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collected; and (d) ways to minimize the
burden of the collection of information
on respondents, including through the
use of automated collection techniques
or other forms of information
technology.
Comments regarding this
proposed information collection
extension must be received on or before
June 30, 2017. If you anticipate
difficulty in submitting comments
within that period, contact the person
listed in ADDRESSES as soon as possible.
ADDRESSES: Written comments may be
sent to Lisa Jorgensen at: U.S.
Department of Energy, 15013 Denver
West Parkway, Golden, CO 80401, by
fax at (720–356–1790), or by email at
[email protected].
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Requests for additional information or
copies of the EERE Environmental
Questionnaire should be directed to Lisa
Jorgensen at EEREEQComments@
EE.DOE.gov. The EERE Environmental
Questionnaire also is available for
viewing in the Golden Field Office
Public Reading Room at:
www.energy.gov/node/2299401.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This
information collection request contains:
(1) OMB No. 1910–5175;
(2) Information Collection Request
Title: Office of Energy Efficiency and
Renewable Energy (EERE)
Environmental Questionnaire;
(3) Type of Request: Extension, with
changes;
(4) Purpose: The DOE’s EERE
provides federal funding through federal
assistance programs to businesses,
industries, universities, and other
groups for renewable energy and energy
efficiency research and development
and demonstration projects. The
National Environmental Policy Act
(NEPA) of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.)
requires that an environmental analysis
be completed for all major federal
actions significantly affecting the
environment including projects entirely
or partly financed by federal agencies.
To effectively perform environmental
analyses for these projects, the DOE’s
EERE needs to collect project-specific
information from federal financial
assistance awardees. DOE’s EERE has
developed its Environmental
Questionnaire to obtain the required
information and ensure that its
decision-making processes are
consistent with NEPA as it relates to
renewable energy and energy efficiency
research and development and
demonstration projects. Minor changes
have been made to the Environmental
Questionnaire that help to clarify

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DATES:

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certain questions, but do not change the
meaning of the questions being asked.
(5) Annual Estimated Number of
Total Responses: 300;
(6) Average Hours per Response: 1;
and
(7) Annual Estimated Number of
Burden Hours: 300
(8) There is no cost associated with
reporting and recordkeeping.
Statutory Authority: National
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) (42 U.S.C.
4321 et seq.).
Issued in Golden, CO, on April 20, 2017.
Robin L. Sweeney,
Director, Environmental Oversight Office,
Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable
Energy.
[FR Doc. 2017–08743 Filed 4–28–17; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450–01–P

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Energy Information Administration
Agency Information Collection
Extension
U.S. Energy Information
Administration (EIA), Department of
Energy.
ACTION: Agency information collection
activities: Information collection
extension; notice and request for
comments.
AGENCY:

The EIA, pursuant to the
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995,
intends to extend with changes for three
years with the Office of Management
and Budget (OMB), the surveys in the
Natural Gas Data Collection Program
Package under OMB Control No. 1905–
0175. This program provides
information on the supply and
disposition of natural gas within the
United States.
The surveys covered by this
information collection request include:
Form EIA–176, Annual Report of
Natural and Supplemental Gas
Supply and Disposition
EIA–191, Monthly Underground Gas
Storage Report
EIA–757, Natural Gas Processing Plant
Survey
EIA–857, Monthly Report of Natural Gas
Purchases and Deliveries to
Consumers
EIA–910, Monthly Natural Gas Marketer
Survey
EIA–912, Weekly Underground Natural
Gas Storage Report
Comments are invited on: (a) Whether
the proposed collection of information
is necessary for the proper performance
of the functions of the agency, including
whether the information shall have

SUMMARY:

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practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the
agency’s estimate of the burden of the
proposed collection of information,
including the validity of the
methodology and assumptions used; (c)
ways to enhance the quality, utility, and
clarity of the information to be
collected; and (d) ways to minimize the
burden of the collection of information
on respondents, including through the
use of automated collection techniques
or other forms of information
technology.
Comments regarding this
proposed information collection must
be received on or before June 30, 2017.
If you anticipate difficulty in submitting
comments within that period, contact
the person listed in ADDRESSES as soon
as possible.
ADDRESSES: Send written comments to
Michael Kopalek, Natural Gas
Downstream Team, Office of Petroleum
and Biofuel Statistics, U.S. Energy
Information Administration. To ensure
receipt of the comments by the due date,
submission by email (Michael.Kopalek@
eia.gov) is recommended. The mailing
address is Michael Kopalek, U.S. Energy
Information Administration, U.S.
Department of Energy, 1000
Independence Ave. SW., EI–25,
Washington, DC 20585. Telephone 202–
586–4001.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Requests for additional information or
copies of the any forms and instructions
should be directed to Mr. Kopalek at the
address listed above. Also, the draft
forms and instructions are available on
the EIA Web site at http://www.eia.gov/
survey/notice/ngdownstreamforms
2015.cfm.
DATES:

