[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 42 (Friday, March 2, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 12823-12824]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-5102]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Energy Information Administration


Solicitation of Comments on a Proposed Change to the Disclosure 
Limitation Policy for Information Reported on Form EIA-819 ``Monthly 
Oxygenate Report''

AGENCY: Energy Information Administration (EIA), Department of Energy 
(DOE).

ACTION: Notice of solicitation of comments.

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SUMMARY: The EIA is requesting comments on a proposal to change the 
data protection policy for information reported on fuel ethanol 
production capacity, (both nameplate and maximum sustainable capacity) 
and make this information publicly available. The data protection 
policy for all other information reported on Form EIA-819 ``Monthly 
Oxygenate Report'' will remain the same.

DATES: Comments must be filed by April 2, 2012. If you anticipate 
difficulty in submitting comments within that period, contact the 
person listed below as soon as possible.

ADDRESSES: Send comments to John Duff. To ensure receipt of the 
comments by the due date, submission by Fax (202-586-4913) or email 
(john.duff@eia. gov) is recommended. The mailing address is John Duff, 
EI-25, Forrestal Building, U.S. Department of Energy, 1000 Independence 
Ave. SW., Washington, DC 20585. Alternatively, John Duff may be 
contacted by telephone at 202-586-9612. The EIA-819 Forms and 
Instructions are available at: http://www.eia.gov/survey/#eia-819.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Requests for additional information 
should be directed to John Duff at the address listed above.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background
II. Current Actions
III. Request for Comments

I. Background

    The Form EIA-819, ``Monthly Oxygenate Report'' collects data on 
oxygenate inputs, production, and end-of-month stocks. The form is 
required to be completed by the operators of all facilities that 
produce (manufacture or distill) oxygenates (including MTBE plants, 
petrochemical plants, and refineries) as part of their operations 
located in the 50 States and the District of Columbia. EIA stated in 
its survey instructions that it would protect the information to the 
extent that it satisfied the criteria for exemption under the Freedom 
of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552, the Department of Energy (DOE) 
regulations, 10 CFR 1004.11 implementing the FOIA, and the Trade 
Secrets Act, 18 U.S.C. 1905. EIA now proposes to amend the instructions 
to state that EIA intends to treat all information reported on fuel 
ethanol production capacity, (both nameplate and maximum sustainable 
capacity) on Form EIA-819 as public information.

II. Current Actions

    Beginning with the collection of July 2012 data, EIA proposes to 
treat all information reported on fuel ethanol production capacity, 
(both nameplate and maximum sustainable capacity) on Form EIA-819 as 
public information and release it on EIA's Web site. EIA will signify 
this change by amending the

[[Page 12824]]

instructions on Form EIA-819 to state that this information will be 
treated as public. The publicly available ethanol production capacity 
information would be identifiable by company and facility. The data 
protection policy for all other information reported on Form EIA-819 
will remain the same and be protected to the extent that the 
information qualifies as confidential commercial information under the 
criteria for exemption in the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), 5 
U.S.C. 552; the Department of Energy (DOE) regulations, 10 CFR part 
1004, which implement the FOIA; and the Trade Secrets Act, 18 U.S.C. 
1905. The proposed policy change is based on EIA's mandate for carrying 
out a central, comprehensive, and unified energy data and information 
program responsive to users' needs for credible, reliable, and timely 
energy information that will improve and broaden understanding of 
energy in the United States.
    EIA releases on its Web site, on an annual basis, the atmospheric 
crude oil distillation capacity and downstream charge capacity, by 
state, for each refinery in the Refinery Capacity Report. One important 
use of ethanol is for blending with gasoline. The publication of fuel 
ethanol plant production capacities by facility will provide comparable 
upstream information similar to refineries and will be useful to assess 
upstream gasoline market supply conditions. By providing capacity 
information at the facility level for ethanol production and other 
refined petroleum products, supply conditions within a region or state 
may be assessed in the event of a supply disruption.
    Fuel ethanol production capacities were previously collected by EIA 
on Form EIA-819A ``Annual Oxygenate Capacity Report'' from January 1, 
1993-1995 and released by company and facility in the Petroleum Supply 
Annual during that same time period. Form EIA-819A was discontinued in 
1996. The proposal to release fuel ethanol plant production capacity 
collected on Form EIA-819 beginning with July, 2012, reference period 
is consistent with past EIA practices and will improve the utility of 
the data by permitting comparisons on the growth in capacity at the 
state level over the past twenty years.
    EIA does not anticipate the release of fuel ethanol plant 
production capacity data to cause any competitive harm to respondents 
to Form EIA-819 because this type of information is currently publicly 
available over the Internet. The Renewable Fuels Association publishes 
nameplate ethanol production capacity as well as the actual operating 
production and under-construction capacity at the facility level 
available at http://www.ethanolrfa.org/bio-refinery-locations. EIA is 
proposing only to release capacity information at the facility level 
and will continue to protect all other information reported on Form 
EIA-819 from being released in identifiable form.

III. Request for Comments

    Respondents to Form EIA-819 and other interested parties should 
comment on the actions discussed in item II. Comments submitted in 
response to this notice will be considered by EIA and become a matter 
of public record.

    Statutory Authority:  Section 13(b) of the Federal Energy 
Administration Act of 1974, Public Law 93-275, codified at 15 U.S.C. 
772(b).

    Issued in Washington, DC.
Stephanie Brown,
Director, Office of Survey Development and Statistical Integration, 
U.S. Energy Information Administration.
[FR Doc. 2012-5102 Filed 3-1-12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-P