In accordance
with 5 CFR 1320, the information collection is approved for three
years.
Inventory as of this Action
Requested
Previously Approved
05/31/2016
36 Months From Approved
07/31/2015
2,370
0
2,040
1,829,523
0
1,827,313
126,725
0
126,725
On August 8, 2005, The Electricity
Modernization Act of 2005, which is Title XII of the Energy Policy
Act of 2005 (EPAct 2005), was enacted into law. EPAct 2005 added a
new section 215 to the FPA, which requires a Commission-certified
Electric Reliability Organization (ERO) to develop mandatory and
enforceable Reliability Standards, which are subject to Commission
review and approval. Once approved the Reliability Standards may be
enforced by the ERO, subject to Commission oversight. On March 16,
2007, in Order No. 693, pursuant to section 215(d) of the FPA, the
Commission approved 83 of 107 proposed Reliability Standards, six
of the eight proposed regional differences, and the NERC Glossary
of Terms Used in Reliability Standards (NERC Glossary), which
includes NERC's FAC-003-1 Transmission Vegetation Management
Program. In approving FAC-003-1, the Commission directed the ERO to
make or consider directives in the next version of the standard.
The ERO was to determine the minimum clearance distance needed to
prevent sustained vegetation outages, appropriate inspection
cycles, applicability of sub 200kV transmission lines such as to
not impose a great burden on transmission owners. On December 22,
2011, NERC submitted a petition pursuant to directives associated
with Order No. 693 for FAC-003-2 Transmission Vegetation
Management. NERC's petition requested the Commission approve
FAC-003-2 and its implementation plan. As part of the Notice of
Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR), building on the material filed by NERC,
several actions will be needed by transmission owners. With the
proposed FAC-003-2, transmission owners will need to review their
existing policy/procedures to determine how they may change with
the new version of the standard. Also, the applicability of
FAC-003-2 will add additional sub 200kV lines that are part of an
Interconnection Reliability Operating Limit (IROL) or part of a
Major WECC Transfer Path. With the new applicability, transmission
owners will need to add those lines to their inspection programs
and record keeping obligations. The quarterly reporting on
sustained vegetation transmission outage will continue under the
new standard as a compliance obligation. Failure to follow
requirements and compliance of proposed FAC-003-2 could lead to
additional sustained outages due to tree-line contact and
identification of trends through responsible reporting. These types
of failures could jeopardize system reliability. Vegetation contact
with transmission lines were major factors in two significant
blackouts in WECC territory in 1996 and August 2003 northeast
blackout.
The Commission adopted
FAC-003-2 which will cause an increase in burden. The increase in
burden is necessary to ensure that all transmission lines
identified as important to system reliability are protected against
encroachment of vegetation that could lead to sustained outage. The
exact method of providing the protection against encroachments is
left to the discretion of the transmission owners. Through the
addition of new applicable transmission lines, yearly right of way
inspections, and accurate recordkeeping, the occurrence of
sustained outages due to vegetation will remain low and when they
do occur they will be properly recorded. These tasks are deemed
necessary in order to maintain the reliable operation of nation's
transmission lines. Changes to the current burden hour inventory:
We request to change the existing burden hour inventory based on
the proposed burden hours in question 12 of the supporting
statement. The one-time burden hours will be averaged over three
years and removed from this collection after year three (5,280
hour/3=1,760 hours). We also added the reoccurring burden hours to
the collection (550 hours annually). The total burden hour increase
is 2,310 hours for each of the next three years (1,760 hours + 550
hours = 2,310).
$2,250
No
No
No
No
No
Uncollected
David O'Conner 202
502-6695
No
On behalf of this Federal agency, I certify that
the collection of information encompassed by this request complies
with 5 CFR 1320.9 and the related provisions of 5 CFR
1320.8(b)(3).
The following is a summary of the topics, regarding
the proposed collection of information, that the certification
covers:
(i) Why the information is being collected;
(ii) Use of information;
(iii) Burden estimate;
(iv) Nature of response (voluntary, required for a
benefit, or mandatory);
(v) Nature and extent of confidentiality; and
(vi) Need to display currently valid OMB control
number;
If you are unable to certify compliance with any of
these provisions, identify the item by leaving the box unchecked
and explain the reason in the Supporting Statement.
FINAL Supporting Statement for RM12-4 Final Rule (4-8-13).docx
RM12-4 Final Rule News Release (3-21-13).pdf
FERC-725A, Mandatory Reliability Standards for Bulk-Power System