Agency Information Collection Activities: Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request; Information Collection Request for Electric Utility Steam Generating Unit Mercury Emissions Collection Effort

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[AD-FRL-6166-6]

Agency Information Collection Activities: Submission for OMB

Review; Comment Request; Information Collection Request for Electric

Utility Steam Generating Unit Mercury Emissions Collection Effort

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 document announces that the following Information

Collection Request (ICR) has been forwarded to the Office of Management

and Budget (OMB) for review and approval: Electric Utility Steam

Generating Unit Mercury Emissions Information Collection Effort; EPA

ICR No. 1858.01. The ICR describes the nature of the information

collection and its expected burden and cost; where appropriate, it

includes the actual data collection instrument.

DATES: Comments must be submitted on or before October 22, 1998.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Contact Sandy Farmer at EPA by phone

at (202) 260-2740, by email at [email protected], or

download off the internet at http://www.epa.gov/icr and refer to EPA

ICR No. 1858.01. The ICR supporting statement and other relevant

materials are also available from the EPA's website listing Federal

Register documents at http://www.epa.gov/ttn/oarpg/t3pfpr.html.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

[[Page 50568]]

Title: Information Collection Request for Electric Utility Steam

Generating Unit Mercury Emissions Information Collection Effort (EPA

ICR No. 1858.01). This is a new collection.

Abstract: This ICR is intended to provide EPA information that will

aid its decision making regarding mercury emissions from electric

utility steam generating units. It will also provide the public with

information about mercury emissions from these plants. Section

112(n)(1)(A) of the Clean Air Act (the Act) requires EPA to perform a

study of the hazards to public health reasonably anticipated to occur

as a result of emissions by electric utility steam generating units of

hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) after imposition of the requirements of

the Act and to prepare a Report to Congress containing the results of

the study. The study has been completed and the Final Report to

Congress was issued on February 24, 1998.

Section 112(n)(1)(A) of the Act also requires the Administrator to

regulate electric utility steam generating units under section 112 if

she finds that such regulation is appropriate and necessary after

``considering the results of the study'' noted above. The Administrator

interprets the quoted language as indicating that the results of the

study are to play a principle, but not exclusive, role in informing the

Administrator's decision as to whether it is appropriate and necessary

to regulate electric utility steam generating units under section 112.

The Administrator believes that in addition to considering the results

of the study, she may collect and consider any additional information

which may be helpful to inform this decision, as well as possible

subsequent decisions, regarding mercury emissions from electric utility

steam generating units.

In the Final Report to Congress, the EPA stated that the available

information, on balance, indicates that mercury emissions from electric

utility steam generating units (primarily those of coal-fired units)

are of potential concern for public health. The EPA acknowledged that

there are substantial uncertainties that make it difficult to assess

electric utility steam generating unit mercury emissions and controls,

and that further research, monitoring, and/or evaluation would reduce

those uncertainties. Among those uncertainties are: (1) The amount of

mercury being emitted by all electric utility steam generating units on

an annual basis (including how much is emitted from various individual

types of units); (2) the speciation (or valence state) of the mercury

which is being emitted (e.g., how much is divalent vs. elemental

mercury); and, (3) the effectiveness of various sulfur dioxide

(SO2) control technologies in reducing the amount of each

form of mercury which is emitted (including how factors such as control

device, fuel type, and plant configuration affect emissions and

speciation).

The EPA has designed this information collection effort so as to

address these uncertainties in as cost-effective a manner as possible.

For example, rather than require all coal-fired plants to perform stack

testing or continuous emissions monitoring to determine their

emissions, the EPA intends to require coal sampling by all of the

plants and stack testing by only a stratified random sample of plants.

The information gained by the stack tests will allow EPA to better

calculate the effect on emissions of current emissions control

technology for the universe of coal-fired plants meeting the definition

of electric utility steam generating unit (section 112(a)(8) of the

Act; generally units above 25 megawatts electric (MWe), including

independent power producers (IPPs) and cogenerators meeting the

definition).

To address the question of the amount of mercury potentially being

emitted by all coal-fired electric utility steam generating units

meeting the definition on an annual basis, the ICR includes a

requirement for the owners/operators of all such units to periodically

provide the results of certain analyses, to include mercury, of each

shipment of coal which they receive, along with the quantity and source

of the coal. To the extent that such analyses can be most cost

effectively provided by the coal suppliers, the Agency encourages this

approach, provided that the analyses represent coal that is fired by

the electric utility steam generating unit (i.e., no further cleaning

of the coal occurs).

