Water Quality Certification
Regulations (Proposed Rule)
Revision of a currently approved collection
No
Regular
06/14/2022
Requested
Previously Approved
36 Months From Approved
07/31/2023
154,006
194,000
861,274
931,000
7,466
8,000,000
The information collected under
section 401 is used by certifying authorities and EPA to evaluate
potential water quality impacts from federally licensed or
permitted projects. When states or tribes with TAS act as the
certifying authority, the primary collection of this information is
performed by the Federal agencies issuing the licenses or permits
or the states and tribes acting as certifying authorities. When EPA
acts as the certifying authority or evaluates potential neighboring
jurisdiction impacts, the information is collected by EPA.
Information collected directly by EPA under section 401 in support
of the section 402 NPDES program is already captured under existing
ICR No. 0229.255 (OMB Control No. 2040-0004). The information
collected under section 518(e) is used by EPA to determine whether
a tribe is eligible for TAS for section 401 or section 401(a)(2).
Information collected directly by EPA under section 518(e) in
support of the process for tribes to obtain TAS for CWA section
303(c) and section 401 simultaneously is already captured under
existing ICR No. 0988.14 (OMB Control No. 2040-0049). The proposed
revisions clarify the nature of the information project proponents
must include in a request for section 401 certification. They also
contain a pre-filing meeting request requirement for project
proponents which may be waived or shortened by a certifying
authority. The proposed revisions also provide tribes with the
ability to obtain TAS solely for either section 401 or section
401(a)(2). Total annual burden for respondents (project proponents
and certifying authorities and tribes applying for TAS) are
anticipated to be 861,274 hours with the associated annual labor
costs being approximately $47 million. EPA expects that these
proposed revisions will provide additional transparency in the
certification modification and section 401(a)(2) contexts. EPA
expects these proposed revisions to provide greater clarity
regarding section 401 requirements, to reduce the overall
preparation time spent by a project proponent on certification
requests, and to reduce the review time for certifying authorities.
EPA solicits comment on whether there are ways it can increase
clarity, reduce the information collection burden, or improve the
quality or utility of the information collected, or the information
collection process itself, in furtherance of goals and requirements
of section 401.
There is a decrease in the
estimated burden, number of respondents, and number of responses
when compared to the estimates presented in the existing
collection. These changes are due to refinements in how the
estimates are calculated in addition to: (1) a decrease in the
average number of annual licenses and permits issued that are used
in the low estimate (56,700 as reported in Table 1 vs. 63,000 in
the existing collection) and (2) a decrease in the high estimate of
annual certification requests (97,000 as reported in Table 2 and
Table 5 vs. 131,000 in the existing collection) from incorporating
values provided in pre-proposal input letters. EPA reviewed
pre-proposal input letters to compile suitable data for the number
of responses and burden per response, where appropriate. The
previous ICR for this collection (2603.05) included an estimate of
$8M in average annual non-labor costs for the CWA section 401 fees
that project proponents pay to certifying authorities when
submitting certification requests. Upon further consideration, the
Agency determined that CWA section 401 fees represent a transfer
from project proponents to certifying authorities that should not
be attributed to this collection as respondent costs. That cost has
therefore been removed in this ICR.
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.