[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 5 (Friday, January 8, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 1055-1057]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-150]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[EPA-HQ-OAR-2006-0525; FRL-9101-2]
Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to OMB for
Review and Approval; Comment Request; Fuels and Fuel Additives: Health-
Effects Research Requirements for Manufacturers (Renewal); EPA ICR No.
1696.06, OMB Control No. 2060-0297
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) (44
U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), this document announces that an Information
Collection Request (ICR) has been forwarded to the Office of Management
and Budget (OMB) for review and approval. This is a request to renew an
existing approved collection. 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 February 8,
2010.
ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, referencing Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-
2006-0525, to (1) EPA online using www.regulations.gov (our preferred
method), by e-mail to a-and-r-docket@epa.gov, or by mail to: EPA Docket
Center, Environmental Protection Agency, Air and Radiation Docket,
Mailcode: 28221T, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460,
and (2) OMB by mail to:
[[Page 1056]]
Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and
Budget (OMB), Attention: Desk Officer for EPA, 725 17th Street, NW.,
Washington, DC 20503.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: James W. Caldwell, Office of
Transportation and Air Quality, Mail code: 6406J, Environmental
Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460;
telephone number: (202) 343-9303; fax number: (202) 343-2802; e-mail
address: caldwell.jim@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 September 9, 2009 (74 FR 46422), EPA sought comments on
this ICR pursuant to 5 CFR 1320.8(d). EPA received no comments. Any
additional comments on this ICR should be submitted to EPA and OMB
within 30 days of this notice.
EPA has established a public docket for this ICR under Docket ID
No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2006-0525, which is available for online viewing at
http://www.regulations.gov, or in person viewing at the Air and
Radiation Docket in the EPA Docket Center (EPA/DC), EPA West, Room
3334, 1301 Constitution Ave., NW., Washington, DC. The EPA/DC 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 Air and
Radiation Docket is 202-566-1742.
Use EPA's electronic docket and comment system at http://www.regulations.gov, to submit or view public comments, access the
index listing of the contents of the docket, and to access those
documents in the docket that are available electronically. Once in the
system, select ``docket search,'' then key in the docket ID number
identified above. Please note that EPA's policy is that public
comments, whether submitted electronically or in paper, will be made
available for public viewing at http://www.regulations.gov as EPA
receives them and without change, unless the comment contains
copyrighted material, confidential business information (CBI), or other
information whose public disclosure is restricted by statute. For
further information about the electronic docket, go to http://www.regulations.gov.
Title: Fuels and Fuel Additives: Health-Effects Research
Requirements for Manufacturers (Renewal).
ICR numbers: EPA ICR No. 1696.06, OMB Control No. 2060-0297.
ICR Status: This ICR is scheduled to expire on February 28, 2010.
Under OMB regulations, the Agency may continue to conduct or sponsor
the collection of information while this submission is pending at OMB.
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 title 40 of the CFR, after appearing in the Federal Register when
approved, are listed in 40 CFR Part 9, and are displayed either by
publication in the Federal Register or by other appropriate means, such
as on the related collection instrument or form, if applicable. The
display of OMB control numbers in certain EPA regulations is
consolidated in 40 CFR Part 9.
Abstract: In accordance with the regulations at 40 CFR part 79,
subparts A, B, C, and D, Registration of Fuels and Fuel Additives,
manufacturers (including importers) of motor-vehicle gasoline, motor-
vehicle diesel fuel, and additives for those fuels, are required to
have these products registered by the EPA prior to their introduction
into commerce. Registration involves providing a chemical description
of the fuel or additive, and certain technical, marketing, and health-
effects information. The development of health-effects data, as
required by 40 CFR part 79, subpart F, is the subject of this ICR. The
information collection requirements for subparts A through D, and the
supplemental notification requirements of Subpart F (indicating how the
manufacturer will satisfy the health-effects data requirements) are
covered by a separate ICR (OMB Control No. 2060-0150). The health-
effects data will be used to determine if there are any products that
have evaporative or combustion emissions that may pose an unreasonable
risk to public health, thus meriting further investigation and
potential regulation. This information is required for specific groups
of fuels and additives as defined in the regulations. For example,
gasoline and gasoline additives which consist of only carbon, hydrogen,
oxygen, nitrogen and/or sulfur, and which involve a gasoline oxygen
content of less than 1.5 weight percent, fall into a ``baseline''
group. Oxygenates, such as ethanol, when used in gasoline as an oxygen
level of at least 1.5 weight percent, define separate ``nonbaseline''
groups for each oxygenate. Additives which contain elements other than
carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, and/or sulfur fall into separate
atypical groups. There are similar grouping requirements for diesel
fuel and diesel fuel additives.
Manufacturers may perform the research independently or may join
with other manufacturers to share in the costs for each applicable
group. Several research consortiums (groups of manufacturers) have been
formed. The largest consortium, organized by the American Petroleum
Institute (API), represents most of the manufacturers of baseline
gasoline, baseline diesel fuel, baseline fuel additives, and the
prominent nonbaseline oxygenated additives for gasoline. The research
is structured into three tiers of requirements for each group. Tier 1
requires an emissions characterization and a literature search for
information on the health effects of those emissions. Voluminous Tier 1
data for gasoline and diesel fuel were submitted by API and others in
1997. Tier 1 data have been submitted for biodiesel, water/diesel
emulsions, several atypical additives, and renewable diesel fuels. Tier
2 requires short-term inhalation exposures of laboratory animals to
emissions to screen for adverse health effects. Tier 2 data have been
submitted for baseline diesel, biodiesel, and water/diesel emulsions.
Alternative Tier 2 testing can be required in lieu of standard Tier 2
testing if EPA concludes that such testing would be more appropriate.
The EPA reached that conclusion with respect to gasoline and gasoline-
oxygenate blends, and alternative requirements were established for the
API consortium for baseline gasoline and six gasoline-oxygenate blends.
Alternative Tier 2 requirements have also been established for the
manganese additive MMT manufactured by the Afton Chemical Corporation
(formerly the Ethyl Corporation). Tier 3 provides for follow-up
research, at EPA's discretion, when remaining uncertainties as to the
significance of observed health effects, welfare effects, and/or
emissions exposures from a fuel or fuel/additive mixture interfere with
EPA's ability to make reasonable estimates of the potential risks posed
by emissions from a fuel or additive. To date, EPA has not imposed any
Tier 3 requirements. Under Section 211 of the Clean Air Act, (1)
submission of the health-effects information is necessary for a
manufacturer to obtain registration of a motor-vehicle gasoline, diesel
fuel, or fuel additive, and thus be allowed to introduce that product
into commerce, and (2) the information shall not be considered
confidential.
Burden Statement: The annual public reporting and recordkeeping
burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 7,067
hours per
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response. 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
which have subsequently changed; 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: Manufacturers of Fuels and Fuel
Additives.
Estimated Number of Respondents: 3.
Frequency of Response: On Occasion.
Estimated Total Annual Hour Burden: 21,200.
Estimated Total Annual Cost: $2,831,480, which includes $2,244,480
in labor costs, $205,000 in capital costs and $382,000 in O&M costs.
Changes in the Estimates: There is a decrease of 8,950 hours in the
total estimated burden currently identified in the OMB Inventory of
Approved ICR Burdens. This decrease is the result of reduced activity
with the completion of the MMT alternative Tier 2 testing program the
near completion of the oxygenate alternative Tier 2 testing program.
Dated: December 24, 2009.
Richard T. Westlund,
Acting Director, Collection Strategies Division.
[FR Doc. 2010-150 Filed 1-7-10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P