Document ID: EPA-HQ-OAR-2003-0073-0022
Agency: epa
Document Type: Notice
Title: Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposals, Submissions, and Approvals: Distribution of Offsite Consequence Analysis Information under the Clean Air Act, as Amended
Posted Date: 2022-09-29T04:00Z

[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 188 (Thursday, September 29, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 59075-59076]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-21185]

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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[EPA-HQ-OAR-2003-0073; FRL-10260-01-OMS]

Information Collection Request Submitted to OMB for Review and 
Approval; Comment Request, Distribution of Offsite Consequence Analysis 
Information Under the Clean Air Act (CAA), as Amended

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has submitted an 
information collection request (ICR), ``Distribution of Offsite 
Consequence Analysis Information under Section 112(r)(7)(H) of the 
Clean Air Act (CAA), as amended,'' (EPA ICR No. 1981.08, OMB Control 
No. 2050-0172) 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 
November 30, 2022. Public comments were previously requested via the 
Federal Register on March 1, 2022 (87 FR 11425). EPA received no 
comments during the 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: Comments must be submitted on or before October 31, 2022.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, referencing Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-
2003-0073, to (1) EPA online using www.regulations.gov (our preferred 
method), or by mail to EPA Docket Center, Environmental Protection 
Agency, Mail Code 28221T, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, DC 
20460, and (2) OMB via email to [email protected]. Address 
comments to OMB Desk Officer for EPA. 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.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Wendy Hoffman, Office of Emergency 
Management, Mail Code 5104A, Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 
Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20460; telephone number: (202) 
564-8794; 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: Pursuant to section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the PRA, in the 
first FR notice (87 FR 11425) published on March 1, 2022, EPA solicited 
comments and information pertaining to the distribution of offsite 
consequence analysis information under the accidental release 
prevention requirements; Risk Management Programs under the Clean Air 
Act Section 112(r)(7). The regulations include requirements for 
submittal of a Risk Management Plan (RMP) to EPA, which includes 
information on offsite consequence analysis (OCA) as well as other 
elements of the Risk Management Program.
    The Chemical Safety Information, Site Security, and Fuels 
Regulatory Relief Act (CSISSFRRA), published on August 4, 2000 (65 FR 
48108), required the President, who delegated to EPA and the Department 
of Justice (DOJ), the responsibility to promulgate regulations on the 
distribution of OCA information, imposed minimal information and 
recordkeeping requirements.
    In accordance with the final rule, the Federal Government 
established 55 reading rooms at Federal facilities geographically 
distributed across the United States and its territories, where the 
public may read, but not mechanically copy or remove, paper copies of 
OCA information for up to 10 stationary sources per calendar month. The 
public may also obtain OCA information that the Local Emergency 
Planning Committee (LEPC) in whose jurisdiction the requestor lives or 
works, is authorized to provide.
    The final rule also authorizes and encourages State and local 
government officials to access OCA information for their official use, 
and to provide the public with read-only access to OCA sections of RMPs 
for sources located within the jurisdiction of the LEPC where the 
person lives or works and for any other stationary sources with 
vulnerability zones extending into the LEPC's jurisdiction.
    EPA also established a Vulnerable Zone Indicator System (VZIS) 
which informs any person located in any state whether an address 
specified by that person might be within the vulnerable zone of one or 
more stationary sources, according to the data reported in RMPs. The 
VZIS is available on the internet. Members of the public who do not 
have access to the internet are able to obtain the same information by 
regular mail request to the EPA. 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 in 40 CFR are listed in 40 CFR 
part 9.
    Form Numbers: None.
    Respondents/affected entities: State and local agencies and the 
public.
    Respondent's obligation to respond: Required to obtain or retain a 
benefit (40 CFR 1400).
    The annual respondent universe for this ICR is 315 state and local 
agencies, LEPCs and individuals (public). The total includes 15 State 
agencies and three LEPCs that send EPA letters of request for OCA data, 
five states that experience reading room visits, and three LEPCs that 
hold five public meetings each year. The public component of the total 
includes 15 individuals who visit Federal and State reading rooms each 
year and 262 individuals who request VZIS data. The three LEPCs that 
hold public meetings are assumed to be the same three LEPCs that send 
letters of request for OCA data.

[[Page 59076]]

All other respondents are assumed to be unique.
    Estimated number of respondents: 15 (total).
    Frequency of response: As necessary.
    Total estimated burden: 663 hours (per year). Burden is defined at 
5 CFR 1320.03(b).
    Total estimated cost: $29,800 (per year), includes $81 annual 
operation & maintenance costs.
    Changes in the estimates: EPA estimates a slight increase in the 
burden to respondents for this renewal compared to the previous ICR 
renewal. Even though reading room visits were greatly reduced, if not 
stopped altogether because of COVID 19 restrictions during the previous 
ICR period and reading room visits had been declining prior to the 
COVID restrictions because of the increased use of the website 
www.rtk.net.

Courtney Kerwin,
Director, Regulatory Support Division.
[FR Doc. 2022-21185 Filed 9-28-22; 8:45 am]
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