[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 79 (Monday, April 26, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 21623-21625]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-9529]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Docket Nos. IC10-6-001 and IC10-6Q-001]


Commission Information Collection Activities (FERC Form Nos. 6 
and 6-Q); Comment Request; Submitted for OMB Review

April 19, 2010.
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 or FERC) has submitted the 
information collections described below to the Office of Management and 
Budget (OMB) for review of the information collection requirements. 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 issued a Notice in the Federal Register (75FR5061, 2/1/
2010) requesting public comments. FERC received one comment on the FERC 
Form No. 6 and FERC Form No. 6Q and has made this notation in its 
submissions to OMB.

DATES: Comments on the collections of information are due by May 26, 
2010.

ADDRESSES: Address comments on the collections 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 OMB Control Numbers 1902-0022 (for 
FERC Form No. 6) and 1902-0206 (for FERC Form No. 6Q) as points of 
reference. For comments that pertain to only one of the collections, 
specify the appropriate collection and OMB Control Number. The Desk 
Officer may be reached by telephone at 202-395-4638.
    A copy of the comments should also be sent to the Federal Energy 
Regulatory Commission and should refer to Docket Nos. IC10-6-001 and 
IC10-6Q-001. (If comments apply to only one of the collections, 
indicate the corresponding docket and collection number.) Comments may 
be filed either electronically or in paper format. Those persons filing 
electronically do not need to make a paper filing. Documents filed 
electronically via the Internet must be prepared in an acceptable 
filing format and in compliance with the Federal Energy Regulatory 
Commission submission guidelines. Complete filing instructions and 
acceptable filing formats are available at http://www.ferc.gov/help/submission-guide/electronic-media.asp. To file the document 
electronically, access the Commission's Web site and click on Documents 
& Filing, E[dash]Filing (http://www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/efiling.asp), 
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.
    For paper filings, the comments should be submitted to the Federal 
Energy Regulatory Commission, Secretary of the Commission, 888 First 
Street, NE., Washington, DC 20426, and should refer to Docket Nos. 
IC10-6-001 and IC10-6Q-001 (or the appropriate docket number, if the 
comments pertain only to one of the collections).
    Users interested in receiving automatic notification of activity in 
FERC Docket Number IC10-6 may do so through eSubscription at http://www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/esubscription.asp. However, due to a system 
issue, Docket Number IC10-6Q is not available at this time for 
eSubscription. All comments may be viewed, printed or downloaded 
remotely via the Internet through FERC's homepage using the 
``eLibrary'' link. For user assistance, contact 
[email protected] or toll-free at (866) 208-3676 or for TTY, 
contact (202) 502-8659.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ellen Brown may be reached by 
telephone at (202) 502-8663, by fax at (202) 273-0873, and by e-mail at 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: For the purpose of publishing this notice 
and seeking public comment, FERC requests comments on the following 
information collections:
     FERC Form No. 6 (``FERC-6''), ``Annual Report of Oil 
Pipeline Companies,'' implemented in 18 CFR Sections 357.1, 357.2, and 
385.2011; OMB Control No. 1902-0022, and
     FERC Form No. 6-Q (``FERC-6Q'' or ``FERC-6-Q''), 
``Quarterly Financial Report of Oil Pipeline Companies,'' implemented 
in 18 CFR Section 357.4; OMB Control No. 1902-0206.
    The associated regulations, information collections, burdens, and 
OMB clearance numbers will continue to remain separate and distinct.
    Under the Interstate Commerce Act (ICA) (49 U.S.C. 1, 20, 54 Stat. 
916), the Commission is authorized and empowered to make investigations 
and to collect and record data to the extent FERC may consider to be 
necessary or useful for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of 
the ICA. FERC must ensure just and reasonable rates for transportation 
of crude oil and petroleum products by pipelines in interstate 
commerce.
    The information collected by FERC Form Nos. 6 and 6-Q are used by 
the Commission to carry out its responsibilities in implementing the 
statutory provisions of the ICA, including the authority to prescribe 
rules and regulations concerning accounts, records and memoranda, as 
necessary or appropriate. Financial accounting and reporting provides 
needed information concerning a company's past performance and its 
future prospects. Without reliable financial statements prepared in 
accordance with the Commission's Uniform System of Accounts and related 
regulations, the Commission would be unable to accurately determine the 
costs that relate to a particular time period, service or line of 
business.
    FERC uses data from the FERC Form Nos. 6 and 6-Q to assist in: (1) 
Implementation of its financial audits and programs, (2) continuous 
review of the financial condition of regulated companies, (3) 
assessment of energy markets, (4) rate proceedings and economic 
analyses, and (5) research for use in litigation.
    Financial information reported on the annual FERC Form 6 and 
quarterly FERC Form 6-Q provides FERC, as well as customers, investors 
and others, an important tool to help identify emerging trends and 
issues affecting jurisdictional entities within the energy industry. It 
also provides timely disclosures of the impacts that new accounting 
standards, or changes in existing standards, have on jurisdictional 
entities, as well as the

