Information Collection Request Submitted to OMB for Review and Approval; Comment Request; EPA Application Materials for the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (Renewal)

AGENCY:

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION:

Notice.

SUMMARY:

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has submitted an information collection request (ICR), EPA Application Materials for the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (EPA ICR Number 2549.02, OMB Control Number 2040-0292) 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, 2019. Public comments were previously requested via the Federal Register on April 23, 2019 during a 60-day comment period. This notice allows for an additional 30 days for public comments. A fuller description of the ICR is given below, including its estimated burden and cost to the public. 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:

Additional comments may be submitted on or before November 29, 2019.

ADDRESSES:

Submit your comments, referencing Docket ID Number EPA-HQ-OW-2016-0178, to (1) EPA 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, and (2) OMB via email to oira_submission@omb.eop.gov. Address comments to OMB Desk Officer for EPA.

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:

Arielle Gerstein, Water Infrastructure Division, Office of Wastewater Management, 4201-T, Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20460; telephone number: 202-566-1868; email address: gerstein.arielle@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, 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: The collection of information is necessary in order to receive applications for credit assistance pursuant to section 5024 of the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) of 2014, 33 U.S.C. 3903. The purpose of the WIFIA program is to provide Federal credit assistance in the form of direct loans and loan guarantees to eligible water infrastructure projects.

WIFIA requires that an eligible entity submit to the Administrator an application at such time, in such manner, and containing such information, as the Secretary or the Administrator may require to receive assistance under WIFIA. In order to satisfy these requirements, EPA must collect an application from prospective borrowers seeking funding. The Letters of Interest and Applications collected from prospective borrowers through this solicitation will be used by the EPA, WIFIA program staff, and reviewers to evaluate applications for credit assistance under the WIFIA eligibility requirements and selection criteria.

Form Numbers: SWIFIA Application—6100-030; SWIFIA Letter of Interest—6100-031; WIFIA Application—6100-032; WIFIA Letter of Interest—6100-033.

Respondents/affected entities: Corporations, partnerships, joint ventures, trusts, federal, state, or local government entities, tribal governments or a consortium of tribal governments, and state infrastructure finance authorities.

Respondent's obligation to respond: The collection is required to obtain credit assistance pursuant to section 5024 of WIFIA, 33 U.S.C. 3903.

Estimated number of respondents: 100 per year (total).

Frequency of response: Once.

Total estimated burden: 10,825 hours (per year). Burden is defined at 5 CFR 1320.03(b).

Total estimated cost: $14,946,754 (per year), which includes 14,500,000 annualized capital or operation & maintenance costs.

Changes in the Estimates: There is an increase of 9,325 hours in the total estimated respondent burden compared with the ICR currently approved by OMB. This increase is due to EPA receiving more Letters of Interest and applications than it originally estimated during program inception. Initially, EPA estimated the program would receive 20 LOIs and 5 applications. This was based on the amount of budget authority initially authorized for WIFIA. However, in 2017, the program received 43 LOIs and invited 12 prospective borrowers to apply. In 2018, the program received 62 LOIs and invited 39 prospective borrowers to apply. In addition, EPA is including the newly authorized State Revolving Fund WIFIA (SWIFIA) program as part of this ICR renewal. EPA estimates that WIFIA will receive 5 LOIs and 5 applications through SWIFIA.