Document ID: EPA-HQ-OAR-2005-0161-0099
Agency: epa
Document Type: Supporting & Related Material
Title: 
Posted Date: 2006-09-22T04:00Z

1
INFORMATION
COLLECTION
REQUEST
(
ICR)
OMB­
83
SUPPORTING
STATEMENT
ENVIRONMENTAL
PROTECTION
AGENCY
OFFICE
OF
AIR
&
RADIATION
A.
JUSTIFICATION
1.
Identification
of
the
Information
Collection
a.
Title:
Renewable
Fuels
Standard
(
RFS)
Program
(
Proposed
Rule)
­
EPA
ICR
No.
2242.01
b.
Short
characterization:

Section
1501
of
the
Energy
Policy
Act
describes
the
RFS
program.
This
provision
was
added
to
the
Clean
Air
Act
as
Section
211(
o),
and
requires
EPA
to
establish
a
program
to
ensure
that
the
pool
of
gasoline
sold
in
the
contiguous
48
states
contains
specific
volumes
of
renewable
fuel
for
each
calendar
year
starting
with
2006.
Please
refer
to
"
Regulation
of
Fuels
and
Fuel
Additives:
Renewable
Fuel
Standard
Program
 
Notice
of
Proposed
Rulemaking"
(
available
in
docket
number
EPA­
OAR­
2005­
0161)
for
a
detailed
discussion
of
the
proposed
RFS
program.
For
compliance
purposes,
volumes
of
renewable
fuel
are
identified
through
the
use
of
renewable
identification
numbers
(
RINs)
that
are
initially
generated
by
the
producer
of
the
renewable
fuel.

There
are
three
broad
categories
of
parties
who
have
registration,
recordkeeping,
and
reporting
related
responsibilities.
These
are:
1)
obligated
parties
(
refiners
and
importers
of
gasoline)
and
exporters
of
renewable
fuel,
2)
producers
of
renewable
fuels,
and
3)
any
party
who
owns
RINs.
The
largest
identifiable
group
who
may
own
RINs
are
blenders,
and
as
such,
they
are
indicated
separately
on
Table
1
of
this
supporting
statement.
The
universe
of
parties
who
may
own
RINs
may
also
include
marketers,
brokers,
and
others
included
in
the
estimates
in
Table
1.

The
draft
Regulatory
Impact
Analysis
(
RIA)
in
the
public
docket
cited
provides
additional
detailed
information
about
the
regulated
universe
(
see
Chapter
1).

The
proposed
registration
and
recordkeeping
requirements
are
designed
to
mirror
existing
fuels
programs
to
the
extent
possible,
such
as
the
reformulated
gasoline
(
RFG)
and
antidumping
program
(
EPA
ICR
series
1591)
and
diesel
the
sulfur
program
(
EPA
ICR
series
1718).
Parties
registered
under
these
programs
do
not
have
to
re­
register
under
the
RFS
program
unless
there
is
a
change
in
their
registration
information.
Most
parties
who
are
already
registered
would
fall
under
the
category
of
obligated
parties
(
refiners
and
importers).
Some
subset
of
blenders
may
also
already
be
registered.
2
2.
Need
For,
and
Use
of,
the
Collection
a.
Authority
for
the
Collection
Sections
114
and
208
of
the
Clean
Air
Act
(
CAA),
42
U.
S.
C.
§
§
7414
and
7542,
authorize
EPA
to
require
recordkeeping
and
reporting
regarding
enforcement
of
the
provisions
of
Title
II
of
the
CAA.

b.
Practical
Utility/
Uses
of
the
Data
The
recordkeeping
and
reporting
requirements
of
this
regulation
will
allow
EPA
to
monitor
compliance
with
the
RFS
program.

3.
Non­
duplication,
Consultation,
and
other
Collection
Criteria
a.
Non­
duplication
Efforts
have
been
made
to
eliminate
duplication
in
this
information
collection.
Where
possible,
information
requirements
from
various
organizations
within
the
Agency
have
been
combined
to
minimize
the
submittal
of
duplicate
information
in
different
formats.
Parties
who
have
previously
registered
under
existing
compliance
programs
such
as
RFG
and
anti­
dumping
and
diesel
fuel
and
they
will
not
be
required
to
re­
register
with
EPA.
The
information
in
this
collection
will
not
be
available
from
another
source.

b.
Public
Notice
EPA
will
announce
opportunity
for
notice
and
comment
regarding
this
ICR
via
the
notice
of
proposed
rulemaking.

c.
Consultations
We
have
drawn
upon
our
experience
with
similar
fuels
regulations
to
develop
these
estimates.
Interested
parties
may
also
be
interested
in
reviewing
"
Chapter
1
 
