IC14-3-000 (FERC-549D) 15dy

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

FEDERAL ENERGY REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket No. IC14-3-000]

COMMISSION INFORMATION COLLECTION ACTIVITIES

(FERC-549D); COMMENT REQUEST

(Date)

AGENCY: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Comment request.

SUMMARY: In compliance with the requirements of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, 44 U.S.C. 3507(a)(1)(D), the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission or FERC) is submitting the information collection FERC-549D (Quarterly Transportation and Storage Report for Intrastate Natural Gas and Hinshaw Pipelines) to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review of the information collection requirements. 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 published notices in the Federal Register (78 FR 69843, 11/21/2012, and 79 FR 7175, 2/6/2012) requesting public comments. FERC received no comments on the FERC-549D for either notice and is making this notation in its submittal to OMB.

The Commission is issuing this 15-day public notice due to a change of the estimated burden figures. Upon further review, the Commission found that the burden estimate required adjustment due to better estimates. Specifically, the average burden hours per response for XML filings (implementation burden only) increased from 104 hours to 196 hours. NOTE: There are no changes to information collection or filing requirements.

DATES: Comments on the collections of information are due by [15 days after publication of this Notice in the Federal Register].

ADDRESSES: Comments filed with OMB, identified by the OMB Control Nos. 1902-0253 (FERC-549D) should be sent via email to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs: [email protected], Attention: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Desk Officer. The Desk Officer may also be reached via telephone at 202-395-4718.

A copy of the comments should also be sent to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, identified by the Docket No. IC14-3-000, by one of the following methods:

• eFiling at Commission’s Web Site: http://www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/efiling.asp

• Mail/Hand Delivery/Courier: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Secretary of the Commission, 888 First Street, NE, Washington, DC 20426.

Instructions: All submissions must be formatted and filed in accordance with submission guidelines at: http://www.ferc.gov/help/submission-guide.asp. For user assistance contact FERC Online Support by e-mail at [email protected], or by phone at: (866) 208-3676 (toll-free), or (202) 502-8659 for TTY.

Docket: Users interested in receiving automatic notification of activity in this docket or in viewing/downloading comments and issuances in this docket may do so at http://www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/docs-filing.asp.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION: Ellen Brown may be reached by e-mail at [email protected], by telephone at (202) 502-8663, and by fax at (202) 273-0873.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Titles: Quarterly Transportation and Storage Report for Intrastate Natural Gas and Hinshaw Pipelines

OMB Control Nos.: 1902-0253

Type of Request: Three-year extension of the FERC-549D information collection requirements with no changes to the reporting requirements.

Abstract: The reporting requirements under FERC-549D are required to carry out the Commission's policies in accordance with the general authority in Sections 1(c) of the Natural Gas Act (NGA)¹ and Sections 311 of the Natural Gas Policy Act of 1978 (NGPA)². This collection promotes transparency by collecting and making available intrastate and Hinshaw pipeline transactional information. The Commission collects the data upon a standardized form with all requirements outlined in 18 CFR 284.126.

The FERC Form 549D collects the following information:

• Full legal name and identification number of the shipper receiving service;

• Type of service performed for each transaction;

• The rate charged under each transaction;

• The primary receipt and delivery points for the transaction, specifying the rate schedule/name of service and docket were approved;

• The quantity of natural gas the shipper is entitled to transport, store, and deliver for each transaction;

• The term of the transaction, specifying the beginning and ending month and year of current agreement;

• Total volumes transported, stored, injected or withdrawn for the shipper; and

• Annual revenues received for each shipper, excluding revenues from storage services.

Filers submit the Form-549D on a quarterly basis.

Access to the FERC-549D Information Collection Materials: A copy of the current form and related materials can be found at http://www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/forms.asp#549d, but will not be included in the Federal Register. The Commission will not publish these materials in the Federal Register.

Types of Respondents: Intrastate natural gas and Hinshaw pipelines

Estimate of Annual Burden³: The Commission estimates the total Public Reporting Burden for each information collection as:

FERC Form 549D: Quarterly Transportation and Storage Report for Intrastate Natural Gas and Hinshaw Pipelines
Format of Pipelines’ Filing	Number of Respondents (A)	Number of Responses Per Respondent (B)	Total Number of Responses (A)x(B)=(C)	Average Burden Hours per Response (D)	Estimated Total Annual Burden (C)x(D)
Implementation Burden
PDF filings	3	1	3	68	204
XML4 filings	2	1	2	196	392
Ongoing Burden
PDF filings	76	4	304	12.5	3,800
XML filings	33	4	132	10	1,320
TOTAL	1095		441		5,716

The total estimated annual cost burden to respondents is $450,764 [5,716 hours $78.86/hour⁶ = $450,764].

Comments: Comments are invited on: (1) whether the collections of information are necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the Commission, including whether the information will have practical utility; (2) the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden and cost of the collections of information, including the validity of the methodology and assumptions used; (3) ways to enhance the quality, utility and clarity of the information collections; and (4) ways to minimize the burden of the collections of information on those who are to respond, including the use of automated collection techniques or other forms of information technology.

Kimberly D. Bose,

Secretary.

1 15 USC. 717-817-w

2 15 USC. 3301-3432

3 The Commission defines burden as the total time, effort, or financial resources expended by persons to generate, maintain, retain, or disclose or provide information to or for a Federal agency. For further explanation of what is included in the information collection burden, reference 5 Code of Federal Regulations 1320.3.

4 Extensible Markup Language (XML)

5 This figure does not include the five respondents for the “Implementation Burden”.

6 This cost represents the average cost of four career fields: Legal ($128.02/hour), Accountants ($48.58/hour), Management Analyst ($56.27/hour), and Computer and Information ($82.67/hour); this cost also includes benefit costs within the hourly estimates.