Request for Comments: Industrial Combustion Coordinated Rulemaking Information Collection Request

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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[AD-FRL-5543-8]

Request for Comments: Industrial Combustion Coordinated

Rulemaking Information Collection Request

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 3501

et seq.), this notice announces that EPA is planning to submit the

following proposed Information Collection Request (ICR) to the Office

of Management and Budget (OMB). Before submitting the ICR to OMB for

review and approval, EPA is soliciting comments on specific aspects of

the proposed information collection as described below.

DATES: Comments must be submitted on or before September 27, 1996.

ADDRESSES: Comments. Comments should be submitted (in duplicate, if

possible) to: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Air and Radiation

Docket and Information Center (6102), Attention: Docket Number A-96-17,

Room M-1500, 401 M Street SW., Washington, DC 20460. The EPA requests

that a separate copy also be sent to Mr. Jim Eddinger, Combustion Group

(MD-13), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park,

North Carolina 27711. Copies of ICR. The draft ICR and other relevant

materials, including the draft supporting statement, are available

electronically on the Technology Transfer Network (TTN). Choose the

``ICCR-Industrial Combustion Coordinated Rulemaking Process'' selection

from the Technical Information Areas menu. To download the draft ICR

from the main menu, select `` Download Forms for Replies''. The TTN

is one of the EPA's electronic bulletin boards. The TTN provides

information and technology exchange in various areas of air pollution

control. The service is free except for the cost of a phone call. Dial

(919) 541-5472 for up to a 14,400 bits-per-second (bps) modem. The TTN

is also accessible through the Internet at ``TELNET

ttnbbs.rtpnc.epa.gov''. If more information on the TTN is needed, call

the help desk at (919) 541-5384. The help desk is staffed from 11 a.m.

to 5 p.m., Eastern time. A voice menu system is available at other

times.

Copies of the ICR may also be obtained from the docket at the above

address in Room M-1500, Waterside Mall (ground floor), phone number

(202) 260-7548. A reasonable fee may be charged for copying. The docket

is open for public inspection and copying between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m.,

Monday through Friday, except for Federal holidays. Copies of the draft

ICR may also be obtained free of charge by contacting one of the people

listed below.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Jim Eddinger, Combustion Group

(MD-13), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park,

North Carolina 27711, phone number (919) 541-5426, facsimile number

(919) 541-0072; or, at the same address and facsimile number, Mr. Fred

Porter, phone number (919) 541-5251; Mr. Sims Roy, phone number (919)

541-5263; Ms. Amanda Agnew, phone number (919) 541-5268; Mr. Walt

Stevenson, phone number (919) 541-5264; or Mr. Bill Maxwell, phone

number (919) 541-5430.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Affected entities: Entities affected by this

action are those which own or operate the following combustion sources:

Industrial/institutional/commercial boilers, process heaters,

industrial/commercial and other solid waste incinerators (not including

hazardous waste incinerators, medical waste incinerators, or municipal

waste incinerators burning more than 40 tons/day of municipal solid

waste), stationary gas turbines, or stationary internal combustion

engines.

These combustion sources are operated in a wide variety of settings

by many businesses and industries, including but not limited to the

following: Petroleum refining; oil and natural gas extraction and

transmission; asphalt and other petroleum-based products manufacturing;

chemical and pharmaceutical manufacturing; lumber processing; furniture

manufacturing; durable and consumer goods manufacturing; paper/pulp

mills; agricultural products manufacturing; metal products production;

machine/equipment manufacturing; electronic equipment industry;

automobile and transportation equipment industry; secondary metals

processing industry; mining; military bases; food production plants;

meat processing plants; municipal water services; public utilities;

independent power producers; telephone companies; small municipalities;

construction businesses; commercial establishments; hotels; apartment

complexes; laundries; hospitals; research companies; veterinary

services; funeral services; medical centers; research centers; schools;

colleges; and other institutions.

Title: Industrial Combustion Coordinated Rulemaking Information

Collection Request.