Industry
Characterization"
of
the
draft
Regulatory
Impact
Analysis
(
RIA)
available
in
the
public
docket
for
this
proposed
rule.
Assumptions
from
the
draft
RIA
were
used
for
this
supporting
statement.

d.
Effects
of
Less
Frequent
Data
Collection
We
have
designed
the
reporting
schedule
to
coincide
with
existing
reporting
deadline
applicable
to
many
of
the
same
parties
under
such
programs
as
RFG
and
anti­
dumping
and
diesel
3
fuel.
Less
frequent
collection
of
data
would
make
it
impossible
to
carry
out
the
provisions
of
the
CAA
and
EPAct.

e.
General
Guidelines
This
rule
does
not
exceed
any
of
the
OMB
guidelines.

f.
Confidentiality
We
inform
respondents
that
they
may
assert
claims
of
business
confidentiality
(
CBI)
for
any
or
of
the
information
they
submit.
Any
information
claimed
as
confidential
will
be
treated
in
accordance
with
40
CFR
Part
2
and
established
Agency
procedures.
Information
that
is
received
without
a
claim
of
confidentiality
may
be
made
available
to
the
public
without
further
notice
to
the
submitter
under
40
CFR
§
2.203.

g.
Sensitive
Information
This
information
collection
does
not
require
submission
of
any
sensitive
information.

4.
The
Respondents
and
the
Information
Requested
a.
Respondents/
SIC
Codes
The
respondents
to
this
information
collection
include:
petroleum
refineries
(
2911),
ethyl
alcohol
manufacturers
(
2869),
other
basic
organic
chemical
manufacturing
(
2869),
chemical
and
allied
products
merchant
wholesalers
(
5169),
petroleum
bulk
stations
and
terminals
(
5171),
petroleum
and
petroleum
products
merchant
wholesalers
(
5172),
and
other
fuel
dealers
(
5989).

b.
Information
Requested
A)
Reporting:
The
individual
reports
required
from
respondents
are
fully
explained
in
section
IV
of
the
draft
notice
of
proposed
rulemaking.
As
with
other
fuels
programs
under
40
CFR
Part
80,
registration
is
required
and
compliance
reports
are
submitted
on
an
annual
basis.
Attest
engagements
are
required
on
underlying
records.
"
Table
1
­
Respondent
Burden
Hours
&
Costs,"
found
on
page
6
of
this
draft
supporting
statement,
indicates
the
estimated
burden
per
respondent
per
report.
We
anticipate
providing
respondents
the
opportunity
to
engage
in
simplified,
electronic
reporting
via
the
Agency's
Central
Data
Exchange
(
CDX).
Respondents
must
keep
copies
of
all
reports
filed
for
five
years.

B)
Recordkeeping:
Respondents
must
retain
underlying
records
related
to
reports
they
file
for
five
years.
This
period
4
is
consistent
with
other
fuels
programs
and
with
customary
business
practices
(
CBP)
for
the
industry.
Respondents
must
transfer
volumes
of
fuel
with
product
transfer
documentation
or
bills
of
lading,
which
is
already
done
in
the
course
of
business.
The
only
new
burden
we
anticipate
related
to
such
documentation
is
related
to
the
initial
generation
of
RIN
codes
and
this
burden
is
included
in
Table
1.

5.
The
Information
Collected,
Agency
Activities,
Collection
Methodology,
and
Information
Management
a.
Agency
Activities
 
All
reports
and
registrations
be
reviewed
by
EPA
for
completeness
and
for
potential
violations.

 
Potential
violations
will
be
referred
to
enforcement
personnel.

 
Registration
numbers
will
be
issued
for
new
registrants.

 
Reports
and
registrations
will
be
stored
by
EPA
in
a
secure
location.

b.
Collection
and
Methodology
and
Management
We
anticipate
receiving
data
in
a
simplified
and
secure
fashion
via
the
Agency's
CDX.
Information
claimed
as
CBI
will
be
stored
in
appropriately
controlled
areas.

c.
Small
Entity
Flexibility
This
collection
will
not
adversely
affect
small
entities.
The
notice
of
proposed
rulemaking
describes
flexibility
provisions
available
to
small
refiners;
a
one­
time
burden
is
associated
with
applying
for
small
refiner
status
and
this
burden
has
been
minimized
to
the
fullest
extent
possible.

d.
Collection
Schedule
Registrations
are
received
on
a
rolling
basis,
as
updates
may
be
sent
in
at
any
time
and
new
parties
may
enter
the
regulated
industry
at
any
time.
Most
reporting
is
annual.

