INFORMATION COLLECTION REQUEST SUPPORTING STATEMENT FOR

FOR PROPOSED REVISIONS TO THE REGIONAL HAZE REGULAT IONS Page 1 of 24 United States Environmental Protection Agency



## Office of Air and Radiation Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards Air Quality Policy Division Geographic Strategies Group



## INFORMATION COLLECTION REQUEST

SUPPORTING STATEMENT FOR EPA ICR NUMBER 2540.01,

ICR FOR PROPOSED REVISIONS TO THE

REGIONAL HAZE REGULATIONS 

# EPA

EPA # 2540.01INFORMATION COLLECTION REQUEST SUPPORTING STATEMENT FOR

FOR PROPOSED REVISIONS TO THE REGIONAL HAZE REGULAT IONS Page 2 of 24 This ICR, EPA 2540.01 addresses the reporting and r ecordkeeping requirements under the proposed revisions to the Re gion Haze Regulations. This ICR supplements the ICR for the current regula tions, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Control Number 2060-042 1; EPA ICR Number 1813.08. Once the revisions are promulgated and this ICR is approved, it will be consolidated with the ICR for the existing ICR.

The burden in this ICR reflects changes in labor ra tes, changes in the activities conducted due to the normal progression of the program, the fact that the states will be shifting their primary focu s to development of periodic comprehensive SIP revisions due in 2021 un der revised EPA rule requirements.

Table E-1 Estimated State Respondent Burden to Implement Requirements

Task Element States

Average Annual
Hours Average Annual

Cost ($)

Total Burden by Respondent 9,974 493,996 Executive SummaryINFORMATION COLLECTION REQUEST SUPPORTING STATEMENT FOR

FOR PROPOSED REVISIONS TO THE REGIONAL HAZE REGULAT IONS Page 3 of 24 This document fulfills the Agency's requirements under the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) with regards to determining the regulatory

burden associated with the implementation of the regional haze program (40 CFR 51.308) and requirements related to the Grand Canyon Visibility Transport Commission (40 CFR 51.309). It has been a ssigned EPA tracking number 2540.01. The title of this Informat ion Collection Request (ICR) is “Proposed Revisions to the Regional Haze R egulations.”

Subpart P of 40 CFR 51, Protection of Visibility, a lso known as the regional haze rule, is the subject of this clearanc e request. In the next three years, activities conducted by the states, Federal Land Managers (FLMs), and the EPA will focus on submitting SIP revisions and progress reports for regional haze. 40 CFR 51.308 (f) requires state s to develop regional haze implementation plan revisions evaluating and r eassessing reasonable progress goals, calculations of baseline and natura l visibility conditions, the long-term strategy, the monitoring strategy and oth er implementation plan requirements. There are similar reporting requireme nts under 40 CFR 51.309, a section of the regional haze rule in whic h three states (Utah, Wyoming, and New Mexico) elected to submit their SI Ps. Under section 309, these states adopted regional haze strategies for the period from 2003 to 2018 for sulfur dioxide emissions. These strateg ies are based on recommendations from the Grand Canyon Visibility Tr ansport Commission (GCVTC) for protecting the 16 Class I areas in the Colorado Plateau area. During the next three years, fourteen states will a lso be responsible for submitting progress reports. 40 CFR 51.308 (g) requ ires states to develop periodic reports evaluating progress towards the re asonable progress goals for improving visibility in Class I areas inside th e state and in neighboring states, and 40 CFR 51.309(d)(10) requires similar a ctions on the part of the 3 states that submitted regional haze SIPs under 40 CFR 51.309.

Under the 1999 regional haze rule, states are requi red to set periodic goals for improving visibility in the 156 Mandatory Class I Federal Areas. As states work to reach these goals, they must develop regional haze implementation plans that contain enforceable measu res and strategies for reducing visibility-impairing pollution. States wer e required to develop their initial implementation plans by December, 200 7. Periodic 1 Identification of the Information Collection

1.1 Title

EPA TRACKING NUMBER:

2540.01

OMB Control NUMBER:

2060-NEW

1.2 DescriptionINFORMATION COLLECTION REQUEST SUPPORTING STATEMENT FOR

FOR PROPOSED REVISIONS TO THE REGIONAL HAZE REGULAT IONS Page 4 of 24 comprehensive revisions to implementation plans are due July 31, 2018 and every 10 years thereafter.

The primary focus for estimating burden for this 3 year renewal period (March 31, 2016 – March 31, 2019) will apply to the next program milestone which are the periodic comprehensive SIP revisions due in July 2018 (see 40 CFR 51.308(f)) for all states, includi ng those covered under 40 CFR 51.309. In the 5-year progress report requir ed by 11 states during this 3 year renewal period, those states are requir ed to describe the status of the implementation of measures needed to achieve re asonable progress goals, report on the emissions reductions achieved, assess visibility changes, and evaluate whether the current implement ation plan is sufficient to meet all established reasonable progress goals. Similar progress report requirements apply to the 3 states covered under 40 CFR 51.309.INFORMATION COLLECTION REQUEST SUPPORTING STATEMENT FOR

