[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 74 (Friday, April 17, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 21230-21232]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-08875]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Docket No. IC15-6-000]


Commission Information Collection Activities (FERC-725B); Comment 
Request; Extension

AGENCY: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Notice of information collection and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: In compliance with the requirements of the Paperwork Reduction 
Act of 1995, 44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A), the Federal Energy Regulatory 
Commission (Commission or FERC) is soliciting public comment on the 
requirements and burden \1\ of the information collection described 
below.
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    \1\ The Commission defines burden as the total time, effort, or 
financial resources expended by persons to generate, maintain, 
retain, or disclose or provide information to or for a Federal 
agency. For further explanation of what is included in the 
information collection burden, reference 5 Code of Federal 
Regulations 1320.3.

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DATES: Comments on the collection of information are due June 16, 2015.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments (identified by Docket No. IC15-6-
000) by either of the following methods:
     eFiling at Commission's Web site: http://www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/efiling.asp.
     Mail/Hand Delivery/Courier: Federal Energy Regulatory 
Commission,

[[Page 21231]]

Secretary of the Commission, 888 First Street NE., Washington, DC 
20426.
    Instructions: All submissions must be formatted and filed in 
accordance with submission guidelines at: http://www.ferc.gov/help/submission-guide.asp. For user assistance contact FERC Online Support 
by email at [email protected], or by phone at: (866) 208-3676 
(toll-free), or (202) 502-8659 for TTY.
    Docket: Users interested in receiving automatic notification of 
activity in this docket or in viewing/downloading comments and 
issuances in this docket may do so at http://www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/docs-filing.asp.

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

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    Type of Request: Three-year extension of the information collection 
requirements for the collection described below with no changes to the 
current reporting requirements.
    Comments: Comments are invited on: (1) Whether the 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 estimates of the burden and 
cost of the collection of information, including the validity of the 
methodology and assumptions used; (3) ways to enhance the quality, 
utility and clarity of the information collection; and (4) ways to 
minimize the burden of the collection of information on those who are 
to respond, including the use of automated collection techniques or 
other forms of information technology.

FERC-725B, Mandatory Reliability Standards for Critical Infrastructure 
Protection

    OMB Control No.: 1902-0248.
    Abstract: The information collected by the FERC-725B, Reliability 
Standards for Critical Infrastructure Protection, is required to 
implement the statutory provisions of Section 215 of the Federal Power 
Act (FPA) (16 U.S.C. 824o).
    On January 18, 2008, the Commission issued order 706,\2\ approving 
eight Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP) Reliability Standards 
submitted by the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) 
for Commission approval. The CIP version 1 Reliability Standards, (CIP-
002-1 through CIP-009-1),\3\ require certain users, owners, and 
operators of the Bulk-Power System to comply with specific requirements 
to safeguard critical cyber assets. These standards help protect the 
nation's Bulk-Power System against potential disruptions from cyber-
attacks. The CIP Reliability Standards include one actual reporting 
requirement and several recordkeeping requirements. Specifically, CIP-
008-1 requires responsible entities to report cyber security incidents 
to the Electricity Sector-Information Sharing and Analysis Center (ES-
ISAC). In addition, the eight CIP Reliability Standards require 
responsible entities to develop various policies, plans, programs, and 
procedures. However, the CIP Reliability Standards do not require a 
responsible entity to report to the Commission, ERO or Regional 
Entities, the various policies, plans, programs and procedures. 
Nonetheless, a showing of the documented policies, plans, programs and 
procedures is required to demonstrate compliance with the CIP 
Reliability Standards.
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    \2\ Mandatory Reliability Standards for Critical Infrastructure 
Protection, Order No. 706, 122 FERC ] 61,040.
    \3\ Every version of the CIP Reliability Standards may be found 
on the NERC Web site at http://www.nerc.com/pa/Stand/Reliability%20Standards%20Complete%20Set/RSCompleteSet.pdf.
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    The Commission approved minor changes in CIP versions 2 and 3 
Reliability Standards on September 30, 2009, and March 31, 2010,\4\ 
respectively. On April 19, 2012, the Commission issued Order No. 761, 
approving the CIP version 4 Standards (CIP-002-4 through CIP-009-4) and 
an implementation plan that scheduled their enforcement to begin 
October 1, 2014.\5\ The fundamental change in the CIP version 4 
Standards was that all subject entities would use the same `bright 
line' criteria to determine which of the facilities they owned were 
subject to the required policies, plans, programs and procedures (which 
remained nearly the same as for prior versions).
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    \4\ 129 FERC ] 61,236 (2009) (approving Version 2 of the CIP 
Reliability Standards); North American Electric Reliability Corp., 
and 130 FERC ] 61,271 (2010) (approving Version 3 of the CIP 
Reliability Standards).
    \5\ Version 4 Critical Infrastructure Protection Reliability 
Standards, Order No. 761, 77 FR 24,594 (Apr. 25, 2012), 139 FERC ] 
61,058 (2012), order denying reh'g, 140 FERC ] 61,109 (2012).
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    On November 22, 2013, the Commission issued Order No. 791, 
approving the CIP version 5 Standards (CIP-002-5 through CIP-009-5, 
CIP-010-1 and CIP-011-1) and the proposed implementation plan. The CIP 
version 5 Standards are currently scheduled to be implemented and 
enforceable beginning April 2016. Order No. 791 eliminated the 
enforceability of the CIP version 4 Standards. The Commission also 
approved nineteen new or revised definitions associated with the CIP 
version 5 Standards for inclusion in the Glossary of Terms Used in NERC 
Reliability Standards (NERC Glossary). The CIP version 5 Standards 
identify and categorize BES Cyber Systems using a new methodology based 
on whether a BES Cyber System has a Low, Medium, or High Impact on the 
reliable operation of the bulk electric system. At a minimum, a BES 
Cyber System must be categorized as a Low Impact asset. Once a BES 
Cyber System is categorized, a responsible entity must comply with the 
associated requirements of the CIP version 5 Standards that apply to 
the impact category. The CIP version 5 Standards include 12 
requirements with new cyber security controls, which address Electronic 
Security Perimeters (CIP-005-5), Systems Security Management (CIP-007-
5), Incident Reporting and Response Planning (CIP-008-5), Recovery 
Plans for BES Cyber Systems (CIP-009-5), and Configuration Change 
Management and Vulnerability Assessments (CIP-010-1).
    Type of Respondent: Entities registered with the North American 
Electric Reliability Corporation.
    Estimate of Annual Burden: There are three tables presenting burden 
associated with CIP Reliability Standards in the following section.
     The first table illustrates burden associated with CIP 
version 5 Reliability Standards.
     The second table illustrates burden associated with CIP 
version 3 and 4 Reliability Standards.
     The third and last table is a summation of the total 
burden for all active CIP-related Reliability Standards (i.e. CIP 
Versions 3-5).