6.
Estimating
the
Burden
and
Cost
of
Collection
a.
Estimating
the
Respondent
Universe
We
drew
upon
experience
implementing
similar
regulations
among
the
same
entities
to
develop
estimates
of
the
burden
associated
with
this
collection.
5
b.
Estimating
the
Respondent
Burden
and
Cost
Three
labor
categories
are
involved:
managerial
(
includes
legal
and
professional
review),
technical,
and
clerical.
The
estimates
use
the
Bureau
of
Labor
Statistics
figures
from
"
Employer
Costs
for
Employee
Compensation
­
Table
12
­
Private
Industry,
Manufacturing,
and
Non­
Manufacturing
Industries
by
Occupational
Group"
(
December
2003),
with
a
3%
annual
inflation
factor
applied
to
bring
the
values
to
2006.
Using
this
method,
the
following
wages
and
benefits
apply
by
category:

Wages
and
Benefits
Managerial
$
53.87
per
hour
Technical
$
35.29
per
hour
Clerical
$
24.56
per
hour
Doubling
for
company
overhead
beyond
wages
and
benefits,
and
for
convenience,
rounding
up
to
the
dollar,
gives
the
following
rates
for
this
ICR:

Total
Employer
Cost
Managerial
$
108
per
hour
Technical
$
71
per
hour
Clerical
$
49
per
hour
The
labor
mix
for
the
activities
estimated
will
be
about
the
same
for
each
and
is
consistent
with
prior
ICRs
in
this
series.
It
is
assumed
that
for
each
hour
of
activity
the
mix
will
be
about
0.1
hour
managerial,
0.7
hour
technical,
and
0.2
hour
clerical.
This
gives
an
average
labor
cost
of
$
71
per
hour,
which
will
be
used
in
this
ICR.
6
TABLE
1
­
Respondent
Burden
Hours
&
Costs
(
Including
Capital
&
Maintenance
­
O&
M)

Collection
Activity
Number
of
Respondents
Number
of
Responses
per
Respondent
Total
Number
of
Responses
Hours
per
Response
&
Cost
per
Response
Total
Hours
&
Total
Cost
@
$
71/
hour
Total
O&
M
Refiner
and
importer
of
gasoline
("
obligated
parties")

and
exporter
of
renewable
fuel
registration
251
2
50
2
­­­­­

$
142.00
100
­­­­­­

$
7,100
0
Renewable
fuel
producer
registration
2802
1
280
43
­­­­­

$
284.00
1,120
­­­­­­

$
79,520
0
1
Assumes
150
refiners
(
rounded
up
from
the
draft
RIA)
and
75
importers.
Virtually
all
in
this
identified
universe
of
225
are
already
registered;
number
of
respondents
includes
new
registrants
(
exporters
of
renewable
fuel).
We
have
estimated
25
new
registrants.
Assumes
two
facilities/
reports
per
party.

2
Assumes
162
ethanol
plants
that
may
be
on
line
by
December
2012
(
102
are
on
line
now)
plus
117
biodiesel
plants
in
that
time
frame
(
53
are
on
line
now);
this
yields
279,
rounded
up
for
convenience.

3
Although
refiners
and
importers
are
familiar
with
registration,
renewable
fuel
producers
are
new
registrants.
We
assumed
extra
time
in
order
to
prepare
the
registration
form.
7
Registration
by
blenders
who
own
RINs
1,200
1
1,200
2
­­­

$
142.00
2,400
­­­

$
170,400
0
Registration
by
parties
who
own
RINs
other
than
blenders
3004
1
300
4
­­­

$
284.00
1,200
­­­

$
85,200
0
Obligated
party
(
refiner
and
importer)
and
exporters
of
renewable
fuel's
reporting
related
to
compliance
with
the
standard
(
one
report)
2505
1
250
4
­­­­

$
284.00
1,000
­­­

$
71,000
0
4
The
future
market
will
determine
the
actual
number
of
parties.
We
have
estimated
100
brokers,
100
marketers,
and
100
"
other"
parties
(
e.
g.
jobbers,
terminal
owners)
not
covered
by
other
reporting
categories.

