The collection
is pre-approved, contingent upon no substantive changes being made
to this collection after adoption of the final rule. Otherwise this
collection should be re-submitted to OMB for review.
Inventory as of this Action
Requested
Previously Approved
01/31/2019
36 Months From Approved
1,213,853
0
0
673,779
0
0
0
0
0
EPA is publishing this final
regulation that requires the electronic reporting and sharing of
Clean Water Act National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System
(NPDES) program information instead of the current paper-based
reporting of this information. This action will save time and
resources for permittees, states, tribes, territories, and the U.S.
Government while increasing data accuracy, improving compliance,
and supporting EPA's goal of providing better protection of the
nation's waters. By modernizing this Clean Water Act reporting
program, permittees and regulators will use existing, available
information technology to electronically report information and
data related to the NPDES permit program. This regulation will help
provide greater clarity on who is and who is not in compliance and
enhances transparency by providing a timelier, complete, more
accurate, and nationally-consistent set of data about the NPDES
program. By providing improved data in a more accessible form, this
final rulemaking will improve the ability of EPA and authorized
NPDES programs to target the most serious water quality and
compliance problems. Furthermore, by reducing the time and
resources devoted to outdated data management activities, the rule
could allow authorized NPDES programs to shift limited resources to
important water quality and public health protection activities.
The transition from paper to electronic reporting will require
close coordination and cooperation between EPA and authorized NPDES
programs. This regulation provides important flexibility while
still implementing electronic reporting in a timely and effective
fashion.
The NPDES Electronic Reporting
Rule creates some additional short-term burden in order to
transition from paper to electronic reporting. EPA believes
electronic reporting is needed to improve data quality and
availability while reducing costs in the long term. Specifically,
the rule is expected to save time and resources for states while
improving compliance and better protecting the Nation's waters.
This ICR estimates that respondents would incur a total average
annual incremental burden reduction of 197,236 hours to comply with
the requirements of the NPDES Electronic Reporting Rule in the
first three years of its implementation. Note that the net burden
reduction results from labor burden reductions to state authorized
NPDES programs; regulated entities do not experience a net
reduction in labor burden. The State/Territories IC in ROCIS also
does not capture the offsetting burden decrease because the
existing burden is captured under other OMB control numbers, and
the system cannot approve a negative burden figure here. This
reduction will be captured later when the effects of electronic
reporting are incorporated into the existing NPDES ICRs.
$2,618,460
No
No
No
No
No
Uncollected
Carey Johnston 202
566-1014
No
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.
States/Tribes/Territories