[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 246 (Wednesday, December 23, 1998)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 71043-71046]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-33985]
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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
18 CFR Part 284
[Docket No. RM96-1-011]
Standards for Business Practices of Interstate Natural Gas
Pipelines
December 17, 1998.
AGENCY: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Notice of Proposed Rulemaking.
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SUMMARY: The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is proposing to amend
Sec. 284.10 of its regulations governing standards for conducting
business practices and electronic communication with interstate natural
gas pipelines. The Commission is proposing to incorporate by reference
the most recent version of the standards, Version 1.3 promulgated July
31, 1998, by the Gas Industry Standards Board (GISB).
DATES: Comments are due January 22, 1999.
ADDRESSES: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 888 First Street,
N.E., Washington DC 20426.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Michael Goldenberg, Office of the General Counsel, Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission, 888 First Street, NE., Washington, DC 20426,
(202) 208-2294
Marvin Rosenberg, Office of Economic Policy, Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission, 888 First Street, NE., Washington, DC 20426, (202) 208-1283
Kay Morice, Office of Pipeline Regulation, Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission, 888 First Street, NE., Washington, DC 20426, (202) 208-0507
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In addition to publishing the full text of
this document in the Federal Register, the Commission also provides all
[[Page 71044]]
interested persons an opportunity to inspect or copy the contents of
this document during normal business hours in the Public Reference Room
at 888 First Street, N.E., Room 2A, Washington, DC 20426. The
Commission Issuance Posting System (CIPS) provides access to the texts
of formal documents issued by the Commission. CIPS can be accessed via
Internet through FERC's Homepage (http://www.ferc.fed.us) using the
CIPS Link or the Energy Information Online icon. The full text of this
document will be available on CIPS in ASCII and WordPerfect 6.1 format.
CIPS is also available through the Commission's electronic bulletin
board service at no charge to the user and may be accessed using a
personal computer with a modem by dialing 202-208-1397, if dialing
locally, or 1-800-856-3920, if dialing long distance. To access CIPS,
set your communications software to 19200, 14400, 12000, 9600, 7200,
4800, 2400, or 1200 bps, full duplex, no parity, 8 data bits and 1 stop
bit. User assistance is available at 202-208-2474 or by E-mail to
[email protected]
This document is also available through the Commission's Records
and Information Management System (RIMS), an electronic storage and
retrieval system of documents submitted to and issued by the Commission
after November 16, 1981. Documents from November 1995 to the present
can be viewed and printed. RIMS is available in the Public Reference
Room or remotely via Internet through FERC's Homepage using the RIMS
link or the Energy Information Online icon. User assistance is
available at 202-208-2222, or by E-mail to [email protected]
Finally, the complete text on diskette in WordPerfect format may be
purchased from the Commission's copy contractor, RVJ International,
Inc. RVJ International, Inc., is located in the Public Reference Room
at 888 First Street, NE., Washington, DC 20426.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission) is proposing
to amend Sec. 284.10 of its regulations governing standards for
conducting business practices and electronic communications with
interstate natural gas pipelines. The Commission is proposing to adopt
the most recent version, Version 1.3, of the consensus industry
standards, promulgated by the Gas Industry Standards Board (GISB).
I. Background
In Order Nos. 587, 587-B, 587-C, 587-G, and 587-H,1 the
Commission adopted regulations to standardize the business practices
and communication methodologies of interstate pipelines in order to
create a more integrated and efficient pipeline grid. In those orders,
the Commission incorporated by reference consensus standards developed
by GISB, a private, consensus standards developer composed of members
from all segments of the natural gas industry.
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\1\ Standards For Business Practices Of Interstate Natural Gas
Pipelines, Order No. 587, 61 FR 39053 (Jul. 26, 1996), III FERC
Stats. & Regs. Regulations Preambles para. 31,038 (Jul. 17, 1996),
Order No. 587-B, 62 FR 5521 (Feb. 6, 1997), III FERC Stats. & Regs.
Regulations Preambles para. 31,046 (Jan. 30, 1997), Order No. 587-C,
62 FR 10684 (Mar. 10, 1997), III FERC Stats. & Regs. Regulations
Preambles para. 31,050 (Mar. 4, 1997), Order No. 587-G, 63 FR 20072
(Apr. 23, 1998), III FERC Stats. & Regs. Regulations Preambles para.
31,062 (Apr. 16, 1998), Order No. 587-H, 63 FR 39509 (July 23,
1998), III FERC Stats. & Regs. Regulations Preambles para. 31,063
(July 15, 1998).
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On November 9, 1998, GISB filed with the Commission its most recent
revision of its standards, Version 1.3. GISB also provided a
description of its ongoing activities.
