Supporting Statement for Information Collection Request Certification and Averaging, Banking, and Trading Program for Non road Spark ignition Engines At or Below 19 Kilowatts 40 CFR 90 February 2001 Engine Programs Group Certification & Compliance Division Office of Transportation and Air Quality Office of Air and Radiation U. S. Environmental Protection Agency  2 1. Identification of the Information Collection 1 ( a) Title and Number of the Information Collection Application for Engine exhaust emission Certification and Averaging, Banking, and Trading for New Nonroad spark ignition ( SI) Engines at or below 19 kilowatts. ( OMB # 2060 0338)

1( b) Short Characterization This request is a renewal of an existing ICR ( OMB# 2060 0338) which covers applications for engine emission certification and the Averaging, Banking, and Trading ( ABT) Program by manufacturers of SI nonroad engines. The information to be collected consists of descriptions of engine emission control systems, test results and sales information. This data is reviewed to verify that necessary tests have been performed and the manufacturers' product lines meet emission standards. ABT credits for an engine family are calculated based on the emission values achieved during certification testing. Manufacturers electing to participate in the ABT are required to submit information regarding the calculation, actual generation and usage of credits in the certification application, and final report. These reports are used for certification and enforcement purposes. Manufacturers will also maintain records for eight years on the engine families included in the program. The information collection requested in this supporting statement applies to both non handheld engines and handheld engines. Both categories are jointly referred to as " nonroad SI engines" throughout this statement.

It has been estimated that a total of 54 manufacturers will respond to this collection with an approximate cost of $ 5,675,508.00.

2. Need for and Use of the Collection 2( a) Need/ Authority for the collection Under Title II of the Clean Air Act, ( 42 USC 7521 et seq.), EPA is charged with issuing certificates of conformity for those vehicles and engines that comply with applicable emission standards. Such certificates must be issued before vehicles or engines are legally introduced into commerce. To ensure compliance with these statutes, EPA reviews product information and manufacturers' test results; EPA also tests some vehicles and engines to confirm manufacturers' results.

EPA's emission certification programs are statutorily mandated; the agency does not have discretion to cease these functions. Under Section 206( a) of the CAA ( 42 USC 7521):

The Administrator shall test, or require to be tested in such manner as he deems appropriate, any new motor vehicle or new motor vehicle engine submitted by a manufacturer to determine whether such vehicle or engine conforms with the regulations prescribed under § 202 of this Act. If such vehicle or engine conforms to such regulations, the Administrator shall issue a certificate of conformity upon such terms, and for such period ( not in excess of one year) as he may prescribe.

EPA also conducts, under 40 CFR 90.201, an Averaging, Banking, and Trading program. This program is one of many regulatory features designed to enhance the compliance flexibility for and reduce the burden on the affected engine manufacturers, without compromising the expected emissions benefit derived from  3 these emissions standards.

2( b) Practical Utility/ Users of the Data EPA uses certification information to verify that the proper engines have been selected and that the necessary testing has been performed to assure that each engine complies with emission standards. Once the engines have been manufactured, EPA uses the information to support various enforcement actions including assembly line audits and in use compliance testing. The Averaging, Banking and Trading Program allows manufacturers to generate emission credits. Under averaging, a manufacturer could certify one or more engine families within its product line at levels above the emission standard, provided the increased emissions are offset by emission reductions from one or more families certified below the standard.

The information will be received and used by the Engine Programs Group ( EPG), Certification and Compliance Division, Office of Transportation and Air Quality, Office of Air and Radiation. Non confidential portions of the information submitted to EPG are also used by importers, engine users, and environmental groups.

3. Nonduplication, Consultations and Other Collection Criteria 3( a) Nonduplication The information requested under this ICR is required by statute. Because of its specialized nature, and the fact that the certification data must be submitted to EPA prior to the start of production, the information collected is not available from any other source. Participation in the ABT program is voluntary. Information requested under the ABT programBsuch as actual sales volumeB is usually confidential in nature; therefore, it is not available from other sources.

3( b) Public Notice Required Prior to ICR Submission to OMB This ICR package is a renewal of an existing ICR. Public notice of this ICR was given on December 11, 2000 ( 65 FR 77373); no comments were received.

3( c) Consultations EPA consulted the following manufacturers regarding this information collection burden.