[[Page 21624]]

economic effects of significant transactions, events, and 
circumstances. The reporting of this information by jurisdictional 
entities assists the Commission in its analysis of profitability, 
efficiency, risk and in its overall monitoring.
    A summary of the comment received (from the 60-day Notice) and 
FERC's response follow.
    Comment: The Commission received comments from only one commenter, 
the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), U.S. Department of Commerce. BEA 
endorsed the continued use of the information contained in the FERC 
Form Nos. 6 and 6Q, stating that:
    ``BEA uses FERC tabulations FERC forms 6 and 6Q indirectly. They 
are used to estimate the U.S. Census Bureau's Construction Value Put-In 
Place (VPIP) for oil pipeline utilities. Census VPIP serves as a major 
source data input to the National Income and Product Account (NIPA) for 
structures investment estimates. NIPA estimates for electric, gas, and 
pipeline structures rely upon the VPIP source data * * *. The FERC Form 
6 is used indirectly as well to derive annual pipeline transportation 
output in the Industry Accounts program. Data obtained by the Industry 
Accounts from the Association of Oil Pipelines ``Shifts in Petroleum 
Transportation'' report is based, in part, on this survey. BEA 
currently uses this FERC information indirectly through the VPIP 
program and the trade association, and it is considered an 
indispensable data source to the NIPA estimates and Industry Accounts 
estimates.''
    FERC's response: The Commission is appreciative of BEA's continued 
support for the Commission's information collection programs.
    ACTION: The Commission is requesting a three-year extension of the 
current FERC Form No. 6 and FERC Form No. 6Q requirements, with no 
changes.
    Burden Statement: The estimated annual public reporting burdens and 
the associated public costs follow.1 2
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    \1\ These figures may not be exact, due to rounding and/or 
truncating.
    \2\ Order 620 in Docket No. RM99-10 (issued 12/13/2000, 
available at http://elibrary.ferc.gov/idmws/common/opennat.asp?fileID=8370177) established filing thresholds. The 
filing thresholds for filing all or part of the FERC-6 are based on 
the filer's annual jurisdictional operating revenues, for each of 
the three previous calendar years:
     File complete Form 6: Revenues $500,000 or more
     File only Pages 1, 301, and 700: Revenues more than 
$350,000 but less than $500,000
     File only Pages 1 and 700: Revenues of $350,000 or 
less.
    See the instructions at http://www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/forms/form-6/form-6.pdf for more information.
    The estimated annual totals for all filers completing all or 
part of the FERC-6 are: 166 filers and 26,657 hours, for a cost of 
$1,767,092.

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                                                                     Number of       Projected
                                                     Projected        annual          average      Total annual
              FERC data collection                   number of     responses per   burden hours    burden hours
                                                    respondents     respondent     per  response        \1\
                                                             (1)             (2)             (3)     (1) x (2) x
                                                                                                             (3)
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FERC-6 (Complete form) \2\......................             142               1             186          26,412
FERC-6 (Pages 1, 301, and 700 only) \2\.........               1               1              15              15
FERC-6 (Pages 1 and 700 only) \2\...............              23               1              10             230
FERC-6Q.........................................             142               3             150          63,900
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    The total annual cost to respondents 1 2 3 is estimated 
as follows.
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    \3\ Using 2,080 hours/year, the estimated cost for 1 full-time 
employee is $137,874/year. The estimated hourly cost is $66.29 (or 
$137,874/2,080).

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                                                                                                     Estimated
                                                                                     Estimated     total annual
                      FERC data collection                         Total annual     hourly cost       cost to
                                                                   burden hours       \3\ ($)       respondents
                                                                                                      ($)\1\
                                                                             (1)             (2)       (2) x (1)
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FERC-6 (Complete form) \2\......................................          26,412          $66.29      $1,750,851
FERC-6 (Pages 1, 301, and 700 only) \2\.........................              15           66.29             994
FERC-6 (Pages 1 and 700 only) \2\...............................             230           66.29          15,247
FERC-6Q.........................................................          63,900           66.29       4,235,931
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    The reporting burden includes the total time, effort, or financial 
resources expended to generate, maintain, retain, disclose, or provide 
the information including: (1) Reviewing instructions; (2) developing, 
acquiring, installing, and utilizing technology and systems for the 
purposes of collecting, validating, verifying, processing, maintaining, 
disclosing and providing information; (3) adjusting the existing ways 
to comply with any previously applicable instructions and requirements; 
(4) training personnel to respond to a collection of information; (5) 
searching data sources; (6) completing and reviewing the collection of 
information; and (7) transmitting, or otherwise disclosing the 
information.
    The estimate of cost for respondents is based upon salaries for 
professional and clerical support, as well as direct and indirect 
overhead costs. Direct costs include all costs directly attributable to 
providing this information, such as administrative costs and the cost 
for information technology. Indirect or overhead costs are costs 
incurred by an organization in support of its mission. These costs 
apply to activities which benefit the whole organization rather than 
any one particular function or activity.
    Comments are invited on: (1) Whether the proposed collections of 
information are necessary for the proper performance of the functions 
of the Commission, including whether the information will have 
practical utility;

[[Page 21625]]

(2) the accuracy of the agency's estimates of the burden of the 
proposed collections of information, including the validity of the 
methodology and assumptions used; (3) ways to enhance the quality, 
utility and clarity of the information to be collected; and (4) ways to 
minimize the burden of the collections of information on those who are 
to respond, including the use of appropriate automated, electronic, 
mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or other forms 
of information technology, e.g., permitting electronic submission of 
responses.

Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.S
[FR Doc. 2010-9529 Filed 4-23-10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P