II. Discussion
The Commission is proposing to adopt Version 1.3 of GISB's
consensus standards with an implementation date on the first of the
month occurring 90 days after publication of the final rule in the
Federal Register. Version 1.3 of the GISB standards updates and
improves the standards, with the principal changes occurring in the
areas of confirmation practices, further standardization of the
information provided on pipeline Internet web sites, and revisions to
the data sets.2 Commission adoption of these standards will
keep the Commission regulations current.
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\2\ The following reflects the changes from the Version 1.2
standards previously adopted by the Commission. The list does not
include the intra-day nomination standards that already were adopted
in Order No. 587-H. Revised standards are: 1.3.3, 1.3.14, 1.3.24,
1.3.27, 2.3.9, 2.3.16, 2.3.20, and 4.3.16. New standards are: 1.3.35
through 1.3.38, 1.3.45, 1.3.46, 3.3.22, 4.1.16 through 4.1.21, 4.2.1
through 4.2.8, and 4.3.17 through 4.3.35. Revised data sets are:
1.4.1 through 1.4.6, 2.4.1 through 2.4.6, 3.4.1 through 3.4.3, 5.4.1
through 5.4.9, 5.4.11 through 5.4.13, 5.4.16, and 5.4.17. New data
sets are: 1.4.7 and 3.4.4.
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Because the Version 1.3 standards include the nomination and intra-
day nomination standards adopted by the Commission in Order No. 587-H,
separate reference to these standards in the regulations is no longer
necessary and is proposed to be removed. The Commission also is
continuing its previous practice by proposing to exclude standards
2.3.29 dealing with operational balancing agreements (OBAs), 2.3.30
dealing with netting and trading of imbalances, and 4.3.4 dealing with
retention of electronic data. The Commission has issued its own
regulations in these areas,3 so that incorporation of the
GISB standards is unnecessary and may cause confusion as to the
applicable Commission requirements.
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\3\ 18 CFR 284.10(c)(2)(i) (OBAs), (c)(2)(ii) (netting and
trading of imbalances), and (c)(3)(v) (record retention).
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GISB approved the standards under its consensus
procedures.4 As the Commission found in Order No. 587,
adoption of consensus standards is appropriate because the consensus
process helps ensure the reasonableness of the standards by requiring
that the standards draw support from a broad spectrum of all segments
of the industry. Moreover, since the industry itself has to conduct
business under these standards, the Commission's regulations should
reflect those standards that have the widest possible support. In
Sec. 12(d) of the National Technology Transfer and Advancement Act
(NTT&AA) of 1995, Congress affirmatively requires federal agencies to
use technical standards developed by voluntary consensus standards
organizations, like GISB, as means to carry out policy objectives or
activities.5
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\4\ This process first requires a super-majority vote of 17 out
of 25 members of GISB's Executive Committee with support from at
least two members from each of the five industry segments--
interstate pipelines, local distribution companies, gas producers,
end-users, and services (including marketers and computer service
providers). For final approval, 67% of GISB's general membership
must ratify the standards.
\5\ Pub L. 104-113, Sec. 12(d), 110 Stat. 775 (1996), 15 U.S.C.
272 note (1997).
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In addition, in Order No. 587-G, the Commission deferred
implementation of its OBA regulation6 and its imbalance
trading regulation 7 until GISB had an opportunity to
develop standards related to OBAS and imbalance trading. GISB reports
that it has approved a model Operational Balancing Agreement and that
its OBA standards are completed.8 In a contemporaneous
order, the Commission is establishing an April 1, 1999 date for the
pipelines to comply with the regulation requiring them to enter into
OBAs with interconnecting interstate and intrastate pipelines.
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\6\ 18 CFR 284.10(c)(2)(i).
\7\ 18 CFR 284.10(c)(2)(ii).
\8\ GISB's November 9, 1998 filing, Docket No. RM96-1-010,
Appendix 5.
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GISB is continuing to work on its standards relating to imbalance
trading, and according to GISB's schedule, these standards are
scheduled for completion
[[Page 71045]]
by the end of 1998.9 Since development of imbalance trading
standards is not yet complete, the Commission will not establish a firm
implementation date for its imbalance trading regulation. However,
given the importance of imbalance trading, the Commission expects such
implementation to take place prior to the 1999 heating season.
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\9\ GISB's November 9, 1998 filing, Docket No. RM96-1-010,
Appendix 5.
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III. Notice of Proposed Use of Standards
Office of Management and Budget Circular A-119 (Sec. 11) (February
10, 1998) provides that federal agencies publish a request for comment
in a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR) when the agency is seeking to
issue or revise a regulation that contains a standard identifying
whether a voluntary consensus standard or a government-unique standard
is being proposed. In this NOPR, the Commission is proposing to use
Version 1.3 (July 31, 1998) of the voluntary consensus standards
developed by GISB.