5
See
note
1.
8
Obligated
party
(
refiner
and
importer)
and
exporters
of
renewable
fuel's
reporting
related
to
RIN
transactions
and
balances
(
two
related
reports)
250
1
250
4
­­­

$
284.00
1,000
­­­

$
71,000
0
Renewable
fuel
producers'

annual
reports
related
to
renewable
fuel
production
and
RIN
generation
(
one
report)
280
1
280
4
­­­

$
284.00
1,120
­­­

$
79,520
0
9
Renewable
fuel
producers'

reports
related
to
RIN
transactions
and
balances
(
two
related
reports)
280
1
280
4
­­­

$
284.00
1,120
­­­

$
79,520
0
Blenders'

reports
related
to
RIN
transactions
and
balances
(
two
related
reports)
1,200
1
1,200
4
­­­

$
284.00
4,800
­­­

$
340,800
0
Reports
by
parties
other
than
blenders
related
to
RIN
transactions
and
balances
(
two
related
reports)
300
1
300
4
­­­

$
284.00
1,200
­­­

$
85,200
0
10
Attest
engagement
by
obligated
parties
(
refiners
and
importers)&

exporters
of
renewable
fuel
on
three
reports
250
1
250
*
All
PS
(
see
O&
M)
*
All
PS
(
see
O&
M)
$
852,0006
Attest
engagement
by
renewable
fuel
producers
on
three
reports
280
1
280
*
All
PS
(
see
O&
M)
*
All
PS
(
see
O&
M)
$
954,2407
Applications
for
general
small
refiner
exemption
25
1
25
10
­­­

$
710
250
­­­

$
17,750
0
6
Assumes
8
hours
for
each
report
that
is
subject
to
the
attest
engagement
per
respondent
(
24
hours)
for
250
respondents
at
$
142/
hour
(
double
the
estimated
hourly
rate
for
an
employee).

7
Assumes
8
hours
for
each
report
that
is
subject
to
the
attest
engagement
per
respondent
(
24
hours)
for
280
respondents
at
$
142/
hour.
11
Applications
for
extension
of
small
refiner
exemption
due
to
economic
hardship
25
1
25
10
­­­

$
710
250
­­­

$
17,750
0
Total
4,945
Respondents
­­­­­­­­­­­
4,970
Responses
­­­­­­­­­­­
15,560
Hours
­­­­­­

$
1,104,760
Dollars
­­­

$
1,806,240
Dollars
(
all
Purchased
Services)
11
c.
Estimating
the
Agency
Burden
and
Cost
EPA
must
generate
company
and
facility
registration
number(
s)
for
new
registrants
and
notify
them
of
these
numbers,
which
must
appear
on
reports.
Report
formats
and
instructions/
guidance
must
be
prepared
Agency
personnel.
Reports
will
be
processed
by
contractors
and
must
be
reviewed
by
Agency
personnel.
No
response
back
to
the
submitter
is
required
for
reports
and
attest
engagements,
unless
a
problem/
error
is
noted.
Because
we
anticipate
that
much
of
the
information
submitted
will
be
claimed
as
CBI,
security
measures
and
tools
must
be
applied
to
protect
the
data.

We
anticipate
that
many
of
our
activities
related
to
RFS
will
be
similar
to
that
of
other
fuels
programs,
including
the
reformulated
gasoline
and
anti­
dumping
program
(
EPA
ICR
series
1591)
and
the
diesel
sulfur
program
(
EPA
ICR
series
1718).
In
an
effort
to
simplify
reporting
for
regulated
parties,
we
are
working
to
simplify
and
combine
fuel­
related
reporting
activities
and
to
store
all
data
on
a
single,
secure,
closed
local
area
network
(
LAN).
As
discussed
elsewhere
in
this
supporting
statement,
we
will
be
encouraging
highly
simplified,
electronic
methods
of
reporting
through
the
Agency's
CDX
portal.

This
supporting
statement
estimates
a
burden
for
the
RFS
program
that
is
similar
to
that
of
other
major
fuels
programs,
particularly
the
RFG
and
anti­
dumping
reporting
program
(
ICR
series
1591)
and
that
considers
"
start­
up"
costs
associated
with
accepting
new
registrants
and
new
reports.
Using
the
RFG
and
anti­
dumping
ICR
and
other
recent
fuels­
related
ICRs
as
a
guide
in
developing
these
initial
estimates
for
RFS,
we
anticipate
that
RFS
may
require
the
equivalent
labor
of
two
full
time
GS­
13
technical
employees
for
a
total
of
$
322,000,
and
may
labor
costs
of
$
152,000
in
the
clerical
category
and
$
56,000
in
the
management
category.
8
Most
of
the
clerical
category
labor
will
be
related
to
the
start­
up
effort
of
processing
of
new
registrations
and
issuing
of
registration
numbers.
In
addition,
we
estimate
$
483,000
in
additional
contract
costs
related
to
data
processing
and
IT
support
services.
9
Additional
IT
costs
may
8
These
estimates
are
derived
from
"
OPM
Salary
Table
2006­
DCB,"
effective
January
2006,
covering
Washington
DC
workers.
This
table
may
be
found
at
http://
www.
opm.
gov/
oca/
06tables/
indexGS.
asp.
The
extreme
of
step
10
was
assumed
for
all
categories.
We
have
assumed
a
full­
time
GS­
7
clerical
worker,
two
full­
time
GS­
13
technical
workers,
and
a
GS­
15
manager
working
one­
quarter
of
his/
her
time
managing
this
project
(
0.25).
All
values
were
multiplied
by
1.6
(
which
is
a
common
factor
utilized
in
ICRs
to
account
for
overhead
costs).
We
rounded
the
resulting
dollar
value
to
the
nearest
thousand.

