[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 30 (Thursday, February 13, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 8278-8279]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-02895]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Docket No. IC19-32-000]


Commission Information Collection Activities (FERC-725M); 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, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission or 
FERC) is soliciting public comment on the currently approved 
information collection, FERC-725M (Mandatory Reliability Standards: 
Generator Requirements at the Transmission Interface) 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.

DATES: Comments on the collection of information are due by March 16, 
2020.

ADDRESSES: Comments filed with OMB, identified by the OMB Control No. 
1902-0263, 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. IC19-32-000, 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], by telephone at (202) 502-8663, and by fax at 
(202) 273-0873.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    Title: FERC-725M (Mandatory Reliability Standards: Generator 
Requirements at the Transmission Interface).
    OMB Control No.: 1902-0263.
    Type of Request: Three-year extension of the FERC-725M with no 
updates to the current reporting requirements.
    Abstract: On August 27, 2019, the Commission published a Notice in 
the Federal Register in Docket No. IC19-32-000 requesting public 
comments. The Commission received no comments and noting that in the 
related submittal to OMB.
    On September 19, 2013, the Commission issued Order No. 785, Docket 
No. RM12-16-000, a Final Rule \1\ approving modifications to four 
existing Reliability Standards submitted by the North American Electric 
Reliability Corporation (NERC), the Commission certified Electric 
Reliability Organization. Specifically, the Commission approved 
Reliability Standards FAC-001-1 (Facility Connection Requirements), 
FAC-003-3 (Transmission Vegetation Management), PRC-004-2.1a (Analysis 
and Mitigation of Transmission and Generation Protection System 
Misoperations), and

[[Page 8279]]

PRC-005-1.1b (Transmission and Generation Protection System Maintenance 
and Testing).\2\ The modifications improved reliability either by 
extending applicability of the Reliability Standard to certain 
generator interconnection facilities, or by clarifying that the 
existing Reliability Standard is and remains applicable to generator 
interconnection facilities.
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    \1\ Generator Requirements at the Transmission Interface, 144 
FERC ] 61,221 (2013).
    \2\ The burden is included in information collection FERC-725M.
    The burdens related to previous versions of Reliability 
Standards mentioned in the Final Rule: FAC-001-0 (Facility 
Connection Requirements); FAC-003-2 (Transmission Vegetation 
Management); PRC-004-2a (Analysis and Mitigation of Transmission and 
Generation Protection System Misoperations); and PRC-005-1b 
(Transmission and Generation Protection System Maintenance and 
Testing) are included in FERC-725A (Mandatory Reliability Standards 
for the Bulk-Power System, OMB Control No. 1902-0244).
    The Final Rule states the modifications included in PRC-004-2.1a 
and PRC-005-1.1b are clarifications of existing requirements, do not 
extend those existing requirements to any new entity or to 
additional facilities, and do not affect the existing burden related 
to those standards.
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    On April 26, 2016, a Delegated Letter Order was issued, Docket No. 
RD16-4-000, approving proposed Reliability Standard FAC-003-4 
(Transmission Vegetation Management). Reliability Standard FAC-003-4 
reflected 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 explained that Reliability 
Standard FAC-003-4 includes higher and more conservative MVCD values 
and, therefore, maintained that these revisions would enhance 
reliability and provide additional confidence by applying a more 
conservative approach to determining the vegetation clearing distances. 
In FERC-725M we are:
    (1) Adjusting the burden in FAC-003-4 to reflect the latest number 
of applicable entities based on the NERC Compliance Registry as of July 
26, 2019.
    (2) Making a program change to administratively remove all one-time 
burden \3\ that is being inadvertently counted in FERC-725M and FERC-
725D.
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    \3\ One-time burden is typically performed in the first year of 
implementation. All burden associated with FAC-001-3 in this 
collection was removed in 2015. The burden in FAC-001-3 was 
transferred in 2015 to FERC-725D (OMB Control Number 1902-0247).
    See the November 6, 2014 Delegated Letter Order, Docket No. 
RD14-12-000, approving Reliability Standard FAC-001-2 and Order No. 
836, Balancing Authority Control, Inadvertent Interchange, and 
Facility Interconnection Reliability Standards, 160 FERC ] 61,070 
(2017), approving Reliability Standard FAC-001-3.
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    Type of Respondents: Transmission Owner (TO); Generator Owner (GO); 
and Regional Entity (RE).
    Estimate of Annual Burden.\4\ The Commission estimates the annual 
public reporting burden and cost \5\ for the information collection as:
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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. See 5 
CFR 1320 for additional information on the definition of information 
collection burden.
    \5\ The estimated hourly cost (salary plus benefits) are based 
on the figures for May 2018 posted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics 
for the Utilities sector (available at http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/naics2_22.htm) and updated March 2019 for benefits 
information (at http://www.bls.gov/news.release/ecec.nr0.htm). The 
hourly estimates for salary plus benefits are:
    --Manager (code 11-0000), $95.24
    --Information and Records Clerks (code 43-4199), $40.84
    --Electrical Engineer (code 17-2071), $68.17
    The average hourly burden cost for this collection is $68.08 
[($95.24 + $40.84 + $68.17)/3 = $68.08)] and is rounded to $68.00 an 
hour.

                                FERC-725M, Mandatory Reliability Standards: FAC-003-4 (Transmission Vegetation Management
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                                          Number of     Annual number                                              Total annual burden
                                         respondents    of responses    Total number    Average burden hours &     hours & total annual      Cost per
                                             \6\       per respondent   of responses       cost per response               cost             respondent
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                                                  (1)             (2)  (1)*(2) = ( 3)  (4).....................  (3)*(4) = (5)..........   ($) (5) / (1)
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                                                     FAC-003-4 (Transmission Vegetation Management)
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Generator Owners, Regional Entities:          101 \7\               4             404  0.25 hrs.; $17.00.......  101 hrs.; $6,868.00....          $68.00
 Quarterly Reporting (Compliance 1.4).
Generator Owners: Annual Veg.                      95               1              95  2 hrs.; $136.00.........  190 hrs.; $12,920.00...          136.00
 inspect. Doc. (M6); Work Plan (M7);
 Evidence of Mgt. of Veg. (M1 & M2);
 Confirmed Veg. Condition (M4); &
 Corrective Action (M5).
Generator Owners, Transmission                    423               1             423  1 hr.; $68.00...........  423 hrs.; $28,764.00...           68.00
 Owners: Record Retention (Compliance
 1.2).
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    TOTAL............................  ..............  ..............             922  ........................  714 hrs.: $48,552.00...          272.00
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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 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.
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    \6\ According to the NERC Compliance Registry as of July 26, 
2019, there are 946 generator owners and 328 transmission owners 
registered in North America. We estimate that approximately 10 
percent (or 95) of these generator owners have interconnection 
facilities that are applicable to the standard.
    \7\ The estimated number of respondents (101) includes 95 
generator owners and 6 Regional Entities.

    Dated: February 3, 2020.
Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2020-02895 Filed 2-12-20; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6717-01-P