Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission of EPA ICR No. 2104.01 to OMB for Review and Approval; Comment Request

AGENCY:

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION:

Notice.

SUMMARY:

In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), this document announces that the following Information Collection Request (ICR) has been forwarded to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval: Brownfields Program—Revitalization Grantee Reporting. The ICR, which is abstracted below, describes the nature of the information collection and its estimated burden and cost.

DATES:

Additional comments may be submitted on or before September 3, 2003.

ADDRESSES:

Follow the detailed instructions in the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

James Maas, Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response (OSWER), Office of Brownfields Cleanup and Redevelopment (OBCR) 5105T, U.S. EPA Headquarters, Ariel Rios Building, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20460; telephone number: (202) 566-2778; fax number: (202) 566-2757; e-mail address: maas.james@epa.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

EPA has submitted the following ICR to OMB for review and approval according to the procedures prescribed in 5 CFR 1320.12. On April 4, 2003, (68 FR 16508) EPA sought comments on this ICR pursuant to 5 CFR 1320.8(d). EPA received two comments in response to this notice. One comment addressed reporting provisions under the Agency's general assistance regulations at 40 CFR parts 30 and 31, and does not pertain to the reporting requirements under this ICR. The other comment stated that grantee burden would be reduced through electronic reporting. EPA agrees with the commenter and, as addressed in the supporting statement to the ICR, is planning to provide grantees the option of providing reports electronically. In addition, EPA has determined that information that was to be collected using the Brownfields Budget Profile Form will be collected on an existing, OMB-approved grants form; therefore, the Brownfields form and its associated burden have been eliminated from this ICR.

EPA has established a public docket for this ICR under Docket ID No. SFUND-2003-0004, which is available for public viewing at the Superfund Docket in the EPA Docket Center (EPA/DC), EPA West, Room B102, 1301 Constitution Ave., NW., Washington, DC. The EPA Docket Center Public Reading Room is open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding legal holidays. The telephone number for the Reading Room is (202) 566-1744, and the telephone number for the Superfund Docket is (202) 566-0276. An electronic version of the public docket is available through EPA Dockets (EDOCKET) at http://www.epa.gov/edocket. Use EDOCKET to submit or view public comments, access the index listing of the contents of the public docket, and to access those documents in the public docket that are available electronically. Once in the system, select “search,” then key in the docket ID number identified above.

Any comments related to this ICR should be submitted to EPA and OMB within 30 days of this notice, and according to the following detailed instructions: (1) Submit your comments to EPA online using EDOCKET (our preferred method), by e-mail to superfund.docket@epa.gov, or by mail to: EPA Docket Center, Environmental Protection Agency, Superfund Docket, Mail Code: 5202T, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460, and (2) Mail your comments to OMB at: Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget (OMB), Attention: Desk Officer for EPA, 725 17th Street, NW., Washington, DC 20503.

EPA's policy is that public comments, whether submitted electronically or in paper, will be made available for public viewing in EDOCKET as EPA receives them and without change, unless the comment contains copyrighted material, CBI, or other information whose public disclosure is restricted by statute. When EPA identifies a comment containing copyrighted material, EPA will provide a reference to that material in the version of the comment that is placed in EDOCKET. The entire printed comment, including the copyrighted material, will be available in the public docket. Although identified as an item in the official docket, information claimed as CBI, or whose disclosure is otherwise restricted by statute, is not included in the official public docket, and will not be available for public viewing in EDOCKET. For further information about the electronic docket, see EPA's Federal Register notice describing the electronic docket at 67 FR 38102 (May 31, 2002), or go to www.epa.gov/edocket.

Title: Brownfields Program—Revitalization Grantee Reporting, (EPA ICR Number 2104.01). This is a request for a new information collection. Under OMB regulations, the Agency may continue to conduct or sponsor the collection of information while this submission is pending at OMB.

Abstract: The Small Business Liability Relief and Brownfields Revitalization Act (Pub. L. 107-118) (“the Brownfields Amendments”) was signed into law on January 11, 2002. The Act amends the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), as amended, and authorizes EPA to award grants to states, tribes, local governments, and other eligible entities to assess and clean up brownfields sites. Under the Brownfields Amendments, 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. For grant funding purposes, EPA uses the term “brownfields property(ies)” synonymously with the term “brownfields sites.” The Brownfields Amendments authorize EPA to award several types of grants to eligible entities on a competitive basis. Under subtitle A of the Small Business Liability Relief and Brownfields Revitalization Act, states, tribes, local governments, and other eligible entities can receive assessment grants to inventory, characterize, assess, and conduct planning and community involvement related to brownfields properties; cleanup grants to carry out cleanup activities at brownfields properties; grants to capitalize revolving loan funds and provide subgrants for cleanup activities; and job training grants to support the creation and implementation of environmental job training and placement programs.

Grant recipients have general reporting and record keeping requirements as a condition of their grant that result in burden. A portion of this reporting and record keeping burden is authorized under 40 CFR parts 30 and 31 and identified in the EPA's general grants ICR (OMB Control Number 2030-0020). EPA requires Brownfields program grant recipients to maintain and report additional information to EPA on the uses and accomplishments associated with the funded brownfields activities. EPA has prepared several forms to assist grantees in reporting the information and to ensure consistency of the information collected. EPA will use 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 Redevelopment 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 grants program. This ICR addresses the burden imposed on grant recipients that are associated with those reporting and recordkeeping requirements that are specific to grants awarded under Subtitle A of the Small Business Liability Relief and Brownfields Revitalization Act. This ICR does not address the burden imposed on grant recipients who are awarded grants under Subtitle C of the Small Business Liability Relief and Brownfields Revitalization Act.

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, and are identified on the form and/or instrument, if applicable.

Burden Statement: The annual public reporting and recordkeeping burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 5 hours per response for job training grant recipients, and 1.25 hours per response for assessment, cleanup, and revolving loan fund grant recipients. 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 instructions; develop, acquire, install, and utilize technology and systems for the purposes 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 transmit or otherwise disclose the information.

Respondents/Affected Entities: Entities potentially affected by this action are states, tribes, local governments, and certain non-governmental organizations that apply for and receive grants from EPA to support the cleanup and redevelopment of brownfields properties.

Estimated Number of Respondents: 203.

Frequency of Response: Quarterly.

Estimated Total Annual Hour Burden: 7,320.

Estimated Total Annual Capital and Operations and Maintenance Cost: $0.

Changes in the Estimates: This is a new ICR and the estimated burden represents an increase to the total estimated burden currently identified in the OMB Inventory of Approved ICR Burdens.