[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