44006 Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 159 / Monday, August 18, 1997 / Notices

would not constitute a major Federal

action significantly affecting the quality

of the human environment. The

Pensacola Project is on the Grand River,

in Craig, Delaware, Mayes, and Ottawa

Counties, Oklahoma.

The FEA was written by staff in the

Office of Hydropower Licensing,

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

Copies of the FEA can be obtained by

calling the Commission’s Public

Reference Room at (202) 208–1371.

Linwood A. Watson, Jr.,

Acting Secretary.

[FR Doc. 97–21755 Filed 8–15–97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6717–01–M

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory

Commission

[Docket No. CP97–202–000]

USFG Pipeline Company; Notice of

Extension of Time To Comment on the

Environmental Assessment

August 12, 1997.

On July 9, 1997, an Environmental

Assessment was circulated for public

comment on the above docketed project.

The closing period for comments was

August 8, 1997. The Office of the

Governor of the State of Tennessee

requested an extension of time to

comment on the Environmental

Assessment. The comment period is

herein extended to August 22, 1997.

As stated in the original notice,

comments should be addressed to:

Office of the Secretary, Federal Energy

Regulatory Commission, 888 First

Street, N.E., Washington, DC 20426.

A copy of any comments should also

be sent to the Environmental Review

and Compliance Branch, PR–11.1, at the

above address.

Kevin P. Madden,

Director, Office of Pipeline Regulation.

[FR Doc. 97–21827 Filed 8–15–97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6717–01–M

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory

Commission

[Project No. 2543–059]

The Washington Water Power Co.;

Notice of Availability of Final

Environmental Assessment

August 12, 1997.

A final environmental assessment

(FEA) is available for public review. The

FEA is for an application for the

Spokane River Hydroelectric Project

(FERC No. 2545) to construct a sediment

by-pass tunnel on the left side of the

Nine Mile Development powerhouse.

The project is located on the Spokane

River in Spokane, Stevens, and Lincoln

Counties, Washington, and Kootenai

and Benewah Counties, Idaho. The FEA

finds that approval of the application

would not constitute a major federal

action significantly affecting the quality

of the human environment.

The FEA was written by staff in the

Office of Hydropower Licensing,

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

Copies of the EA can be viewed at the

Commission’s Reference and

Information Center, Room 2A, 888 First

Street, N.E., Washington, D.C., 20426.

Copies can also be obtained by calling

the project manager, John Novak at (202)

219–2828.

Linwood A. Watson, Jr.,

Acting Secretary.

[FR Doc. 97–21758 Filed 8–15–97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6717–01–M

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

AGENCY

[FRL–5876–7]

Agency Information Collection

Activities: Submission for OMB

Review; Comment Request; Obtaining

Unbilled Grant Expenses From Grant

Officials at Year-End

AGENCY: Environmental Protection

Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice.

SUMMARY: In compliance with the

Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C.

3501 et seq.), this notice announces that

the following Information Collection

Request (ICR) has been forwarded to the

Office of Management and Budget

(OMB) for review and approval:

Obtaining Unbilled Grant Expenses

From Grant Officials at year-end, EPA

ICR No. 1810.01. The ICR describes the

nature of the information collection and

its expected burden and cost.

DATES: Comments must be submitted on

or before September 17, 1997.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION OR A COPY

CALL: Sandy Farmer at EPA, (202) 260–

2740, and refer to EPA ICR No. 1810.01

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Title: Obtaining Unbilled Grant

Expenses From Grant Officials at Yearend (EPA ICR No. 1810.01). This is a

new collection.

Abstract: EPA’s Financial

Management Division (FMD) prepares

annual financial statements that present

the financial position and results of

operations for EPA. The financial

statements must comply with the

Statements of Federal Financial

Accounting Standards (SFFAS) and

other accounting requirements. EPA’s

Office of the Inspector General (OIG)

audits these financial statements to

determine whether they fairly and

accurately reflect EPA financial

conditions.

To meet the SFFAS requirements,

EPA must report the estimated amount

of its accrued liabilities. These accrued

liabilities include: (1) Grant expenses

incurred during the fiscal year that the

grant recipient has paid and recorded in

its accounting records but has not yet

billed to EPA; and (2) grant expenses

that vendors have billed the grant

recipient between October 1 and

November 15 (following the end of the

Federal fiscal year) that relate to the

prior fiscal year. EPA, working with its

OIG, has evaluated the use of existing

reports as a source of accrued liability

information. However, for grants paid

through the ACH electronic funds

transfer mechanism, EPA has been

unable to determine how to obtain this

information without contacting the

grant recipients themselves. ACH

drawdown requests do not include

period of performance data, which is

essential for determining accruals. To

minimize the amount of burden

associated with gathering this data, EPA

believes that information from a sample

of 103 grants is sufficient to meet its

financial statement needs. EPA would

use estimation techniques to project the

amount of grant accruals applicable to

all EPA grants paid through ACH.

The grant recipients selected in the

sample would only be asked to report

the accrual information on the specific

grant, and not all EPA grants to that

grantee. Further, other EPA grant

recipients would not be affected by this

information collection request. EPA will

also request information from the

selected grant recipients on their billing

practices in order to conduct additional

analyses to improve our accrual

estimates.

Unless EPA is able to obtain this

information from the selected grant

recipients, and develop a reasonable

estimate of accruals based on that data,

EPA does not believe it will be able to

obtain an unqualified (‘‘clean’’) audit

opinion from the OIG on its financial

statements. Thus the information is

crucial for EPA to meet its fiduciary

responsibilities.

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