Abstract: Sections 112 and 129 of the Clean Air Act (the Act)

require EPA to develop regulations to limit emissions of toxic or

hazardous air pollutants, and in some cases, emissions of certain

criteria air pollutants as well, from several categories of combustion

sources, including industrial boilers, commercial/institutional

boilers, process heaters, industrial/commercial waste incinerators,

other solid waste combustors, stationary gas turbines, and stationary

internal combustion engines. These combustion sources are used

pervasively for energy generation and waste disposal in a wide variety

of industries and commercial and institutional establishments. They

combust fuels including oil, coal, natural gas, wood, and non-hazardous

wastes. Both hazardous air pollutants and criteria pollutants are

emitted.

These regulations could affect hundreds of thousands of combustion

sources nationwide and will have significant environmental, health, and

cost impacts. The EPA has decided to coordinate the development of

these regulations in a single effort termed the ``Industrial Combustion

Coordinated Rulemaking'' (ICCR).

The overall goal of the ICCR is to develop a unified set of Federal

air emissions regulations that will maximize environmental and public

health benefits in a flexible framework at a reasonable cost of

compliance, avoiding duplicative and overlapping regulatory

requirements, within the constraints of the Act. A Federal Advisory

Committee Act (FACA) advisory committee and a series of work groups,

composed of stakeholders and EPA, are being established to develop

recommendations that will assist EPA in implementing the ICCR. This

will permit active stakeholder participation in all aspects of

regulatory development.

Additional information about the ICCR, as well as information on

how to participate in the ICCR, is available in the document

``Industrial Combustion Coordinated Rulemaking--Proposed Organizational

Structure and Process.'' This document may be downloaded from the TTN

or may be obtained by contacting one of the individuals mentioned above

under For Further Information Contact.

The organizational structure and process of the ICCR permits the

Federal Advisory Committee (referred to as the Coordinating Committee)

and the Source Work Groups (one for each of the various combustion

sources) to identify, collect, and compile information necessary for

regulatory development; undertake and perform various analyses of this

information; identify and

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develop a number of regulatory alternatives (i.e., possible

regulations) for each combustion source; and undertake and perform

assessments or analyses of the environmental and public health benefit,

as well as the cost and economic impacts associated with each of the

regulatory alternatives. The structure and process of the ICCR also

permits each Source Work Group to develop recommendations regarding

which regulatory alternative should serve as the basis for a

regulation, as well as recommendation on all other aspects of the

regulation, and present these recommendations to the Coordinating

Committee. Finally, the structure and process of the ICCR permits the

Coordinating Committee to review and consider these recommendations and

then present recommendations to EPA. The EPA will retain its full and

independent decision making authority and responsibility, but will give

great weight and consideration to these recommendations.

The Clean Air Act requires development of six of the seven

regulations by November 2000, which in turn necessitates proposal by

November 1999--only three years from now. To ensure that the 1999 and

2000 dates are met, the necessary information to develop these

regulations must be collected in 1996 and in early 1997, analyses of

the information must be completed in 1997, regulatory alternatives must

be identified and various analyses of the impacts associated with these

alternatives must be completed in 1998, and the proposed rule(s) must

be developed and proposed in 1999.

It should be noted that the EPA is under Court Order to develop

regulations under section 129 of the Act for industrial and commercial

waste incinerators, which is one of the source categories included in

the ICCR. The litigants have agreed to an interim extension of the

court-ordered proposal date for these regulations from May 30, 1996 to

January 1997. As a condition associated with this extension, EPA must

develop a formal ICR under section 114 of the Act by January 1997 to

collect all the information the EPA feels is necessary to develop

regulations for industrial and commercial solid waste incinerators. The

EPA will meet with the litigants in January 1997 to discuss whether

sufficient information to develop regulations for industrial and

commercial solid waste incinerators is likely to be obtained more

quickly and effectively by sending out the ICR questionnaire or by

other means, such as through the ICCR.

It is the EPA's hope that through the efforts of the stakeholders

participating in the ICCR, there will be no need--or only a limited

need--for EPA to use the authority of section 114 of the Act (which

requires mandatory response) to send the formal ICR to thousands of

combustion sources. It should be the goal and the task of the Source

Work Groups working under the ICCR FACA Advisory Committee to devise

and implement a means for gathering the information necessary to

develop regulations from all sources--including industry--in a

voluntary and cooperative manner.

