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SUPPORTING STATEMENT

NATIONAL EMISSION STANDARDS FOR HAZARDOUS AIR POLLUTANTS 

(NESHAP) FOR AREA SOURCES: ELECTRIC ARC FURNACE STEELMAKING 

FACILITIES (40 CFR part 63, subpart YYYYY)

PART A

1.0 Identification of the Information Collection

(a) Title and Number of the Information Collection.

“NESHAP for Area Sources: Electric Arc Furnace Steelmaking Facilities (40 CFR part 

63, subpart YYYYY) (Final Rule).” This is a new information collection request (ICR). The 

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) tracking number for this request is ICR number 

2277.02.

(b) Short Characterization.

Potential respondents are owners or operators of electric arc furnace (EAF) steelmaking 

facilities that are area sources of hazardous air pollutants (HAP) emissions. The final standards 

establish particulate matter (PM) emission limits for control devices and opacity limits for melt 

shops; pollution prevention requirements for ferrous scrap that is melted in EAFs; and

monitoring, reporting, and recordkeeping requirements.

All respondents are required to comply with the compliance assurance monitoring 

requirements in 40 CFR part 64. Respondents must conduct initial performance tests (if a 

performance test has not been conducted in the previous 5 years) and operate according to a 

startup, shutdown, and malfunction plan. Options are provided for the pollution prevention 

requirements for scrap: (1) restrict the use of certain scrap that contains contaminants such as 

mercury, organic liquids, or lead; or (2) implement a pollution prevention plan for scrap 

inspection and selection to limit the amount of organics, mercury, and lead in the scrap. The 

plans must include provisions to demonstrate compliance such as periodic inspections of 

incoming scrap and recordkeeping. All respondents are required to submit one-time 

notifications, make semiannual compliance reports, and maintain records of specific information 

to ensure that the rule requirements are being achieved. These requirements are listed in 

Attachment 1. 

2. Need For and Use of the Collection
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(a) Need/Authority for the Collection.

Section 112(d) of the Clean Air Act (CAA) requires regulation of major and area sources 

of HAP that are listed for regulation under section 112(c). Additional requirements for area 

sources are described in section 112(k). We implement the area source requirements through our 

Integrated Urban Air Toxics Strategy (64 FR 38715, July 19, 1999). The Integrated Urban Air 

Toxics Strategy identifies 33 pollutants that pose the greatest public health concern in the largest 

number of urban areas along with the area sources that represent 90 percent of the emissions. 

We added EAF steelmaking facilities to the Integrated Urban Air Toxics Strategy area source 

category list on June 26, 2002 (67 FR 43112). Area source standards established pursuant to the 

Integrated Urban Air Toxics Strategy may be based on the maximum achievable control 

technology (MACT) under CAA section 112(d)(4) or generally available control technology 

(GACT) under CAA section 112(d)(5). The area source standards for EAF steelmaking facilities 

reflect the application of GACT for emission limits and operating limits. 

Section 112(c)(6) requires EPA to list major and area source categories that emit any of 

seven specific pollutants (one of which is mercury). We must assure that the listed source 

categories account for 90 percent of the aggregate emissions of each of the seven specific 

pollutants and that the listed source categories are, or will be, subject to MACT standards under 

section 112(d). Since the initial listing (April 10, 2998), we have found that EAF steelmaking 

facilities are a significant contributor to mercury emissions. Concurrent with the proposed rule, 

we added EAF steelmaking facilities to the list of source categories under CAA section 

112(c)(6). The work practice standards for EAF steelmaking facilities reflect the application of 

MACT for the control of mercury emissions. 

Certain records and reports are necessary for the Administrator to: (1) confirm the 

compliance status of area sources, identify new or reconstructed sources subject to the standards; 

and ensure that the standards are being achieved on a continuous basis. These recordkeeping and 

reporting requirements are specifically authorized by section 114 of the CAA (42 U.S.C. 7414) 

and set out in the General Provisions for national emission standards for hazardous air pollutants 

(NESHAP) in 40 CFR Part 63, Subpart A.

(b) Use/Users of the Data.

The information will be used by Agency enforcement personnel to ensure that the rule 

requirements are being achieved. Based on review of the recorded information at the site and the 
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reported information, EPA can identify facilities that may not be in compliance and decide which 

plants, records, or processes should be inspected.