Contact: Mr. Allan Smitz Company: Briggs and Stratton Phone: 414 259 5589 Contact: Mr. Bob Alsip Company: Suzuki Phone: 714 996 7040 Contact: John Fischer Company: Fuji Robin Phone: 630 350 8200 Contact: Dick Schoessow Company: Kohler Engine company Phone: 920 565 3381  4 Contact: Dave Corey Company: Kawasaki Phone: 949 776 0400 3( d) Effects of Less Frequent Collection Major product changes typically occur at the start of a model year and these new products need to be certified every year. For these reasons, a collection frequency of less than a model year is not possible for the certification program. Manufacturers are required to submit an end of the year report and a final report for their ABT program. EPA believes that a lower reporting frequency would not allow accurate monitoring of the ABT program.

3( e) General Guidelines According to 40 CFR 90.209 certification and ABT related records must be maintained for eight years. However, " records may be retained as hard copy or reduced to microfilm, ADP film, etc., depending on the manufacturer's record retention procedure, provided that in every case all the information contained in the hard copy is retained."

Manufacturers are required to submit confidential business information such as sales projections and certain sensitive technical descriptions ( Please see section 4( b)( i) for reference). This information is kept confidential in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act, EPA regulations at 40 CFR Part 2, and class determinations issued by EPA's Office of General Counsel. Also, non proprietary information submitted by manufacturers is held as confidential until the specific vehicle or engine to which it pertains is available for purchase.

3( f) Confidentiality Manufacturers are allowed to assert a claim of confidentiality over information provided to EPA. Confidentiality is provided in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act and EPA regulations at 40 CFR Part 2. For further detail, refer to section 3( e).

3( g) Sensitive Questions No sensitive questions are asked in this information collection.

4. Respondents and Information Requested 4( a) Respondents/ SIC Codes The respondents are manufacturers or importers of nonroad SI engines at or below 19 kW. The following Standard Industrial Classification codes are associated with this information collection:

3519 Internal Combustion Engines, Not Elsewhere Classified 3523 Farm Machinery and Equipment 3531 Construction Machinery and Equipment 4( b) Information Requested All manufacturers must describe their product( s). This information is  5 organized by " engine family" groups expected to have similar emission characteristics. Manufacturers must also retain records. The burden for a given engine family may be reduced after the model's first production year, because data from previous years can be carried over when no significant changes have occurred. This is called a carry over application.

( i) Data Items Tables A and B list data items that manufacturers must submit in their certification applications and ABT reports. Tables C and D outline recordkeeping requirements.

Table A Data Items Requested for Certification Information Item Regs Statement of compliance 90.114( d)

Engine design 90.116( d)

Engine displacement 90.116( b)

Engine family description 90.116( b)

Useful life 90.105 Projected sales 90.115( d)( 2)

Deterioration factors 90.104( h)

Certification procedure 90.116 Table B Data Items Requested for ABT Intent to include this specific engine family in the ABT program 90.208( a)

Declaration that participation in this program will not cause the applicable emission standard to be exceeded ( have negative credit balance) 90.208( a)

Family emission limit 90.208( a)( 2)

Projected applicable production volumes for the model year 90.208( a)( 3)

Values required to calculate credits 90.208( a)( 4)

Projected number of credits generated/ used 90.208( a)( 5)

If credits are generated, the designated use of the credits involved or if credits are used, the source of those credits 90.208( a)( 5)( i)

Table C Recordkeeping Requirements B Certification Program  6 General records Application copy 90.121( 1)

History of engine 90.121( 3)

Description of emission tests 90.121( iii)

Emission data 90.121( b)

Table D Recordkeeping Requirements B Banking and Trading Program EPA engine family 90.209( a)( 1)

FEL 90.209( a)( 2)

Power rating 90.209( a)( 3)

Purchaser and destination 90.209( a)( 5)

Actual quarterly and cumulative applicable production/ sales volume 90.209( b)( 2)

Value required to calculate credits 90.209( b)( 3)

Resulting type and number of credits generated/ required 90.209( b)( 4)

How and where credit surpluses are dispersed 90.209( b)( 5)

How and through what means credit deficits are met 90.209( b)( 6)

( ii) Respondent Activities The type of activities a manufacturer would do to certify an engine family are as follows:

$ review the regulations and the guidance document $ develop engine family groups $ test engines for compliance with emission standards $ develop deterioration factors $ gather emission data $ submit the Application for Certification $ retain and maintain records, and submit them upon Administrator's request $ submit an annual production report Those manufacturers electing to participate in the AB& T program will carry out the following activities:

$ Pre certification Activities:

$ Familiarization with the ABT program provisions  7 $ Determine which engine families will participate in ABT.

$ Project applicable production volumes for the model year for all engine families.