[[Page 21232]]



                               Annual Burden Related to CIP Reliability Standards
                                                   [Version 5]
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                                   Classes of
                                    entity's         Number of    Total hours in  Total hours in  Total hours in
 Groups of registered entities     facilities        entities     year 1 (hours)  year 2 (hours)  year 3 (hours)
                                  requiring CIP
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Group A.......................  Low.............              41           2,540           2,540             564
Group B.......................  Low.............           1,058         554,392         554,392         110,032
Group B.......................  Medium..........             260         128,960          64,896          64,896
Group C.......................  Low.............             316         165,584         165,584          32,864
Group C.......................  Medium (New)....              78           1,248          19,136          19,136
Group C.......................  Low (Blackstart)             283          22,640        -206,024        -206,024
Group C.......................  Medium or High..             316         257,856         131,456         131,456
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    Total.....................  ................  ..............       1,133,220         731,980         152,924
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The total annual burden (related to CIP Version 5 only) is 672,708 
hours when averaging Years 1-3 [(1,133,220 hours + 731,980 hours + 
152,924 hours) / 3 = 672,708 hours]. The total annual cost averaged 
over Years 1-3 is $50,883,633 (672,708 hours * $75.64 \6\ = 
$50,883,633).
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    \6\ The estimates for cost per response are derived using the 
following formula: Average Burden Hours per Response * $75.64 per 
Hour = Average Cost per Response. The hourly cost figure comes from 
May 2014 data on the Bureau of Labor Statistics Web site (http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/naics2_22.htm). The figure is a mathematical 
average of the cost of wages and benefits related to legal services 
($129.68), technical employees ($58.17), and administrative support 
($39.12).
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    Regarding CIP standards unaffected by CIP Version 5, the estimated 
burden has been adjusted to account for a reduction in affected 
entities.\7\ The applicable estimate related to CIP Version 3 and 4 
standards (related to the active components) is provided in the table 
below. (For display purposes, the numbers in the tables below have been 
rounded, however exact figures were used in the calculations.)
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    \7\ The estimate has been decreased from 1,475 to 1,415. The 
NERC Compliance Registry indicated that as of 1/14/2015, 1,415 
entities were registered for at least one CIP-related function/
responsibility.

                                   Burden Related to CIP Reliability Standards
                                          [Version 3 and version 4] \8\
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                                  Annual  number                      Average      Total annual
                                   of  responses   Total number     burden and     burden hours      Cost per
      Number of respondents             per        of responses      cost per        and total    respondent ($)
                                    respondent                       response       annual cost
(1)                                     (2)         (1)*(2)=(3)         (4)         (3)*(4)=(5)       (5)/(1)
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1,415...........................               1           1,415         \9\ 383    \10\ 541,334         $28,937
                                                                         $28,937     $40,946,496
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    The following items represent the estimated total annual burden for 
FERC-725B and includes all burden associated with CIP Reliability 
Standards.\11\
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    \8\ Reliability Standards CIP-002-3, CIP-003-3, CIP-004-3a, CIP-
005-3a, CIP-006-3a, CIP-007-3c, CIP-008-3, and CIP-009-3.
    \9\ This figure is rounded for display in the table. The actual 
number is 382.56813 and is used in the calculations above.
    \10\ This figure is rounded for display in the table. The actual 
number is 541,333.91 and is used in the calculations above.
    \11\ CIP Versions 3 and 4 (remaining components of Version 3 and 
4), and 5.
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     Number of respondents: 1,415 (Not all entities with CIP-
related functions will be obligated to comply with every CIP 
reliability standard.)
     Total Annual Burden Hours: 1,214,042.
     Total Annual Cost: $91,830,137 (1,214,042 hours * $75.64 = 
$91,830,137).
     Average Cost per Respondent: $64,898 \12\ ($91,830,137 / 
1,415 entities = $64,898).
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    \12\ This figure is rounded. The actual number is 64,897.623.

    Dated: April 13, 2015.
 Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2015-08875 Filed 4-16-15; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6717-01-P