This
information collection request contains:
(1) OMB Control Number 1902–0175;
(2) Information Collection Request
Title: Natural Gas Data Collection
Program;
(3) Type of Request: Renewal, with
changes;
(4) Purpose: The Federal Energy
Administration Act of 1974 (Pub. L. 93–
275, 15 U.S.C. 761 et seq.) and the DOE
Organization Act (Pub. L. 95–91, 42
U.S.C. 7101 et seq.) require EIA to carry
out a centralized, comprehensive, and
unified energy information program.
This program collects, evaluates,
assembles, analyzes, and disseminates
information on energy resource reserves,
production, demand, technology, and
related economic statistics. This
information is used to assess the
adequacy of energy resources to meet
both near- and long-term domestic
demands.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

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Federal Register / Vol. 82, No. 82 / Monday, May 1, 2017 / Notices

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EIA, as part of its effort to comply
with the Paperwork Reduction Act of
1995 (Pub. L. 104–13, 44 U.S.C. 3501 et
seq.), provides the general public and
other Federal agencies with
opportunities to comment on the
collection of energy information
conducted by or in conjunction with
EIA. Comments help EIA prepare
information collection requests that
maximize the utility of the information
collected and assess the impact of
collection requirements on the public.
The natural gas surveys included in
the Natural Gas Data Collection Program
Package collect information on natural
gas underground storage, supply,
processing, transmission, distribution,
consumption by sector, and consumer
prices. This information is used to
support public policy analyses of the
natural gas industry and estimates
generated from data collected on these
surveys. The statistics generated from
these surveys are posted to the EIA Web
site (http://www.eia.gov) and in various
EIA products, including the Weekly
Natural Gas Storage Report (WNGSR),
Natural Gas Monthly (NGM), Natural
Gas Annual (NGA), Monthly Energy
Review (MER), Short-Term Energy
Outlook (STEO), Annual Energy
Outlook (AEO), and Annual Energy
Review (AER). Respondents to EIA
natural gas surveys include
underground storage operators,
processors, transporters, marketers, and
distributors. Each form included as part
of this package is discussed in detail
below.
Please refer to the proposed forms and
instructions for more information about
the purpose, who must report, when to
report, where to submit, the elements to
be reported, detailed instructions,
provisions for confidentiality, and uses
(including possible nonstatistical uses)
of the information. For instructions on
obtaining materials, see the FOR FURTHER
INFORMATION CONTACT section.
EIA requests a three-year extension of
collection authority for each of the
above-referenced surveys with proposed
changes to Forms EIA–176, EIA–910,
EIA–912 and minor changes to improve
clarity in the instructions to Forms EIA–
191, 757, and 857.
(4a) Proposed Changes to Information
Collection:
Form EIA–176, Annual Report of
Natural and Supplemental Gas
Supply and Disposition
Form EIA–176 collects data on
natural, synthetic, and other
supplemental gas supplies, disposition,
and certain revenues by state. The
proposed changes include:

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a. Add a question in Part 3(B) asking
respondents if they have an alternativefueled vehicle fleet, and if so, what kind
and how many vehicles comprise the
fleet. This information will improve
survey frame coverage and data
accuracy reported on Form EIA–886,
Annual Survey of Alternative Fueled
Vehicles;
b. Add a new section Part 3(E) to add
a question for local distribution
companies to provide all five-digit zip
codes in their distribution territory
where they deliver natural gas for enduse consumption. This information
enables EIA to estimate the approximate
service territory for a local distribution
company. This information will allow
EIA analysts and data customers to
understand service territories associated
with natural gas distributors. EIA has
received inquiries for this information
in the past;
c. Add a question in Part 3 (F) asking
respondents for the names and zip
codes of any aboveground liquefied
(LNG) natural gas storage facilities that
are owned by, operated by, or provide
services to a survey respondent. EIA
proposes to collect this information to
facilitate collection of LNG data by
providing a list of operators and their
locations;
d. Discontinue collecting costs
associated with purchase gas received
within the service area. In the past, EIA
spent substantial resources to validate
this information. EIA has the capability
to estimate values for this activity using
monthly data. EIA proposes to delete
this data element to reduce respondent
reporting burden; and
e. Move Part 6 Line 12.4 (from the
drop down menu selection) sub-item
9096, ‘‘Other Natural gas consumed in
your operations: Vaporization/LNG
Fuel,’’ to make it a standalone line item
as new Line 12.4, called ‘‘Vaporization/
Liquefaction/LNG Fuel.’’ The collection
of ‘‘Other Natural Gas’’ consumed in
operations that was previously listed on
Line 12.4 will be shown as a new Line
12.6 in Part 6 with the three other drop
down choices (Utilities Use, Other, and
Other Expenses) available to the user. In
the past, many respondents have missed
reporting this data element. The
proposed change is designed to improve
the coverage and accuracy of
respondents reporting this information
and will assist EIA in its modeling and
analysis.
f. Add a question in Part 6 Line 12.5,
‘‘Vehicle fuel used in company fleet’’ to
collect information on vehicle fuel for
company vehicles. Based on cognitive
testing of the EIA–176 form,
respondents were reporting natural gas
vehicle fuel for their own company fleet

