[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 72 (Wednesday, April 14, 2004)]
[Notices]
[Pages 19828-19829]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-8519]



[[Page 19828]]

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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Docket No. IC04-723-000, FERC-723]


Proposed Information Collection and Request for Comments

April 9, 2004.
AGENCY: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Request for Office of Management and Budget Emergency 
Processing of proposed information collection and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission) is 
providing notice of its request to the Office of Management and Budget 
(OMB) for emergency processing of a proposed collection of information 
in connection with the vegetation management programs of the electric 
industry, and is soliciting public comment on that information 
collection.

DATES: The Commission and OMB must receive comments on or before April 
14, 2004.

ADDRESSES: Send comments to:
    (1) Ruth Solomon, FERC Desk Officer, Office of Information and 
Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget. Ms. Solomon may be 
reached by telephone at (202) 395-7856 or by fax at (202) 395-7285; and
    (2) Michael Miller, Office of the Executive Director, ED-30, 
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 888 First Street, NE., 
Washington, DC 20426. Mr. Miller may be reached by telephone at (202) 
502-8415 and by e-mail at [email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: William Longenecker, Office of 
Markets, Tariffs and Rates, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Mr. 
Longenecker may be reached by telephone at (202) 502-8570 and by e-mail 
at [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On April 5, 2004, the Joint United States-
Canada Power System Outage Task Force issued the Final Blackout Report. 
The report found that a major cause of the August 14, 2003, electric 
power blackout was the failure to adequately maintain vegetation within 
transmission line rights-of-way. This failure has been a common factor 
that has contributed to the August 14, 2003, blackout and many previous 
regional electric system outages.
    The Commission intends to immediately issue a directive that 
requires all entities that own, control or operate designated 
transmission facilities in the contiguous 48 States, whether or not 
they are otherwise subject to the Commission's jurisdiction as a public 
utility, to report on the vegetation management practices they now use 
for those lines and rights-of-ways.
    On August 14, 2003, an electric power blackout occurred over large 
portions of the Northeast and Midwest United States and Ontario, 
Canada. The power blackout lasted up to two days in some areas of the 
United States and for a longer period of time in some areas of Canada. 
It affected an area with over 50 million people and 61,800 megawatts of 
electric load. In the wake of the blackout, a joint United States-
Canada Task Force (Task Force) undertook a study of the causes of that 
blackout and possible solutions to avoid future such blackouts.
    In November 2003, the Task Force issued an interim report, 
describing its investigation and findings and identifying the causes of 
the blackout. The Interim Blackout Report also compared the August 2003 
blackout with seven previous major outages and concluded that conductor 
contact with trees was a common factor among the outages. The Task 
Force emphasized that vegetation management is critical and that many 
outages can be mitigated or prevented by managing the vegetation before 
it becomes a problem.
    In March 2004, the Commission made available to the public, a final 
vegetation management report prepared to support the blackout 
investigation. The report detailed problems with vegetation management 
relating to the August 2003 blackout and recommended specific practices 
that would reduce the likelihood of tree and power line conflicts. The 
Task Force followed with its final blackout report on April 5, 2004, 
and verified and supplemented its earlier finding in the Interim 
Blackout Report.
    Each of these reports has suggested that a higher standard of 
performance of vegetation management is critical to minimizing the risk 
of regional power outages and ensuring the uninterrupted flow of 
electricity in the Nation's interconnected bulk electric systems. The 
Commission believes that a comprehensive inquiry is necessary to 
further the Commission's oversight over the business of transmitting 
and selling electricity in interstate commerce and protecting the 
public interest.
    Section 201(a) of the Federal Power Act declares that the business 
of transmitting and selling electricity in interstate commerce is 
affected with the public interest and charges the Commission with 
oversight over these matters. The unanticipated August 14, 2003, 
blackout had a detrimental impact on the business of transmitting and 
selling electricity in interstate commerce over a large portion of the 
United States. Vegetation-caused service interruptions in smaller 
regions of the Nation are more common and less publicized, but they 
also have a detrimental impact on the business of transmitting and 
selling electricity in interstate commerce. Section 311 of the Federal 
Power Act (16 U.S.C. 825j (2000)) authorizes the Commission to conduct 
investigations in order to secure information necessary or appropriate 
as a basis for recommending legislation. Section 311 of the Federal 
Power Act makes clear that the Commission's authority in conducting an 
investigation extends to entities that are otherwise not subject to the 
Commission's jurisdiction ``including the generation, transmission, 
distribution and sale of electric energy by any agency, authority or 
instrumentality of the United States, or of any State or municipality * 
* * '' The information collected from this reporting requirement will 
be reflected in a Commission report to Congress on reliability of the 
Nation's interstate bulk electric systems, consistent with section 311 
of the Federal Power Act.
    The possibility of a reoccurrence of a vegetation induced blackout 
this summer warrants an immediate assessment of the electric industry's 
vegetation management programs to enable the Commission to inform the 
Congress and the industry about improvements that might be necessary. 
The Commission believes the vegetation management report will provide 
it, the States, the North American Electric reliability Council, 
reliability coordinators and the Congress with valuable information 
regarding vegetation management problems. In coordination with the 
National Association Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) Critical 
Infrastructure Protection Ad-Hoc Committee, the Commission will use the 
information to identify appropriate ways to assure effective vegetation 
management for electric transmission facilities. Therefore, the ability 
to collect this information prior to the expiration of the normal OMB 
60-day review time frame is essential to the mission of the Commission 
and as such, the Commission has requested emergency processing of this 
proposed information collection. The Commission will refer to the 
reports being requested as FERC-723 ``Vegetation Management Reports.'' 
Respondents would provide a one-time-