IV. Information Collection Statement
The following collections of information contained in this proposed
rule have been submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB)
for review under Section 3507(d) of the Paperwork Reduction Act of
1995, 44 U.S.C. 3507(d). The Commission solicits comments on the
Commission's need for this information, whether the information will
have practical utility, the accuracy of the provided burden estimates,
ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to
be collected, and any suggested methods for minimizing respondents'
burden, including the use of automated information techniques. The
following burden estimates include the costs for complying with GISB's
Version 1.3 standards which update and improve the existing Version 1.2
standards. The burden estimates are primarily related to start-up for
implementing the latest version of the standards and data sets and will
not be on-going costs.
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Number of
Data collection Number of responses per Hrs. per Total number
respondents respondent response of hrs.
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FERC-545........................................ 93 1 38 3,534
FERC-549C....................................... 93 1 2,610 242,730
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Total Annual Hours for Collection
(Reporting and Recordkeeping, (if appropriate) = 246,264.
Information Collection Costs: The Commission seeks comments on the
costs to comply with these requirements. It has projected the average
annualized cost per respondent to be the following:
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FERC-545 FERC-549C
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Annualized Capital/Startup Costs........ $2,008 $137,888
Annualized Costs (Operations &
Maintenance)........................... 0 0
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Total Annualized Costs............ 2,008 137,888
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OMB regulations\10\ require OMB to approve certain information
collection requirements imposed by agency rule. The Commission is
submitting notification of this proposed rule to OMB.
\10\ 5 CFR 1320.11.
Title: FERC-545, Gas Pipeline Rates: Rate Change (Non-Formal);
FERC-549C, Standards for Business Practices of Interstate Natural Gas
Pipelines.
Action: Proposed collections.
OMB Control No.: 1902-0154, 1902-0174.
Respondents: Business or other for profit (Interstate natural gas
pipelines (Not applicable to small business.))
Frequency of Responses: One-time implementation (business
procedures, capital/start-up).
Necessity of Information: This proposed rule, if implemented, would
upgrade the Commission's current business practice and communication
standards to the latest edition approved by GISB (Version 1.3). The
implementation of these standards is necessary to increase the
efficiency of the pipeline grid.
The information collection requirements of this proposed rule will
be reported directly to the industry users. The implementation of these
data requirements will help the Commission carry out its
responsibilities under the Natural Gas Act to monitor activities of the
natural gas industry to ensure its competitiveness and to assure the
improved efficiency of the industry's operations. The Commission's
Office of Pipeline Regulation will use the data in rate proceedings to
review rate and tariff changes by natural gas companies for the
transportation of gas, for general industry oversight, and to
supplement the documentation used during the Commission's audit
process.
Internal Review: The Commission has reviewed the requirements
pertaining to business practices and electronic communication with
natural gas interstate pipelines and made a determination that the
proposed revisions are necessary to establish a more efficient and
integrated pipeline grid. Requiring such information ensures both a
common means of communication and common business practices which
provide participants engaged in transactions with interstate pipelines
with timely information and uniform business procedures across multiple
pipelines. These requirements conform to the Commission's plan for
efficient information collection, communication, and management within
the natural gas industry. The Commission has assured itself, by means
of its internal review, that there is specific, objective support for
the burden estimates associated with the information requirements.
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Interested persons may obtain information on the reporting
requirements by contacting the following: Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission, 888 First Street, N.E., Washington, D.C. 20426, [Attention:
Michael Miller, Office of the Chief Information Officer, Phone:
(202)208-1415, fax: (202)273-0873 email: michael.miller@ferc.fed.us].
Comments concerning the collection of information(s) and the
associated burden estimate(s), should be sent to the contact listed
above and to the Office of Management and Budget, Office of Information
and Regulatory Affairs, Washington, D.C. 20503 [Attention: Desk Officer
for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, phone: (202)395-3087,
fax: (202)395-7285]
V. Environmental Analysis
The Commission is required to prepare an Environmental Assessment
or an Environmental Impact Statement for any action that may have a
significant adverse effect on the human environment.\11\ The Commission
has categorically excluded certain actions from these requirements as
not having a significant effect on the human environment.\12\ The
actions proposed to be taken here fall within categorical exclusions in
the Commission's regulations for rules that are clarifying, corrective,
or procedural, for information gathering, analysis, and dissemination,
and for sales, exchange, and transportation of natural gas that
requires no construction of facilities.\13\ Therefore, an environmental
assessment is unnecessary and has not been prepared in this rulemaking.
