[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 85 (Tuesday, May 3, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 26543-26545]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-10259]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Docket No. RD16-4-000]


Proposed Agency Information Collection

AGENCY: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Notice and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission) invites 
public comment in Docket No. RD16-4-000 on a proposed change to a 
collection of information (FERC-725M) that the Commission is developing 
for submission to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) pursuant to 
the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. Comments are invited on: (a) 
Whether the proposed collection of information is necessary for the 
proper performance of the functions of the agency, including whether 
the information shall have practical utility; (b) 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; (c) ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the 
information to be collected; and (d) ways to minimize the burden of the 
collection of information on respondents, including through the use of 
automated collection techniques or other forms of information 
technology.

DATES: Comments regarding this proposed information collection must be 
received on or before July 5, 2016.

ADDRESSES: Comments, identified by docket number, may be filed in the 
following ways:
     Electronic Filing through http://www.ferc.gov. Documents 
created electronically using word processing software should be filed 
in native applications or print-to-PDF format and not in a scanned 
format.
     Mail/Hand Delivery: Those unable to file electronically 
may mail or hand-deliver an original of their comments to: Federal 
Energy Regulatory Commission, Secretary of the Commission, 888 First 
Street NE., Washington, DC 20426.

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: The Commission will submit the reporting and 
recordkeeping requirements of proposed Reliability Standard FAC-003-4 
(Transmission Vegetation Management) to OMB for review. Proposed 
Reliability Standard FAC-003-4 replaces the requirements from the 
previous version of the Reliability Standard (FAC-003-3),\1\ which is 
approved under FERC-725M (Mandatory Reliability Standards: Generator 
Requirements at the Transmission Interface, OMB Control No. 1902-0263).
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    \1\ Reliability Standard FAC-003-3 was approved in Order No. 785 
in Docket No. RM12-16-000. Revisions to Reliability Standard for 
Transmission Vegetation Management, Order No. 777, 142 FERC ] 61,208 
(2013). The associated reporting and recordkeeping requirements in 
FAC-003-3 were approved by OMB on Dec. 17, 2013, under FERC-725M.
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    Type of Request: Three-year approval of the revised FERC-725M 
information collection requirements with the stated changes to the 
current reporting and record retention requirements.
    Abstract: The Commission requires the information collected by the 
FERC-725M to implement the statutory provisions of section 215 of the 
Federal Power Act (FPA).\2\ On August 8, 2005, Congress enacted into 
law the Electricity Modernization Act of 2005, which is Title XII, 
Subtitle A, of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPAct 2005).\3\ EPAct 
2005 added a new section 215 to the FPA, which requires a Commission-
certified Electric Reliability Organization (ERO) to develop mandatory 
and enforceable Reliability Standards, which are subject to Commission 
review and approval. Once approved, the Reliability Standards may be 
enforced by the ERO subject to Commission oversight, or the Commission 
can independently enforce Reliability Standards.\4\
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    \2\ 16 U.S.C. 824o (2012).
    \3\ Energy Policy Act of 2005, Pub. L. 109-58, Title XII, 
Subtitle A, 119 Stat. 594, 941 (codified at 16 U.S.C. 824o).
    \4\ 16 U.S.C. 824o(e)(3).
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    On February 3, 2006, the Commission issued Order No. 672, 
implementing section 215 of the FPA.\5\ Pursuant to Order No. 672, the 
Commission certified one organization, the North American Electric 
Reliability Corporation (NERC),

[[Page 26544]]

