[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 65 (Thursday, April 6, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 16823-16824]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-06847]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Docket No. RD16-10-000]


Commission Information Collection Activities (FERC-725e); Comment 
Request; Revision

AGENCY: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Department of Energy.

ACTION: Notice of revised information collection and request for 
comments.

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SUMMARY: In compliance with the requirements of the Paperwork Reduction 
Act the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission or FERC) is 
soliciting public comment on a revision to the information collection, 
FERC-725E (Mandatory Reliability Standards for the Western Electric 
Coordinating Council) which will be submitted to the Office of 
Management and Budget (OMB) for a review of the information collection 
requirements.

DATES: Comments on the collection of information are due June 5, 2017.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments (identified by Docket No. RD16-10-
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, 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:
    Title: FERC-725E, Mandatory Reliability Standards for the Western 
Electric Coordinating Council.
    OMB Control No.: 1902-0246.
    Type of Request: Revision to the FERC-725E information collection 
requirements, as discussed in Docket No. RD16-10.
    Abstract: On March 23, 2016 (and supplemented on November 16, 
2016), the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) and 
Western Electricity Coordinating Council (WECC) filed a joint petition 
to retire regional Reliability Standard TOP-007-WECC-1a--System 
Operating Limits (``SOL''). The purpose of the proposed retirement is 
to shift away from the path-centric model and allow entities in the 
Western Interconnection to align their operating practices with the 
framework established in the continent-wide TOP/IRO Reliability 
Standards approved in Order No. 817,\1\ which, according to NERC and 
WECC, achieve the objective of operating within acceptable pre- and 
post-contingency reliability criteria (i.e., within SOLs and 
Interconnection Reliability Operating Limits (``IROL''). On March 10, 
2017, the Commission approved the retirement of regional Reliability 
Standard TOP-007-WECC-1a.\2\
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    \1\ The burdens related to Order No. 871 are included in FERC-
725Z (Mandatory Reliability Standards: IRO Reliability Standards, 
OMB Control No. 1902-0276), and FERC-725A Mandatory Reliability 
Standards for the Bulk-Power System, OMB Control No. 1902-0244).
    \2\ The Delegated Letter Order is posted in FERC's eLibrary at 
https://elibrary.ferc.gov/idmws/common/opennat.asp?fileID=14515285.
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    The remaining reporting requirements included in FERC-725E are not 
being revised.\3\
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    \3\ In the current OMB-approved inventory for FERC-725E, the 
total remaining requirements are estimated annually at 7,038 burden 
hours for reporting and 771 burden hours for recordkeeping.
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    Type of Respondents: Public utilities.
    Estimate of Annual Burden \4\: The Commission estimates the 
reduction in the annual public reporting burden for the FERC-725E (due 
to the retirement of

[[Page 16824]]

regional Reliability Standard TOP-007-WECC-1a) as follows: \5\
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    \4\ Burden is defined 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, refer to 5 Code of Federal Regulations 1320.3.
    \5\ The reductions in burden and cost shown in the table are the 
same figures as those in the current OMB-approved inventory for the 
reporting and recordkeeping requirements, now being retired.

   FERC-725E, Mandatory Reliability Standards for the Western Electric Coordinating Council, Reductions Due to
                                               Docket No. RD16-10
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                                                                                                   Total annual
    Information collection        Number of     Annual number   Total number    Average burden    burden hours &
         requirements            respondents    of responses    of responses   hours & cost per    total annual
                                               per respondent                      response            cost
                                          (1)             (2)     (1) * (2) =  (4).............  (3) * (4) = (5)
                                                                          (3)
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Reporting Requirement--                     9               3              27  40 hrs.; $2,908.  1,080 hrs.;
 Transmission Operators that                                                                      $78,516.
 operate qualified transfer
 paths \6\.
Recordkeeping Requirement--                 9               1  ..............  12 hrs.; $347...  108 hrs.;
 Transmission Operators that                                                                      $3,124.
 operate qualified transfer
 paths.
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    TOTAL REDUCTION (Due to    ..............  ..............  ..............  ................  1,188 hrs.;
     Docket No. RD16-10).                                                                         $81,640.
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    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 estimate 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.
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    \6\ This is based on burden estimates taken from the Order in 
Docket No. RR07-11-000, P. 130.

    Dated: March 31, 2017.
Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2017-06847 Filed 4-5-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6717-01-P