Document ID: EPA-HQ-OAR-2002-0091-0017
Agency: epa
Document Type: Notice
Title: Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposals, Submissions, and Approvals: Ambient Air Quality Surveillance
Posted Date: 2013-09-19T04:00Z

[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 182 (Thursday, September 19, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 57631-57632]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-22740]

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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[EPA-HQ-OAR-2002-0091; FRL 9531-1]

Information Collection Request Submitted to OMB for Review and 
Approval; Comment Request; Ambient Air Quality Surveillance (Renewal)

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency has submitted an 
information collection request (ICR), Ambient Air Quality Surveillance 
(Renewal) (EPA ICR No. 0940.27, OMB Control No. 2060-0084) to the 
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval in 
accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.). 
This is a proposed extension of the ICR, which is currently approved 
through January 31, 2015. This ICR renewal also addresses and 
incorporates requirements and burden currently approved under the 
Nitrogen Oxides Ambient Monitoring ICR (OMB 2060-0638, EPA ICR 
Number 2358.03) and the Sulfur Dioxides Ambient Monitoring ICR 
(OMB 2060-0642, EPA ICR Number 2370.02). Public comments were 
previously requested via the Federal Register (78 FR 12052) on February 
21, 2013 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.

[[Page 57632]]

DATES: Additional comments may be submitted on or before October 21, 
2013.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, referencing Docket ID number EPA-HQ-
OAR-2002-0091, to (1) EPA online using www.regulations.gov (our 
preferred method), by Email to a-and-r-docket@epa.gov, or by mail to: 
EPA Docket Center, Environmental Protection Agency, Mail Code 28221T, 
1200 Pennsylvania Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20460, and (2) OMB via 
email to oira_submission@omb.eop.gov. 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: Laurie Trinca, Air Quality Analysis 
Division (C304-06), Environmental Protection Agency; telephone number 
(919) 541-0520; fax number: 919-541-1903; email address: 
trinca.laurie@epa.gov.

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 Information Collection Request (ICR) includes 
ambient air monitoring data and other supporting measurements reporting 
and recordkeeping activities associated with the Ambient Air Quality 
Surveillance Rule, 40 CFR part 58. This data and information are 
collected by various State and local air quality management agencies 
and Tribal entities, and reported to the Office of Air Quality Planning 
and Standards within the Office of Air and Radiation, EPA.
    The data collected through this information collection consist of 
ambient air concentration measurements for the seven air pollutants 
with National Ambient Air Quality Standards (i.e., ozone, sulfur 
dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, lead, carbon monoxide, PM2.5 and 
PM-10), ozone precursors, meteorological variables at a select number 
of sites and other supporting measurements. Accompanying the pollutant 
concentration data are quality assurance/quality control data and air 
monitoring network design information.
    The EPA and others (e.g., State and local air quality management 
agencies, tribal entities, environmental groups, academic institutions, 
industrial groups) use the ambient air quality data for many purposes, 
including informing the public and other interested parties of an 
area's air quality, judging an area's (e.g., county, city, 
neighborhood) air quality in comparison with the established health or 
welfare standards (including both national and local standards), 
evaluating an air quality management agency's progress in achieving or 
maintaining air pollutant levels below the national and local 
standards, developing and revising State Implementation Plans (SIPs) in 
accordance with 40 CFR 51, evaluating air pollutant control strategies, 
developing or revising national control policies, providing data for 
air quality model development and validation, supporting enforcement 
actions, documenting episodes and initiating episode controls, air 
quality trends assessment and air pollution research.
    The State and local agencies and tribal entities with 
responsibility for reporting ambient air quality data and information 
as requested in this ICR submit these data electronically to the EPA's 
Air Quality System (AQS) database. Quality assurance/quality control 
records and monitoring network documentation are also maintained by 
each State and local agency, in AQS electronic format where possible.
    Respondents/Affected Entities: State and local air pollution 
agencies and Tribal entities.
    Respondent's obligation to respond: Mandatory.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 168.
    Frequency of Response: Quarterly, but may occur more frequently.
    Total Estimated Annual Hour Burden: 1,790,021 hours. Burden is 
defined at 5 CFR 1320.3(b).
    Total Estimated Annual Cost: $194,490,047. This includes an 
estimated labor cost of $126,733,274 and an estimated cost of 
$13,090,237 for operations and maintenance and $54,666,536 for 
equipment and contract costs.
    Changes in the Estimates: There is a decrease of 700,331 hours in 
the total estimated respondent burden compared with that identified in 
the ICR currently approved by OMB. This decrease reflects EPA's 
consolidation of monitors into fewer sites, termination of unnecessary 
monitors, and more efficient procedures for measuring and reporting 
data.

John Moses,
Director, Collection Strategies Division.
[FR Doc. 2013-22740 Filed 9-18-13; 8:45 am]
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