[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 120 (Thursday, June 22, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 35879-35880]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-9892]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[IC06-505-001, FERC 505]


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 28, 2006 (71 FR 15399-15401) 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 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. IC06-505-001.
    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 505 ``Application for 
License for Water Projects with less than 5MW Capacity''.
    2. Sponsor: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
    3. Control No.: 1902-0115.
    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 of Part I of 
the Federal Power Act (FPA), 16 U.S.C. 791a et seq. & 3301-3432, as 
amended by the Electric Consumers Protections Act (ECPA) (Pub. L. 99-
495, 100 Stat. 1234 (1986). The FPA as amended by ECPA provides the 
Commission with the responsibility of issuing licenses for nonfederal 
hydroelectric power plants, plus requiring the Commission in its 
licensing activities to give equal consideration to preserving 
environmental quality. ECPA also amended sections 10(a) and 10(j) of 
the FPA to specify the conditions on which hydropower licenses are 
issued, to direct that the project be adopted in accordance with a 
comprehensive plan that improves waterways for interstate/foreign 
commerce and for the protection, enhancement and mitigation of damages 
to fish and wildlife.
    Submission of the information is necessary to fulfill the 
requirements of Sections 9 and 10(a) of the Act in order for the 
Commission to make the required finding that the proposal is 
economically, technically, and environmentally sound, and is best 
adapted to the comprehensive plan of development of the water resources 
of the region. Under section 405(c) of the Public Utilities Regulatory 
Policies Act of 1978, the Commission may in its discretion (by rule or 
order) grant an exemption in whole or in part from the requirements of 
Part I of the FPA to small hydroelectric power projects having a 
proposed installed capacity of 5,000 kilowatts or less. The information 
collected under designation FERC-505 is in the form of a written 
application for a license and is used by Commission staff to determine 
the broad impact of the license application.
    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 pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) 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 
on average be 7,000 hours per respondent as opposed to 10,000 hours per 
respondent in the traditional licensing process and 8,600 hours in the 
alternative licensing process. It has been nearly three years since 
Order No. 2002 was issued and applicants have

[[Page 35880]]

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 the license 
application pursuant to the comprehensive development standard of FPA 
sections 4(e) and 10(a)(1), to consider the comprehensive development 
analysis certain factors with respect to the new license as 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. The 
Commission implements these filing requirements in the Code of Federal 
Regulations (CFR) under 18 CFR 4.61; 4.71; 4.93; 4.107; 4.108; 4.201; 
4.202, 292.203 and 292.208.
    5. Respondent Description: The respondent universe currently 
comprises 5 respondents (on average) subject to the Commission's 
jurisdiction.
    6. Estimated Burden: 34,795 total hours, 5 respondents (average), 1 
response per respondent, and 6,959 hours per response (average).
    7. Estimated Cost Burden to Respondents: Estimated cost burden to 
respondents is $8,675,000. ($1,500,000 (traditional process) + 
$2,975,000 (alternative process) + $4,200,000 (integrated process). 
These costs were determined by the percentage of applicants that would 
be using each of these processes. Annualized costs per project $500,000 
(traditional); $425,000 (alternative licensing), and $350,000 
(integrated licensing).

    Statutory Authority: Statutory provisions of Part I of the 
Federal Power Act (FPA), 16 U.S.C. 791a et seq. and 3301-3432, as 
amended by the Electric Consumers Protections Act (ECPA) (Pub. L. 
99-495, 100 Stat. 1234 (1986). The Commission implements these 
filing requirements in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) under 
18 CFR 4.61; 4.71; 4.93; 4.107; 4.108; 4.201; 4.202, 292.203 and 
292.208.

Magalie R. Salas,
Secretary.
 [FR Doc. E6-9892 Filed 6-21-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P