E8-14451. Commission Information Collection Activities, Proposed Collection; Comment Request; Submitted for OMB Review

June 19, 2008.

AGENCY:

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, DOE.

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 (Commission) has submitted the information collection described below to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review 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 February 26, 2008 (73 FR 10236-10237) and has made this notation in its submission to OMB.

DATES:

Comments on the collection of information are due by July 21, 2008.

ADDRESSES:

Address comments on the 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 the OMB Control No. (1902-0043) as a point of reference. The Desk Officer may be reached by telephone at 202-395-7345. A copy of the comments should also be sent to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Office of the Executive Director, ED-34, Attention: Michael Miller, 888 First Street, NE., Washington, DC 20426. Comments may be filed either in paper format or electronically. Those persons filing electronically do not need to make a paper filing. For paper filings, such comments should be submitted to the Secretary of the Commission, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 888 First Street, NE., Washington, DC 20426 and should refer to Docket No. IC08-523-001. 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/​electronic-media.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.

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:

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

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

The information collection under the requirements of FERC-523 “Applications for Authorization of Issuance of Securities.”

Under Federal Power Act (FPA) section 204, 16 U.S.C. 824c:

“No public utility or licensee shall issue any security, or assume any obligation or liability as guarantor, indorser, surety, or otherwise in respect of any security of another person, unless and until, and then only to the extent that, upon application by the public utility, the Commission by order authorized such issue or assumption of the liability. The Commission shall make such order if it finds that such issue or assumption (a) is for lawful object, within the corporate purposes of the applicant and compatible with the public interest, which is necessary or appropriate for or consistent with the proper performance by the applicant of service as a public utility and which will not impair its ability to perform that service, and (b) is reasonably necessary or appropriate for such purposes.* * *

The Commission uses the information contained in filings to determine its acceptance and/or rejection for granting applications for authorization to either issue securities or to assume an obligation or liability by the public utilities and their licensees who make these applications.

The Commission implements this statute through its regulations, which are found at 18 CFR part 34; sections 131.43 and 131.50 of 18 CFR Part 131 prescribe the required format for the filings. The information is filed electronically.

Action: The Commission is requesting a three-year extension of the current expiration date with no changes to the current reporting requirements.

Burden Statement: Public reporting burden for this collection is estimated as:

Number of responses annually (1)	Number of responses per respondent (2)	Average burden hours per response (3)	Total annual burden hours (1)×(2)×(3)
60	1	88	5280

The estimated total cost to respondents is $320,821 [5,280 hours divided by 2080 hours ^[1] times $126,384 ^[2] equals $320,821]. The cost of filing FERC-523, per respondent, is $5,347 (rounded-off).

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, using 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 filing instructions and requirements; (4) training personnel to respond to this collection of information; (5) searching data sources; (6) completing and reviewing the collection of information; and (7) transmitting, or otherwise disclosing the information. The cost estimate 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 the accuracy of the agency's burden estimate of the proposed information collection, including the validity of the methodology and assumptions used to calculate the reporting burden; and ways to enhance the quality, utility and clarity of the information to be collected.

Kimberly D. Bose,

Secretary.

Footnotes

1.  Number of hours an employee works each year.

2.  Average annual salary per employee 3.