FOR PROPOSED REVISIONS TO THE REGIONAL HAZE REGULAT IONS Page 5 of 24 Section 169A of the Clean Air Act (CAA) sets forth a national goal for visibility. The goal is the “prevention of any futu re, and the remedying of any existing, impairment in visibility in mandatory Class I Federal areas which impairment results from man-made air pollutio n.” This section of the CAA also calls for EPA regulations to assure that s tates provide for reasonable progress toward meeting the national goa l. The original regulations on protection of visibility in mandator y Class I Federal areas, developed in 1980, addressed visibility that is “re asonably attributable” to a single source or small group of sources. Actions un der those regulations are triggered by a FLM. The regional haze rule, pro mulgated in 1999,

added new sections to the code of federal environme ntal regulations. These

included sections 40 CFR 51.308 and 40 CFR 51.309. This ICR renewal request provides for continued implementation of th e regional raze rule. During this clearance period, we anticipate that th e reporting requirements under 40 CFR 51.308(f) and (g) will be the major pr ogram focus along with the similar reporting requirements (see 40 CFR 51.309(d)(10)) for the three states that submitted regional haze SIPs unde r 40 CFR 51.309.

The data collected from respondents include revised state implementation plans and progress reports. These data confirm prog ress in assessing visibility impairment and source contribution, and provide the foundation for the establishment of the reasonable progress go als and control strategies.

The information in this ICR is based upon the best data available to the Agency at this time. However, incomplete data and s ampling limitations imposed necessitated a certain amount of extrapolat ion and “best-guess”

estimates. Consequently, the reader should not consider the co nclusions to be an exact representation of the level of burden o r cost that will occur. Instead, this ICR should be considered a directiona lly correct assessment of the impact the programmatic changes included in thi s rulemaking may have over the next 3 years.

Throughout this ICR, the reader will observe estima ted values that show accuracy to the single hour or dollar. However, rep orting values at the single unit level can be misleading. In most situat ions, the proper way to present estimated data would be to determine an app ropriate level of precision and truncate values accordingly, usually in terms of thousands or millions of units. For instance, a spreadsheet gene rated estimation of $5,456,295 could be presented in the text as $5.5 ( millions) or $5,456 (thousands). One problem with such an approach is t he loss of data richness when the report contains a mixture of very large an d very small numbers. Consequently, to avoid the loss of information thro ugh rounding, this ICR 2 Need and Use of the Collection

2.1 Need / Authority
for the Collection

2.2 Practical Utility /

Users of the Data

2.3 Caveats and
ConsiderationsINFORMATION COLLECTION REQUEST SUPPORTING STATEMENT FOR

FOR PROPOSED REVISIONS TO THE REGIONAL HAZE REGULAT IONS Page 6 of 24 reports all values at the single unit level and rem inds the reader that there is no implied precision inherent in this style of repo rting.INFORMATION COLLECTION REQUEST SUPPORTING STATEMENT FOR

FOR PROPOSED REVISIONS TO THE REGIONAL HAZE REGULAT IONS Page 7 of 24 This information collection renewal request is rela ted to provisions in 40 CFR 51.308 (f) and (g) and 40 CFR 51.309(d)(10) whi ch require periodic comprehensive SIP revisions and periodic reports (i n the form of implementation plan revisions) describing progress towards the reasonable progress goals. In addition to the periodic compreh ensive SIP revisions due July 31, 2018 each state must submit a progress rep ort evaluating whether improvement in visibility is made towards the reaso nable progress goal for each mandatory Class 1 Federal area located within the state and in each mandatory Class 1 Federal area located outside the state which may be affected by emissions from within the state. For mo st states, these progress reports are due 5 years from the submittal of the i nitial regional haze plan. The periodic comprehensive SIP revisions and progre ss reports required by the regional haze rule are unique and do not duplic ate other implementation plan requirements.

The ICR for the regional haze rule was revised last in March 2013. We solicited public comments on this ICR prior to subm itting it to OMB. We issued a Federal Register notice requesting comment s on the ICR renewal on September 29, 2015 (80 FR 58473) and provided a 60-day public notice and comment period. The EPA received no comments du ring the comment period.

Additionally, under 5 CFR 1320.8(d)(1), OMB require s agencies to consult with potential ICR respondents and data users about aspects of ICRs before submitting an ICR to OMB for review and approval. I n accordance with this regulation, the EPA submitted questions to nin e parties via e-mail. The

individuals contacted were:

Albert Pearce Georgia Department of Natural Resources Albert.Pearce@dnr.ga.gov

Michael Kiss Virginia Department of Environmental Quality michael.kiss@deq.virginia.gov

David Healy New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services david.healy@des.nh.gov

Preston McLane Florida Department of Environmental Protection Preston.McLane@dep.state.fl.us 3 Non-Duplication, Consultation, and Other Collecti on Criteria

3.2 Public Notice Requirements 3.1 Non

Duplication

3.3 ConsultationsINFORMATION COLLECTION REQUEST SUPPORTING STATEMENT FOR

FOR PROPOSED REVISIONS TO THE REGIONAL HAZE REGULAT IONS Page 8 of 24 Jerry Beasley Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality Jerry_Beasley@deq.state.ms.us

Maeve Mason South Carolina Department of Health and Environment al Control masonmr@dhec.sc.gov

Sushma Masemore North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality sushma.masemore@ncdenr.gov

Jim Boylan Georgia Department of Natural Resources James.Boylan@dnr.ga.gov

Jimmy Johnston Tennessee Department of Environment & Conservation James.Johnston@tn.gov

Mr. David Healy of the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services responded and agreed with the estimates of burden on potential respondents, with the caveat that it could take som ewhat longer than 500 hours for a state to prepare periodic comprehensive SIP revisions in some circumstances, especially for a state that contains one or more Class I Federal areas. The EPA received no other responses to its solicitation for

consultations.

