[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 145 (Thursday, July 28, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 45237-45239]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-19075]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Docket No. IC11-600-001]


Commission Information Collection Activities (FERC-600); Comment 
Request; Submitted for OMB Review

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 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 May 13, 2011 (76 FR 28014) and has made this notation in its 
submission to OMB.

DATES: Comments on the collection of information are due by August 29, 
2011.

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 OMB Control Number 1902-0180 for 
reference. 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 No. IC11-600-001. 
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.asp. To file the document 
electronically, access the Commission's website and click on Documents 
& Filing, E-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, 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 No. IC11-
600-001.
    Users interested in receiving automatic notification of activity in 
FERC Docket Number IC11-600 may do so through eSubscription at http://www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/esubscription.asp. 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 e-mail 
at [email protected], by telephone at (202) 502-8663, and by fax 
at (202) 273-0873.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The information collected under the 
requirements of FERC-600, ``Rules of Practice and Procedure: Complaint 
Procedures'', (OMB No. 1902-0180) is used by the Commission to 
implement the statutory provisions of the Federal Power Act (FPA), 16 
U.S.C. 791a-825r; the Natural Gas Act (NGA), 15 USC 717-717w; the 
Natural Gas Policy Act (NGPA), 15 USC 3301-3432, the Public Utility 
Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (PURPA), 16 USC 2601-2645; the 
Interstate Commerce Act, 49 U.S.C. App. Sec.  1 et. seq., the Outer 
Continental Shelf Lands Act, 43 USC 1301-1356 and the Energy Policy Act 
of 2005, (Pub. L.109-58) 119 Stat. 594.
    With respect to the natural gas industry, section 14(a) of the NGA 
provides: The Commission may permit any person to file with it a 
statement in writing, under oath or otherwise, as it shall determine, 
as to any or all facts and circumstances concerning a matter which may 
be the subject of an investigation.
    For public utilities, section 205(e) of the FPA provides: Whenever 
any such new schedule is filed, the Commission shall have the 
authority, either upon complaint or upon its own initiative without 
complaint at once, and, if it so orders, without answer or formal 
pleading by the public utility, but upon reasonable notice to enter 
upon hearing concerning the lawfulness of such rate, charge, 
classification, or service; and

[[Page 45238]]

