2010-31564. Commission Information Collection Activities, Proposed Collection; Comment Request; Submitted for OMB Review

December 9, 2010.

AGENCY:

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

ACTION:

Notice.

SUMMARY:

In compliance with the requirements of section 3507 of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, 44 U.S.C. 3507, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC or the Commission) has submitted the information collection described below to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and extension of this information collection requirement. Any interested person may file comments directly with OMB and should address a copy of those comments to the Commission as explained below. The Commission received no comments in response to an earlier Federal Register notice of August 2010 (75 FR 45609) and has notified OMB of this in its submission.

DATES:

Further comments on this collection of information are due by January 18, 2011.

ADDRESSES:

Address further comments on this collection of information to the Office of Management and Budget, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Attention: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Desk Officer. Comments to OMB should be filed electronically, c/o [e-mail] and include OMB Control Number 1902-0070 for reference. The Desk Officer may be reached by telephone at 202-395-4638.

A copy of the comments should also be sent to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and should refer to Docket No. IC10-542-001. Comments may be filed either electronically or in paper format. Those persons filing electronically do not need to make a paper filing. Documents filed electronically via the Internet must be prepared in an acceptable filing format and in compliance with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission submission guidelines. Complete filing instructions and acceptable filing formats are available at http://www.ferc.gov/​help/​submission-guide.asp. To file the document electronically, access the Commission's Web site and click on Documents & Filing, E-Filing (http://www.ferc.gov/​docs-filing/​efiling.asp),, and then follow the instructions for each screen. First-time users will have to establish a user name and password. The Commission will send an automatic acknowledgement to the sender's e-mail address upon receipt of comments.

For paper filings, the comments should be submitted to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Secretary of the Commission, 888 First Street, NE., Washington, DC 20426, and should refer to Docket No. IC10-542-001.

Users interested in receiving automatic notification of activity in FERC Docket Number IC10-542 may do so through eSubscription at http://www.ferc.gov/​docs-filing/​esubscription.asp. All comments may be viewed, printed or downloaded remotely via the Internet through FERC's homepage using the “eLibrary” link. For user assistance, contact [e-mail] or toll-free at [phone], or for TTY, contact [phone].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Ellen Brown may be reached by e-mail at [e-mail], by telephone at [phone], and by fax at [phone].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

The information collected under the requirements of FERC-542 “Gas Pipeline Rates: Rate Tracking” (OMB No. 1902-0070) is used by the Commission to implement the statutory provisions of Title IV of the Natural Gas Policy Act (NGPA), 15 U.S.C. 3301-3432, and Sections 4, 5 and 16 of the Natural Gas Act (NGA) (P.L. 75-688) (15 U.S.C. 717-717w). These statutes empower the Commission to collect natural gas transmission cost information from interstate natural gas transporters for the purpose of verifying that these costs, which are passed on to pipeline customers, are just and reasonable.

Interstate natural gas pipeline companies are required by the Commission to track their transportation-associated costs to allow for the Commission's review and, where appropriate, approve the pass-through of these costs to pipeline customers. These FERC-542 tracking filings are accountings of the cost of (1) Research, development, and deployment expenditures; (2) annual charge adjustments; and (3) periodic rate adjustments.

ACTION: The Commission is requesting a three-year extension of the FERC-542 reporting requirements, with the burden and cost estimates published in its August 2010 Notice. There is no change to the reporting requirements.

Burden Statement: The public reporting burden for this collection is estimated as:

FERC data collection	Annual number of respondents	Number of responses per respondent	Average burden hours per response	Total annual burden hours
	(1)	(2)	(3)	(1) × (2) × (3)
FERC-542	95	3.5	40	13,300

The FERC's estimated cost burden to respondents is $881,598 (13,300 hours/2080 hours ^[1] times $137,874 ^[2] ). The cost per respondent is $9,280.

The reporting burden includes the total time, effort, or financial resources expended to generate, maintain, retain, disclose, or provide the information including: (1) Reviewing instructions; (2) developing, acquiring, installing, and utilizing technology and systems for the purposes of collecting, validating, verifying, processing, maintaining, disclosing and providing information; (3) adjusting the existing ways to comply with any previously applicable instructions and requirements; (4) training personnel to respond to a collection of information; (5) searching data sources; (6) completing and reviewing the collection of information; and (7) transmitting, or otherwise disclosing the information. The estimate of cost for respondents is based upon salaries for professional and clerical support, as well as direct and indirect overhead costs. Direct costs include all costs directly attributable to providing this information, such as administrative costs and the cost for information technology. Indirect or overhead costs are costs incurred by an organization in support of its mission. These costs apply to activities which benefit the whole organization rather than any one particular function or activity.

Comments are invited on: (1) Whether the proposed 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 of the proposed collection of information, including the validity of the methodology and assumptions used; (3) ways to enhance the quality, utility and clarity of the information to be collected; and (4) ways to minimize the burden of the collection of information on those who are to respond, including the use of appropriate automated, electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or other forms of information technology, e.g., permitting electronic submission of responses.

Kimberly D. Bose,

Secretary.

Footnotes

1.  Number of hours an employee works each year.

2.  Average annual salary per employee.