[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 120 (Thursday, June 22, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 35877-35879]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-9891]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[IC06-500-001, FERC 500]


Commission Information Collection Activities, Proposed 
Collection; Comment Request; Extension

June 16, 2006.
AGENCY: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, DOE.

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 this information collection requirement. 
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 received no comments in response to an earlier Federal 
Register notice of March 30, 2006 (71 FR 16132-16133) and has made this 
notation in its submission to OMB.

DATES: Comments on the collection of information are due by July 28, 
2006.

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

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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-34, 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, 
and original and 14 copies of such comments should be submitted to the 
Secretary of the Commission, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 888 
First Street, NE., Washington, DC 20426 and should refer to Docket No. 
IC06-500-001.
    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 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 
acknowledgement 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 this e-mail address.
    All comments may be viewed, printed or downloaded remotely via the 
Internet through FERC's homepage using the ``eLibrary'' link. Enter the 
docket number excluding the last three digits in the docket number 
field to access the document. For user assistance, contact 
[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 Form 500 ``Application for 
License/Relicense for Water Projects with More than 5MW Capacity''.
    2. Sponsor: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
    3. Control No.: 1902-0058.
    The Commission is now requesting that OMB approve and extend the 
expiration date for an additional three years 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 for the Commission to carry out its 
responsibilities in implementing the Statutory provisions consists of 
the filing requirements as defined 18 CFR 4.32, 4.38, 4.40-41, 4.50-51, 
4.61, 4.71, 4.93, 4.107-108, 4.201-.202, 16.1, 16.10, 16.20, 292.203 
and 292.208. The information collected under the requirements of FERC-
500 is used by the Commission to determine the broad impact of a 
hydropower license application. In deciding whether to issue a license, 
the Commission gives equal consideration to full range of licensing 
purposes related to the potential value of a stream or river. Among 
these purposes are: hydroelectric development; energy conservation; 
fish and wildlife resources; including their spawning grounds and 
habitat; visual resources; cultural resources; recreational 
opportunities; other aspects of environmental quality; irrigation; 
flood control and water supply.
    Submission of the information is necessary to fulfill the 
requirements of the Federal Power Act in order for the Commission to 
make the required finding that the proposal is economically sound is 
best adapted to a comprehensive plan for improving/developing a 
waterway or waterways. Under Part I of the Federal Power Act (FPA), 16 
U.S.C. 791a et seq.), the Commission has the authority to issue 
licenses for hydroelectric projects on the waters over which Congress 
has jurisdiction. The Electric Consumers Protection Act (Pub. L. 99-
495, 100 Stat. 1243) provides the Commission with the responsibility of 
issuing licenses for nonfederal hydroelectric plants. ECPA also amended 
the language of the FPA concerning environmental issues to ensure 
environmental quality.
    In Order No. 2002 (68 FR 51070, August 25, 2003; FERC Statutes and 
Regulations ]31,150 at p. 30,688) the Commission revised its 
regulations to create a new licensing process in which a potential 
license applicant's pre-filing consultation and the Commission's 
scoping process pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act (42 
U.S.C. 4321) are conducted concurrently rather than sequentially. The 
Commission estimated that if an applicant chooses to use the new 
licensing process, this could result in a reduction of 30% from the 
traditional licensing process. The reporting burden related to Order 
No. 2002 would be on average 32,200 hours as opposed to 46,000 hours 
per respondent in the traditional licensing process or 39,000 hours for 
the alternative licensing process. It has been nearly three years since 
Order No. 2002 was issued and applicants have experienced the 
opportunity to gain the benefits from the revised licensing process. In 
particular, applicants have benefited from (a) increased public 
participation in pre-filing consultation; (b) increased assistance from 
Commission staff to the potential applicant and stakeholders during the 
development of a license application; (c) development by the potential 
applicant of a Commission-approved study plan; (d) elimination of the 
need for post-application study requests; (e) issuance of public 
schedules and enforcement of deadlines; (f) better coordination between 
the Commission's processes, including the NEPA document preparation, 
and those of Federal and state agencies and Indian tribes with 
authority to require conditions for Commission-issued licenses. It is 
for these reasons, that the Commission will use the estimates projected 
in the table below.
    The information collected is needed to evaluate license application 
pursuant to the comprehensive development standard of FPA sections 4(e) 
and 10(a)(1), to consider the comprehensive development analysis of 
certain factors with respect to the new license set forth in section 
15, and to comply with NEPA, Endangered Species Act (16 U.S.C. 1531 et 
seq.) and the National Historic Preservation Act (16 U.S.C. 470 et 
seq.)
    Commission staff conducts a systematic review of the prepared 
application with supplemental documentation provided by the 
solicitation of comments from other agencies and the public.
    5. Respondent Description: The respondent universe currently 
comprises 13 respondents (on average) subject to the Commission's 
jurisdiction.
    6. Estimated Burden: 463,060 total hours, 13 respondents (average), 
1 response per respondent, and 35,620 hours per response (average).
    7. Estimated Cost Burden to Respondents: Estimated cost burden to 
respondents is $62,430,000. ($7,800,000 (traditional process) + 
$17,600,000 (alternative process) + $37,030,000 (integrated process). 
These costs were determined by the percentage of applicants that would 
be using each of these processes. Annualized costs per project 
$2,600,000 (traditional);

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$2,200,000 (alternative licensing) and $1,610,000 (integrated 
licensing).

    Statutory Authority: Statutory provisions of Submission of the 
information is necessary for the Commission to carry out its 
responsibilities in implementing the Statutory provisions consists 
of the filing requirements as defined 18 CFR 4.32, 4.38, 4.40-41, 
4.50-51, 4.61, 4.71, 4.93, 4.107-108, 4.201-.202, 16.1, 16.10, 
16.20, 292.203 and 292.208.

Magalie R. Salas,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. E6-9891 Filed 6-21-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P