Federal Register / Vol. 63, No. 121 /Wednesday, June 24, 1998 / Notices 34379

Intent, the Commission requests public

comments on the scope of the issues it

will address in the EA. All comments

received are considered during the

preparation of the EA. State and local

government representatives are

encouraged to notify their constituents

of this proposed action and encourage

them to comment on their areas of

concern.

The EA will discuss impacts that

could occur as a result of the

construction and operation of the

proposed project under these general

headings:

• Geology and soils

• Water resources, fisheries, and

wetlands

• Vegetation and wildlife

• Endangered and threatened species

• Public safety

• Land use

• Cultural resources

• Air quality and noise

• Hazardous waste

We will also evaluate possible

alternatives to the proposed project or

portions of the project, and make

recommendations on how to lessen or

avoid impacts on the various resource

areas.

Our independent analysis of the

issues will be in the EA. Depending on

the comments received during the

scoping process, the EA may be

published and mailed to Federal, state,

and local agencies, public interest

groups, interested individuals, affected

landowners, newspapers, libraries, and

the Commission’s official service list for

this proceeding. A comment period will

be allotted for review if the EA is

published. We will consider all

comments on the EA before we make

our recommendations to the

Commission.

To ensure your comments are

considered, please carefully follow the

instructions in the public participation

section on pages 4 and 5 of this notice.

Currently Identified Environmental

Issues

We have already identified several

issues that we think deserve attention

based on a preliminary review of the

proposed facilities and the

environmental information provided by

Columbia. This preliminary list of

issues may be changed based on your

comments and our analysis.

• A total of about 18.9 acres of forest

would be disturbed.

• The project would cross two

perennial streams, eight intermittent

streams and 4 wetlands.

• Blasting may be required in some

areas.

• Three private water wells are

located within 150 feet of the

construction work area.

• Wells may need to be plugged at

Derricks Creek Storage Field.

Public Participation

You can make a difference by

providing us with your specific

comments or concerns about the project.

By becoming a commentor, your

concerns will be addressed in the EA

and considered by the Commission. You

should focus on the potential

environmental effects of the proposal,

alternatives to the proposal (including

alternative locations/routes), and

measures to avoid or lessen

environmental impact. The more

specific your comments, the more useful

they will be. Please carefully follow

these instructions to ensure that your

comments are received in time and

properly recorded:

• Send two copies of your letter to:

David P. Boergers, Acting Secretary,

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission,

888 First St., N.E., Room 1A,

Washington, DC 20426;

• Label one copy of the comments for

the attention of the Environmental

Review and Compliance Branch, PR–

11.2;

• Reference Docket No. CP98–546–

000; and

• Mail your comments so that they

will be received in Washington, DC on

or before July 20, 1998.

If you do not want to send comments

at this time but still want to remain on

our mailing list, please return the

Information Request (appendix 4). If you

do not return the Information Request,

you will be taken off the mailing list.

Becoming an Intervenor

In addition to involvement in the EA

scoping process, you may want to

become an official party to the

proceeding known as an ‘‘intervenor.’’

Intervenors play a more formal role in

the process. Among other things,

intervenors have the right to receive

copies of case-related Commission

documents and filings by other

intervenors. Likewise, each intervenor

must provide 14 copies of its filings to

the Secretary of the Commission and

must send a copy of its filings to all

other parties on the Commission’s

service list for this proceeding. If you

want to become an intervenor you must

file a motion to intervene according to

Rule 214 of the Commission’s Rules of

Practice and Procedure (18 CFR

385.214) (see appendix 3). Only

intervenors have the right to seek

rehearing of the Commission’s decision.

You do not need intervenor status to

have your environmental comments

considered.

Additional information about the

proposed project is available from Mr.

Paul McKee of the Commission’s Office

of External Affairs at (202) 208–1088.

David P. Boergers,

Acting Secretary.

[FR Doc. 98–16708 Filed 6–23–98; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6717–01–M

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

AGENCY

[FRL–6115–9]

Agency Information Collection

Activities: Proposed Collection;

Comment Request; Small System

Survey

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

EPA is planning to submit the following

proposed Information Collection

Request (ICR) to the Office of

Management and Budget (OMB): Small

System Survey, ICR # 1863.01. Before

submitting the ICR to OMB for review

and approval, EPA is soliciting

comments on specific aspects of the

proposed information collection as

described below.

DATES: Comments must be submitted on

or before August 24, 1998.

ADDRESSES: U.S. Environmental

Protection Agency; Office of Ground

Water Drinking Water, Mail Code: 4607;

401 M Street, SW; Washington, DC

20460. Interested persons may obtain a

copy of the ICR without charge by

contacting Kimberly Miller at (202) 260–

1891, writing to her at the above address

or sending her an e-mail at

Miller.KimberlyD@epa.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Nancy Cunningham, (202) 260–9535/

(202) 401–6135/Cunningham.Nancy @

epa.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Affected

entities: Entities potentially affected by

this action are public drinking water

systems that are supplied by surface

water and serve fewer than 10,000

people.

Title: Small System Survey; EPA ICR

No. 1863.01.

