[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 247 (Wednesday, December 29, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 74090-74091]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-28253]


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

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[EPA-HQ-OAR-2016-0546; FRL--9388-01-OMS]


Information Collection Request Submitted to OMB for Review and 
Approval; Comment Request; Aircraft Engines--Supplemental Information 
Related To Exhaust Emissions (Renewal)

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice.

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

SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has submitted an 
information collection request (ICR), Aircraft Engines--Supplemental 
Information Related to Exhaust Emissions (EPA ICR Number 2427.06, OMB 
Control Number 2060-0680), to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) 
for review and approval in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act. 
This is a proposed extension of the ICR, which is currently approved 
through December 31, 2021. Public comments were previously requested on 
this ICR renewal via the Federal Register on May 7, 2021. This notice 
allows for an additional 30 days for public comments. 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 January 28, 2022.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, referencing Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-
2016-0546, online using www.regulations.gov (our preferred method) 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.
    Submit written comments and recommendations to OMB for the proposed 
information collection within 30 days of publication of this notice to 
www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain. Find this particular information 
collection by selecting ``Currently under 30-day Review--Open for 
Public Comments'' or by using the search function.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Cullen Leggett, Office of 
Transportation and Air Quality, Office of Air and Radiation, 
Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, 
DC 20460; telephone number: (734) 214-4514; fax number: (734) 214-4816; 
email address: [email protected].

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, 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 https://www.epa.gov/dockets.
    Abstract: This information collection is being conducted by the 
Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) Office of Air and Radiation 
(OAR) pursuant to section 114 of the Clean Air Act, as amended (CAA or 
the Act) to assist the Administrator of EPA in developing emissions 
standards and/or to inform future policy making decisions for aircraft 
gas turbine engines pursuant to section 231 of the Act.
    Under CAA section 231, the EPA is responsible for establishing 
standards for emissions from aircraft engines, and under CAA section 
232, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is responsible for 
enforcing these standards. The EPA and the FAA traditionally work 
within the standard-setting process of the International Civil Aviation 
Organization (ICAO) to establish international emission standards and 
related requirements, which individual nations later adopt into 
domestic law in fulfillment of their obligations under the Convention 
on International Civil Aviation (Chicago Convention).\1\ Historically, 
international emission standards have first been adopted by ICAO, and 
subsequently the EPA has initiated rulemakings under CAA section 231 to 
establish domestic standards that are at least as stringent as ICAO's 
standards.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \1\ ICAO, 2006: Convention on International Civil Aviation, 
Ninth Edition, Document 7300/9, 114 pp. Available at: http://www.icao.int/publications/Documents/7300_9ed.pdf (last accessed 
March 31, 2021).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The EPA is not proposing to apply this renewed reporting 
requirement to any additional respondents. For individual gaseous 
Landing and Take-Off (LTO) test points, the EPA proposes to change 
reporting from total mass over

[[Page 74091]]

the test point to emissions index (pollutant mass per unit of fuel 
burn).
    The EPA is also expanding the scope of this ICR to include 
supersonic aircraft engines in addition to subsonic aircraft engines. 
When this ICR was established and previously renewed, the only aircraft 
engines that were in production, in development, or in use were 
subsonic engines. Thus, the EPA only included subsonic engines and only 
referred to subsonic test procedures. Yet, standards in 40 CFR part 87 
(Control of Air Pollution from Aircraft and Aircraft Engines) apply to 
both subsonic and supersonic aircraft engines. The EPA is expanding 
this ICR to apply equally to all engines (subsonic and supersonic 
aircraft engines) that are required to meet standards under Part 87. 
The EPA is not expecting any supersonic engines to be certified by the 
FAA in the three-year period covered by this ICR. However, in the event 
there are, the EPA wants to ensure it has access to this new emissions 
information in an expeditious manner so that the agency can understand 
the environmental impacts and inform any appropriate future standard 
setting activities under CAA section 231. The inclusion of supersonic 
engines would not expand the number of respondents; nor would it place 
any additional burden on the manufactures because the EPA is only 
requesting data related to standards under Part 87.
    Form Numbers: EPA Form 5900-223.
    Respondents/affected entities: Aircraft Engine and Engine Parts 
Manufacturers.
    Respondent's obligation to respond: Mandatory (pursuant to section 
114 of the Clean Air Act).
    Estimated number of respondents: 7 (total).
    Frequency of response: Annual.
    Total estimated burden: 285 (per year). Burden is defined at 5 CFR 
1320.03(b).
    Total estimated cost: $20,990 (per year), which includes no 
annualized capital or operation & maintenance costs.
    Changes in Estimates: There is decrease of 217 hours in the total 
estimated respondent burden compared with the ICR currently approved by 
OMB. This decrease is due to one-time start-up costs to conduct nvPM 
measurements from jet engines that were included in the previous ICR 
renewal. The initial cost for manufacturers was capital and labor 
intensive. These one-time costs were incurred in the past 3 years and 
are not expected to need to be repeated for these engines now that the 
data has been collected. If manufacturers develop a new subsonic engine 
with a thrust greater than 26.7kN, the nvPM measurements will need to 
be verified by the FAA. The introduction of new aircraft engines does 
not happen on a very frequent basis. The EPA is estimating that each 
manufacturer may introduce one subsonic engine over 26.7kN over the 
next three years, for a total of 6 engines (compared to an estimated 33 
engines in the previous ICR).

Courtney Kerwin,
Director, Regulatory Support Division.
[FR Doc. 2021-28253 Filed 12-28-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P