$ Submit ABT information with the certification application $ Monitor production volumes and engine sales $ Develop and submit end of year reports $ Develop and submit final reports $ Store, file, and maintain information required to be maintained 5. The Information Collected Agency Activities, Collection Methodology, and Information Management 5( a) Agency Activities EPA's emission certification activity is spent reviewing applications and verifying that the correct engines have been tested and that the engines pass the standards. A significant portion of EPA's ABT activity is spent reviewing end of the year ABT reports from the manufacturer. These reports are reviewed for accuracy and entered into a database.

5( b) Collection Methodology and Management EPA currently makes extensive use of computers in evaluating information from engine manufacturers. Most manufacturers use the electronic format provided by EPA to submit their reports. Once the diskette or email containing the report is received, the application is entered into the Database and reviewed for completeness. If the manufacturer chooses to submit the application in hard copy, then EPA manually enters the information in our database.

5( c) Small Entity Flexibility A small volume manufacturer whose production of equipment subject to regulation doesn't exceed 10,000 engines that will be installed in nonhandheld equipment or 25,000 engines that will be installed in handheld equipment are exempt from Phase 2 certification requirements, depending on the class, for up to eight years after the applicable date of implementation. These engines may continue to meet less stringent Phase 1 standards in effect since 1997. ABT requirements do not apply to Phase 1 engines. The handheld and nonhandheld criteria are outlined in 90.103( a)( 2). Under the ABT program included in this ICR, the information being requested is considered to be the minimum needed to effectively conduct and maintain integrity of the required program. Further measures to simplify reporting for small businesses do not appear prudent or necessary.

5( d) Collection Schedule Certification information must be submitted annually for each model year. The ABT program requires two diffent collections per year: one report 90 days after the end of the model year and a second report 270 days after the end of the model year.

6. Estimating the Burden and Cost of the Collection Refer to Table 1 & 2 for details.

6( a) Estimating Respondent Burden  8 Burden estimates were taken from a survey of seven small nonroad sparkignition engine manufacturers.

6( b) Estimating Respondent Costs ( i) Estimating Burden Hours The estimated cost for labor is $ 75 per hour for engineers/ technicians and $ 38 per hour for clerical support. In deriving these costs, EPA used cost estimates provided in consultations with the industry. The labor cost rate provided by the Bureau of Labor Statistics ($ 35.75/ hour and $ 17.15/ hour respectively) was not used. This is an average for all manufacturing industries that do not reflect the actual cost for the engine manufacturing industry, which is much higher ($ 75.00/ hour and $ 38.00/ hour).

( ii) Estimating Capital and Operations and Maintenance Costs Capital costs are associated with setting up an emissions testing laboratory. Operation and Maintenance costs associated with programs covered by this information collection include costs to maintain the emissions testing laboratory such as test gases, and diskettes, photocopying and postage expenses. Diskettes and email are used by manufacturers to submit their electronic reports.

( iii) Capital/ Start Up Costs Capital costs are associated with setting up an emissions test laboratory which entails buying gas analyzers, control equipment, and an engine dynamometer. There were no new capital and start up costs associated with the renewal of this ICR.

( iv) Annualizing capital costs The annualized capital costs associated with this ICR are the costs to maintain an emission laboratory with fuel and calibration gases.

6( c) Estimating Agency Burden Government cost is based on GS 13 salary for professional engineers ($ 26.82/ hr) and on GS 7 salary for clerical support ($ 12.71). The hourly rates were obtained from the Office of Personal Management. ( Refer to Table 3 & 4 )

6( d) Estimating the Respondent Universe and Total Burden and Costs EPA receives about 460 nonroad small SI certification applications from 54 manufacturers each year. Out of the 460 applications, approximately 82% ( 380) are carry over engine family applications, and only 17% are new family applications ( 80). In addition, manufacturers submit about 193 running changes to the applications. On average, each manufacturer submits:

$ 1.5 applications for new families ( no carry overs)

$ 7.0 carry over applications $ 3.5 running changes $ 12.0 submissions in total ( new applications, carry overs, and running changes combined.

Applications are approximately equally divided between nonhandheld and handheld category of engines.  9 Handheld criteria is defined at 90.103( a)( 2). If a piece of equipment does not meet the criteria at 90.103( a)( 2), then the engine which goes with it is considered non handheld. It is expected that all 54 manufacturers will participate in the AB& T program, which will require 108 reports.

