[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 43 (Thursday, March 4, 2004)]
[Notices]
[Pages 10216-10217]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E4-461]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Docket No. IC03-715-001, FERC Form 715]


Commission Information Collection Activities, Proposed 
Collection; Comment Request; Submitted for OMB Review

March 1, 2004.
AGENCY: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: In compliance with the requirements of section 3507 of the 
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, 44 U.S.C. 3507, the Federal Energy 
Regulatory Commission (Commission) has submitted the information 
collection described below to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) 
for review and extension of the expiration date. Any interested person 
may file comments directly with OMB and should address a copy of those 
comments to the Commission as explained below. The Commission is in 
receipt of comments from two entities in response to an earlier Federal 
Register notice of September 18, 2003 (68 FR 54722), and has responded 
to the comments in its submission to OMB.

DATES: Comments on the collection of information are due by March 31, 
2004.

ADDRESSES: Address comments on the collection of information to the 
Office of Management and Budget, Office of Information and Regulatory 
Affairs, Attention: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Desk Officer. 
Comments to OMB should be filed electronically, c/o [email protected] and include the OMB Control No. as a point of 
reference. The Desk Officer may be reached by telephone at 202-395-
7856. A copy of the comments should also be sent to the Federal Energy 
Regulatory Commission, Office of the Executive Director, ED-30, 
Attention: Michael Miller, 888 First Street, NE., Washington, DC 20426. 
Comments may be filed either in paper format or electronically. Those 
persons filing electronically do not need to make a paper filing. For 
paper filings, such comments should be submitted to the Office of the 
Secretary, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 888 First Street, NE., 
Washington, DC 20426 and should refer to Docket No. IC03-715-001.
    Documents filed electronically via the Internet must be prepared in 
WordPerfect, MS Word, Portable Document Format, or ASCII format. To 
file the document, access the Commission's Web site at www.ferc.gov and 
click on ``Make an E-filing,'' and then follow the instructions for 
each screen. First time users will have to establish a user name and 
password. The Commission will send an automatic acknowledgment to the 
sender's E-mail address upon receipt of comments. User assistance for 
electronic filings is available at 202-502-8258 or by e-mail to 
[email protected]. Comments should not be submitted to the e-mail 
address.
    All comments are available for review at the Commission or may be 
viewed on the Commission's Web site at http://www.ferc.gov, using the 
``eLibrary'' link. Enter the docket number excluding the last three 
digits in the docket number field to access the document. For 
assistance, contact FERC Online Support at [email protected] 
or toll-free at (866) 208-3676, or for TTY, contact (202) 502-8659.

[[Page 10217]]


FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Michael Miller may be reached by 
telephone at (202) 502-8415, by fax at (202) 273-0873, and by e-mail at 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Description

    The information collection submitted for OMB review contains the 
following:
    1. Collection of Information: FERC Form 715 ``Annual Transmission 
Planning and Evaluation Report.''
    2. Sponsor: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
    3. Control No.: 1902-0171.
    The Commission is now requesting that OMB approve and reinstate 
with a three-year extension of the expiration date, with no changes to 
the information collection requirements. However, the Commission will 
conduct a pilot allowing as an option the electronic submission of maps 
in lieu of paper. The Commission believes this will create greater 
efficiency and clarity of data when complying with this section of the 
information collection requirements. The information filed with the 
Commission is mandatory.
    4. Necessity of the Collection of Information: Submission of the 
information is necessary to enable the Commission to carry out its 
responsibilities in implementing the statutory provisions of section 
213 of the Federal Power Act. Section 213(b) requires the Commission to 
collect annually from transmitting utilities sufficient information 
about their transmission systems to inform transmission customers, 
State and Federal regulatory authorities of available capacity and 
constraints. Form 715 also supports the Commission's expanded 
responsibilities under sections 211, 212, 304, 307(a), 309 and 311 of 
the Federal Power Act as amended, for reviewing reliability issues, 
market structure relationships, for rate and other regulatory 
proceedings.
    In response to the events of September 11, 2001, the Commission 
took several steps to identify and limit access to information 
concerning the nation's energy infrastructure. In Order No. 630 (68 FR 
9857, March 2, 2003, FERC Statutes and Regulations ] 31,140, at p. 
30,261.) the Commission established procedures for gaining access to 
critical energy infrastructure information, information it defined as 
``Information about proposed or existing critical infrastructure that: 
(i) Relates to the production, generation, transmission, or 
distribution of energy; (ii) could be useful to a person in planning an 
attack on critical infrastructure; (iii) is exempt from mandatory 
disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act, 5 U.S.C.; (iv) does 
not simply give the location of the critical infrastructure.'' (67 FR 
58000, FERC Statutes and Regulations ] 32,564, at p. 34.548.) The 
information contained in the FERC Form 715 was found to meet this 
definition and therefore classified as CEII with restricted access to 
the public. The Commission implements the filing requirements in the 
Code of Regulations (CFR) under 18 CFR parts 141.300.
    5. Respondent Description: The respondent universe currently 
comprises 183 companies (on average per year) subject to the 
Commission's jurisdiction.
    6. Estimated Burden: 29,280 total hours, 183 respondents (average 
per year), 1 response per respondent, and 160 hours per response 
(average).
    7. Estimated Cost Burden to respondents: 29,280 hours/2080 hours 
per years x $107,185 per year = $1,508,835. The cost per respondent is 
equal to $8,245.

    Statutory Authority: Section 213(b), Federal Power Act (FPA), 16 
U.S.C. 824l.

Linda Mitry,
Acting Secretary.
[FR Doc. E4-461 Filed 3-3-04; 8:45 am]
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