The information collection requested under this ICR is necessary to ensure implementation of the 40 CFR 51.308 and 40 CFR 51.3 09 requirements.

OMB's general guidelines for information collection s must be adhered to by all federal agencies for approval of any rulemak ing's collection methodology. In accordance with the requirements of 5 CFR 1320.5, the Agency believes:

1. The regional haze regulations do not require period ic reporting more frequently than every 5 years.

2. The regional haze regulations do not require respon dents to participate in any statistical survey.

3. Written responses to Agency inquiries are not requi red to be submitted in less than 30 days.

4. Respondents do not receive remuneration for the pre paration of reports required by the Act or part 51. 3.4 Less Frequent
Collection

3.5 General

GuidelinesINFORMATION COLLECTION REQUEST SUPPORTING STATEMENT FOR

FOR PROPOSED REVISIONS TO THE REGIONAL HAZE REGULAT IONS Page 9 of 24 5. To the greatest extent possible, the Agency has tak en advantage of automated methods of reporting.

The recordkeeping and reporting requirements contai ned in the current regional haze program and the changes proposed in t his rulemaking do not exceed any of the Paperwork Reduction Act guideline s contained in 5 CFR 1320.5, except for the guideline which limits reten tion of records by respondents to 3 years. The Act requires both respo ndents and state or local agencies to retain records for a period of 5 years. The justification for this exception is found in 28 U.S.C. 2462, which specifi es 5 years as the general statute of limitations for federal claims i n response to violations by regulated entities. The decision in U.S. v. Conoco, Inc., No. 83-1916-E (W.D. Okla., January 23, 1984) found that the 5-yea r general statute of limitations applied to the CAA.

Confidentiality is not an issue for this rulemaking . In accordance with the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990, any monitoring in formation to be submitted by sources is a matter of public record. To the extent that the information required is proprietary, confidential, or of a nature that could impair the ability of the source to maintain its ma rket position, that information is collected and handled subject to the requirements of §503(e) and §114(c) of the Act. Information received and id entified by owners or operators as confidential business information (CBI ) and approved as CBI by EPA, in accordance with Title 40, Chapter 1, Par t 2, Subpart B, shall be maintained appropriately (see 40 CFR 2; 41 FR 36902 , September 1, 1976; amended by 43 FR 39999, September 8, 1978; 43 FR 42 251, September 28, 1978; 44 FR 17674, March 23, 1979).

The consideration of sensitive questions, (i.e., se xual, religious, personal or other private matters), is not applicable to this r ulemaking. The information gathered to develop an implementation plan does not include personal data

on any owner or operator.

Because the regional haze program operates nationwi de and across numerous industry classifications, the Agency does not believe there are disproportionate environmental justice impacts in i mplementing in the regional haze program. 3.6 Confidentiality

3.7 Sensitive
Questions

3.8 Environmental
Justice
ConsiderationsINFORMATION COLLECTION REQUEST SUPPORTING STATEMENT FOR

FOR PROPOSED REVISIONS TO THE REGIONAL HAZE REGULAT IONS Page 10 of 24 The major categories of respondents directly affect ed during this ICR period of March 31, 2016 through March 31, 2019 inc lude the states. The states are developing periodic comprehensive SIP re visions and progress reports under 40 CFR 51.308(f) and (g) and 40 CFR 5 1.309(d)(10) which require periodic comprehensive SIP revisions and pe riodic reports (in the form of implementation plan revisions) evaluating p rogress towards the reasonable progress goal for each mandatory Class I Federal area located within the state and in each mandatory Class I Fede ral area located outside the state which may be affected by emissions from w ithin the state.

The information required under this ICR renewal pro vides for a continuation of the process initiated with previous ICRs for the regional haze rule. In this stage of the process, the states are mainly focusing on revising their SIPs and submitting periodic compreh ensive SIP revisions by July 31, 2018, which falls within this ICR period. Certain states are also working on progress reports to report on progress m ade towards reaching their long term visibility goals. For 14 states, th e progress reports will be due during the March 31, 2016 to March 31, 2019 ICR period.

The information that is requested under this renewa l period under the regional haze rule requirements includes:

Requirements for Periodic Reports Describing Progre ss towards the Reasonable Progress Goals

• Description of status of control measures

• Summary of emission reductions

• Calculation of visibility conditions and changes

• Calculation of 5 year progress

• Assessment of contributing emissions

• Assessment of reasonable progress goals

• Review monitoring strategy and note changes

• Submit 5 year progress report

• Determine degree of visibility improvement

• Consult with FLMs

• Interstate consultation with states

The progress report must be in the form of an imple mentation plan revision that complies with procedural requirements of 40 CF R 51.102 and 40 CFR 51.103. For most states, the report is due five yea rs after the initial regional haze plan submission. 4 The Respondents and the Information Requested

4.1 Respondents

4.2 Information RequestedINFORMATION COLLECTION REQUEST SUPPORTING STATEMENT FOR

FOR PROPOSED REVISIONS TO THE REGIONAL HAZE REGULAT IONS Page 11 of 24 Requirements for Regional Haze Periodic Comprehensi ve SIP