3. Nonduplication, Consultations, and Other Collection Criteria

(a) Nonduplication.

A computer search of the Federal Information Locator System indicated that, with the 

exception of the New Source Performance Standards for Electric Arc Furnaces (40 CFR Part 60, 

Subparts AA and Aaa), there are no similar information requests being carried out by the Federal 

government. A similar search of EPA's ongoing ICR's revealed no duplication of informationgathering efforts. Most of the requirements in the final standards have been adopted from the 

NSPS. Therefore, certain reports required by the NSPS or State or local agencies may duplicate 

information required by the final standards. In such cases, a copy of the report submitted for the 

NSPS or to the State or local agency can be provided to the Administrator in lieu of the 

information that would be required in the semi-annual compliance report.

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

Public notice is given as part of the rulemaking process..

(c) Consultations.

These final standards were developed in consultation with State and local agencies, EPA 

Regional Office experts, individual plants, and their trade associations. For example, several 

meetings and telephone consultations were held with representatives from the affected plants,

and their trade associations. The non-EPA persons consulted on the information collection 

activities are identified in Table 1.

TABLE 1. PERSONS CONSULTED ON THE INFORMATION COLLECTION ACTIVITIES

Contact Organization Telephone 

Number

Eric Stuart Steel Manufacturers’ Association 202-296-1515

Jim Schultz American Iron and Steel Institute 202-452-7180

John 

Wittenborn

Counsel for the Specialty Steel Industry of North 

America

202-342-8514

(d) Effects of Less Frequent Collection.

If the relevant information were collected less frequently, EPA would not be reasonably 

assured that a plant is in compliance with the standards.
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(e) General Guidelines. 

None of the guidelines in 5 CFR 1320.6 are being exceeded.

(f) Confidentiality.

All information submitted to the Agency for which a claim of confidentiality is made will 

be safeguarded according to the Agency policies set forth in Title 40, Chapter 1, Part 2, Subpart 

B -- Confidentiality of Business Information (see 40 CFR 2; 41 FR 36902, September 1, 1976; 

amended by 43 FR 39999, September 28, 1978; 43 FR 42251, September 28, 1978; 44 FR 

17674, March 23, 1979).

(g) Sensitive Questions. 

This ICR does not involve matters of a sensitive nature.

4. The Respondents and the Information Requested

(a) Respondents/NAIC Codes.

Potential respondents are owners or operators of new or existing EAF steelmaking 

facilities that are area sources of HAP. We estimate that 91 plants will be subject to the testing, 

monitoring, notification, reporting, and recordkeeping requirements; no new facilities are 

expected during the 3-year clearance period of this ICR. The NAICS codes for this industry is 

331111, “Iron and Steel Mills”. 

(b) Information Requested.

(i) Data Items, Including Recordkeeping Requirements. Attachment 1, Source Data and 

Information Requirements, summarizes the proposed information collection requirements.

(ii) Respondent Activities. The respondent activities required by the proposed 

amendments are identified in Table 2 and introduced in section 6(a).

5. The Information Collected–Agency Activities, Collection Methodology, and 

Information Management

(a) Agency Activities.

A list of Agency activities is provided in Table 3 and introduced in section 6(c).

(b) Collection Methodology and Management.

Data obtained during periodic visits by EPA personnel, from records maintained by the 

respondents, and from information provided in notifications will be tabulated and published for 

internal EPA use in compliance and enforcement programs. Records of measurements, 

maintenance, reports, and records must be retained for two years following the date of the item.
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c) Small Entity Flexibility.

A small entity for this industry is defined by the Small Business Administration as a firm 

having no more than 1,000 employees. Of the 91 facilities that will be subject to the rule, two 

facilities are considered to be small entities.

Although the final rule would not have a significant economic impact on the small 

entities, we nonetheless tried to reduce the impact of the rule on small facilities. We held several 

meetings with industry trade associations and company representatives to discuss the rule and 

have included provisions to address their concerns.

(d) Collection Schedule.