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as company use. This affects the
accuracy of the vehicle fuel volumes
and prices reported in Part 6 Items 10.5
and 11.5. Company use volumes do not
have associated revenue and should not
be included in 10.5 and 11.5. Adding
this question will give respondents an
explicit place to report company-owned
vehicle fuel volumes and improve the
accuracy of vehicle fuel prices based on
Part 6 Items 10.5 and 11.5.
Form EIA–191, Monthly
Underground Gas Storage Report
Form EIA–191 collects data on the
operations of all active underground
storage facilities. EIA is proposing to
make the following changes to Form
EIA–191:
a. Remove ‘‘Other’’ as a response
option under ‘‘type of facility’’ question
in Part 3 of the survey form.
Respondents have not utilized this
category for classifying their facilities.
This open ended facility category does
not provide the intended utility for EIA
so EIA proposes to delete it to reduce
reporting burden.
Form EIA–757, Natural Gas
Processing Plant Survey
Form EIA–757 collects information on
the capacity, status, and operations of
natural gas processing plants, and
monitors constraints of natural gas
processing plants during periods of
supply disruption in areas affected by
an emergency, such as a hurricane.
Schedule A of the EIA–757 is used to
collect data every three years. Schedule
A collects information on baseline
operating and capacity information from
all respondents. Schedule A was used to
collect information in 2015 and the next
planned collection for Schedule A is
2018. Schedule B is activated as needed
and collects data from a sample of
respondents in affected areas as needed.
Schedule B was last activated in 2012
when Hurricane Isaac damaged energy
supply infrastructure along the Gulf
Coast. A sample of approximately 20
plants reported in 2012 during that
energy disruption. EIA is proposing to
continue the collection of the same data
elements on Form EIA–757 Schedules A
and B in their present form with one
minor protocol change:
a. Collect EIA–757 Schedule A data
for new natural gas processing plants
that opened and began operations
between the current three-year data
collection cycles. This minor protocol
change allows EIA to maintain a current
frame at all times rather than updating
the survey frame every three years when
a new data collection cycle begins.

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Federal Register / Vol. 82, No. 82 / Monday, May 1, 2017 / Notices
Form EIA–857, Monthly Report of
Natural Gas Purchases and
Deliveries to Consumers
Form EIA–857 collects data on the
quantity and cost of natural gas
delivered to distribution systems and
the quantity and revenue of natural gas
delivered to end-use consumers by
market sector, on a monthly basis by
state. EIA is not proposing any
substantive changes to Form EIA–857.

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Form EIA–910, Monthly Natural Gas
Marketer, and Form EIA–912 Weekly
Underground Natural Gas Storage
Report
Form EIA–910 collects information on
natural gas sales from marketers in
selected states that have active customer
choice programs. EIA is requesting
information on the volume and revenue
for natural gas commodity sales and any
receipts for distribution charges and
taxes associated with the sale of natural
gas.
Form EIA–912 collects information on
weekly inventories of natural gas in
underground storage facilities.
EIA proposes a permanent change in
the confidentiality pledge to
respondents to Forms EIA–910 and
EIA–912. EIA revised its confidentiality
pledge to Forms EIA–910 and EIA–912
survey respondents under the
Confidential Information Protection and
Statistical Efficiency Act (44 U.S.C.
3501 (note)) (CIPSEA) in an emergency
Federal Register notice published on
January 12, 2017 in 82 FR 3764. These
revisions were necessary because of
requirements from the Federal
Cybersecurity Enhancement Act of 2015
(Pub. L. 114–11, Division N, Title II,
Subtitle B, Sec. 223). This law permits
and requires the Secretary of the
Department of Homeland Security
(DHS) to provide Federal civilian
agencies’ information technology
systems with cybersecurity protection
for their Internet traffic. Federal
statistics provide key information that
the Nation uses to measure its
performance and make informed
choices about budgets, energy,
employment, health, investments, taxes,
and a host of other significant topics.
Strong and trusted confidentiality and
exclusively statistical use pledges under
the Confidential Information Protection
and Statistical Efficiency Act (CIPSEA)
and similar statistical confidentiality
pledges are effective and necessary in
honoring the trust that businesses,
individuals, and institutions, by their
responses, place in statistical agencies.
EIA proposed to make this change
permanent in a separate Federal
Register notice released on March 1,

