SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

This is a proposed extension of the ICR, which is currently approved through April 30, 2024. 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.

Public comments were previously requested via the Federal Register on July 11, 2023 during a 60-day comment period (88 FR 44125). This notice allows for an additional 30 days for public comments. Supporting documents, which explain in detail the information that the EPA will be collecting, are available in the public docket for this ICR. The docket can be viewed online at www.regulations.gov or in person at the EPA Docket Center, WJC West, Room 3334, 1301 Constitution Ave. NW, Washington, DC. The telephone number for the Docket Center is 202-566-1744. For additional information about EPA's public docket, visit http://www.epa.gov/​dockets.

Abstract: Subtitle I of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), as amended, requires that EPA develop standards for Underground Storage Tank (UST) systems, as may be necessary, to protect human health and the environment, and procedures for approving state programs in lieu of the federal program. EPA promulgated technical and financial requirements for owners and operators of USTs at 40 CFR part 280, and state program approval procedures at 40 CFR part 281. This ICR is a comprehensive presentation of all information collection requirements contained at 40 CFR parts 280 and 281.

The data collected for new and existing UST system operations and financial requirements are used by owners and operators and/or EPA or the implementing agency to monitor results of testing, inspections, and operation of UST systems, as well as to demonstrate compliance with regulations. EPA believes strongly that if the minimum requirements specified under the regulations are not met, neither the facilities nor EPA can ensure that UST systems are being managed in a manner protective of human health and the environment.

EPA uses state program applications to determine whether to approve a state program. Before granting approval, EPA must determine that programs will be no less stringent than the federal program and contain adequate enforcement mechanisms.

Form Numbers: 600-25; 7530-1.

Respondents/affected entities: Facilities that own and operate underground storage tanks (USTs), states that implement the UST programs, and tribes.

Respondent's obligation to respond: Mandatory (40 CFR part 280).

Estimated number of respondents: 193,876.

Frequency of response: Once, on occasion, annual.

Total estimated burden: 8,332,975 hours (per year). Burden is defined at 5 CFR 1320.03(b)

Total estimated cost: $689,689,686 (per year), includes $406,006,490 annualized capital and operation & maintenance costs.

Changes in Estimates: There is a decrease of 389,217 hours in the total estimated respondent burden hours compared with the ICR currently approved by OMB. There is a total decrease in burden hours because the overall number of underground storage tanks decreased while the requirements for each tank owner remained the same.

89 FR 31746