E7-18650. Commission Information Collection Activities, Proposed Collection; Comment Request; Extension

September 6, 2007.

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 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 did not receive any comments in response to an earlier Federal Register notice of May 7, 2007 (72 FR 26086-87) and has made this notification in its submission to OMB.

DATES:

Comments on the collection of information are due by October 12, 2007.

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. 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 an original and 14 copies, of 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. IC07-555-001.

Documents filed electronically via the Internet must be prepared in WordPerfect, MS Word, Portable Document Format, or ASCII format. To file the document, access the Commission's Web site at http://www.ferc.gov and click on “Make an E-Filing,” 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. User assistance for electronic filings is available at 202-502-8258 or by e-mail to [e-mail]. Comments should not be submitted to this e-mail address.

All comments may be viewed, printed or downloaded remotely via the Internet through FERC's homepage using the “eLibrary” link. Enter the docket number excluding the last three digits in the docket number field to access the document. 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:

Description

The information collection submitted for OMB review contains the following:

1. Collection of Information: FERC 555 “Records Retention Requirements”.

2. Sponsor: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

3. Control No.: 1902-0098.

The Commission is now requesting that OMB approve and extend the expiration date for an additional three years with no changes to the existing collection. The records retained by jurisdictional companies as directed by the Commission are the result of a mandatory requirement.

4. Necessity of the Collection of Information: Submission of the information is necessary for the Commission to carry out its responsibilities in implementing the statutory provisions of the sections 301, 304 and 309 of the Federal Power Act (FPA) and sections 8, 10 and 16 of the Natural Gas Act, and section 20 of the Interstate Commerce Act.

The regulations for preservation of records establish retention periods, necessary guidelines and requirements to sustain retention of applicable records for the regulated public utilities, natural gas and oil pipeline companies subject to the Commission's jurisdiction. These records are used by the regulated companies as the basis of their required rate filings and reports for the Commission. In addition, the records will be used by the Commission's audit staff during compliance reviews, by enforcement staff during investigations and for special analyses as deemed necessary by the Commission. The Commission implements these records retention requirements in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) under 18 CFR Parts 125, 225 and 356.

5. Respondent Description: The respondent universe currently comprises 515 companies (on average) subject to the Commission's jurisdiction.

6. Estimated Burden: 1,237,030 total hours, 515 respondents (average), 1 response per respondent, and 2,402 hours per response (rounded off and average time).

7. Estimated Cost Burden to Respondents: 1,237,030 hours/2080 hours per year x $122,137 per year = $72,638,045. The cost per respondent is equal to $141,045.

Statutory Authority: Statutory provisions of sections 8, 10 and 16 of the NGA (15 U.S.C. 717-717w); sections 301, 304 and 309 of the Federal Power Act; and section 20 of the ICA, 49 U.S.C. 20.

Kimberly D. Bose,

Secretary.