The United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) published an April 21st Federal Register Notice stating it has submitted an Information Collection Request (“ICR”) styled Chrome Finishing Industry Data Collection to the Office of Management and Budget for review and approval in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act. See 88 Fed. Reg. 24615.
EPA notes by way of introductory explanation that:
. . . As mentioned in Effluent Guidelines Program Plan 15, published in January 2023, EPA plans to conduct a rulemaking to address Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) discharges from a subset of facilities in the Metal Finishing and Electroplating point source categories. Specifically, facilities performing certain chromium operations that employ hexavalent chromium (hereafter referred to as ‘‘chrome finishing facilities’’), including chromium plating, chromium anodizing, chromic acid etching, and chromate conversion coating that use or have used PFAS to control hexavalent chromium emissions.
The federal agency states that such facilities are expected to be the “predominant sources” of PFAS discharges in the metal finishing and electroplating point source categories. It states that publicly available data regarding such facilities (such as whether they perform chrome finishing operations) and discharge of PFAS at the national scale are limited.
An ICR is a set of documents that describes reporting, recordkeeping, survey, or other information that a federal government agency such as EPA collects from 10 or more members of the public. The Paperwork Reduction Act requires that every federal agency obtain approval from the Office of Management and Budget before collecting the same or similar information from 10 or more members of the public.
The ICR must provide:
- A description of the information to be collected.
- The reason the information is needed.
- An estimate of the time and cost for the public to answer the request.
In regard to the referenced Plan 15, Section 304(m) of the Clean Water Act requires that EPA biennially publish a plan for a new and revised Effluent Program Plan, after review of the public comments.
A copy of the Federal Register Notice can be downloaded here.
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