[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 68 (Friday, April 9, 1999)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 17276-17279]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-8691]
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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
18 CFR Part 284
[Docket No. RM96-1-011; Order No. 587-K]
Standards For Business Practices Of Interstate Natural Gas
Pipelines
Issued April 2, 1999.
AGENCY: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Final Rule.
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SUMMARY: The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is amending its
regulations 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). These standards establish rules for conducting
business practices and electronic communication with interstate natural
gas pipelines.
DATES: Effective Date: The rule is effective May 10, 1999. The
incorporation by reference of the publication listed in the rule is
approved by the Director of the Federal Register of May 10, 1999.
Implementation Date: Pipelines must implement the regulations
adopted in this rule by August 1, 1999.
ADDRESSES: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 888 First Street, NE.,
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
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, NE., 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 cipsmaster@ferc.fed.us.
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 rimsmaster@ferc.fed.us.
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.
Before Commissioners: James J. Hoecker, Chairman; William L.
Massey, Linda Breathitt, and Curt Hebert, Jr.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission) is amending
Sec. 284.10 of its regulations to incorporate by reference the most
recent version, Version 1.3, of the consensus industry standards,
promulgated by the Gas Industry Standards Board (GISB). The GISB
standards establish uniform principles for conducting business and
electronic communications with interstate natural gas pipelines.
I. Background
In Order Nos. 587, 587-B, 587-C, 587-G, 587-H, and 587-I \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); Order No. 587-I, 63 FR 53565 (Oct. 6, 1998), III
FERC Stats. & Regs. Regulations Preambles para. 31,067 (Sept. 29,
1998).
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On November 9, 1998, GISB filed with the Commission Version 1.3 of
its standards. On December 17, 1998, the Commission issued a Notice of
Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR) proposing to incorporate by reference
Version 1.3 of the GISB standards. Comments were due by January 22,
1999. Comments were filed by Williston Basin Interstate Pipeline
Company (Williston Basin) and, collectively, Process Gas Consumers,
American Iron and Steel Institute, and Georgia Industrial Group (PGC,
et al.).
[[Page 17277]]
II. Discussion
The Commission is adopting Version 1.3 of GISB's consensus
standards with an implementation date on the first day 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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GISB approved the standards under its consensus
procedures.3 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.4
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\3\ 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.
\4\ Pub L. No. 104-113, Sec. 12(d), 110 Stat. 775 (1996), 15
U.S.C. 272 note (1997).
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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 will be removed. The Commission also is continuing its
previous practice by not incorporating 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,5 so that incorporation of the GISB standards is
unnecessary and may cause confusion as to the applicable Commission
requirements.
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\5\ 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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In its comments, Williston Basin does not object to the adoption of
Version 1.3 of the standards. It suggests, however, that the Commission
defer implementation of any future GISB standards until three months
following the completion of the pipelines' transition to Internet
communication by June 1, 2000. Williston Basin states that, as a
relatively small interstate pipeline, it would have difficulty
implementing any additional standards at the same time as it completes
its transition to Internet communication and resolves any Year 2000
computer problems.
The Commission cannot, at this time, anticipate when it will
require pipelines to implement additional standards developed by GISB.
That will depend in part on GISB's schedule for revising its standards
and the importance to the industry of the additional standards. For
example, GISB still has not completed development of standards
necessary to implement imbalance trading, which the Commission required
in Order No. 587-G.
PGC, et al. object to the Commission's policy of not making copies
of the standards available to the public for copying, leaving the
public to obtain copies from GISB. They contend that if the Commission
is requiring adherence to the standards, the Commission must make those
standards available to the public for copying. The Commission
previously responded to this contention in Order No. 587-A, explaining
that when dealing with copyrighted material, the appropriate, and
required, method for adoption is to incorporate the material by
reference with the material being available from the
source.6 When the NOPR was issued, the standards were
publicly available from GISB, and PGC, et al. do not contend that they
encountered difficulty in obtaining them.
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\6\ Order No. 587-A, 61 FR 55208, 55212-13 (Oct. 25, 1996), 77
FERC para. 61,061, at 61,232-33 (Oct. 21, 1996). See 5 U.S.C. 552
(a)(1) and (a)(3) (documents incorporated by reference need not be
published in the Federal Register or provided by the agency); 1 CFR
51 (1998) (standards for approval of incorporation by reference).
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III. Implementation Schedule
Pipelines are required to implement this rule August 1, 1999.