While initial response to the ICCR has been positive from all

stakeholders, including industry, State/local agencies, environmental

groups, etc., and EPA is committed to doing everything it can to ensure

the success of the ICCR, EPA must be prepared and in a position to meet

the statutory dates in the Act for adoption of the regulations.

Consequently, EPA must proceed with development of an ICR for all the

combustion sources included in the ICCR, and must proceed along this

path in parallel with the Source Work Group activities under the ICCR.

This will permit EPA to send out the ICR questionnaire to gather the

necessary information and do the necessary analyses in time to meet the

statutory and court-ordered deadlines if the ICCR Work Group

information collection efforts do not succeed.

If the judgment in January 1997 is that the information collection

efforts through the ICCR have failed or proven to be inadequate, then

the EPA will implement the formal information collection effort by mid-

January 1997. However, if it appears that the ICCR will be successful

in collecting the needed information voluntarily, the ICR questionnaire

will not be sent out, or a scaled back version could be used to collect

only the information that has not been obtained by other means. Whether

EPA will be required to send out the ICR questionnaire for the

industrial and commercial waste incinerator category will depend on

whether EPA can demonstrate to the litigant's satisfaction that the ICR

is unnecessary because EPA is likely to obtain the information faster

using some other process, such as voluntary collection efforts under

the ICCR.

Request for Comments: The EPA would like to solicit comments on

this ICR to:

(i) Evaluate whether the proposed collection of information is

necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the agency,

including whether the information will have practical utility;

(ii) Evaluate the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden

of the proposed collection of information, including the validity of

the methodology and assumptions used;

(iii) Enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information

to be collected; and

(iv) Minimize the burden of the collection of information on those

who are to respond, including through the use of appropriate automated

electronic, mechanical, or other technological techniques, or other

forms of information technology, (e.g., permitting electronic

submission of responses).

The EPA also would like to solicit comments that will assist the

EPA in demonstrating to the plaintiff in the Industrial and Commercial

Waste Incinerators rulemaking litigation that sending out the ICR will

be unnecessary because EPA is likely to obtain the information faster

under another process, such as the ICCR. For example, commenters who

plan to participate in the ICCR voluntary collection efforts could

submit copies of any collection plans they are developing for their own

use or an outline of the type of data they plan to submit voluntarily

to EPA under the ICCR process along with the schedule for such

submission.

An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required

to respond to, a collection of information that is sent to ten or more

persons unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number. The

OMB control numbers for EPA's approved information collection requests

are listed in 40 CFR part 9 and 48 CFR Ch. 15. This notice is the first

step in obtaining approval for the ICR described below.

ICR Description: To develop regulations, the EPA will need

information to determine the maximum achievable control technology

(MACT) floor; identify regulatory alternatives (i.e., possible

regulations) more stringent than the MACT floor; and analyze the

environmental and public health benefit, as well as the cost and

economic impacts of the alternatives. These analyses of impacts are the

basis for decisions about which regulatory alternative(s) to propose as

the regulation.

The proposed ICR has five parts: General facility information;

combustor information; control device information; emissions

information; and capital and annual costs. Part I, general facility

information, would be completed once for each facility to determine the

facility name, facility size, and location. This

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information will be used to determine regional economic impacts and

small business impacts. Location information is also an input to the

environmental and public health benefits analyses, and is often a

critical factor in determining the MACT floor.

Part II, combustor information, would be completed separately for

each combustor at a facility to determine combustor size, design and

operating data, usage patterns, types of fuels and wastes combusted,

control devices, and pollution prevention methods in use. This

information will be used to determine in which source category or

subcategory the combustor belongs, to determine the MACT floor, and to

identify various regulatory alternatives. The combustor design, fuel,

and control device information can also be used to estimate emissions.

Part III, control device information, would be completed separately

for each control device associated with each combustor. Information

such as control efficiencies and operating temperatures will be used to

estimate emissions, determine the MACT floor, and identify regulatory

alternatives.

Part IV, emissions information, would be completed separately for

each combustor to provide permit limits and emissions test data for

sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, hydrogen chloride, particulate matter,

mercury, lead, cadmium, dioxins/furans, hazardous air pollutants,

opacity, and visible emissions. This information will be used to

determine the MACT floor and regulatory alternatives above the MACT

floor, and to estimate emission impacts of the regulatory alternatives

and assess the public health benefits of the regulations.