To address the questions of emitted species and SO2

control device effectiveness for mercury removal, the ICR also includes

provisions requiring use of the latest mercury emission stack testing

methodology to acquire additional speciated mercury data on both

controlled and uncontrolled air emissions from a representative sample

of units. This will allow EPA to determine factors that characterize

the relationship between coal mercury content and other coal

characteristics, the species of mercury formed in the unit, and the

mercury removal performance of various existing emission control

devices.

The coal-fired units are grouped into categories according to coal

characteristics and method of SO2 control so that a more

representative sample of coal-fired units can be selected for stack

testing. Coal characteristics are related to the coal type, which is

defined as either bituminous (including anthracite and waste anthracite

and bituminous for this ICR), subbituminous, and lignite. Sulfur

dioxide control is defined as either a dry-scrubber (any type/model),

wet-scrubber (any type/model), fluidized bed combustion (FBC; any

type), coal gasification (any type), or no mechanical control at all

(including the use of low sulfur or compliance coals or coal blending).

Information necessary to identify all coal-fired units is publicly

available for facilities owned and operated by publicly-owned utility

companies, Federal power agencies, rural electric cooperatives, and

investor-owned utility generating companies. However, similar

information is not publicly available for nonutility generators

qualifying under the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act (PURPA).

Such units include, but may not be limited to, IPPs, qualifying

facilities, and cogenerators. To obtain the information necessary to

identify all coal-fired units in this sector for both the coal sampling

and analysis and for selection of units for speciated stack sampling,

the Agency will solicit from all such facilities, under authority of

section 114, information relating to the type of coal used, the method

of firing the coal, and the method of SO2 control.

The EPA expects that the information requested as part of this

effort will only be required for one year. The Agency will shortly

propose a regulation to lower the Emergency Planning and Community

Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) section 313 activity thresholds for reporting

releases of certain toxic chemicals, including mercury and mercury

compounds, to the Toxic Release Inventory (TRI). The EPA plans to begin

collecting information on mercury emissions from electric utility steam

generating units under the new threshold in the year 2000.

Under EPCRA section 313, facilities are not required to measure

their emissions specifically to report to TRI, but may use readily

available data (including monitoring data) collected pursuant to other

provisions of law. This ICR is authorized by section 114 of the Clean

Air Act, which allows EPA to require electric utility steam generating

unit owners and operators to perform analyses that they may not

currently perform and, therefore, that would provide emissions

estimates that may be more precise than those that would otherwise be

provided under EPCRA

[[Page 50569]]

section 313. Facilities that have emissions information gathered

through actual emissions monitoring or testing would be required to use

the results of such monitoring or testing in compiling their reports

under EPCRA section 313. Other facilities would be required to apply

the results of the stack testing performed under this ICR (i.e., the

publicly available data on coal mercury and the emissions factors

developed from those data) to estimates of the mercury content of coal

when reporting mercury releases to the TRI.

A final decision has not yet been made as to the new threshold for

mercury under EPCRA section 313. If, after providing an opportunity for

notice and comment, the EPA decides on a threshold for mercury that

omits a significant portion of coal-fired power plants, the EPA may

require that information be submitted under section 114 of the Act for

additional years. Also, if for any reason, information collection on

mercury emissions under the new lower threshold for mercury is delayed

beyond the year 2000, the EPA may require the coal sampling, but not

the stack testing, beyond one year.

The responses to the survey are mandatory and are being collected

under the authority of section 114 of the Act. If a respondent believes

that 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 the EPA, it may be

made available to the public without further notice (40 CFR 2.203,

September 1, 1976).

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. The Federal Register

notice required under 5 CFR 1320.8(d), soliciting comments on this

collection of information, was published on April 9, 1998 (63 FR

17406); over 120 comments were received, including several from

organizations representing more than a single entity.

Burden Statement: The annual public reporting and recordkeeping

burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 1

hour per respondent for the first component, 41 hours per respondent

for the second component,and 90 hours per respondent for the third

component. 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: 1,100.

Estimated Number of Respondents: 1,100.

Frequency of Response: Quarterly for coal analyses; once per year

for emission testing.

Estimated Total Annual Hour Burden: 45,445 hours.

Estimated Total Annualized Cost Burden: $18,891,000.

Send comments on the Agency's need for this information, the

accuracy of the provided burden estimates, and any suggested methods

for minimizing respondent burden, including through the use of

automated collection techniques, to the following addresses. Please

refer to EPA ICR No. 1858.01 in any correspondence.

Ms. Sandy Farmer, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, OP Regulatory

Information Division (2137), 401 M Street, SW, Washington, D.C. 20460

and

Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and

Budget, Attention: Desk Officer for EPA, 725 17th Street, NW,

Washington, D.C. 20503.

Dated: September 17, 1998.

Joseph Retzer,

Director, Regulatory Information Division.

[FR Doc. 98-25324 Filed 9-21-98; 8:45 am]

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