Pipelines must file revised tariff sheets to conform their tariffs to
Version 1.3 of the standards not more than 60 and not less than 30 days
prior to the implementation date.
IV. Notice of Proposed Use of Standards
Office of Management and Budget Circular A-119 (Sec. 11) (February
10, 1998) provides that, when a federal agency is issuing or revising a
regulation that contains a standard, the agency must publish a
statement in the preamble of a final rule identifying whether a
voluntary consensus standard or a government-unique standard is being
proposed. In this rule, the Commission is adopting Version 1.3 (July
31, 1998) of the voluntary consensus standards developed by GISB.
V. Information Collection Statement
OMB's regulations in 5 CFR 1320.11 require that it approve certain
reporting and recordkeeping requirements (collections of information)
imposed by an agency. Upon approval of a collection of information, OMB
shall assign an OMB control number and an expiration date. Respondents
subject to the filing requirements of this Rule shall not be penalized
for failing to respond to these collections of information unless the
collections of information display valid OMB control numbers.
The collections of information related to the subject Final Rule
fall under the existing reporting requirements of: FERC-545, Gas
Pipeline Rates: Rate Change (Non-Formal) (OMB Control No. 1902-0154)
and FERC-549C, Standards for Business Practices of Interstate Natural
Gas Pipelines (OMB Control No. 1902-0174). The following burden
estimates are related only to this rule and include the costs of
complying with GISB's version 1.3 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.
Public Reporting Burden:
[[Page 17278]]
Estimated Annual Burden
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No. of
Data collection No. of responses per Hrs. per Total no. of
respondents respondent response hrs.
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FERC-545........................................ 93 1 38 3,534
FERC-549C....................................... 93 1 2,610 242,730
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The total annual hours for collection (including recordkeeping) are
estimated to be 246,264. The average annualized cost per respondent is
projected 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 & 0 0
Maintenance)...........................
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Total Annualized Costs.............. 2,008 137,888
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The Commission received no comments on the burden estimates and is
submitting a copy of this Final Rule to OMB for information purposes
because the Final Rule is not significantly different from the NOPR and
OMB has not provided any comments on the NOPR.
The Commission regulations adopted in this order are necessary to
further the process begun in Order No. 587 of standardizing business
practices and electronic communications with interstate pipelines.
Adoption of these regulations will update the Commission's regulations
relating to business practices and communication protocols to conform
to the latest version, Version 1.3, approved by GISB.
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. The information required
in this Final Rule will be reported directly to the industry users and
later be subject to audit by the Commission. This information also will
be retained for a three year period. The implementation of these data
requirements will help the Commission carry out its responsibilities
under the Natural Gas Act and conforms to the Commission's plan for
efficient information collection, communication, and management within
the natural gas industry.
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) 208-2425, E-mail mike.miller@ferc.fed.us]; or the
Office of Management and Budget [Attention: Desk Officer for the
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, phone 202-395-3087, fax (202)
395-7285].
VI. 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.7 The
Commission has categorically excluded certain actions from these
requirements as not having a significant effect on the human
environment.8 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.9 Therefore, an environmental assessment is
unnecessary and has not been prepared in this rulemaking.
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\7\ 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).
\8\ 18 CFR 380.4.
\9\ See 18 CFR 380.4(a)(2)(ii), 380.4(a)(5), 380.4(a)(27).
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VII. Regulatory Flexibility Act Certification
The Regulatory Flexibility Act of 1980 (RFA)10 generally
requires a description and analysis of final rules that will have
significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities.
The regulations adopted in this rule 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 adopted herein will not have a
significant adverse impact on a substantial number of small entities.
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\10\ 5 U.S.C. 601-612.
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VIII. Effective Date
These regulations will become effective May 10, 1999. The
Commission has concluded, with the concurrence of the Administrator of
the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs of OMB, that this rule
is not a ``major rule'' as defined in section 251 of the Small Business
Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996.
List of Subjects in 18 CFR Part 284
Continental shelf, Incorporation by reference, Natural gas,
Reporting and recordkeeping requirements.
By the Commission.
Linwood A. Watson, Jr.,
Acting Secretary.
In consideration of the foregoing, the Commission amends 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 read as follows:
Sec. 284.10 Standards for pipeline business operations and
communications.
* * * * *
(b) * * *
(1) * * *
(i) Nominations Related Standards (Version 1.3, July 31, 1998);
[[Page 17279]]
(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 Related 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. 99-8691 Filed 4-8-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P
