Proposed Information Collection Request; Comment Request; Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS2) Program

Byron Bunker
Environmental Protection Agency
February 20, 2013

[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 34 (Wednesday, February 20, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 11870-11871]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-03840]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[EPA-HQ -OAR-2005-0161; FRL-9782-4]


Proposed Information Collection Request; Comment Request; 
Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS2) Program

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency is planning to submit an 
information collection request (ICR), ``Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS2) 
Program'' (EPA ICR No. 2333.03, OMB Control No. 2060-0640) to the 
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval in 
accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.). 
Before doing so, EPA is soliciting public comments on specific aspects 
of the proposed information collection as described below. This is a 
``RENEWAL'' of the ICR, which is currently approved through June 31, 
2013. 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.

DATES: Comments must be submitted on or before April 22, 2013.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, referencing Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-
2005-0161 online using www.regulations.gov, or in person viewing at the 
Air Docket in the EPA Docket Center in Washington, DC (EPA/DC). The 
docket is located in the EPA West Building, 1301 Constitution Avenue 
NW., Room 3334, and is open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Eastern 
Standard Time, Monday through Friday, excluding legal holidays, or by 
mail to: EPA Docket Center, Environmental Protection Agency, Mail Code 
28221T, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave. NW., Washington, DC 20460. EPA's policy 
is that all comments received will be included in the public docket 
without change including any personal information provided, unless the 
comment includes profanity, threats, information claimed to be 
Confidential Business Information (CBI) or other information whose 
disclosure is restricted by statute.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Geanetta Heard, Environmental 
Protection Specialist, Fuels Compliance Center, 6406J Environmental 
Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave. NW., Washington, DC 20460; 
telephone number: 202-343-9017 fax number: 202-343-2800; email address: 
heard.geanetta@epa.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 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, EPA 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.
    Pursuant to section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the Paperwork Reduction Act 
(PRA), EPA is soliciting comments and information to enable it to: (i) 
Evaluate whether the proposed collection of information is necessary 
for the proper performance of the functions of the Agency, including 
whether the information will have practical utility; (ii) evaluate the 
accuracy of the Agency's estimate of the burden of the proposed 
collection of information, including the validity of the methodology 
and assumptions used; (iii) enhance the quality, utility, and clarity 
of the information to be collected; and (iv) minimize the burden of the 
collection of information on those who are to respond, including 
through the use of appropriate automated electronic, mechanical, or 
other technological collection techniques or other forms of information 
technology, e.g., permitting electronic submission of responses. EPA 
will consider the comments received and amend the ICR as appropriate. 
The final ICR package will then be submitted to OMB for review and 
approval. At that time, EPA will issue another Federal Register notice 
to announce the submission of the ICR to OMB and the opportunity to 
submit additional comments to OMB.
    Abstract: EPA would like to continue to collect annual compliance 
reports from obligated parties, quarterly reports for all EPA Moderated 
Transaction System (EMTS) users, generation and assignment of Renewable 
Identification Numbers (RINs) quarterly reports from biofuels producers 
and importers and third party disclosure reports from

[[Page 11871]]

biofuel feedstock producers by way of the Agency's Central Data 
Exchange (CDX). The recordkeeping and reporting of this regulation will 
allow EPA to monitor compliance with the RFS program. We inform 
respondents that they may assert claims of business confidentiality 
(CBI) for information they submit in accordance with 40 CFR 2.203.
    Form Numbers:

RFS0103: RFS2 Q1 2012 Activity Report
RFS0104: RFS2 Activity Report
RFS0201: RFS1 RIN Transaction Report (only if RFS1 RINs were bought, 
sold, retired, or reinstated)
RFS0600: RFS2 Renewable Fuel Producer Supplemental Report (if 
applicable)
RFS0701: RFS2 Renewable Fuel Producer Co-products Report
RFS0801: RFS2 Renewable Biomass Report
RFS0901: RFS2 Production Outlook Report
EMTS: RFS2 RIN Transaction Report
EMTS: RFS2 RIN Generation Report (Equivalent to RFS0400)
RFS0301: RFS2 2010 Annual Compliance Report
RFS0302: RFS2 2011 Annual Compliance Report
EMTS: RFS2 RIN Transaction Report

    Respondents/affected entities: Producers of Renewable Fuels, 
Importers, Obligated Parties, Parties who own RINS (including foreign 
RIN owners).
    Respondent's obligation to respond: mandatory Sections 114 and 208 
of the Clean Air Act (CAA), 42 U.S.C. 7414 and 7542.
    Estimated number of respondents: 2,092,731.
    Frequency of response: Quarterly.
    Total estimated burden: 6,379,263 hours (per year). Burden is 
defined at 5 CFR 1320.03(b).
    Total estimated cost: $60,459,623 (per year), includes $ 320 
annualized capital or operation & maintenance costs.
    Changes in Estimates: EMTS was introduced at the onset of the RFS2 
program and was not a feature of RFS1. For the new EMTS system, all 
parties who owned RINs were required to re-register, disclose feedstock 
sources, prepare quarterly reports on RIN activity and submit annual 
compliance reports (obligated party only). Re-submittal provisions 
utilized in RFS1 are no longer required, resulting in a decrease in 
total responses for this ICR. The total responses for industry dropped 
from 4,525,625 to 2,092,731 a difference of 2,432,894 responses. 
Currently, biofuels producers and importers submit required quarterly 
reports along with their third party disclosure on feedstock producers 
to EPA. All users of the EMTS system are required to submit quarterly 
RIN reports.
    The number of respondents or users of the EMTS system has more than 
doubled from 1,059,326 to 2,092,731 an increase of 1,639,992 users due 
to the additional response burden for mapping foreign and domestic 
plantation/forest land owners and foreign biofuel feedstock producers 
which were not reflected in the previous ICR reporting period. With an 
increase in the number of respondents, total burden hours have 
increased by more than 4 million costing the industry $60,459,623; 
however, a decrease of $47,882,366 was realized. The reduction in the 
total cost for this renewal is due to the fact that the EMTS system is 
automated and more efficient and helps users to prepare reports 
instantly, reducing the amount of time and the cost associated with 
responding, even with more than a million added users. This notable 
factor increased the industry burden hours, but will lower the total 
cost of this information collection request if renewed.

    Dated: February 13, 2013.
Byron Bunker,
Director, Transportation and Regional Programs Division.
[FR Doc. 2013-03840 Filed 2-19-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P