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\11\ Order No. 486, Regulations Implementing the National
Environmental Policy Act, 52 FR 47897 (Dec. 17, 1987), FERC Stats. &
Regs. Preambles 1986-1990 para.30,783 (1987).
\12\ 18 CFR 380.4.
\13\ See 18 CFR 380.4(a)(2)(ii), 380.4(a)(5), 380.4(a)(27).
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VI. Regulatory Flexibility Act Certification
The Regulatory Flexibility Act of 1980 (RFA) \14\ generally
requires a description and analysis of final rules that will have
significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities.
The proposed regulations would impose requirements only on interstate
pipelines, which are not small businesses, and, these requirements are,
in fact, designed to reduce the difficulty of dealing with pipelines by
all customers, including small businesses. Accordingly, pursuant to
Sec. 605(b) of the RFA, the Commission hereby certifies that the
regulations proposed herein will not have a significant adverse impact
on a substantial number of small entities.
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\14\ 5 U.S.C. 601-612.
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VII. Comment Procedures
The Commission invites interested persons to submit written
comments on the matters and issues proposed in this notice to be
adopted, including any related matters or alternative proposals that
commenters may wish to discuss.
The original and 14 copies of such comments must be received by the
Commission before 5:00 p.m. January 22, 1999. Comments should be
submitted to the Office of the Secretary, Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission, 888 First Street, N.E., Washington D.C. 20426 and should
refer to Docket No. RM96-1-011.
In addition to filing paper copies, the Commission encourages the
filing of comments either on computer diskette or via Internet E-Mail.
Comments may be filed in the following formats: WordPerfect 6.1 or
lower version, MS Word Office 97 or lower version, or ASCII format.
For diskette filing, include the following information on the
diskette label: Docket No. RM 96-1-011; the name of the filing entity;
the software and version used to create the file; and the name and
telephone number of a contact person.
For Internet E-Mail submittal, comments should be submitted to
comment.rm@ferc.fed.us'' in the following format. On the subject
line, specify Docket No. RM96-1-011. In the body of the E-Mail message,
include the name of the filing entity; the software and version used to
create the file, and the name and telephone number of the contact
person. Attach the comment to the E-Mail in one of the formats
specified above. The Commission will send an automatic acknowledgment
to the sender's E-Mail address upon receipt. Questions or comments on
electronic filing should be directed to Brooks Carter at 202-501-8145,
E-Mail address brooks.carter@ferc.fed.us.
Commenters should take note that, until the Commission amends its
rules and regulations, the paper copy of the filing remains the
official copy of the document submitted. Therefore, any discrepancies
between the paper filing and the electronic filing or the diskette will
be resolved by reference to the paper filing.
All written comments will be placed in the Commission's public
files and will be available for inspection in the Commission's Public
Reference room at 888 First Street, N.E., Washington D.C. 20426, during
regular business hours. Additionally, comments may be viewed and
printed remotely via the Internet through FERC's Homepage using the
RIMS link or the Energy Information Online icon. User assistance is
available at 202-208-2222, or by E-Mail to rimsmaster@ferc.fed.us.
List of Subjects in 18 CFR Part 284
Continental shelf, Incorporation by reference, Natural gas,
Reporting and recordkeeping requirements.
By direction of the Commission.
David P. Boergers,
Secretary.
In consideration of the foregoing, the Commission proposes to amend
Part 284, Chapter I, Title 18, Code of Federal Regulations, as set
forth below.
PART 284--CERTAIN SALES AND TRANSPORTATION OF NATURAL GAS UNDER THE
NATURAL GAS POLICY ACT OF 1978 AND RELATED AUTHORITIES
1. The authority citation for Part 284 continues to read as
follows:
Authority: 15 U.S.C. 717-717w, 3301-3432; 42 U.S.C 7101-7532; 43
U.S.C 1331-1356.
2. In section 284.10, paragraphs (b)(1)(i) through (v) are revised
to as follows:
Sec. 284.10 Standards for pipeline business operations and
communications.
* * * * *
(b) * * *
(1) * * *
(i) Nominations Related Standards (Version 1.3, July 31, 1998);
(ii) Flowing Gas Related Standards (Version 1.3, July 31, 1998)
with the exception of Standards 2.3.29 and 2.3.30;
(iii) Invoicing Related Standards (Version 1.3, July 31, 1998);
(iv) Electronic Delivery Mechanism Standards (Version 1.3, July 31,
1998) with the exception of Standard 4.3.4; and
(v) Capacity Release Related Standards (Version 1.3, July 31,
1998).
* * * * *
[FR Doc. 98-33985 Filed 12-22-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P
