Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission for OMB Review and Approval; Comment Request; NESHAP for Chemical Recovery Combustion Sources at Kraft, Soda, Sulfite, and Stand-Alone Semichemical Pulp Mills (Renewal), ICR Number 1805.04, OMB Number 2060-0377

AGENCY:

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION:

Notice.

SUMMARY:

In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act, 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. This ICR is scheduled to expire on December 31, 2004. Under OMB regulations, the Agency may continue to conduct or sponsor the collection of information while this submission is pending at OMB. This ICR describes the nature of the information collection and its estimated burden and cost.

DATES:

Additional comments may be submitted on or before January 18, 2005.

ADDRESSES:

Submit your comments, referencing docket ID number OECA-2004-0020, to (1) EPA online using EDOCKET (our preferred method), by email to docket.oeca@epa.gov, or by mail to: Environmental Protection Agency, EPA Docket Center (EPA/DC), Enforcement and Compliance Docket and Information Center, Mail Code 2201T, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20460, and (2) OMB at: 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:

Leonard Lazarus, Compliance Assessment and Media Programs Division, Office of Compliance, Mail Code 2223A, Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20460; telephone number: (202) 564-6369; fax number: (202) 564-0050; email address: lazarus.leonard@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 May 25, 2004 (69 FR 29718), EPA sought comments on this ICR pursuant to 5 CFR 1320.8(d). EPA received no comments.

EPA has established a public docket for this ICR under Docket ID No. OECA-2004-0020, which is available for public viewing at the Enforcement and Compliance Docket and Information Center in the EPA Docket Center (EPA/DC), EPA West, Room B102, 1301 Constitution Avenue, NW., Washington, DC. The EPA Docket Center 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 Enforcement and Compliance Docket and Information Center Docket is: (202) 566-1752. An electronic version of the public docket is available through EPA Dockets (EDOCKET) at http://www.epa.gov/edocket. Use EDOCKET to submit or view public comments, access the index listing of the contents of the public docket, and to access those documents in the public docket that are available electronically. When in the system, select “search,” then key in the docket ID number identified above.

Any comments related to this ICR should be submitted to EPA and OMB within 30 days of this notice. EPA's policy is that public comments, whether submitted electronically or in paper, will be made available for public viewing in EDOCKET 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. When EPA identifies a comment containing copyrighted material, EPA will provide a reference to that material in the version of the comment that is placed in EDOCKET. The entire printed comment, including the copyrighted material, will be available in the public docket. Although identified as an item in the official docket, information claimed as CBI, or whose disclosure is otherwise restricted by statute, is not included in the official public docket, and will not be available for public viewing in EDOCKET. For further information about the electronic docket, see EPA's Federal Register notice describing the electronic docket at 67 FR 38102 (May 31, 2002), or go to www.epa.gov/edocket .

Title: NESHAP for Chemical Recovery Combustion Sources at Kraft, Soda, Sulfite, and Stand-Alone Semichemical Pulp Mills (40 CFR part 63, subpart MM) (Renewal).

Abstract: This National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) covering emissions from chemical recovery combustion sources at kraft, soda, sulfite, and stand-alone semichemical pulp mills relies on the capture and/or reduction of HAP emissions by recovery furnaces, smelt dissolving tanks (SDTs), lime kilns, or soda or sulfite combustion units. The recordkeeping, notification and reporting requirements of the standard are critically important as they allow the Agency to determine to which facilities the standards apply and they enable the Agency to monitor initial and ongoing compliance with the standards. As much as possible, in order to reduce the burden, the compliance monitoring and recordkeeping requirements are designed to cover parameters that are already being monitored as part of the manufacturing process.

Pulp mill owners or operators (respondents) are required to submit initial notifications, maintain records of the occurrence and duration of any startup, shutdown, or malfunction in the operation of an affected facility, or any period during which the monitoring system is inoperative. Respondents are required to monitor and keep records of specific operating parameters for each control device and to perform and document periodic inspections of the closed vent and wastewater conveyance systems. All respondents must submit semiannual summary reports of monitored parameters, and they must submit an additional monitoring report during each quarter in which monitored parameters were outside the ranges established in the standard or during initial performance tests. A source identified to be out of compliance with the NESHAP will be required to submit quarterly reports until the Administrator is satisfied that the source has corrected its compliance problem. These notifications, reports, and records are essential in determining compliance, and are required of all sources subject to Maximum Achievable Control Technology (MACT) standards. Since none of the required reports to the Agency have been deemed confidential business information, they will not be treated as such. Responses are mandatory (40 CFR part 63, subpart MM).

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 are listed in 40 CFR part 9 and 48 CFR chapter 15, and are identified on the form and/or instrument, if applicable.

Burden Statement: The annual public reporting and recordkeeping burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 475 hours per 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; 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: Owners or operators of pulp mills with chemical recovery combustion sources.

Estimated Number of Respondents: 130.

Frequency of Response: Initial, on occasion, quarterly, semiannually.

Estimated Total Annual Hour Burden: 150,043 hours.

Estimated Total Annual Costs: $8,667,298, which includes $123,000 annualized capital/startup costs, $864,000 annual O&M costs, and $7,680,298 annual labor costs.

Changes in the Estimates: There is an increase of 128,515 hours in the total estimated burden currently identified in the OMB Inventory of Approved ICR Burdens. This increase is due to an improved estimate of the number of facilities and the burden for each facility.