Document ID: EPA-HQ-OA-2019-0296-0009
Agency: epa
Document Type: Notice
Title: Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposals, Submissions, and Approvals: Procedures for Implementing the National Environmental Policy Act and Assessing the Environmental Effects Abroad of EPA Actions (Renewal)
Posted Date: 2023-02-08T05:00Z

[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 26 (Wednesday, February 8, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 8282-8283]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-02665]

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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[EPA-HQ-OA-2019-0296; FRL-10660-01-OMS]

Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the 
Office of Management and Budget for Review and Approval; Comment 
Request; Procedures for Implementing the National Environmental Policy 
Act and Assessing the Environmental Effects Abroad of EPA Actions 
(Renewal)

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has submitted an 
information collection request (ICR), Procedures for Implementing the 
National Environmental Policy Act and Assessing the Environmental 
Effects Abroad of EPA Actions (EPA ICR Number 2243.10, OMB Control 
Number 2020-0033) 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 February 23, 2023. Public comments were previously requested 
via the Federal Register on June 28, 2022, during a 60-day comment 
period. This notice allows for an additional 30 days for public 
comments.

DATES: Comments may be submitted on or before March 10, 2023.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments to EPA, referencing Docket ID Number 
EPA-HQ-OA-2019-0296, online using www.regulations.gov (our preferred 
method), by email to [email protected], 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: Candi Schaedle, NEPA Compliance 
Division, Office of Federal Activities, Mail Code 2501G, Environmental 
Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20460; 
telephone number: 202-564-6121; email address: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This is a proposed extension of the ICR, 
which is currently approved through February 23, 2023. 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 28, 2022, during a 60-day comment period. 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: The National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA), 42 
U.S.C. 4321-4347 establishes a national policy for the environment. The 
Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) oversees the NEPA 
implementation. CEQ's Regulations at 40 CFR parts 1500 through 1508 set 
the standard for NEPA compliance. They also require agencies to 
establish their own NEPA implementing procedures. The EPA's procedures 
for implementing NEPA are found in 40 CFR part 6. Through this part, 
the EPA adopted the CEQ Regulations and supplemented those regulations 
for actions proposed by the EPA that are subject to NEPA requirements. 
The EPA actions subject to NEPA include the award of wastewater 
treatment construction grants under section 201 of the Clean Water Act, 
the EPA's issuance of new source National Pollutant Discharge 
Elimination System (NPDES) permits under section 402 of the Clean Water 
Act, certain research and development projects, the EPA actions 
involving renovations or new construction of EPA facilities, and 
certain grants awarded for projects authorized by Congress through the 
agency's annual appropriations act. The EPA is collecting information 
from certain applicants as part of the process of complying with either 
NEPA or Executive Order 12114 (``Environmental Effects Abroad of Major 
Federal Actions''). The EPA's NEPA regulations apply to actions of the 
EPA that are subject to NEPA in order to ensure that environmental 
information is available to the agency's decision-makers and the public 
before decisions are made and before actions are taken. When the EPA 
conducts an environmental assessment pursuant to its Executive Order 
12114 procedures, the agency generally follows its NEPA procedures. 
Compliance with the procedures is the responsibility of the EPA's 
Responsible Officials, and for applicant proposed actions applicants 
may be required to provide environmental information to the EPA as part 
of the environmental review process. For this ICR, applicant-proposed 
projects subject to either NEPA or Executive Order 12114 (and that are 
not addressed in other EPA programs' ICRs) are addressed through the 
NEPA process.
    Form Numbers: None.
    Respondents/affected entities: Certain grant or permit applicants 
who must submit environmental information documentation to the EPA for 
their projects to comply with NEPA or Executive Order 12114, including 
Wastewater Treatment Construction Grants Program facilities funded 
under section 201 of the Clean Water Act, State and Tribal Assistance 
Grant recipients, and new source NPDES permittees.
    Respondent's obligation to respond: Voluntary.
    Estimated number of respondents: 516 (total).
    Frequency of response: On occasion.
    Total estimated burden: 73,800 hours (per year). Burden is defined 
at 5 CFR 1320.03(b).

[[Page 8283]]

    Total estimated cost: $6,259,214 (per year), includes $0 annualized 
capital or operation & maintenance costs.
    Changes in the Estimates: There is an increase of 66,240 hours in 
the total estimated respondent burden compared with the ICR currently 
approved by OMB. This increase is due to an adjustment change in the 
size of the respondent universe due to the return of congressional 
earmarks in the EPA annual appropriations act.

Courtney Kerwin,
Director, Regulatory Support Division.
[FR Doc. 2023-02665 Filed 2-7-23; 8:45 am]
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