Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 189 / Monday, September 30, 2024 / Notices 79585 

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, 

referencing Docket ID Number EPA– 

HQ–OAR–2016–0731, to EPA online 

using www.regulations.gov (our 

preferred method), by email to a-and-rDocket@epa.gov or by mail to: EPA 

Docket Center, Environmental 

Protection Agency, Mail Code 28221T, 

1200 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, 

Washington, DC 20460. 

EPA’s policy is that all comments 

received will be included in the public 

docket without change including any 

personal information provided, unless 

the comment includes profanity, threats, 

information claimed to be Confidential 

Business Information (CBI) or other 

information whose disclosure is 

restricted by statute. 

Submit written comments and 

recommendations to OMB for the 

proposed information collection within 

30 days of publication of this notice to 

www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain. 

Find this particular information 

collection by selecting ‘‘Currently under 

30-day Review—Open for Public 

Comments’’ or by using the search 

function. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Andrew Meluch, Office of Atmospheric 

Programs, Climate Change Division, 

(6207A), Environmental Protection 

Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, 

Washington, DC 20460; telephone 

number: (202) 564–4762; email address: 

meluch.andrew@epa.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This is a 

proposed revision of the ICR, which is 

currently approved through December 

31, 2024. 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. 

Public comments were previously 

requested via the Federal Register on 

June 5, 2024, during a 60-day comment 

period (89 FR 48164). This notice allows 

for an additional 30 days for public 

comments. Supporting documents, 

which explain in detail the information 

that the EPA will be collecting, are 

available in the public docket for this 

ICR. The docket can be viewed online 

at www.regulations.gov or in person at 

the EPA Docket Center, WJC West, 

Room 3334, 1301 Constitution Ave. NW, 

Washington, DC. The telephone number 

for the Docket Center is 202–566–1744. 

For additional information about EPA’s 

public docket, visit http://www.epa.gov/ 

dockets. 

Abstract: This ICR revision proposes 

to significantly pare down the 

information reported to EPA’s Natural 

Gas STAR and Methane Challenge 

Programs. Specifically, it proposes to 

remove all of the partnership-specific 

reporting elements, based on the 

Programs’ changes to sunset the 

‘‘Partnership’’ aspects of the programs. 

EPA proposes to retain one key element 

of the ICR, the Service Provider 

Directory. 

The oil and natural gas industry is the 

second largest source of anthropogenic 

methane emissions in the U.S., 

according to the Inventory of U.S. 

Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks: 

1990–2022. Since 1993, the U.S. 

Environmental Protection Agency’s 

(EPA) Natural Gas STAR Program has 

encouraged oil and natural gas 

companies to adopt cost-saving 

technologies and practices that improve 

operational efficiency and reduce 

methane emissions. In 2016, EPA 

launched the Methane Challenge 

Program, which created a mechanism 

for oil and natural gas companies to 

make ambitious, voluntary 

commitments to reduce their methane 

emissions. 

EPA has recently taken historic steps 

to tackle wasteful methane emissions 

from the oil and gas sector beyond 

voluntary action. The Inflation 

Reduction Act directed EPA to 

implement a suite of actions to swiftly 

reduce methane emissions through the 

creation of the Methane Emissions 

Reduction Program (MERP). On 

December 2, 2023, EPA announced final 

New Source Performance Standards and 

Emissions Guidelines (NSPS/EG) to 

regulate the oil and gas industry under 

the Clean Air Act, resulting in ambitious 

requirements to reduce methane from 

both new and existing sources. 

In 2022, EPA announced the 

sunsetting of the Natural Gas STAR 

Program partnership agreements, 

implementation plans, and annual 

reporting. Based on the limited 

remaining potential for voluntary 

actions to reduce methane emissions, 

EPA will also be sunsetting the Methane 

Challenge Partnership at the end of 

2024. EPA will be transitioning the 

Natural Gas STAR Program outreach 

efforts to advance ambitious, sectorwide methane reductions through 

technical assistance and outreach under 

the Methane Emissions Reduction 

Program. 

Therefore, based on these 

significantly reduced programmatic 

elements, for this revision of the 

program ICR, EPA proposes to remove 

all partnership reporting data elements 

and partnership-related information 

collection forms for both programs. This 

includes the removal of annual 

reporting forms, partnership 

agreements, and implementation plans. 

