Notice2023-08840
Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the Office of Management and Budget for Review and Approval; Comment Request; BEACH Act Grant Program (Renewal)
Primary source
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Published
April 27, 2023
Issuing agencies
Environmental Protection Agency
Abstract
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has submitted an information collection request (ICR), Beaches Environmental Assessment and Coastal Health (BEACH) Act Grant Program (EPA ICR Number 2048.07, OMB Control Number 2040-0244) to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act. This is a proposed extension of the ICR, which is currently approved through April 30, 2023. Public comments were previously requested via the Federal Register on July 11, 2022 during a 60-day comment period. This notice allows for an additional 30 days for public comments.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 88 Issue 81 (Thursday, April 27, 2023)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 81 (Thursday, April 27, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 25635-25636]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2023-08840]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[EPA-HQ-OW-2015-0641; FRL-10930-01-OMS]
Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the
Office of Management and Budget for Review and Approval; Comment
Request; BEACH Act Grant Program (Renewal)
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has submitted an
information collection request (ICR), Beaches Environmental Assessment
and Coastal Health (BEACH) Act Grant Program (EPA ICR Number 2048.07,
OMB Control Number 2040-0244) to the Office of Management and Budget
(OMB) for review and approval in accordance with the Paperwork
Reduction Act. This is a proposed extension of the ICR, which is
currently approved through April 30, 2023. Public comments were
previously requested via the Federal Register on July 11, 2022 during a
60-day comment period. This notice allows for an additional 30 days for
public comments.
DATES: Comments may be submitted on or before May 30, 2023.
ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, referencing Docket ID Number EPA-HQ-
OW-2015-0641, to EPA online using <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">www.regulations.gov</a> (our preferred
method), by email to <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#eea1b9c3aa818d858b9aae8b9e8fc0898198"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="a2edf58fe6cdc1c9c7d6e2c7d2c38cc5cdd4">[email protected]</span></a>, or by mail to: EPA Docket
Center, Environmental Protection Agency, Mail Code 28221T, 1200
Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20460. 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.
Submit written comments and recommendations to OMB for the proposed
information collection within 30 days of publication of this notice to
<a href="http://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain">www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain</a>. Find this particular information
collection by selecting ``Currently under 30-day Review--Open for
Public Comments'' or by using the search function.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Lisa Larimer, Office of Water, Office
of Science and Technology, Standards and Health Protection Division,
(4305T), Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave. NW,
Washington, DC 20460; telephone number: (202) 566-1017; fax number:
(202) 566-0409; email address: <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#6905081b00040c1b4705001a08290c1908470e061f"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="325e53405b5f57401c5e5b4153725742531c555d44">[email protected]</span></a>.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This is a proposed extension of the ICR,
which is currently approved through April 30, 2023. 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.
Public comments were previously requested via the Federal Register
on July 11, 2022 during a 60-day comment period (87 FR 41124). This
notice allows for an additional 30 days for public comments. 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 <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">www.regulations.gov</a> 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
<a href="http://www.epa.gov/dockets">http://www.epa.gov/dockets</a>.
Abstract: The Beaches Environmental Assessment and Coastal Health
(BEACH) Act amends the Clean Water Act (CWA) in part and authorizes the
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to award BEACH Act Grants to
coastal and Great Lakes states, tribes, and territories (collectively
referred to as jurisdictions) to develop and implement beach monitoring
and notification programs. The grants assist those jurisdictions to
develop and implement a consistent approach to monitor coastal
recreational water quality; assess, manage, and communicate health
risks from waterborne microbial contamination; notify the public of
pollution occurrences; and post beach advisories and closures to
prevent public exposure to microbial pathogens.
Per CWA section 406 (33 U.S.C. 1346), to qualify for a BEACH Act
grant a jurisdiction must submit information to EPA documenting that
its beach monitoring and notification program is consistent with
performance criteria outlined in the National Beach Guidance and
Required Performance Criteria for Grants, 2014 Edition. In addition,
recipients of BEACH Act grants must submit water quality monitoring
data and information on public notification actions to EPA. All beach
program information will be collected by EPA's Office of Science and
Technology, stored in the Beach Advisory and Closing On-line
Notification (BEACON) system, and accessible via EPA's Beaches website
for use by the public; state, tribal, territorial, and local
environmental and public health agencies; and EPA.
Form Numbers: None.
Respondents/affected entities: Potential respondents to this ICR
are recipients of BEACH Act grants, including 29 coastal and Great
Lakes states, 4 tribes, 5 U.S. territories, and Erie County,
Pennsylvania.
Respondent's obligation to respond: Required to obtain or retain a
benefit (Section 406 of the Clean Water Act, 33 U.S.C. 1346).
Estimated number of respondents: 40 (total).
Frequency of response: Annual; however, the Agency encourages more
frequent reporting to provide more up-to-date information to the
public.
Total estimated burden: 322,954 hours (per year). Burden is defined
at 5 CFR 1320.03(b)
Total estimated cost: $22,976,864 (per year), includes $9,955,800
annualized capital or operation & maintenance costs.
Changes in the estimates: There is an increase of 230,953 hours in
the total estimated respondent burden compared with the ICR currently
approved by OMB. This increase adjusts estimates in response to
feedback to better account for labor costs and to structure the ICR to
better align with the burden associated with the present program.
Specifically, the increase is due to three main reasons: (1) the
existing ICR does not fully capture the respondent labor associated
with collecting water quality samples, (2) the restructuring of actions
into developmental and annual grant activities and subsequent
recalculation of the associated burden, and (3) the anticipated
addition of one tribal respondent. The total respondent cost increased
by $7.459M due to the changes described above, an increase in the cost
to analyze water samples, and slight increases in the salary rates.
However, this increase is offset by a $1.5M decrease in respondent O&M
cost resulting from using actual respondent sampling frequency data
rather than previous estimates that overcounted sampling. Agency burden
and cost increased by 117 hours because the existing ICR did not
capture some of the labor associated with the administration of beach
grants or the Agency O&M cost for contractor assistance to
jurisdictions
[[Page 25636]]
with data submission and maintaining the statutorily required database.
Courtney Kerwin,
Director, Regulatory Support Division.
[FR Doc. 2023-08840 Filed 4-26-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P
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