Revision

• Affirmation of, and revision to, reasonable progres s goals, including determination of reasonableness of any additional m easures that could be adopted to achieve the degree of visibilit y improvement projected by the analysis in the original SIP

• Calculate baseline and natural visibility condition s

• Address current visibility conditions and actual pr ogress made

toward natural conditions

• Conduct 2028 modeling

• Evaluate effectiveness of, and re-develop, long ter m strategies

• Submit monitoring strategy

The States are working to prepare and submit period ic comprehensive SIP revisions by the July 2018 deadline.INFORMATION COLLECTION REQUEST SUPPORTING STATEMENT FOR

FOR PROPOSED REVISIONS TO THE REGIONAL HAZE REGULAT IONS Page 12 of 24 EPA. Each EPA regional office is responsible for reviewi ng and approving the periodic comprehensive SIP revisions and progre ss reports. For this ICR renewal period, the EPA will primarily be revie wing the SIP revisions and progress reports required under CFR 51.308(f) a nd (g) and 51.309(d)(10). The ten EPA regional offices and the EPA headquarters offices will provide direction and facilitate resol ution of major issues, and deliver data, tools, and training to the states as needed. Each regional office must address public comments before approving the S IP revisions.

FLMs. The FLMs will be reviewing the progress reports, t he periodic comprehensive regional haze SIP revisions, and offe ring comments to the states in fulfillment of the requirement under 40 C FR 51.308(i)(4) for the states to coordinate their regional haze efforts wi th the FLMs.

This section discusses the development of burden es timates and their conversion into costs, which are separated into bur den costs and capital and O&M costs. Capital and O&M costs display the cost o f any new capital equipment the respondent may have to purchase solel y for information collection, assimilation, and storage purposes. For example, if a source had to purchase a new mini-computer to store and manipu late data, that computer would be a cost of administration subject to reporting in the ICR. In addition, the latest guidance instructs the Agen cy to differentiate the

burden associated with a source’s labor and that wh ich it hires through

outside contractors. To the extent a source contrac ts out for administrative purposes (e.g., employing consultants to perform vi sibility modeling), the

burden associated with those contracted tasks are n ot a burden to the source - but they still remain a cost. The reader should r ead this section with the following considerations in mind:

• The Agency believes the time necessary to perform a task is independent of the origins of its labor. For exampl e, if a source would employ 20 hours of burden to fully perform a function, then a contractor hired by the source would also take 20 hours to perform that same task. Furthermore, the Agency ass umes no economies or diseconomies of scale. The linear comb ination of any

amount of contractor and source effort will also su m to 20 hours. Therefore, the burden estimates in this ICR act as an accurate assessment of the total burden to respondents.

• For some burden categories, the Agency believes the hours assigned

to them will be divided between the source and outs ide contractors. For these categories, the Agency established a comp osite cost per hour by developing a weighted average of the source and contractor wages, with the weight defined by the percentage of total effort each burden source applied. Consequently, the cost developed in this ICR should be interpreted as an upper bound on the actual cost 5 The Information Collected

- Agency Activities, Collection Methodologies, and Information Management

5.2 Collection
Methodology

and Management 5.1 Agency

ActivitiesINFORMATION COLLECTION REQUEST SUPPORTING STATEMENT FOR

FOR PROPOSED REVISIONS TO THE REGIONAL HAZE REGULAT IONS Page 13 of 24 of administration by the source. The methodology fo r determining cost per hour can be found in greater detail in sec tion 6.2, below.

• While this ICR renewal estimates burden to federal and state agencies, it does not include costs estimates to th e industrial

sources. This is because the effort for this ICR re newal period, March 31, 2016 through March 31, 2019 mainly involv es preparation and review of the periodic comprehensiv e SIP revisions and progress reports required under CFR 51.308(f) a nd (g) and 51.309(d)(10) of the regional haze rule. Sources, f or the most part, will not be involved in preparation of these report s.

The periodic comprehensive SIP revisions prepared b y the states are due by July 31, 2018. The periodic comprehensive SIP revis ions must at a minimum include the following elements (similar ele ments are required for the initial SIPs):

• A summary of affirmation of, and revision to, reaso nable progress goals, including determination of reasonableness of any additional measures that could be adopted to achieve the degre e of visibility improvement projected by the analysis in the origin al SIP

• A description of baseline and natural visibility co nditions

• An assessment of current visibility conditions and actual progress

made toward natural conditions

• Details on modeling conducted for the 2028 mileston e

• A summary of the effectiveness of, and re-developme nt of, long term strategies

• A description of the monitoring strategy

The progress reports prepared by the states are, in most cases, due five years after the state submits its comprehensive reg ional haze SIP. The progress reports must at a minimum include the foll owing elements:

• A description of the status of all measures include d in the regional haze implementation plan for achieving reasonable p rogress.

• A summary of the emissions reductions achieved thro ughout the state through implementation of the measures.

• An assessment of the following visibility condition s and changes for each mandatory Class 1 Federal area within the state with values for most impaired and least impaired days expressed in terms of 5- year averages of the annual values: current visibil ity conditions for the most impaired and least impaired days; the diff erence between current visibility conditions for the most impaired and least impaired days and baseline visibility conditions; a nd the change in visibility impairment for the most impaired and lea st impaired days over the past 5 years.INFORMATION COLLECTION REQUEST SUPPORTING STATEMENT FOR

FOR PROPOSED REVISIONS TO THE REGIONAL HAZE REGULAT IONS Page 14 of 24 • An analysis tracking the change over the past 5 yea rs in emissions of pollutants contributing to visibility impairment from all sources

and activities within the state.

