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[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 129 (Thursday, July 5, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 39690-39691]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-16455]

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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy

Proposed Agency Information Collection

AGENCY: Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Department of 
Energy (DOE).

ACTION: Submission for Office of Management and Budget (OMB) review; 
comment request.

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SUMMARY: The Department of Energy has submitted to the OMB for 
clearance, a proposal for collection of information pursuant to the 
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. The collection would be used to 
develop a scorecard that would assist DOE's Clean Cities Coalitions and 
stakeholders in assessing the level of readiness of their communities 
for plug-in electric vehicles. Information collected would allow DOE to 
provide respondents with an objective assessment of their communities' 
readiness for PEV adoption and an understanding of their commitment to 
successful deployment of PEVs, and is needed to ensure appropriate 
evaluation of progress in deploying PEVS.

DATES: Comments regarding this collection must be received on or before 
August 6, 2012. If you anticipate that you will be submitting comments, 
but find it difficult to do so within the period of time allowed by 
this notice, please advise the OMB Desk Officer of your intention to 
make a submission as soon as possible. The Desk Officer may be 
telephoned at 202-395-4650.

ADDRESSES: Written comments should be sent to: Desk Officer for the 
Department of Energy, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, 
Office of Management and Budget, New Executive Office Building, Room 
10102, 735 17th Street NW., Washington, DC 20503. And to Ms. Linda 
Bluestein, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EE-2G), 
U.S. Department of Energy, 1000 Independence Avenue SW., Washington, DC 
20585-0121, or by fax at 202-586-1600, or by email at 
Linda.Bluestein@ee.doe.gov.

[[Page 39691]]

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms. Linda Bluestein at the address 
listed above in ADDRESSES.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This information collection request 
contains: (1) OMB No.: {New{time} ; (2) Information Collection Request 
Title: Clean Cities Plug-In Vehicle Community Readiness Scorecard; (3) 
Type of Request: New collection; (4) Purpose: DOE's Clean Cities 
initiative has developed a voluntary scorecard to assist its coalitions 
and stakeholders in assessing the level of readiness of their 
communities for plug-in electric vehicles. The principal objective of 
the scorecard is to provide respondents with an objective assessment 
and estimate of their respective community's readiness for PEV 
deployment as well as understand the respective community's commitment 
to deploying these vehicles successfully. DOE intends the scorecard to 
be completed by a city/county/regional sustainability or energy 
coordinator. As the intended respondent may not be aware of every 
aspect of local or regional PEV readiness, coordination among local 
stakeholders to gather appropriate information may be necessary.
    The scorecard assessment effort will rely on responses to questions 
the respondent chooses to answer. The multiple-choice questions address 
the following topic areas: (1) Electric vehicle supply equipment 
permitting and inspection process; (2) PEV and electric vehicle supply 
equipment availability and numbers; (3) laws, incentives, and 
financing; (4) education and outreach; (5) utility interaction; and (6) 
vehicle and infrastructure planning. Respondents will provide answers 
through a user-friendly online interface. The answers will then be 
translated through a simple algorithm that will establish appropriate 
quantitative criteria, translating the readiness measures across 
several weighted categories into numeric data. Using a numberless color 
spectrum, a community will be rated against itself, with the colored 
spectrum results made available only to the respondent community. The 
total rankings will be normalized into a ``score'', and communities 
will see their own rating and may be compared to other cities.
    The scorecard will use one information collection system, an online 
system. No other data collection system will be employed to support the 
scorecard. The online scorecard system DOE has developed provides 
several advantages. First, it avoids the need to download any forms or 
materials, though respondents may print out the full list of questions 
and answers, or a portion thereof if they wish. Second, avoiding 
downloads also limits potential security threats. Third, the designed 
system allows respondents to dynamically compare historical records, 
providing the opportunity to revisit the scorecard however often they 
like to track progress. Further, employing an online system also 
eliminates version control concerns, allowing for a single update to 
ensure that all scorecard users are using the current version.
    The voluntary scorecard may be completed at any time, and there is 
no date by which the scorecard questions must be completed. Calculation 
of outcomes will be undertaken on an ongoing basis, immediately 
following completion of the scorecard questionnaire.
    While there are approximately 90 Clean Cities Coalitions across the 
United States, DOE expects that other communities may want to avail 
themselves of the opportunity to assess their respective community's 
PEV readiness. Therefore, DOE expects a total respondent population of 
approximately 100 respondents. Selecting the multiple choice answers in 
completing a scorecard questionnaire is expected to take under 30 
minutes, although additional time of no more than 20 hours may be 
needed to assemble information necessary to be able to answer the 
questions, leading to a total burden of approximately 2,050 hours in 
the first year. Assembling information to update questionnaire answers 
in future years on a voluntary basis would be expected to take less 
time, on the order of 10 hours, as much of any necessary time and 
effort needed to research information would have been completed 
previously; (5) Type of Respondents: Public; (6) Annual Estimated 
Number of Respondents: 100; (7) Annual Estimated Number of Total 
Responses: 100; (8) Annual Estimated Number of Burden Hours: 2,050; (9) 
Annual Estimated Reporting and Recordkeeping Cost Burden: There is no 
cost associated with reporting and recordkeeping.

    Statutory Authority: 42 U.S.C. Sec. 13233; 42 U.S.C. Sec. 
13252(a)-(b); 42 U.S.C. 13255.

    Issued in Washington, DC, on June 20, 2012.
Patrick B. Davis,
Program Manager, Vehicle Technologies Program, Energy Efficiency and 
Renewable Energy.
[FR Doc. 2012-16455 Filed 7-3-12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-P
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