Part V, capital and annual costs, would also be completed

separately for each combustor to provide information on combustion and

control equipment installation costs, retrofit costs, and annual

operating costs and revenues. This information will be used to estimate

the costs of the regulatory alternatives and to determine the economic

impacts of the regulations.

As discussed above, if necessary, the ICR would be mailed--either

in total or in part, as appropriate--in hardcopy form to the intended

recipients. An electronic version of the questionnaire is being

considered to allow for electronic completion and submittal. Recipients

of this ICR would be required to respond under the authority of section

114 of the Act. If a respondent believes the disclosure of certain

information requested would compromise a trade secret, it would need to

be clearly identified as such and will be treated as confidential until

a determination is made. Any information subsequently determined to

constitute a trade secret will be protected under 18 U.S.C. 1905. If no

claim of confidentiality accompanies the information when it is

received by EPA, it may be made available to the public without further

notice (40 CFR 2.203, September 1, 1976).

Burden Statement: Burden means the total time, effort, or financial

resources expended by persons to generate, maintain, retain, 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 purpose 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.

The purpose of this ICR is to collect and evaluate existing

information. The generation of new data (e.g., conducting an emission

test) is not required to complete this questionnaire. This is a one-

time data collection effort.

The time to complete this ICR will vary for each respondent

depending on the number of combustion sources at the facility. Many

respondents may have only one combustion source (a crematorium, for

example), while other respondents may have 30 or more sources (a

petroleum refinery or military base, for example). The ICR is expected

to require 39 hours per combustion source to complete. The respondents

are expected to have an overall average of 10 combustion sources per

facility, and would require 390 hours to complete and submit the ICR.

This cost has been estimated to be $12,500 per average facility.

The total number of respondents will be a sample of the total

population which will be determined based on the information available

from EPA data bases, State agencies, and other available references

being gathered now and through the ICCR. Preliminary efforts have

estimated the total number of sources to be over 500,000. The EPA plans

to request that this ICR be considered for 20,000 recipients. If the

average recipient has 10 combustion sources, the total respondent

burden would be 7.78 million hours at a total cost of approximately

$247 million. This equates to an average of $35.3 million per

regulation to be developed.

While 20,000 recipients may seem like a large sample, this is not

the case because of the large number of sources, the numerous and

varied uses of these sources, the complexity of some of the sites--

particularly the industrial sites--at which these sources are used, and

the number of regulations that EPA is concurrently developing under the

ICCR--seven at minimum. The estimate of 20,000 questionnaire recipients

is less than 5 percent of the total number of sources. The population

includes seven source categories, encompassing many types of

industries, many geographic locations, multiple combustor designs and

sizes, and a range of fuels and control levels. In order to adequately

represent these parameters, a sample size of 20,000 may be needed, as

further explained in the supporting statement for the ICR. Recipients

will be selected from lists of sources obtained from EPA databases,

State files, and other published directories.

The advantage of this ICR is that it will gather information for

multiple source categories (industrial boilers, commercial/

institutional boilers, process heaters, industrial/commercial waste

incinerators, other solid waste combustors, stationary gas turbines,

and internal combustion engines) in one combined effort, which will be

much less burdensome for the respondents than if separate ICR's were

required for each source category.

It is very possible that the per combustor and total respondent

burdens may be greatly reduced if the ICCR Coordinating Committee and

Source Work Groups are successful in collecting information through the

ICCR. The ICR may be used only for a portion of the source categories

included in the ICCR, or the ICR may be reduced in scope to focus only

on areas of information that the Coordinating Committee and Source Work

Groups were unable to obtain by other means. Again, the EPA is

committed to the process of the ICCR, but must necessarily be prepared

to use a formal ICR if the ICCR, or the information collect efforts of

the Coordinating Committee and the Source work Groups under the ICCR,

are not successful. The ICR must be developed in parallel with other

information gathering efforts under the ICCR so that the EPA will be

able to send out the ICR in time to meet the statutory and court-

ordered deadlines if these other efforts are not successful.

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Dated: July 23, 1996.

Bruce C. Jordan,

Director, Emissions Standards Division.

[FR Doc. 96-19195 Filed 7-26-96; 8:45 am]

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