6( e) Bottom Line Burden Hours and Cost Tables ( i) Respondent Tally Table 5 Total Estimated Respondent Burden And Cost Summary Program Number of Respon Number of Activities Total Hours Per Year Total Labor Cost Per Year Total Annual Capital Costs Total Annual O& M Costs Nonroad cert 54 8 36,747 2,435,346.00 0 3,240,162.00 Nonroad ABT 54 7 10,989 824,175.00 0 0.00 ( ii) The Agency Tally Table 6 Total Estimated Agency Burden And Cost Summary Program Number of Respon Number of Activities Total Hours Per Year Total Labor Cost Per Year Total Annual Capital Costs Total Annual O& M Costs Cert 54 8 1767 47,391 0 0 ABT 54 4 78.4 2,103 0 0 6( f) Reasons for change in burden Table 7 Change in Burden Program Previous ICR ( Hrs) Current ICR ( hrs) Change Category  10 Certification 48,335 36,747  11,588 adjustment ABT 5,650 10,989 5,339 adjustment The burden hours associated with the certification program have decreased because EPA is performing ongoing streamlining activities such as electronic submission process that simplifies the application process. Also, the number of carry over applications which take less time to submit was underestimated on the previous ICR. However, the cost of the certification program has increased from $ 3,177,223 to $ 5,675,508 because the previous ICR did not account for the Operation and Maintenance costs associated with maintaining an emissions testing laboratory. The ABT program burden has changed because more accurate survey numbers have been used for this ICR renewal.

6( g) Burden Statement The total burden associated with the ABT and certification programs combined is 47,736 hours annually, an average of 884 hours annually per respondent. These estimates include time to review applicable regulations and guidance documents, generate and gather the necessary information, submit applications and reports, and maintain records.

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. 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.

Send comments on the Agency's need for this information, the accuracy of the provided burden estimates, and any suggested methods for minimizing respondent burden, including through the use of automated collection techniques to the Director, Collection Strategies Division, Office of Environmental Information ( OEI), U. S. Environmental Protection Agency, ( Mail Code 2822), 1200 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, D. C. 20460; and to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget, 725 17th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20503, Attention: Desk Officer for EPA. Include the EPA ICR number 1695.07and OMB control number 2060 0338 in any correspondence.


[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 167 (Tuesday, August 28, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Page 51992]
[FR Doc No: 2012-21136]

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

Combined Notice of Filings 1

    Take notice that the Commission received the following electric
rate filings:

    Docket Numbers: ER12-2387-001.
    Applicants: Southwest Power Pool, Inc.
    Description: Request for Deferral of Commission Action On Docket
ER12-2387 to be effective 12/31/9998.
    Filed Date: 8/14/12.
    Accession Number: 20120814-5115.
    Comments Due: 5 p.m. ET 9/4/12.

    Docket Numbers: ER12-2447-000.
    Applicants: Brookfield Smoky Mountain Hydropower LLC.
    Description: Brookfield Smoky Mountain Hydropower LLC, FERC
Electric Tariff No. 1 to be effective 10/13/2012.
    Filed Date: 8/14/12.
    Accession Number: 20120814-5112.
    Comments Due: 5 p.m. ET 9/4/12.

    Docket Numbers: ER12-2448-000.
    Applicants: Chisholm View Wind Project, LLC.
    Description: Chisholm View Wind Project, LLC MBR Tariff to be
effective 9/15/2012.
    Filed Date: 8/14/12.
    Accession Number: 20120814-5123.
    Comments Due: 5 p.m. ET 9/4/12.

    Take notice that the Commission received the following electric
securities filings:

    Docket Numbers: ES12-51-000.
    Applicants: MidAmerican Energy Company.
    Description: MidAmerican Energy Company's Application Under Section
204 of the Federal Power Act for Authorization to Issue and Sell Debt
Securities.
    Filed Date: 8/14/12.
    Accession Number: 20120814-5144.
    Comments Due: 5 p.m. ET 9/4/12.

    The filings are accessible in the Commission's eLibrary system by
clicking on the links or querying the docket number.
    Any person desiring to intervene or protest in any of the above
proceedings must file in accordance with Rules 211 and 214 of the
Commission's Regulations (18 CFR 385.211 and 385.214) on or before 5
p.m. Eastern time on the specified comment date. Protests may be
considered, but intervention is necessary to become a party to the
proceeding.
    eFiling is encouraged. More detailed information relating to filing
requirements, interventions, protests, service, and qualifying
facilities filings can be found at: http://www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/efiling/filing-req.pdf. For other information, call<PHONE_NUMBER>
(toll free). For TTY, call<PHONE_NUMBER>.

    Dated: August 15, 2012.
Nathaniel J. Davis, Sr.,
Deputy Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2012-21136 Filed 8-27-12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P