9
This
estimate
assumes
an
increase
of
50%
over
current
contracts
for
fuels
reporting,
which
total
$
966,000
for
2006.
12
include
future
purchases
of
new
hardware
(
e.
g.
servers,
workstations)
and
additional
software,
software
licenses
and
security­
related
expenses
required
for
handling
of
reports.
These
IT
costs
are
roughly
estimated
at
$
80,000.
Since
we
are
using
the
CDX,
some
costs
incurred
by
the
Agency
will
be
tied
to
the
number
of
registrants
who
send
us
reports.
Specifically,
there
is
an
annual
"
subscription
cost"
associated
with
the
use
CDX
that
is
passed
on
to
the
EPA
program
office
and
we
estimate
that
new
registrants
due
to
RFS
may
cost
us
approximately
$
45,000.10
There
are
also
development
and
maintenance
costs
related
to
enabling
RFS
reporting
via
CDX
and
we
estimate
approximately
$
50,00011
in
such
costs,
which
are
separate
from
subscription
costs
and
other
items
described.
All
of
these
items
yield
a
total
of
$
1,188,000.
Please
note,
however,
that
some
items
are
difficult
to
estimate
at
this
time
and
may
not
be
included
in
our
estimate.
Therefore,
the
actual
dollar
amount
may
be
higher
than
our
estimate.
As
with
all
items
in
this
supporting
statement,
we
strongly
encourage
comment
on
the
estimated
Agency
burden
and
on
the
Agency
activities
associated
with
this
proposed
information
collection.

d.
Estimating
the
Respondent
Universe
We
were
able
to
estimate
the
number
of
regulated
entities
drawing
upon
experience
regulating
the
same
or
similar
entities.

e.
Bottom
Line
Burden
Hours
and
Costs
From
Table
1,
we
estimate
the
following
totals:

TOTAL
NO.
OF
REPORTS:
4,970
TOTAL
BURDEN
HOURS:
15,560
TOTAL
LABOR
COSTS:
$
1,104,760
TOTAL
NON­
POSTAGE
COSTS
(
for
PURCHASED
SERVICES):
$
1,806,240
f.
Reason
for
Change
in
Burden
The
change
in
burden
is
due
to
regulations
that
give
effect
the
EPACt
provisions
for
a
renewable
fuels
standard
(
RFS).

g.
Burden
Statement
10
This
estimate
is
based
upon
recently
negotiated
subscription
costs
for
other
fuels
reporting
programs
of
$
15,000
per
year.

11
This
estimate
is
based
upon
a
recently
proposed
CDX
project
of
similar
complexity.
13
The
average
respondent
burden
in
hours
per
response
for
this
ICR
is
estimated
at
3.1
hours.
12
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
the
instructions;
develop,
acquire,
install,
and
utilize
technology
and
systems
for
the
purpose
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
transit
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
are
listed
in
40
CFR
Part
9
and
48
CFR
Chapter
15.

Send
comments
on
the
Agency's
need
for
this
information,
the
accuracy
of
the
provided
burden
estimates,
and
any
suggested
methods
for
minimizing
respondent
burden,
including
through
the
use
of
automated
collection
techniques
to
the
Director,
OPPE
Regulatory
Information
Division,
U.
S.
Environmental
Protection
Agency
(
2137)
1200
Pennsylvania
Avenue,
N.
W.,
Washington,
DC;
and
to
the
Office
of
Information
and
Regulatory
Affairs,
Office
of
Management
of
Budget,
725
17th
Street,
NW,
Washington,
DC
20503,
Attention,
Desk
Officer
for
EPA.
Be
sure
to
include
the
EPA
ICR
number
2242.01
in
correspondence.

12
The
average
respondent
burden
is
the
total
number
of
hours
divided
by
the
total
number
of
reports
(
responses)
from
Table
1,
rounded
up
to
the
first
decimal
place
for
simplicity.