[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 24 (Monday, February 6, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 7717-7718]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-02412]



[[Page 7717]]

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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Docket No. IC23-3-000]


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

AGENCY: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Department of Energy.

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 (PRA), the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission 
or FERC) is soliciting public comment on the currently approved 
information collection, FERC-725M (Mandatory Reliability Standard: 
Transmission Vegetation Management), which will be submitted to the 
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review.

DATES: Comments on the collection of information are due March 8, 2023.

ADDRESSES: Send written comments on FERC-725M (identified by Docket No. 
IC23-3-000) to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) through 
www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain, Attention: Federal Energy Regulatory 
Commission Desk Officer. Please identify the OMB Control Number 1902-
0263 (Mandatory Reliability Standard: Transmission Vegetation 
Management) in the subject line. Your comments should be sent within 30 
days of publication of this notice in the Federal Register.
    Please submit copies of your comments (identified by Docket No. 
IC23-3-000 and FERC-725M) to the Commission as noted below. Electronic 
filing through https://www.ferc.gov is preferred.
     Electronic Filing: Documents must be filed in acceptable 
native applications and print-to-PDF, but not in scanned or picture 
format.
     For those unable to file electronically, comments may be 
filed by USPS mail or by hand (including courier) delivery:
    [ssquf] Mail via U.S. Postal Service only, addressed to: Federal 
Energy Regulatory Commission, Secretary of the Commission, 888 First 
Street NE, Washington, DC 20426.
    [ssquf] Hand (including courier) delivery to: Federal Energy 
Regulatory Commission, 12225 Wilkins Avenue, Rockville, MD 20852.
    Please reference the specific collection number(s) (FERC-725M) and/
or title(s) (Gas Pipeline Rates: Refund Report Requirements) in your 
comments.
    Instructions: OMB submissions must be formatted and filed in 
accordance with submission guidelines at: www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain. Using the search function under the ``Currently Under Review 
field,'' select ``Federal Energy Regulatory Commission,'' click 
``submit,'' and select ``comment'' to the right of the subject 
collection. FERC submissions must be formatted and filed in accordance 
with submission guidelines at: https://www.ferc.gov. For user 
assistance, contact FERC Online Support by email at 
[email protected], or by phone at (866) 208-3676 (toll-free).
    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 https://www.ferc.gov.

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

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    Title: FERC-725M (Mandatory Reliability Standard: Transmission 
Vegetation Management).
    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 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 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 included in information collection FERC-725M (in 
Docket No. RM12-16) corresponds to FAC-003-3 (Transmission 
Vegetation Management). The Final Rule RM12-16-000 modifications 
included in PRC-004-2.1a and PRC-005-1.1b, which are not a subject 
of the 725M information collection.
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    The currently effective reliability standard is FAC-003-4 
(Transmission Vegetation Management). Reliability Standard FAC-003-4 
includes the Minimum Vegetation Clearance Distances (MVCDs) which are 
based on additional testing regarding the appropriate gap factor to be 
used to calculate clearance distances for vegetation. NERC previously 
explained that Reliability Standard FAC-003-4 includes higher and more 
conservative MVCD values and, therefore, maintained that FAC-003-4 
would ``enhance reliability and provide additional confidence by 
applying a more conservative approach to determining the vegetation 
clearing distances.''
    On March 4, 2022, a Delegated Letter Order was issued, Docket No. 
RD22-2-000, approving FAC-003-5. The Reliability Standard FAC-003-5 set 
forth requirements to maintain a reliable electric transmission system 
by using a defense[hyphen]in[hyphen]depth strategy to manage vegetation 
located on transmission rights of way (ROW) and minimize encroachments 
from vegetation located adjacent to the ROW, thus preventing the risk 
of those vegetation[hyphen]related outages that could lead to 
cascading. Specific to FAC-003-5, modifications were done to replace 
the Interconnection Reliability Operating Limit (IROL) with new 
language. The requirements in FAC-003-5 result in two years of one-time 
costs, which are reflected in the burden table below.
    In FERC-725M we are renewing the information collection 
requirements that are currently in Reliability Standard FAC-003-4 but 
were not specified in RD22-2-000. Furthermore, we are adjusting the 
burden in FAC-003-4 to reflect the latest number of applicable entities 
based on the NERC Compliance Registry as of September 16, 2022.
    Type of Respondents: Transmission Owner (TO); Generator Owner (GO); 
and Regional Entity (RE).
    Estimate of Annual Burden.\3\ The Commission estimates the annual 
public reporting burden and cost \4\ for the information collection as:
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    \3\ 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.
    \4\ The estimated hourly cost (salary plus benefits) are based 
on the figures for May 2022 posted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics 
for the Utilities sector (available at http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/naics2_22.htm) and updated with benefits information (at 
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/ecec.nr0.htm). The hourly estimates 
for salary plus benefits are:
    --Manager (code 11-0000), $102.41.
    --Information and Records Clerks (code 43-4199), $42.35.
    --Electrical Engineer (code 17-2071), $77.02.
    The average hourly burden cost for this collection is $73.93 
[($102.41 + $42.35 + $77.02)/3 = $73.93)] and is rounded to $74.00 
an hour.

