[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 193 (Wednesday, October 6, 2004)]
[Notices]
[Pages 59903-59904]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E4-2512]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Docket No. IC04-555-001, FERC-555]


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

September 29, 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 reinstatement of this information collection 
requirement. Any interested person may file comments

[[Page 59904]]

directly with OMB and should address a copy of those comments to the 
Commission as explained below. The Commission received no comments in 
response to an earlier Federal Register notice of May 14, 2004 (69 FR 
26561-26562) and has responded to their comments in its submission to 
OMB.

DATES: Comments on the collection of information are due by October 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-
4650. 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. IC04-555-001.
    Documents filed electronically via the Internet must be prepared 
in, MS Word, Portable Document Format, Word Perfect or ASCII format. To 
file the document, access the Commission's Web site at http://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.

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-555 ``Records Retention 
Requirements.''
    2. Sponsor: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
    3. Control No. 1902-0098.
    The Commission is now requesting that OMB approve with a three-year 
extension of the expiration date, with no changes to the existing 
collection. 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 Sections 301, 
304 and 309 of the Federal Power Act (FPA) (16 U.S.C. 825, 825c and 
825h), Sections 8, 10, and 16 of the Natural Gas Act (NGA) (Pub. L. 75-
688) (15 U.S.C. 717-717w) and Section 20 of the Interstate Commerce Act 
(ICA 49 U.S.C. 20). The regulations for preservation of records 
establish retention periods, necessary guidelines and requirements to 
sustain retention of applicable records for the regulated public 
utilities, natural gas and oil pipeline companies subject to FERC's 
jurisdiction. These records will be used by the regulated companies as 
the basis for their required rate and tariff filings and reports for 
the Commission. In addition, the records will be used by the 
Commission's audit staff during compliance reviews, by enforcement 
staff during investigations and for special analyses as deemed 
necessary by the Commission. The records retained by jurisdictional 
companies as directed by the Commission are the result of a mandatory 
requirement.
    On January 27, 2000, FERC issued a final rule (Order No. 617) 
amending its records retention regulations for public utilities and 
licensees, natural gas and oil pipeline companies. These changes 
included revising the general instructions and shortening various 
records retention schedules. Order No. 617's objective was to reduce or 
eliminate burdensome and unnecessary regulatory requirements. It has 
been over three years since Order No. 617 took effect on January 1, 
2001, and there has been sufficient time for jurisdictional companies 
to implement Order No. 617's provisions. Therefore in responding to 
this notice, the Commission is interested in knowing if the 
jurisdictional companies have obtained substantial reductions in the 
recordkeeping burden for maintaining their records under the revised 
retention periods. In addition, the Commission is interested in 
learning if and what savings were achieved by the jurisdictional 
companies by freeing up storage space formerly used for retaining 
records. The Commission implements these filing requirements in the 
Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) under 18 parts 125, 225 and 356.
    5. Respondent Description: The respondent universe currently 
comprises 535 companies (on average per year) subject to the 
Commission's jurisdiction.
    6. Estimated Burden: 1,285,070 total hours, 535 respondents 
(average per year), 1 response per respondent, and 2402 hours per 
respondent for recordkeeping (average).
    7. Estimated Cost Burden to Respondents: 1,285,070 hours/2080 hours 
per years x $107,185 per year = $66,221,263 or $123,778 per respondent.

    Statutory Authority: Sections 301, 304 and 309 of the Federal 
Power Act (FPA) (16 U.S.C. 825, 825c and 825h), Sections 8, 10, and 
16 of the Natural Gas Act (NGA) (Pub. L. 75-688) (15 U.S.C. 717-
717w) and Section 20 of the Interstate Commerce Act (ICA 49 U.S.C. 
20).

Magalie R. Salas,
Secretary.
    Docket No. IC04-555-001
 [FR Doc. E4-2512 Filed 10-5-04; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P