[[Page 19829]]

only Report no later than June 17, 2004. The Reports would contain the 
following information:

    Describe in detail the vegetation management practices and 
standards that the transmission provider uses for control of 
vegetation near designated transmission lines, and indicate the 
source of any standard utilized (State law or regulation, historical 
practice, etc.). Describe the clearance assumptions or definition 
used for appropriate distance between the vegetation and the line. 
Indicate how the vegetation management practices treat vegetation 
that encroaches or might reasonably be expected to encroach due to 
growth prior to the next inspection in the line clearance zone from 
below, beside and above the line.
    ``Designated transmission facilities'' are defined, for the 
purposes of this report only, as lines with a rating of 230 kV or 
higher as well as tie-line interconnection facilities between 
control areas or balancing areas (regardless of kV rating), 
``critical'' lines as designated by the regional reliability council 
and associated transformers. List the facilities under transmission 
provider control that meet this definition. For each facility 
identified in item (b) above, indicate how often the transmission 
provider inspects that facility for vegetation management purposes. 
Indicate when the most recent survey of that facility was performed, 
what kind of survey was used (e.g. helicopter overflight, or foot 
patrol), and further indicate what findings of that survey showed. 
If the survey led to further action, indicate what action was taken 
and the date(s) it was performed, and for the facilities identified 
in item (b) above, indicate whether the identified corrective 
actions have been completed as of June 14, 2004.

    The Commission estimates that it would take each respondent no more 
than 5 hours to generate the Report. Therefore, the total number of 
hours it would take to comply with the reporting requirement would be 
1,000. The Commission estimates a total cost of $40,000 to respondents 
at $40 per hour, based on salaries for professional and clerical staff, 
as well as direct and indirect overhead costs. The Commission has 
submitted this reporting requirement to OMB for approval. OMB's 
regulations describe the process that Federal agencies must follow in 
order to obtain OMB approval of reporting requirement. See 5 CFR part 
1320. The standards for emergency processing of information collections 
appear at 5 CFR 1320.13. If OMB approves a reporting requirement, then 
it will assign an information collection control number to that 
requirement. If a request for information subject to OMB review has not 
been given a valid control number, then the recipient is not required 
to respond.
    OMB requires Federal agencies seeking approval of reporting 
requirements to allow the public an opportunity to comment on the 
proposed reporting requirement. 5 CFR 1320.5(a)(1)(iv). Therefore, the 
Commission is soliciting comment on:
    (1) Whether the collection of the information is necessary for the 
proper performance of the Commission's functions, including whether the 
information will have practical utility;
    (2) The accuracy of the Commission's estimate of the burden of the 
collection of this information, including the validity of the 
methodology and assumptions used;
    (3) The quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be 
collected; and
    (4) How to minimize the burden of the collection of this 
information on respondents, including the use of appropriate automated 
electronic, mechanical, or other forms of information technology.

Linda Mitry,
Acting Secretary.
[FR Doc. 04-8519 Filed 4-13-04; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P