Document ID: EPA-HQ-SFUND-2012-0104-0080
Agency: epa
Document Type: Notice
Title: Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposals, Submissions, and Approvals: Brownfields Program-Accomplishment Reporting (Renewal)
Posted Date: 2022-06-23T04:00Z

[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 120 (Thursday, June 23, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 37506-37507]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-13379]

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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[EPA-HQ-SFUND-2012-0104; FRL-9958-01-OMS]

Information Collection Request Submitted to OMB for Review and 
Approval; Comment Request; Brownfields Program--Accomplishment 
Reporting (Renewal)

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency has submitted an 
information collection request (ICR), Brownfields Program--
Accomplishment Reporting (Renewal) (EPA ICR Number 2104.09, OMB Control 
Number 2050-0192) to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for 
review and approval in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act. 
This is a proposed extension of the ICR, which is currently approved 
through December 31, 2024. Public comments were previously requested 
via the Federal Register on March 23, 2022 during a 60-day comment 
period. This notice allows for an additional 30 days for public 
comments. A fuller description of the ICR is given below, including its 
estimated burden and cost to the public. 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.

DATES: Additional comments may be submitted on or before July 25, 2022.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, referencing Docket ID Number EPA-HQ-
SFUND-2012-0104, to EPA online using www.regulations.gov (our preferred 
method) or by mail to: EPA Docket Center, Environmental Protection 
Agency, Mail Code 2821T, 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

[[Page 37507]]

Comments'' or by using the search function.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kelly Gorini, Office of Brownfields 
and Land Revitalization, (5105T), Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 
Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20460; telephone number: (202) 
566-1702; fax number: (202) 566-1476; email address: 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 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 covers the collection of information from those 
organizations that receive cooperative agreements, contracts, and 
Targeted Brownfields Assessment (TBA) funds from EPA under the 
authority of the section 104(k) of the Comprehensive Environmental 
Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) as amended by the 
Brownfields Utilization, Investment, and Local Development (BUILD) Act 
(Pub. L. 115-141). CERCLA 104(k), as amended, authorizes EPA to award 
grants or cooperative agreements and contract funding to states, 
tribes, local governments, other eligible entities, and nonprofit 
organizations to support the assessment and cleanup of brownfields 
sites. Under section 101(39) of CERCLA, a brownfields site means real 
property, the expansion, redevelopment, or reuse of which may be 
complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous 
substance, pollutant, or contaminant. Cooperative agreement recipients 
(``recipients'') have general reporting and record keeping requirements 
as a condition of their cooperative agreement that result in burden. A 
portion of this reporting and record keeping burden is authorized under 
2 CFR part 1500 and identified in the EPA's general grants ICR (OMB 
Control Number 2030-0020). EPA requires Brownfields program recipients 
to maintain and report additional information to EPA on the uses and 
accomplishments associated with funded brownfields activities. EPA 
intends to expand programmatic reporting requirements to include TBA 
contractors and technical assistance contractors. EPA will use several 
forms to assist recipients and contractors in reporting the information 
and to ensure consistency of the information collected. EPA uses this 
information to meet Federal stewardship responsibilities to manage and 
track how program funds are being spent, to evaluate the performance of 
the Brownfields Cleanup and Land Revitalization Program, to meet the 
Agency's reporting requirements under the Government Performance 
Results Act, and to report to Congress and other program stakeholders 
on the status and accomplishments of the program.
    Respondents/affected entities: State/local/tribal governments; Non-
Profits; Contractors.
    Respondent's obligation to respond: Required to obtain or Retain 
Benefits (2 CFR part 1500).
    Estimated number of respondents: 6,562 (total).
    Frequency of response: Bi-annual for subtitle CERCLA 128 
recipients; quarterly for CERCLA 104(k) recipients.
    Total estimated burden: 3,808 hours (per year). Burden is defined 
at 5 CFR 1320.03(b).
    Total estimated cost: $480,509 (per year), includes $0 annualized 
capital or operation & maintenance costs.
    Changes in the Estimates: There is decrease of 2,335 hours in the 
total estimated respondent burden compared with the ICR currently 
approved by OMB. This decrease can be attributed to tremendous 
improvements in the ACRES database to streamline reporting 
requirements. Additional ACRES training and outreach efforts have also 
greatly increased grantees familiarity with the database. Grantees have 
reported that ACRES is now more intuitive, and the layout is 
significantly easier to follow. Grantees interviewed for this burden 
estimate self-reported data entry times at half the burden hours 
compared to estimates gathered 2 years ago. These combined factors 
result in the significant burden reduction.

Courtney Kerwin,
Director, Regulatory Support Division.
[FR Doc. 2022-13379 Filed 6-22-22; 8:45 am]
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