Abstract: The Environmental

Protection Agency has developed three

interrelated Supplemental Surveys as

part of an ongoing, scientific research

and information collection program
34380 Federal Register / Vol. 63, No. 121 /Wednesday, June 24, 1998 / Notices

associated with the 1996 Information

Collection Rule (ICR) that supports

drinking water regulation development.

The overall objective of this larger

research and information collection

program is to provide a sound scientific

and technical basis for generating and

evaluating strategies for reducing risks

associated with microbial pathogens

and disinfection byproducts in the US

drinking water supply.

EPA must conduct a Regulatory

Impact Analysis (RIA) for the upcoming

Stage 2 Long Term Enhanced Surface

Water Treatment Rule (LT2) that

evaluates the potential impacts on all

system sizes. This rule is scheduled for

promulgation in May 2002. A major

regulatory option being considered is to

target treatment for protozoa as a means

for controlling not only protozoa but

other waterborne pathogens. Therefore,

a critical element of the RIA is a

characterization of the national

distribution of protozoa in source waters

for all size systems. Additional data are

needed to better characterize these

distributions because: (1) the ICR only

targets systems serving 100,000 people

or more, (2) the ICR protozoa method

exhibits low recovery and a high

detection limit, and (3) limited data are

available for systems serving less than

100,000. As these protozoan

concentration estimates are inputs to the

Regulatory Impact Analysis for this next

phase of rulemaking, the Regulatory

Impact Analysis may underestimate the

level of treatment required for protozoa

removal along with the resulting cost

impacts of these rules.

To address these remaining data

needs, EPA has developed and funded

the ICR Supplemental Surveys.

Although the existing ICR method

remains available for possible use in

these surveys, a key component of the

Supplemental Surveys will be reliance

upon a new analytical method, Method

1622, to measure Cryptosporidium

concentrations. Because of its

anticipated higher recovery rate and

lower detection limit, Method 1622 will

provide a more accurate estimate of

Cryptosporidium concentrations in

source waters. The Supplemental

Surveys will focus on gathering and

analyzing data from a subset of large,

medium and small systems. Today’s

notice focuses on the information

collection burden associated with small

systems only. The burden associated

with the large and medium surveys was

covered under the Information

Collection Request for the 1996 ICR.

Participation in the Small System

Supplemental Surveys will be

voluntary. As is appropriate in survey

design, the size of the initial sampling

list (a simple random sample) will be

large enough to allow for some expected

declinations. 40 small systems will

participate in the survey and will

sample twice a month during a 12

month monitoring period. The first

monthly analysis will include protozoa

(Cryptosporidium, Giardia) and

bacterial samples (total coliform, E.coli);

wet chemistry samples for total organic

carbon (TOC), alkalinity, calcium

hardness, total hardness, UV254,

bromide and ammonia; and water

quality parameters including turbidity,

pH and temperature. The second

monthly analysis will include protozoa

and bacterial samples and water quality

parameters including turbidity, pH and

temperature. Twenty percent of the

sample events will collect an additional

raw water sample for use as a matrix

spike to assess how the water matrices

may be affecting method performance.

Additional parameters that will be

measured during the matrix spike

events include dissolved organic carbon

(DOC), total suspended solids (TSS),

total dissolved solids (TDS) and

conductivity.

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 are listed

in 40 CFR Part 9 and 48 CFR Chapter

15.

The EPA would like to solicit

comments to:

(i) Evaluate whether the proposed

collection of information is necessary

for the proper performance of the

functions of the agency, including

whether the information will have

practical utility;

(ii) Evaluate the accuracy of the

agency’s estimate of the burden of the

proposed collection of information,

including the validity of the

methodology and assumptions used;

(iii) Enhance the quality, utility, and

clarity of the information to be

collected; and

(iv) Minimize the burden of the

collection of information on those who

are to respond, including through the

use of appropriate automated electronic,

mechanical, or other technological

collection techniques or other forms of

information technology, e.g., permitting

electronic submission of responses.

Burden Statement: The projected total

cost for all respondents in the small

system survey is $83,837. This is based

on an hourly rate of $56/hr for a

supervisor and $18/hr for the

technician. The total reporting burden

for the small system survey is 1280

hours. This figure is based on 40

utilities expending 32 hours each to

respond to the survey. For each utility,

the time required for all collection

events is 2 hrs and 40 minutes per

month. The following tasks are included

in the burden estimate: reviewing

sample procedures, receiving and

unpacking sample equipment, sample

collection including water quality

parameter measurement, packing

samples for shipment, completing traffic

reports and completing Federal Express

airbills. EPA is supplying the sample

collection materials and paying the

shipping costs. There is a burden of

$114/month for the systems to analyze

E. coli and total coliform samples. EPA

is considering requesting that

participating utilities analyze bacterial

samples at the laboratories which they

usually use, due to the short holding

times for these samples. If EPA does not

choose to request that participating

utilities analyze bacterial samples, then

the small utilities would not have the

burden of $114/month to analyze E. coli

and total coliform samples. There is no

total capital and start-up cost

component. There are no operation and

maintenance costs associated with this

survey. 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.

Dated: June 18, 1998.

Cynthia C. Dougherty,

Director, Office of Groundwater Drinking

Water.

[FR Doc. 98–16768 Filed 6–23–98; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6560–50–P