as the ERO.\6\ The Reliability Standards developed by the ERO and 
approved by the Commission apply to users, owners and operators of the 
Bulk-Power System as set forth in each Reliability Standard.
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    \5\ Rules Concerning Certification of the Electric Reliability 
Organization; and Procedures for the Establishment, Approval, and 
Enforcement of Electric Reliability Standards, Order No. 672, FERC 
Stats. & Regs. ] 31,204, order on reh'g, Order No. 672-A, FERC 
Stats. & Regs. ] 31,212 (2006).
    \6\ North American Electric Reliability Corp., 116 FERC ] 
61,062, order on reh'g and compliance, 117 FERC ] 61,126 (2006), 
order on compliance, 118 FERC ] 61,190, order on reh'g, 119 FERC ] 
61,046 (2007), aff'd sub nom. Alcoa Inc. v. FERC, 564 F.3d 1342 
(D.C. Cir. 2009).
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    On March 14, 2016, NERC filed a petition for Commission approval of 
proposed Reliability Standard FAC-003-4 (Transmission Vegetation 
Management). NERC states in its petition that proposed Reliability 
Standard FAC-003-4 reflects revisions to the current Minimum Vegetation 
Clearance Distances (MVCDs) in Reliability Standard FAC-003-3 based on 
additional testing regarding the appropriate gap factor to be used to 
calculate clearance distances for vegetation. NERC explains that in 
response to the Commission's directive as part of its approval of an 
earlier version of the Reliability Standard, FAC-003-2, NERC contracted 
with the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) to conduct this 
testing.\7\ As NERC notes, when the Commission approved Reliability 
Standard FAC-003-2, the Commission stated that ``it is important that 
NERC develop empirical evidence that either confirms assumptions used 
in calculating the MVCD values based on the Gallet equation, or gives 
reason to revisit the Reliability Standard.'' \8\
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    \7\ NERC Petition at 7 (citing Order No. 777, 142 FERC ] 61,208 
(2013)).
    \8\ Order No. 777, 142 FERC ] 61,208 at P 3.
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    NERC states in its petition that preliminary testing conducted by 
EPRI indicated that the gap factor used to calculate MVCDs should be 
adjusted. NERC further explains that proposed Reliability Standard FAC-
003-4 proposes higher and more conservative MVCD values, and therefore 
maintains that these revisions will ``enhance reliability and provide 
additional confidence by applying a more conservative approach to 
determining the vegetation clearing distances.'' \9\ NERC states that 
the revised clearances as reflected in Table 2 were moved into the text 
of the proposed Reliability Standard, and that MVCD values were added 
for elevations up to 15,000 feet, but that no other substantive changes 
were made to the currently-effective Reliability Standard FAC-003-
3.\10\
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    \9\ NERC Petition at 3.
    \10\ Id. at 12, and n. 37 (describing certain non-substantive 
edits to the standard and implementation plan as compared to the 
currently-effective version of the standard).
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    Type of Respondents: Transmission Owner (TO); and Generator Owner 
(GO).
    Estimate of Annual Burden.\11\ The burden and cost estimates below 
are based on the number of transmission owners and generator owners as 
reflected in NERC's current registry (i.e., updated since the 
Commission's approval of earlier versions of FAC-003).
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    \11\ 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. See 5 CFR 1320 for additional information on the definition 
of information collection burden.
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    Transmission owners and applicable generator owners have a one-time 
burden to review and modify existing documentation, plans and 
procedures, as well as an ongoing burden to retain records. Our 
estimate of the number of respondents affected is based on the NERC 
Compliance Registry as of February 25, 2016. According to the 
Compliance Registry, NERC has registered 320 transmission owners and 
940 generator owners within the United States, and we estimate that 
approximately 10 percent (or 94) of the registered generator owners 
have interconnection facilities that meet the requirements for 
applicability under the new standard. The estimated annual burden and 
cost of the new standard follow.\12\
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    \12\ The estimates for cost per hour (for salary plus benefits) 
are derived from the Bureau of Labor and Statistics' figures for May 
2015 (at http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/naics2_22.htm#11-0000 and 
benefits [updated March 10, 2016] at http://www.bls.gov/news.release/ecec.nr0.htm), as follows:
     $62.16/hour for salary plus benefits [based on the 
average for an electrical engineer (code 17-2071, at $64.20/hour), a 
first-line supervisor of forestry workers (code 45-1011, at $33.34/
hour), and a manager (code 11-0000, at $88.94/hour)]
     $31.76/hour, salary plus benefits for an information 
and record clerk (code 43-4000).
    \13\ The Order in Docket No. RD16-4 does not modify the 
following requirements. However, due to normal fluctuations in 
industry, the number of respondents (TOs and GOs), in the submittal 
to OMB will be updated as follows.
     The Quarterly Reporting (Compliance 1.4) is required of 
102 respondents (94 GOs and 8 Regional Entities), rather than 96 
respondents.
     The requirements for Annual Vegetation Inspection 
Document (M6), annual vegetation work plan (M7), evidence of 
management of vegetation (M1 and M2), confirmed vegetation condition 
(M4), and corrective action (M5) are required of 94 respondents 
(rather than 88).
    \14\ We estimate a total of 414 respondents (320 TOs and 94 GOs) 
are affected.

                                              FERC-725M, Changes Due to FAC-003-4 in Docket No. RD16-4-000
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                                          Number of       Number of                                                                        Total annual
     Requirements/ Measures \13\         respondents    responses per   Total number   Average burden hours and    Total annual burden       cost per
                                            \14\         respondent     of responses       cost per response          hours and cost        respondent
                                                  (1)             (2)     (1)*(2)=(3)  (4).....................  (3)*(4)=(5)............             ($)
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Strategies, documentation, processes,             414               1             414  4 hrs.; $248.64.........  1,656 hrs.; $102,936.96         $248.64
 & procedures (M3) [one-time].                                                                                    [@$62.16/hr.].
Record Retention (Compliance 1.2)                 414               1             414  1 hr.; $31.76...........  414 hrs.; $13,148.64             $31.76
 [ongoing].                                                                                                       [@$31.76/hr.].
                                                                      ----------------                          -------------------------
    Total Net Change, due to RD16-4..                                             828                            2,070 hrs.; $116,085.60
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[[Page 26545]]

    Dated: April 26, 2016.
Nathaniel J. Davis, Sr.,
Deputy Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2016-10259 Filed 5-2-16; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6717-01-P