pending such hearing and decision of the Commission.
    Section 215(d)(5) of the FPA provides: The Commission, upon its own 
motion or upon complaint, may order the Electric Reliability 
Organization to submit to the Commission a proposed reliability 
standard or a modification to a reliability standard that addresses a 
specific matter if the Commission considers such a new or modified 
reliability standard appropriate to carry out this section.
    Concerning hydropower projects, section 19 of the FPA provides: * * 
* it is agreed as a condition of such license that jurisdiction is 
hereby conferred upon the Commission, upon complaint of any person 
aggrieved or upon its own initiative, to exercise such regulation and 
control until such time as the State shall have provided a commission 
or other authority for such regulation and control.
    For qualifying facilities, section 210(h)(2)(B) of PURPA provides: 
Any electric utility, qualifying co-generator, or qualifying small 
power producer may petition the Commission to enforce the requirements 
of subsection (f) as provided in subparagraph (A) of this paragraph.
    Likewise for oil pipelines, Part 1 of the Interstate Commerce Act 
(ICA), sections 1, 6 and 15 (re-codified by Pub. L. 95-473 and found as 
an appendix to Title 49 U.S.C.) the Commission is authorized to 
investigate the rates charged by oil pipeline companies subject to its 
jurisdiction. If a proposed oil rate has been filed and allowed by the 
Commission to go into effect without suspension and hearing, the 
Commission can investigate the effective rate on its own motion or by 
complaint filed with the Commission. Section 13 of the ICA provided 
that: Any person, firm, corporation, company or association, or any 
mercantile, agricultural, or manufacturing society or other 
organization, or any common carrier subject to the provisions of this 
chapter in contravention of the provisions thereof, may apply to the 
Commission by petition which shall briefly state the facts: whereupon a 
statement of the complaint thus made shall be forwarded by the 
Commission to such common carrier, who shall be called upon to satisfy 
the complaint, or to answer the same in writing, with in a reasonable 
time, to be specified by the Commission. * * *
    In Order No. 602, 64 FR 17087 (April 8, 1999), the Commission 
revised its regulations governing complaints filed with the Commission 
under the above statutes. Order No. 602 was designed to encourage and 
support consensual resolution of complaints, and to organize the 
complaint procedures so that all complaints are handled in a timely and 
fair manner. In order to achieve the latter, the Commission revised 
Rule 206 of its Rules of Practice and Procedure (18 CFR 385.206) to 
require that a complaint satisfy certain informational requirements, 
that answers be filed in a shorter, 20-day time frame, and that parties 
may employ various types of alternative dispute resolution procedures 
to resolve complaints.
    In Order No. 647, 69FR 32436 (June 10, 2004), the Commission 
revised its regulations to simplify the formats it requires for various 
types of notices. These revisions provide for a more uniform formatting 
and make it easier for the Commission to update the form of notice 
formatting without the necessity of initiating a rulemaking for every 
change. A new subsection 18 CFR 385.203(d) replaced the former format 
requirements. Among the provisions that were affected by these 
revisions was 18 CFR 385.206(b) (10).
    On October 30, 2008, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) 
approved the reporting requirements contained in FERC-600 for a term of 
three years, the maximum period permissible under the Paperwork 
Reduction Act \1\ before an information collection must be resubmitted 
for approval. As noted above this notice seeks public comments in order 
for the Commission to submit a justification to OMB to approve and 
extend the current expiration date of the FERC-600 reporting 
requirements. The data in complaints filed by interested/affected 
parties regarding oil and natural gas pipeline operations, electric and 
hydropower facilities in their applications for rate changes, service, 
licensing or reliability are used by the Commission in establishing a 
basis for various investigations and to make an initial determination 
regarding the merits of the complaint.
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    \1\ Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, Public Law 104-13, October 
1, 1995, 44 U.S.C. 3501-3520.
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    Investigations may range from whether there is undue discrimination 
in rates or service to questions regarding market power of regulated 
entities to environmental concerns. In order to make a better 
determination, it is important to know the specifics of any oil, gas, 
electric, and hydropower complaint ``upfront'' in a timely manner and 
in sufficient detail to allow the Commission to act swiftly. In 
addition, such complaint data will help the Commission and interested 
parties to monitor the market for exercises of market power or undue 
discrimination. The information is voluntary but submitted with 
prescribed filing requirements. The Commission implements these filing 
requirements in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) under 18 CFR 
parts 343, and 385, 385.206, 385.203 and 385.213.
    Action: The Commission is requesting a three-year extension of the 
current expiration date, with no changes to the existing collection of 
data.
    Burden Statement: Public reporting burden for this collection is 
estimated as:

 
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                                                                                Average  Number
                                                 Number of     Average  Number     of  burden      Total annual
               Data collection                respondents \2\   of  responses      hours  per         hours
                                                               per  respondent      response
                                                         (1)              (2)              (3)   (1) x (2) x (3)
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FERC-600....................................              88                1               14            1,232
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    Estimated cost burden to respondents is $84,328. (1,232 hours/2080 
hours per year times $142,372 per year average per employee = $84,328). 
The cost per respondent is $958. There is a slight increase in the 
average number of respondents and number of filings since the last 
renewal request (in 2008, the average number of respondents was 81).

[[Page 45239]]

The cost per respondent has increased to reflect adjustments due to 
inflationary costs.
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    \2\ This is a three year average of the number of respondents 
(2008-2010).
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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 collection of 
information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of 
the Commission, including whether the information will have practical 
utility; (2) the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of the 
proposed collection 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 collection 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.

    Dated: July 20, 2011.
Nathaniel J. Davis, Sr.,
Deputy Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2011-19075 Filed 7-27-11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P