• An assessment of any significant changes in anthrop ogenic

emissions within or outside the state that have occ urred over the past 5 years that have limited or impeded progress in reducing pollutant emissions and improving visibility.

• An assessment of whether the current regional haze implementation plan elements and strategies are sufficient to enab le the state, or other states with mandatory Class I Federal areas a ffected by emissions from the state, to meet all established r easonable progress goals.

• A review of the state’s visibility monitoring strat egy and any modifications to the strategy as necessary.

• Other elements, including reporting, record keeping , and other measures, necessary to assess and report on visibil ity.

The Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA) requires regul atory agencies, upon regulatory action, to assess that action’s potentia l impact on small entities (businesses, governments, and small non-governmenta l organizations) and report the results of the assessments in (1) an Ini tial Regulatory Flexibility Analysis (IRFA), (2) a Final Regulatory Flexibility Analysis (FRFA), and (3) a Certification. For ICR approval, the Agency m ust demonstrate that it "has taken all practicable steps to develop separat e and simplified requirements for small businesses and other small e ntities" (5 CFR 1320.6(h)). In addition, the agencies must assure t hrough various mechanisms that small entities are given an opportu nity to participate in the rulemaking process.

The EPA determined that it was not necessary to pre pare a regulatory flexibility analysis in connection with the regiona l haze rule (July 6, 2005, 70 FR 39104) because the rule did not have a signif icant economic impact

on a substantial number of small entities. Similarl y, this ICR renewal will not impose any direct requirements on small entitie s and will apply primarily to states which are developing the SIP re visions.

States are required to submit their periodic progre ss reports, in the form of a SIP revision, five years after the initial region al haze plan submission (or in the case of 51.309 states, in 2018). Table 5.1 s hows when these reports

are due for each of the states. Note that some stat es have reports which are due outside of this renewal period, before March 31 , 2016 or beyond March 31, 2019. Accordingly, we have estimated burd en only for the 14

states with due dates that fall within this renewal period. 5.4 Collection

Schedule 5.3 Small Entity FlexibilityINFORMATION COLLECTION REQUEST SUPPORTING STATEMENT FOR

FOR PROPOSED REVISIONS TO THE REGIONAL HAZE REGULAT IONS Page 15 of 24 Table 5.1 Due Dates for the 5 Year Progress Reports 1
State Progress Report Due Date

Alaska 4/4/2016

Colorado 6/11/2016

Illinois 6/24/2016

Nebraska 6/30/2016

Wisconsin 7/1/2016

District of Columbia 10/27/2016

Massachusetts 12/30/2016 Maryland 2/13/2017

Montana 9/18/2017

Hawaii 10/9/2017 Virgin Islands 10/22/2017

Utah 12/31/2018 Wyoming 12/31/2018

New Mexico 12/31/2018

All states (including those subject to a FIP) are r equired to develop and submit periodic comprehensive SIP revisions by July 31, 2018.

For the purposes of this ICR, we assume that each o f these states will in fact submit progress reports and/or periodic compre hensive SIP revisions

on the due dates indicated above.

1 The EPA developed FIPs for Hawaii, Montana, and th e Virgin Islands and due dates for the progress reports are based on the dates of the FIP promulgation.INFORMATION COLLECTION REQUEST SUPPORTING STATEMENT FOR

FOR PROPOSED REVISIONS TO THE REGIONAL HAZE REGULAT IONS Page 16 of 24 Burden means the total time, effort, or financial r esources expended by persons to generate, maintain, retain, or disclose or provide information to or for a federal agency. This includes the time nee ded to review instructions; develop, acquire, install, and utiliz e technology and systems for the purposes of collecting, validating, and ver ifying information, processing and maintaining information, and disclos ing and providing information; adjust the ways to comply with any pre viously applicable instructions and requirements; train personnel to b e able to respond to a collection of information; and transmit or otherwis e disclose the information. The burden estimate should be composed of (1) the total capital and start-up cost component annualized over its useful life; (2) the total operation, maintenance and purchases of servi ces component. Each component should be divided into burden borne direc tly by the respondent and any services that are contracted out.

This ICR renewal will apply to 50 states the Distri ct of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands which are working on submitting periodic comprehensive SIP revisions, and 11 of which are de veloping 5-year progress reports in the form of SIP revisions to sa tisfy the requirements of section 308(g). All periodic comprehensive SIP revi sions are due by July 31, 2018. Table 5.1 above shows when progress repor ts are due for each of the 11 states. For this renewal period, the burden for industrial sources will be negligible as plans and reports are required fro m the states.

For three states (Utah, Wyoming, and New Mexico) wh ich submitted their regional haze SIPs under section 309 of the regiona l haze rule, there are also 5-year periodic reporting requirements that ar e essentially the same as the requirements under section 308(g); the next due date for progress reports for these states is December 31, 2018. Tabl e 6.1 summarizes the results for each of the major categories of respond ents with details

discussed in the narrative below.

