[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 196 (Wednesday, October 10, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 50919-50920]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-21890]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Docket No. IC18-17-000]


Commission Information Collection Activities (FERC-576); Comment 
Request; Extension

AGENCY: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, DOE.

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, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission or 
FERC) is soliciting public comment on the currently approved 
information collection FERC-576 (Report of Service Interruptions) and 
submitting the information collection to the Office of Management and 
Budget (OMB) for review. Any interested person may file comments 
directly with OMB and should address a copy of those comments to the 
Commission as explained below. On July 23, 2018, the Commission 
published a Notice in the Federal Register in Docket No. IC18-17-000 
requesting public comments. The Commission received no comments.

DATES: Comments on the collection of information are due November 9, 
2018.

ADDRESSES: Comments filed with OMB, identified by OMB Control No. 1902-
0004, should be sent via email to the Office of Information and 
Regulatory Affairs: [email protected]. Attention: Federal Energy 
Regulatory Commission Desk Officer.
    A copy of the comments should also be sent to the Commission, in 
Docket No. IC18-17-000, by either of the following methods:
     eFiling at Commission's Website: 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-576, Report of Service Interruptions.
    OMB Control No.: 1902-0004.
    Type of Request: Three-year extension of the FERC-576 information 
collection requirements with no changes to the current reporting 
requirements.
    Abstract: A natural gas company must obtain Commission 
authorization to engage in the transportation, sale, or exchange of 
natural gas in interstate commerce under the Natural Gas Act (NGA).\1\ 
The NGA also empowers the Commission to oversee continuity of service 
in the transportation of natural gas in interstate commerce. The 
information collected under FERC-576 notifies the Commission of: (1) 
Damage to jurisdictional natural gas facilities as a result of a 
hurricane, earthquake, or other natural disaster, or terrorist 
activity, (2) serious interruptions to service, and (3) damage to 
jurisdictional natural gas facilities due to natural disaster or 
terrorist activity, that creates the potential for serious delivery 
problems on the pipeline's own system or the pipeline grid.
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    \1\ Public Law 75 688; 15 U.S.C. 717-717w.
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    Filings (in accordance with the provisions of section 4(d) of the 
NGA) \2\ must contain information necessary to advise the Commission 
when a change in service has occurred. Section 7(d) of the NGA \3\ 
authorizes the Commission to issue a temporary certificate in cases of 
emergency to assure maintenance of adequate service or to serve 
particular customers, without notice or hearing.
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    \2\ 15 U.S.C. 717c.
    \3\ 15 U.S.C. 717f.
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    Respondents to the FERC-576 are encouraged to submit the reports by 
email to [email protected] but also have the option of faxing 
the reports to the Director of the Division of Pipeline Certificates. 
18 CFR 260.9(b) requires that a report of service interruption or 
damage to natural gas facilities state: (1) The location of the service 
interruption or damage to natural gas pipeline or storage facilities; 
(2) The nature of any damage to pipeline or storage facilities; (3) 
Specific identification of the facilities damaged; (4) The time the 
service interruption or damage to the facilities occurred; (5) The 
customers affected by the service interruption or damage to the 
facilities; (6) Emergency actions taken to maintain

[[Page 50920]]

service; and (7) Company contact and telephone number. The Commission 
may contact pipelines reporting damage or other pipelines to determine 
availability of supply, and if necessary, authorize transportation or 
construction of facilities to alleviate constraints in response to 
these reports.
    A report required by 18 CFR 260.9(a)(1)(i) of damage to natural gas 
facilities resulting in loss of pipeline throughput or storage 
deliverability shall be reported to the Director of the Commission's 
Division of Pipeline Certificates at the earliest feasible time when 
pipeline throughput or storage deliverability has been restored.
    In any instance in which an incident or damage report involving 
jurisdictional natural gas facilities is required by Department of 
Transportation (DOT) reporting requirements under the Natural Gas 
Pipeline Safety Act of 1968, a copy of such report shall be submitted 
to the Director of the Commission's Division of Pipeline Certificates, 
within 30 days of the reportable incident.\4\
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    \4\ 18 CFR 260.9(d).
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    If the Commission failed to collect these data, it would lose the 
ability to monitor and evaluate transactions, operations, and 
reliability of interstate pipelines and perform its regulatory 
functions. These reports are kept by the Commission Staff as non-public 
information and are not made part of the public record.
    Type of Respondents: Natural gas companies.
    Estimate of Annual Burden: \5\ The Commission estimates the average 
annual burden and cost \6\ for this information collection as follows.
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    \5\ 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. Refer to 
5 CFR 1320.3 for additional information.
    \6\ Costs (for wages and benefits) are based on wage figures 
from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) for May 2016 (at https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/naics2_22.htm) and benefits information (for 
December 2017, issued March 20, 2018, at https://www.bls.gov/news.release/ecec.nr0.htm). Commission staff estimates that 20% of 
the work is performed by a manager, and 80% is performed by legal 
staff members. The hourly costs for wages plus benefits are: $94.28 
for management services (code 11-0000), and $143.68 for legal 
services (code 23-0000). Therefore, the weighted hourly cost (for 
wages plus benefits) is $133.80 [or (0.80 * $143.68) + (0.20 * 
$94.28)].

                                                        FERC-576, Report of Service Interruptions
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                                               Annual  number
                                  Number of     of  responses   Total number     Average burden hours and     Total annual burden hours      Cost per
                                 respondents         per        of responses       cost ($) per response        and total  annual cost    respondent \7\
                                                 respondent                                                                                     ($)
                                          (1)             (2)     (1) * (2) =  (4).........................  (3) * (4) = (5)............       (5) / (1)
                                                                          (3)
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Submittal of Original Email/               21               3              63  1 hr.; $133.80..............  63 hrs.; $8,429.40.........         $401.40
 Fax.
Submittal of Damage Report...              21               3              63  0.25 hrs.; $33.45...........  15.75 hrs.; $2,107.35......          100.35
Submittal of DOT Incident                  21               1              21  0.25 hrs.; $33.45...........  5.25 hrs.; $702.45.........           33.45
 Report.
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    Total....................  ..............  ..............  ..............  ............................  84 hrs.; $11,239.20........  ..............
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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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    \7\ In the 60-day Notice published July 23, 2018, the figures in 
this column for ``Submittal of Original Email/Fax'' and ``Submittal 
of Damage Report'' inadvertently showed ``cost per response'' rather 
than ``cost per respondent.'' Those figures are corrected in this 
notice to show ``cost per respondent.''

    Dated: October 2, 2018.
Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2018-21890 Filed 10-9-18; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6717-01-P