Information contained in the periodic reports submitted to the EPA will be entered into 

the Aerometric Information Retrieval System (AIRS) database which is operated and maintained 

by EPA’s Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards. Information contained in the one-time 

only reports will be entered into the National Compliance Data System operated and maintained 

by EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. Data obtained during periodic 

visits by Agency personnel from records maintained by the respondents will be tabulated and 

published for internal EPA use in enforcement and compliance programs. A schedule for 

collection of information and publication of data is not applicable because reports are triggered 

by actions of the respondents.

6. Estimating the Burden and Cost of the Collection

(a) Estimating Respondent Burden.

The annual burden estimates for the additional recordkeeping and reporting requirements 

in the final rule are shown in Table 2. These numbers were derived from estimates based on 

EPA’s experience with other standards.

(b) Estimating Respondent Costs.

(i) Estimating Labor Costs. Labor rates and associated costs are based on Bureau of 

Labor Statistics (BLS) data. Technical, management, and clerical average hourly rates for 

private industry workers were taken from the United States Department of Labor, Bureau of 

Labor Statistics, May 2006, “Occupational Employment Statistics” available at www.bls.gov. 

Wages for occupational groups in NAICS 331100 (Iron and Steel) are used as the basis for the 

labor rates with a total compensation of $32.93/hour for technical (environmental engineer), 

$45.91/hour for environmental manager, and $13.76/hour for clerical. These rates represent 
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salaries plus fringe benefits and do not include the cost of overhead. An overhead rate of 60 

percent is used to account for these costs. The fully-burdened hourly wage rates used to 

represent respondent labor costs are: technical at $52.69, management at $73.46, and clerical at 

$2.02.

(ii) Estimating Capital and Operations and Maintenance (O&M) Costs. As shown in 

Table 2, no (zero) capital/startup or O&M costs are associated with the rule over the 3-year 

period of this ICR. 

(iii) Capital/Startup vs. O&M Costs. The estimate of capital/startup costs vs. O&M costs 

is shown in Table 2. No (zero) O&M costs are associated with the rule over the 3-year period of 

this ICR. 

(iv) Annualizing Capital Costs. As shown in Table 2, no (zero) annualized costs are 

associated with the rule during the 3-year period of this ICR.

(c) Estimating Agency Burden and Cost.

Because the information collection requirements were developed as an incidental part of 

standards development, no costs can be attributed to the development of the information 

collection requirements. Because reporting and recordkeeping requirements on the part of the 

respondents are required under the NESHAP General Provisions, no operational costs will be 

incurred by the Federal Government. Publication and distribution of the information are part of 

the Compliance Data System, with the result that no Federal costs can be directly attributed to 

the ICR. Examination of records to be maintained by the respondents will occur incidentally as 

part of the periodic inspection of sources that is part of EPA's overall compliance and 

enforcement program, and, therefore, is not attributable to the ICR. The only costs that the 

Federal government will incur are user costs associated with the analysis of the reported 

information, as presented in Table 3.

The Agency labor rates are from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) 2007

General Schedule which excludes locality rates of pay. These rates are from Salary Table 2007-

GS available on the OPM website, https://www.opm.gov/oca/07tables/html/gs_h.asp. The 

government employee labor rates are $14.16/hour for clerical (GS-6, Step 3), $29.98 for 

technical (GS-12, Step 1), and $36.36/hr for management (GS-13, Step 5). These rates were 

increased by 60 percent to include fringe benefits and overhead. The fully-burdened wage rates 
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used to represent Agency labor costs are: clerical at $22.66; technical at $43.14, and 

management at $58.18.

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

The EPA estimates that 91 area source plants with EAF steelmaking facilities will be 

subject to the rule requirements. No new respondents are anticipated during the next 3 years. 

Therefore, the average annual number of respondents is 30.3. Details on the number of 

respondents affected by each individual burden item are provided in the footnotes of Table 2.

The total number of annual responses for the final rule is 243. This number is calculated 

from the number of respondents subject to one-time (initial) notification requirements (91)

multiplied by the number of initial reports (2 over 3 years = 0.67 per year), plus the number of 

respondents (91) multiplied by the number of semiannual reports (2 per year). 

(e) Bottom Line Burden Hours and Cost Tables.

(i) Respondent tally. The bottom line respondent burden hours and costs, presented in 

Table 2, are calculated by adding person-hours per year down each column for technical, 

managerial, and clerical staff, and by adding down the cost column. The average annual burden 

for the monitoring, recordkeeping, and reporting requirements in the rule is 2,393 person hours 

with an annual average cost of $121,573 with no annual capital and O&M costs.