Develop and Submit Progress Reports as required und er the Regional

Haze Rule. Based on the elements that are required for the rep ort, which are described in section 5.2 above, we believe that an estimate of 280 hours per state to complete the 5-year progress report is reasonable. Much of the analysis for the report will entail the states asse ssing changes in their emission inventories for the reporting period and r eporting on changes in visibility based on available monitoring data. This burden estimate does not include any hours for preparation and finalization of the emission

inventories because it is assumed that the EPA will provide an approved inventory, with appropriate forward projections of future visibility 6 Estimating the Burden and Cost of the Collection

6.1 Estimating Respondent

BurdenINFORMATION COLLECTION REQUEST SUPPORTING STATEMENT FOR

FOR PROPOSED REVISIONS TO THE REGIONAL HAZE REGULAT IONS Page 17 of 24 conditions, which the states may use for their anal yses. For each individual state, we believe that approximately 160 hours on a verage is needed to analyze, evaluate, and summarize changes in the inv entory and monitoring data over the reporting period, and another 80 hour s is sufficient to prepare the report in the form of a SIP revision. These est imates are based on

informal conversations with state and the EPA’s tec hnical staff. Finally, we assumed that states would need approximately 40 add itional hours to address and respond to any public comments received on its SIP revision.

Develop and Submit Periodic Comprehensive SIP Revis ions (or Initial SIPs) as required under the Regional Haze Rule. Based on the elements that are required for the periodic comprehensive SI P revisions (or initial SIPs), which are described in section 5.2 above, an d a review of previous ICRs, we believe that an estimate of 500 hours per state to complete the periodic comprehensive SIP revision (or initial SIP ) is reasonable.

Table 6.1. Estimated Respondent Burden to Implement Requirements

Task Element Hours/State Hours/Source Year
Incurred

Develop and submit §308(g) or 309(d)(10) Implementation Plan – 5- year periodic reports 280 0 2016 - 2019

Develop and submit periodic comprehensive
SIP revisions 500 0 2016 - 2018

This ICR uses the most recently available wage valu es with the wage rate methods established in the New Source Review (NSR) ICRs 2 . For this renewal period, the burden for industrial sources w ill be negligible as the reports are required from the states with review be ing done by the EPA and

the FLMs.

Consistent with methodologies for previous NSR ICRs , the labor rate used to calculate federal, state, and local respondents’ labor costs is approximated from the 2015 federal government pay s chedule. Managerial rates are accounted for by multiplying the hourly r ate by 9%; the clerical support rates are multiplied by 13%. 3 The hourly rate is $49.53, and the

calculation is shown in Table 6.3

2 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards,
INFORMATION COLLECTION REQUEST FOR CHANGES TO PREVE NTION OF

SIGNIFICANT DETERIORATION AND NONATTAINMENT NEW SOU RCE REVIEW:
EMISSIONS TEST FOR ELECTRIC GENERATING UNITS, August 2006, p. 20

3 Ibid. 6.2 Estimating Respondent CostsINFORMATION COLLECTION REQUEST SUPPORTING STATEMENT FOR

FOR PROPOSED REVISIONS TO THE REGIONAL HAZE REGULAT IONS Page 18 of 24 Table 6.3 Determination of Federal, State, and Loca l Wage Rates

Annual Salary of Technical Staff, GS 11 Step 3 (FY 15 Schedule)* $54,718.00

Annual Cost of Supervisory Staff, GS 13 Step 3 (FY 15 Schedule)* $77,989.00

Factor (1/11) 0.09

$7,019.01

Annual Cost of Support Staff, GS 6 Step 6 (FY 15 Sc hedule)* Factor (1/8) $36,392.00

0.13

$4,730.96
Annual Applicable Salary of Technical Staff $66,46 7.97
Benefits (at 16%) $10,634.88

Sick Leave / Vacation (at 10%) $6,646.80

General Overhead (at 29%) $19,275.71

Total Cost Per FTE $103,025.36

Total Hourly Cost (Total Per FTE divided by 2,080 h ours per year) $49.53
* https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/pay-lea ve/salaries-wages/salary-tables/pdf/2015/GS.pdf January 2015

Since the purchase of capital equipment is believed to be an insignificant factor in meeting the requirements associated with this ICR renewal, the EPA assumes the operation, maintenance, or services are also negligible. Most of the data and other guidance for estimating emissions and visibility impacts are available in electronic form and any eq uipment needed to respond to requests will be part of the respondent’ s operating inventory.

Typically, annualized capital cost would be derived from a discounted net present value of the stream of costs that would occ ur over the life of the activity, or the ICR, whichever is shorter. However we do not anticipate these types of expenses will be incurred during thi s clearance period.

For this ICR, we have assumed the following number of offices will be involved in implementing the Regional Haze requirem ents.

EPA Regional Offices. We assume that all 10 EPA Regional Offices will be responsible for reviewing progress reports and S IPs from the states in their jurisdiction, responding to public comments, and preparing federal register notices in taking final action on the SIPs

.

EPA Headquarters. The EPA Headquarters staff will provide oversight

and review of the submittals.

FLMs. The FLMs will review and comment on the submittals

.

Table 6.4 presents our estimate of the Agency burde n in the ICR clearance period which is the average to review one state pla n. In developing these estimates, we considered previous estimates for sim ilar activities, 6.2.3 Annualiz ed Capital Costs

6.3 Estimating Agency Burden
and CostINFORMATION COLLECTION REQUEST SUPPORTING STATEMENT FOR

FOR PROPOSED REVISIONS TO THE REGIONAL HAZE REGULAT IONS Page 19 of 24 particularly related to the time necessary to revie w progress reports and SIPs and prepare federal register notices and respo nd to public comments.