The sole programmatic element 

involving voluntary information 

collection that EPA plans to retain is the 

Service Providers Directory. This 

directory’s purpose is to share 

information about service and 

technology providers that can facilitate 

methane emission reduction activities 

in the oil and gas sector. These changes 

will result in a significant overall 

decrease in burden for this ICR. 

Form Numbers: 5900–502. 

Respondents/affected entities: 

Stakeholders seeking to join the Service 

Provider Directory. 

Respondent’s obligation to respond: 

Voluntary. 

Estimated number of respondents: 50 

per year (total). 

Frequency of response: Respondents 

may fill out the Service Provider 

Directory form any time. 

Total estimated burden: 12.5 hours 

(per year). Burden is defined at 5 CFR 

1320.03(b). 

Total estimated cost: $1,394 (per 

year), which includes $0 annualized 

capital or operation & maintenance 

costs. 

Changes in the Estimates: There is a 

decrease of 4,846 hours in the total 

estimated respondent burden compared 

with the ICR currently approved by 

OMB. This decrease is due to the 

removal of all previous forms associated 

with the Natural Gas STAR and 

Methane Challenge Programs, 

maintaining only the Service Provider 

Directory form. 

Courtney Kerwin, 

Director, Information Engagement Division. 

[FR Doc. 2024–22296 Filed 9–27–24; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6560–50–P 

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 

AGENCY 

[EPA–HQ–OW–2023–0287; FRL–12303–01– 

OMS] 

Agency Information Collection 

Activities; Submission to the Office of 

Management and Budget for Review 

and Approval; Comment Request; 

Textile Mills Industry Data Collection 

(New) 

AGENCY: Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA). 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA) has submitted an 

information collection request (ICR), 

Textile Mills Industry Data Collection 

(EPA ICR Number 2798.01, OMB 

Control Number 2040–NEW) to the 

Office of Management and Budget 

(OMB) for review and approval in 


ddrumheller on DSK120RN23PROD with NOTICES1
79586 Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 189 / Monday, September 30, 2024 / Notices 

accordance with the Paperwork 

Reduction Act. This is a request for 

approval of a new collection. Public 

comments were previously requested 

via the Federal Register on November 

28, 2023 during a 60-day comment 

period. This notice allows for an 

additional 30 days for public comments. 

DATES: Comments must be submitted on 

or before October 30, 2024. 

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, 

referencing Docket ID Number EPA– 

HQ–OW–2023–0287, to EPA online 

using www.regulations.gov (our 

preferred method), by email to OWDocket@epa.gov, or by mail to: EPA 

Docket Center, Environmental 

Protection Agency, Mail Code 28221T, 

1200 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, 

Washington, DC 20460. EPA’s policy is 

that all comments received will be 

included in the public docket without 

change including any personal 

information provided, unless the 

comment includes profanity, threats, 

information claimed to be Confidential 

Business Information (CBI) or other 

information whose disclosure is 

restricted by statute. 

Submit written comments and 

recommendations to OMB for the 

proposed information collection within 

30 days of publication of this notice to 

www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain. 

Find this particular information 

collection by selecting ‘‘Currently under 

30-day Review—Open for Public 

Comments’’ or by using the search 

function. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Paul 

Schriner, Engineering and Analysis 

Division, mail code 4301M, 

Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 

Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, DC 

20460; telephone number: 101–566– 

1076; email address: oira_submission@

omb.eop.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This is a 

request for approval of a new collection. 

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. 

Public comments were previously 

requested via the Federal Register on 

November 28, 2023 during a 60-day 

comment period (88 FR 83125). This 

notice allows for an additional 30 days 

for public comments. Supporting 

documents, which explain in detail the 

information that the EPA will be 

collecting, are available in the public 

docket for this ICR. The docket can be 

viewed online at www.regulations.gov 

or in person at the EPA Docket Center, 

WJC West, Room 3334, 1301 

Constitution Ave. NW, Washington, DC. 

The telephone number for the Docket 

Center is 202–566–1744. For additional 

information about EPA’s public docket, 

visit http://www.epa.gov/dockets. 