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2017 in 82 FR 12217 for all EIA surveys
protected under CIPSEA. In this notice
EIA proposes to permanently revise the
confidentiality pledge to Form EIA–910
and EIA–912 respondents as follows:
The information you provide on Form
EIA–xxx will be used for statistical purposes
only and is confidential by law. In
accordance with the Confidential Information
Protection and Statistical Efficiency Act of
2002 and other applicable Federal laws, your
responses will not be disclosed in
identifiable form without your consent. Per
the Federal Cybersecurity Enhancement Act
of 2015, Federal information systems are
protected from malicious activities through
cybersecurity screening of transmitted data.
Every EIA employee, as well as every agent,
is subject to a jail term, a fine, or both if he
or she makes public ANY identifiable
information you reported.

EIA is not proposing any other
substantive changes to Form EIA–910.
EIA proposes one additional change
to Form EIA–912. EIA proposes to
include an additional geographic data
element for working gas collection and
publication in the Lower 48 states:
a. Divide the ‘‘South Central’’
reporting region into ‘‘South Central
Salt’’ and ‘‘South Central Nonsalt.’’
Currently EIA categorizes storage
operators as either Salt facilities or
Nonsalt facilities and allocates their
volumes entirely to that region. This
proposed change would require
respondents to allocate volumes in their
reported data between Salt facilities and
Nonsalt facilities; this would improve
the accuracy of EIA’s published
estimates on underground storage. For
example, under the current
methodology, volumes reported by a
respondent with majority salt storage
would be allocated entirely to the
‘‘South Central Salt’’ region, even if
nearly half of their volumes were stored
in nonsalt facilities. Currently, operators
with more than 15 billion cubic feet
(Bcf) of storage capacity in the South
Central region report volumes separately
between Salt facilities or Nonsalt
facilities. This proposed change will
require all operators in the reporting
sample to report the same way.
Request for Comments: EIA invites
comments on the extension of this
information collection package and the
proposed changes discussed above to
the corresponding survey forms and
instructions.
(5) Estimated Total Number of Survey
Respondents: 3,340.
EIA–176 consists of 2,050
respondents.
EIA–191 consists of 145 respondents.
EIA–757 consists of 600 respondents.
EIA–857 consists of 330 respondents.
EIA–910 consists of 100 respondents.

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EIA- 912 consists of 95 respondents.
(6) Annual Estimated Number of
Total Responses: 14,183.
(7) Annual Estimated Number of
Burden Hours: 50,564.
(8) Annual Estimated Reporting and
Recordkeeping Cost Burden: The
information is maintained in the normal
course of business. The cost of the
burden hours is estimated to be
$3,724,554 (50,564 burden hours times
$73.66 per hour). Other than the cost of
burden hours, EIA estimates that there
are no additional costs for generating,
maintaining and providing the
information.
Statutory Authority: Section 13(b) of the
Federal Energy Administration Act of 1974,
Pub. L. 93–275, codified as 15 U.S.C. 772(b)
and the DOE Organization Act of 1977, P.L.
95–91, codified at 42 U.S.C. 7101 et seq.
Issued in Washington, DC, on April 18,
2017.
Nanda Srinivasan,
Director, Office of Survey Development and
Statistical Integration, U. S. Energy
Information Administration.
[FR Doc. 2017–08742 Filed 4–28–17; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450–01–P

FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS
COMMISSION
[OMB 3060–0737]

Information Collection Being Reviewed
by the Federal Communications
Commission Under Delegated
Authority
Federal Communications
Commission.
ACTION: Notice and request for
comments.
AGENCY:

As part of its continuing effort
to reduce paperwork burdens, and as
required by the Paperwork Reduction
Act (PRA), the Federal Communications
Commission (FCC or Commission)
invites the general public and other
Federal agencies to take this
opportunity to comment on the
following information collections.
Comments are requested concerning:
Whether the proposed collection of
information is necessary for the proper
performance of the functions of the
Commission, including whether the
information shall have practical utility;
the accuracy of the Commission’s
burden estimate; ways to enhance the
quality, utility, and clarity of the
information collected; ways to minimize
the burden of the collection of
information on the respondents,
including the use of automated
collection techniques or other forms of

SUMMARY:

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