[[Page 7718]]



                            FERC-725M, Mandatory Reliability Standards: Generator Requirements at the Transmission Interface
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                                     Number of    Annual  number
                                    respondents    of  responses   Total number    Average burden hours &    Total annual burden hours &     Cost per
                                        \5\       per respondent   of responses       cost per response           total annual cost       respondent ($)
                                             (1)             (2)     (1) * (2) =  (4).....................  (3) * (4) = (5).............       (5) / (1)
                                                                             (3)
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                                      Currently Effective Standard: FAC-003-4 (Transmission Vegetation Management)
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Generator Owners, Regional               \6\ 116               4             464  0.25 hrs.; $18.50.......  116 hrs.; $8,584.00.........          $74.00
 Entities: Quarterly Reporting
 (Compliance 1.4).
Generator Owners: Annual Veg.                110               1             110  2 hrs.; $148.00.........  220 hrs.; $16,280.00........          148.00
 inspect. Doc. (M6); Work Plan
 (M7); Evidence of Mgt. of Veg.
 (M1 & M2); Confirmed Veg.
 Condition (M4); & Corrective
 Action (M5).
Generator Owners, Transmission               437               1             437  1 hr.; $74.00...........  437 hrs.; $32,338.00........           74.00
 Owners: Record Retention
 (Compliance 1.2).
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    Sub-Total for standards in    ..............  ..............           1,011  ........................  773 hrs.; $57,202.00........  ..............
     FAC-003-4.
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                                                      FERC-725M (Modifications from RD22-2-000) \7\
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                                                           One Time Estimate Years 1 and 2 \8\
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FAC-003-5.......................        TO (325)               4           1,300  8 hrs.; $728............  10,400 hrs.; $946,400.......  ..............
                                       GO (1068)               4           4,272  8 hrs.; $728............  34,176 hrs.; $3,110,016.....  ..............
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    Sub-Total for standards in    ..............  ..............           5,572  ........................  44,576 hrs.; $4,056,416.....  ..............
     FAC-003-5.
    Average Annual Burden over 3  ..............  ..............        1,857.33  ........................  14,858.67 hrs.;               ..............
     years (RM22-2 Modification).                                                                            $1,352,138.97.
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        Total of 725M...........  ..............  ..............        2,868.33  ........................  15,631.67 hrs.;               ..............
                                                                                                             $1,422,481.97.
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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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    \5\ According to the NERC Compliance Registry as of September 
16, 2022, there are 1,099 generator owners and 327 transmission 
owners registered in North America. We estimate that approximately 
10 percent (or 110) of these generator owners have interconnection 
facilities that are applicable to the standard.
    \6\ The estimated number of respondents (116) includes 110 
generator owners and 6 Regional Entities.
    \7\ RD22-2-000 and the related reliability standards in FAC-003-
5 becomes effective 4/1/2023 and are one-time burdens for year 1 and 
2. These modifications are currently under review at OMB. This 
renewal covers other information collection requirements in 725M 
that were not part of RD22-2-000.
    \8\ Commission staff estimated that the industry's skill set 
(wages and benefits) for RD22-2-000 is comparable to the 
Commission's skill set. The FERC 2022 average salary plus benefits 
for one FERC full-time equivalent (FTE) is $188,922 year (or $91 per 
hour [rounded]).

    Dated: January 31, 2023.
Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2023-02412 Filed 2-3-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P