For the progress reports, summing the total hours f rom Table 6.4 (360 hours) and multiplying by 14 total progress reports yields a total estimate of 5,040 hours. Using the calculated labor rate of $49.53/hr. from Table 6.3, multiplied by the 5,040 hours gives an estimat ed cost of $249,631, which when averaged over the 3 year collection peri od is about $83,210 per year as the Agency’s burden estimate for the progre ss reports.

For the periodic comprehensive SIP revisions, summi ng the total hours from Table 6.4 (400 hours) and multiplying by 52 to tal periodic comprehensive SIP revisions yields a total estimate of 20,800 hours. Using the calculated labor rate of $49.53/hr, from Table 6.3, multiplied by the 20,800 hours gives an estimated cost of $1,030,224, which when averaged over the 3 year collection period is about $343,408 per year as the Agency’s burden estimate for the periodic comprehen sive SIP revisions or

initial SIPs.

Table 6.4. Estimated Agency Burden to Implement Re quirements

Task Element Hours/EPA Regional
Office Hours/ EPA

Headquarters Hours/FLM Year Incurred

Review §308(g) or 309(d)(10) Implementation Plan – 5-year progress reports 160 20 40 2016 - 2019

Respond to Public Comments and Prepare Federal Register
Notices 120 20 0 2016 – 2019

Review periodic comprehensive SIP
revisions or initial SIPs 200 20 40 2016 - 2019

TOTAL (progress report) 280 40 40 2016 - 2019

TOTAL (periodic comprehensive SIP revision) 320 40 40 2016 - 2019

For the purpose of estimating burden in this ICR, t he respondent universe is

determined as follows.

States . We assume that 50 states, the District of Columbi a, and the U.S. Virgin Islands will develop and submit the periodic comprehensive regional haze SIP revision required in 2018. We ass ume that 14 states will be affected by the regional haze rule 5-year progre ss reporting requirements. 6.4 Estimating the Respondent

UniverseINFORMATION COLLECTION REQUEST SUPPORTING STATEMENT FOR

FOR PROPOSED REVISIONS TO THE REGIONAL HAZE REGULAT IONS Page 20 of 24 Tribes. No tribes have elected to develop and implement th e regional haze plan.

Industry. The sole regional haze requirements for this repor ting period are for the states to submit periodic progress reports and periodic comprehensive SIP revisions, and thus there is no a nticipated burden for

industrial sources.

Tables 6.5 summarizes the total annual respondent b urden to prepare and submit the 5-year progress reports and the periodic comprehensive revisions to state SIPs (or initial SIPs). The tota l respondent burden is estimated to be 10,307 hours per year and $510,489 per year. As described in section 6.2.2 and 6.2.3, there are no operation and maintenance costs or capital costs associated with activities to be cond ucted during this 3-year clearance period. The total number of respondents i s 52 (52 state agencies.) 6.5 Bottom Line
Burden and CostINFORMATION COLLECTION REQUEST SUPPORTING STATEMENT FOR

FOR PROPOSED REVISIONS TO THE REGIONAL HAZE REGULAT IONS Page 21 of 24 Table 6.5 Estimated Annual Respondent Burden to Implement Requirements

Task Element States

Average Annual
Hours Average

Annual Cost ($)

Develop and submit §308(g) or 309(d)(10) Implementation Plan – 5-year periodic reports 1,307

Calculation: (280 hours per plan x 14 plans)/3

years= 1,307 hr/yr 64,719

Calculation: (1,307 hrs per yr x labor rate of $49.53)

Develop and submit periodic comprehensive
SIP revisions 9,000

Calculation: (500 hours per plan x 54 plans)/3

years= 9,000 hr/yr 445,770

(9,000 hrs per yr x labor rate of $49.53)

Total Burden for Respondent 10,307 510,489

The burden estimates for this ICR reflect the requi rements of the final regional haze rule with respect to the scheduled ev ents and activities in the implementation process. The last collection reques t anticipated the program consisting mainly of submission and review of 5-year progress reports. The change in burden reflects changes in l abor rates, changes in the activities conducted due to the normal progression of the program, and the fact that the periodic comprehensive regional haze SIP revisions will need to be acted on by the EPA beginning in 2018 and the states will be working on and submitting those periodic comprehensive SIP revisions.

The annual public reporting and recordkeeping burde n for this collection of information is estimated to average 198 hours per r espondent. Burden means the total time, effort, or financial resource s expended by persons to generate, maintain, retain, or disclose or provide information to or for a federal agency. This includes the time needed to re view instructions; develop, acquire, install, and utilize technology a nd systems for the purposes of collecting, validating, and verifying i nformation, processing and maintaining information, and disclosing and pro viding information; adjusting the existing ways to comply with any prev iously applicable instructions and requirements; training personnel t o be able to respond to a collection of information; searching data sources; completing and reviewing the collection of information; and transm itting or otherwise disclosing the information. The Agency may not cond uct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it 6.6 Reasons for Change in
Burden

6.7 Burden
StatementINFORMATION COLLECTION REQUEST SUPPORTING STATEMENT FOR

FOR PROPOSED REVISIONS TO THE REGIONAL HAZE REGULAT IONS Page 22 of 24 displays a currently valid OMB control number. The OMB control numbers for the EPA’s regulations are listed in 40 CFR Part 9 and 48 CFR Chapter

15.

