.S. t erritories and

36 Native Amer ican T ribes )

. The number of respondents involved in each activity varies

. It is anticipated that 90 percent of respondents will exercise that option.

6(e) Bottom Line Burden Hours and Cost Tables

(i) Respondent Tally

Only one respondent table was prepared for this ICR.

Total Estimated Respondent Burden and Cost Summary

Technical and
Financial Requirements Number of Respondents Number
of
Activities Total

Hours Total Labor
Cost Total Capital
Costs Total
O&M
Costs Total Costs

Year 1 92 8 3, 33 5 .92 $ 1 25,177.39 $0.00 $ 5 19 .70 $1 25,697.09

Year 2 92 8 3, 33 5 .92 $1 25,177.39 $0.00 $5 19 .70 $1 25,697.09

Year 3 92 8 3, 33 5 .92 $1 25,177.39 $0.00 $5 19 .70 $1 25,697.09

TOTAL 276 24 10, 00 7 .76 $ 375, 5 3 2.17 $0.00 $ 1, 559 .10 $ 377,091.28

AVERAGE 92 8 3, 335 .92 $1 25,177.39 $0.00 $5 19 .70 $1 25,697.09

(ii) The Agency Tally

The Agency and contractor tables are summarized in the following table.

Total Estimated Agency Burden and Cost Summary

Technical and

Financial Requirements Number of Respondents Number
of
Activities Total

Hours Total

Labor
Cost Total Capital
Costs Total O&M
Costs Total Costs

Year 1 92 10 88.32 $8,049.78 $0.00 $ 159,291.00 $ 167,340.78

Year 2 92 10 88.32 $8,049.78 $0.00 $ 159,291.00 $ 167,340.78

Year 3 92 10 88.32 $8,049.78 $0.00 $ 159,291.00 $ 167,340.78

TOTAL 276 30 264.96 $ 24,149.34 $0.00 $ 4 77

, 873 .00 $ 502,022.34

AVERAGE 92 10 88.32 $8,049.78 $0.00 $ 159,291.00 $ 167,340.78

(iii) Variations i n t he Annual Bottom Line

No change in collection activities or burden and costs per respondent is anticipated during the course of this ICR.Information Collection Request

22 6(f) Reasons for Change in Burden

There is a decrease of 229 hours in the total estimated respondent burden compared with that identified in the ICR currently approved by OMB. This decrease reflects a change in how the states, tribes and territories provide the fish advisory data to EPA. The data tool is no longer being used by states to enter data into the NLFA database.

6(g) Burden Statement

The annual public reporting and record keeping burden for this collection of information

is e stimated to average approximately 3 6 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 Tribal or f ederal 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 requirement; search data sources; complete and review the collection of information;

and t ransmit 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

. These numbers for EPA ’ s regulations are list ed in 40 CFR P art 9 and 48

CFR C hapter 15.

To comment on EPA ’ 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

- 2007

- 0201, which is available for public viewing at the Water Docket in

the EPA Docket Center (EPA/DC) , EPA West, Room 3334 , 1301 Constitution Ave nue , NW, Washington, DC 20460 . 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 and is (202)

566

- 2426

. An electronic version of the public docket is available online for viewing at http://www.regulations.gov . Use http://www.regulations.gov 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 type 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 17 th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20503, Attention: Desk Office for EPA

. Please include EPA Docket ID (EPA

HQ

- OW

- 2007

- 0201 ) and OMB Control Number (2040

- 0226) in any correspondence.