In accordance with 5 CFR 1320, the information collection is approved for three years.
Inventory as of this Action
Requested
Previously Approved
10/31/2018
36 Months From Approved
10/31/2015
17,398
0
17,398
188,001
0
185,201
13,150,678
0
13,150,678
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to renew an information collection request for the Federal Implementation Plans to Reduce Interstate Transport of Fine Particulate Matter and Ozone (Transport Rule) to allow for future implementation of the rule. The Transport Rule was published in the Federal Register on August 8, 2011 (76 FR 48208) and compliance obligations were originally scheduled to commence on January 1, 2012. However, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (D.C. Circuit) stayed the rule prior to implementation and subsequently issued an opinion vacating the rule. On April 29, 2014, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed the D.C. Circuit opinion vacating the Transport Rule. On June 26, 2014 the U.S. Department of Justice filed a motion on EPA's behalf at the D.C. Circuit seeking to have the stay lifted and to allow compliance obligations under the rule to commence as of January 1, 2015. The D.C. Circuit has not yet ruled on that motion.
Once implemented, the Transport Rule's requirements would incorporate and supersede the existing requirements under the Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR). CAIR's requirements, in turn, incorporated certain requirements under the NOX SIP Call. The Transport Rule includes new reporting requirements and, like CAIR and the NOX SIP Call, combines these requirements with existing requirements from the Acid Rain Program (ARP) under Title IV of the Clean Air Act (CAA) Amendments of 1990. Each of these existing requirements has an approved ICR in place. All data received by EPA will be treated as public information. 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.
Differences between this renewal and the previous ICR are due to revised current year labor costs, and the inclusion of 100 hours annually per state (28 states) to allocate allowances as part of the SIP process, which was inadvertently omitted from the original rule ICR Supporting Statement.
On behalf of this Federal agency, I certify that the collection of information encompassed by this request complies with 5 CFR 1320.9 and the related provisions of 5 CFR 1320.8(b)(3).
The following is a summary of the topics, regarding the proposed collection of information, that the certification covers:
(i) Why the information is being collected;
(ii) Use of information;
(iii) Burden estimate;
(iv) Nature of response (voluntary, required for a benefit, or mandatory);
(v) Nature and extent of confidentiality; and
(vi) Need to display currently valid OMB control number;
If you are unable to certify compliance with any of these provisions, identify the item by leaving the box unchecked and explain the reason in the Supporting Statement.
Form 7610-5 Federal Implementation Plans to Reduce Interstate Transport of Fine Particulate Matter and Ozone - Private Sector Voluntary
2391ss03.docx
Federal Implementation Plans to Reduce Interstate Transport of Fine Particulate Matter and Ozone - Private Sector Voluntary