(ii) The Agency tally. The average annual Federal Government cost for the existing rule 

is $8,859 for 192 total annual hours. The bottom line Agency burden hours and costs for the 

final rule, presented in Table 3, are calculated by adding person-hours per year down each 

column for technical, managerial, and clerical staff, and by adding down the cost column. In this 

case, total cost is the sum of this total salary cost and total travel expenses for tests attended. 

(iii) Variations in the annual bottom line. This section does not apply since no 

significant variation is anticipated.

(f) Reasons for Change in Burden.

This section does not apply because this is a new ICR.

(g) Burden Statement
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The average annual respondent burden per facility is estimated at 79 hours. 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 Federal 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; search data sources; complete and review the collection of 

information; and transmit 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. The OMB 

control numbers for EPA's regulations in 40 CFR part 63 are listed in 40 CFR part 9.

To comment on the Agency’s need for this information the accuracy of the provided 

burden estimates, and any suggestions for minimizing respondent burden, including through the 

use of automated collection techniques, EPA has established a public docket for this ICR under 

Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2004-0083, which is available for public viewing at the Air and 

Radiation Docket and Information Center in the EPA Docket Center (EPA/DC), EPA West, 

Room 3334, 1301 Constitution Ave., NW, Washington, DC. 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 Air Docket is (202) 566-1742. An electronic version of the public docket is 

available at www.regulations.gov. This site can be used 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. 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 Management and Budget, 725 17th Street, NW, 

Washington, DC 20503, Attention Desk Officer for EPA. Please include the EPA Docket ID 

No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2004-0083 and OMB Control Number 2060-NEW in any correspondence.

PART B

This section is not applicable because statistical methods are not used in data collection 

associated with the proposed standards.
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TABLE 2. ANNUAL RESPONDENT BURDEN AND COST OF REPORTING AND RECORDKEEPING 

REQUIREMENTS OF THE PROPOSED STANDARDS

Burden item (A) Personhours per 

occurrence

(B) No. of 

occurrences per 

respondent

(C) Personhours per 

respondent 

(C=A*B)

(D) 

Respondents 

per yeara

(E) Technical 

person-hours 

per year 

(E=C*D)

(F) Management 

person-hours per 

year 

(E*0.05)

(G) Clerical 

person-hours 

per year 

(E*0.1)

(H) 

Costb, $ 

1. Applications N/A

2. Surveys and Studies N/A

3. Acquisition, 

Installation, and 

Utilization of 

Technology and 

Systems 

N/A

4. Reporting Requirements

A. Read instructions 8 1 8 30.3 242 12 24 $14,196

B. Required activities 

Prepare scrap plan and 

scrap specifications

4 1 4 30.3 121 6.1 12 $7,098

Initial performance 

testsc

C. Create information See 4B

D. Gather existing 

information

See 4B

E. Write report See 4B

Initial notification of 

applicability

2 1 2 30.3 61 3.0 6.1 $3,549

Notification of 

compliance status

2 1 2 30.3 61 3.0 6.1 $3,549

Request for compliance 

extension

N/A

Notification of 

performance testc

Startup, shutdown, and 

malfunction 

plan/reports

4 1 4 30.3 121 6.1 12 $7,098

Semiannual excess 

emissions reports

2 2 4 91 364 18.2 36 $21,317

5. Recordkeeping Requirements 

A. Read instructions See 4A

B. Plan activities See 4A
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Burden item (A) Personhours per 

occurrence

(B) No. of 

occurrences per 

respondent

(C) Personhours per 

respondent 

(C=A*B)

(D) 

Respondents 

per yeara

(E) Technical 

person-hours 

per year 

(E=C*D)

(F) Management 

person-hours per 

year 

(E*0.05)

(G) Clerical 

person-hours 

per year 

(E*0.1)

(H) 