Abstract: Under the Clean Water Act 

(CWA), the EPA develops effluent 

limitations guidelines (ELGs) to limit 

pollutants discharged from industrial 

point source categories. The EPA 

initially promulgated the Textiles Mills 

ELGs in 1974 (39 FR 24736, July 5, 

1974) and amended the regulations in 

1977 (42 FR 26979, May 26, 1977) and 

1982 (47 FR 38810, September 2, 1982). 

Textiles mills receive and prepare 

fibers, transforming these materials into 

yarn, thread or webbing. Other mills 

convert yarns and webbing into fabric or 

related products and finish these 

materials. Many textile mills produce a 

final consumer product such as thread, 

yarn, fabric, hosiery, sheets, towels, and 

carpet. The current regulation covers 

wastewater discharges from textile mills 

which perform one or more of the 

following operations and discharge 

process wastewater directly to surface 

waters or indirectly to surface waters 

through publicly owned treatment 

works (POTWs): wool scouring, wool 

finishing, yarn and unfinished fabric 

manufacturing, woven fabric finishing, 

knit fabric finishing, carpet finishing, 

and nonwoven textile products of wool, 

cotton, synthetics, or blends of such 

fabrics. 

As announced in the Effluent 

Guidelines Program Plan 15 (88 FR 

6258, January 31, 2023), the EPA is 

continuing to evaluate the available data 

on types and concentrations of PFAS in 

wastewater discharged from textile 

mills. A questionnaire for the textile 

mills industry is necessary for the EPA 

to determine if the current regulations 

remain appropriate and, if warranted, to 

develop and propose new regulations. If 

new regulations are deemed to be 

warranted, the questionnaire is essential 

for the EPA to complete the detailed 

technical analysis necessary for the 

rulemaking. The EPA has identified and 

compiled mailing addresses for 

approximately 2,200 textile 

manufacturing facilities in the United 

States. A subsequent wastewater 

sampling program will require a subset 

of approximately 20 textile 

manufacturing facilities that completed 

the questionnaire to also collect 

wastewater samples and submit them to 

an EPA-contracted laboratory. 

Wastewater sampling data are critical 

for characterizing the wastewater 

generated and discharged by textile 

manufacturing facilities, as well as 

evaluating the effectiveness of pollution 

control practices and technologies to 

reduce or eliminate PFAS in discharges. 

Additional objectives of the 

questionnaire and sampling will be to 

confirm the current population of textile 

mills, estimate the volume of 

wastewater discharged from the 

industry, confirm which mills still use 

PFAS in their processes, and gather 

facility-specific information and data 

relevant to generation and discharge of 

PFAS-containing wastewater by the 

industry. 

Form Numbers: None. 

Respondents/affected entities: Up to 

2,243 textile mills in the U.S. will 

receive the questionnaire and no more 

than 20 facilities will be asked to 

conduct specific wastewater sampling. 

Respondent’s obligation to respond: 

Mandatory (Clean Water Act section 

308). 

Estimated number of respondents: 

2,243 (total). 

Frequency of response: One-time data 

collection. 

Total estimated burden: 22,863 hours. 

Burden is defined at 5 CFR 1320.03(b). 

Total estimated cost: $1,615,788 (per 

year), which includes $10,576 

annualized capital or operation & 

maintenance costs. 

Changes in the estimates: This is a 

new data collection request and is a 

one-time temporary increase to the 

Agency’s burden. 

Courtney Kerwin, 

Director, Information Engagement Division. 

[FR Doc. 2024–22295 Filed 9–27–24; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6560–50–P 

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 

AGENCY 

[EPA–HQ–OAR–2008–0707; FRL–12297–01– 

OMS] 

Information Collection Request 

Submitted to OMB for Review and 

Approval; Comment Request; Data 

Reporting Requirements for State and 

Local Vehicle Emission Inspection and 

Maintenance (I/M) Programs (Renewal) 

AGENCY: Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA). 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection 

Agency has submitted an information 

collection request (ICR), ‘‘Data 

Reporting Requirements for State and 

Local Vehicle Emission Inspection and 

Maintenance (I/M) Programs’’ (EPA ICR 

No.1613.08, OMB Control No. 2060– 

0252) to the Office of Management and 

Budget (OMB) for review and approval 

in accordance with the Paperwork 

Reduction Act. This is a proposed 


ddrumheller on DSK120RN23PROD with NOTICES1