To comment on the Agency’s need for this informatio n, the accuracy of the provided burden estimates, and any suggested method s for minimizing respondent burden, including through the use of aut omated collection techniques, the EPA has established a public docket for this ICR under Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2003-0162, that is availab le for public viewing at the Air and Radiation Docket and Informa tion Center, in the EPA Docket Center (EPA/DC), EPA West, Room 3334, 13 01 Constitution Ave., NW, Washington, DC. The EPA Docket Center Pub lic Reading Room is open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday th rough Friday, excluding legal holidays. The telephone number for the Reading Room is (202) 566-1744, and the telephone number for the Ai r Docket is (202) 566-

1742. An electronic version of the public docket is avail able at www.regulations.gov. This site can be used to subm it 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. When in the system, select “search ,” then key in the Docket

ID Number identified above. Also, you can send comments to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Ma nagement and Budget, 725 17th Street, N.W., Washington D.C. 20503, Atten tion: Desk Officer for EPA. Please include EPA Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OA R-2003-0162 and OMB Control Number 2060-0421 in any corresponde nce.

Proposed changes to the regional haze rule include: a 3-year extension of the deadline for state submittal of periodic compre hensive SIP revisions (from July 31, 2018 to July 31, 2021); a change in submission deadlines for progress reports and removal of the requirement tha t progress reports be submitted as SIP revisions; discontinuance of the 1 980s-era requirement for

36 states and territories with Class I areas to sub mit SIP revisions every 10 years that assess whether reasonably attributable v isibility impairment (RAVI) is occurring and removal of the obligation f or the EPA to periodically assess RAVI for the 20 states that nev er committed to meet this requirement; extension to the remaining 16 sta tes the ability of a FLM to certify to a state that RAVI is occurring and th ereby trigger a requirement for a responsive SIP revision; and clar ification of several terms in the current rule text and updating of cross refe rences. 7 Changes Anticipated as a Result of Proposed Rule Revisions

7.1 Summary of Proposed Rule ChangesINFORMATION COLLECTION REQUEST SUPPORTING STATEMENT FOR

FOR PROPOSED REVISIONS TO THE REGIONAL HAZE REGULAT IONS Page 23 of 24 Under the proposed rule, the SIPs revisions for all states due by July 31, 2018 would instead be due by July 31, 2021. As a r esult, activities conducted by the states, Federal Land Managers (FLM s), and the EPA would shift from focusing on actual submittal of SI P revisions to focusing on early analysis to support SIP revision developme nt, although some states (particularly eastern states) may still elec t to submit on or near the current 2018 deadline. Under the existing and propo sed rules, 40 CFR 51.308(g) also requires states to develop periodic reports evaluating progress towards the reasonable progress goals for improving visibility in Class I areas inside the state and in neighboring s tates. The timing of these progress reports due during the period 2016-2019 wo uld not change under the proposed rule. There are similar reporting requ irements under 40 CFR 51.309, a section of the regional haze rule in whic h three states (Utah, Wyoming, and New Mexico) elected to submit their SI Ps, and none of its requirements for the period 2016-2019 would be alte red by the proposed

rule.

Other sections of 40 CFR 51 relate to reasonably at tributable visibility impairment (RAVI). Under the proposed rule, all sta tes would be subject to FLM certifications of RAVI, as opposed to the curre nt 36. The historical rarity of a RAVI certification implies that no addi tional RAVI certifications would occur during the 3-year period at issue and l ikely no RAVI

certifications even if the current rule were to rem ain in place. With all of these proposed changes considered, the overall burden on states would represent a reduction compared to what would otherwise occur if the provisions of the current rule were to stay in plac e. See Table 7.1 for an

estimate of these reductions.

Table 7.1 Estimated Annual Respondent Burden to Implement Requirements: Current Rule vs. Proposed Rule Revisi ons 7.2 Estimating Change in Respondent
BurdenINFORMATION COLLECTION REQUEST SUPPORTING STATEMENT FOR

FOR PROPOSED REVISIONS TO THE REGIONAL HAZE REGULAT IONS Page 24 of 24 Task Element States

Average Annual
Hours: Current Rule Average Annual Cost ($ ) : Current Rule Average Annual Hours: Proposed Rule Revisions Average Annual Cost ($): Proposed Rule Revisions

Develop and submit §308(g) or 309(d)(10) Implementation Plan – 5-year periodic reports 1,307

Calculation: (280 hours per plan x 14 plans)/3 years= 1,307 hr/yr 64,719

Calculation: (1,307 hrs per yr x labor rate of $49.53) 1,307

(No change) 64,719

Calculation: (1,307 hrs per yr x labor rate of $49.53)

Develop and submit periodic comprehensive SIP
revisions 9,000
Calculation: (500 hours per plan x 54 plans)/3 years= 9,000 hr/yr 445,770
Calculation: (9,000 hrs per yr x labor rate of $49.53) 2,000
Calculation: (500 hours per plan x 12 early plans)/3 years= 2,000 hr/yr 99,060
Calculation: (2,000 hrs per yr x labor rate of $49.53)

Early analysis to support SIP revision development 0 0 2,667
Calculation: (200 hours per plan x 40 remaining on-time plans)/3

years= 2,667 hr/yr 132,097

(2,667 hrs per yr x labor rate of $49.53)

Total Burden by Respondent 10,307 510,489 5,974 295,876