Costb, $ 

C. Implement activities See 4A

D Develop record 

system

4 1 4 30.3 121 6.1 12 $7,098

E. Time to enter 

information

0.5 52 26 30.3 788 39 79 $46,135

F. Time to transmit or 

disclose information

0.25 2 1 30.3 15 0.8 1.5 $887

G. Time to adjust 

existing ways

2 1 2 30.3 61 3.0 6.1 $3,549

F. Time to train 

personnel

4 1 4 30.3 121 6.1 12 $7,098

G. Time for audits N/A

TOTAL LABOR BURDEN AND COST 2,393 hrs $121,573

 Annualized cost of capitald

$0

 Operation and maintenance (O&M)d

$0

 Total (capital recovery plus O&M)d $0

N/A = not applicable.

a There are 91 EAF steelmaking facilities. The average number of respondents per year for one time events over the 3-year period of the ICR is 30.3 (91÷3=30.3).

b This ICR uses the following labor rates: $73.46 for managerial labor, $52.69 for technical labor, and $22.02 for clerical labor. These rates are from the U.S. Department of Labor, 

Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2006, for NAICS 331100 (Iron and Steel). The rates have been increased by 60% to account for overhead.

c

 All plants have conducted performance tests within the previous 5 years. No additional performance tests are attributed to the proposed rule.

d

 All plants already have installed monitoring equipment as a result of the compliance assurance monitoring rule (40 CFR part 64) and their title V permit requirements. The 

proposed rule will not require any additional monitoring equipment.
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TABLE 3. ANNUAL BURDEN AND COST TO THE FEDERAL/STATE GOVERNMENT OF THE PROPOSED STANDARDS

Burden Item (A) Person hours 

per occurrence

(B) Occurrences 

per respondent

(C) Plants 

per yeara

(D) Technical 

hours/year 

(D=A*B*C)

(E) Management 

hours/year 

(E=0.05*D)

(F) Clericalhours/year 

(F=0.1*D)

(G) 

Costb, $

Report Review:

 Initial notification 

of applicability

1 1 30.3 30.3 1.5 3.0 $1,610

 Startup, shutdown, 

malfunction 

plan/report

2 1 30.3 60.6 3.0 6.1 $3,220

 Notification of 

compliance status

1 1 30.3 30.3 1.5 3.0 $1,610

 Semiannual excess 

emissions report

0.5 1 91 46 2.3 4.6 $2,418

TOTAL BURDEN 

AND COST

192 $8,859

a There are 91 EAF steelmaking facilities. The average number of respondents per year for one time events over the 3-year period of the ICR is 30.3 (91÷3=30.3).

b This ICR uses the following average hourly labor rates: 58.18 for managerial (GS-13, Step 5, $36.36 x 1.6), $43.14 (GS-12, Step 1, $29.98 x 1.6) for technical and $22.66 (GS-6, 

Step 3, $14.16 x 1.6) for clerical. These rates are from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) “2007 General Schedule” which excludes locality rates of pay.
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ATTACHMENT 1. SOURCE DATA AND INFORMATION REQUIREMENTS

Requirement Regulation citation

General Provisions

citation

Record 

retention

STUDIES AND PLANS

Scrap management plan 63.10685(a)(1) and 

(b)(1)

Kept onsite at 

all times

Startup, shutdown, and malfunction plan 63.6(e)(3) Kept onsite at 

all times

REPORTS

Notification of applicability 63.9(b)(1) 5 years

Notification of construction/reconstruction 63.9(b)(4) 5 years

Compliance extension 63.9(c) 5 years

Notification of special requirements 63.9(d) 5 years

Notification of performance test 63.9(e) 5 years

Notification of opacity observations 63.9(f) 5 years

Additional COMS notifications 63.9(g) 5 years

Notification of compliance status 63.10690(b) 63.9(h) 5 years

Semiannual compliance report 63.10685(c) 5 years

Startup, shutdown, malfunction report 63.10(d)(5)(ii) 5 years

RECORDKEEPING

Notifications and reports 63.10(b)(2)(xiv) 5 years

Startups, shutdowns, malfunctions 63.6(e)(1)(iii)-(v) 5 years

Performance tests, performance evaluations, 

and opacity observations

63.10(b)(2)(viii)-(ix) 5 years

Emission/operating limits 63.10(b)(2)(vii) 5 years

Scrap management requirements 63.10685(c) 63.10(b)(2)(iii) 5 years

Continuous monitoring systems 63.10(b)(2)(vi)- (vii), (x)-(xi) 

63.10(c) ; 63.6(h)(7); 63.8(d)(3)

5 years