60 Day FRN Generic Clearance

Federal Register / Vol. 82, No. 202 / Friday, October 20, 2017 / Notices
DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Energy Information Administration
Agency Information Collection
Activities: Proposed Collection;
Comment Request; Generic Clearance
for the Collection of Qualitative
Feedback on Agency Service Delivery
U.S. Energy Information
Administration, Department of Energy.
ACTION: Notice and request for
comments.
AGENCY:

EIA intends to extend with
changes for three years with the Office
of Management and Budget (OMB) its
Generic Information Collection Request
(Generic ICR): ‘‘Generic Clearance for
the Collection of Qualitative Feedback
on Agency Service Delivery’’ under
OMB Control No. 1905–0210. As part of
a Federal Government-wide effort to
streamline the process to seek feedback
from the public on service delivery, this
generic clearance enables EIA to collect
customer and stakeholder feedback in
an efficient, timely manner, in
accordance with our commitment to
ensure that our programs are effective,
meet our customers’ needs, and receive
feedback on improving service delivery
to the public.
DATES: Consideration will be given to all
comments received by December 19,
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 Jacob Bournazian, U.S. Energy
Information Administration, 1000
Independence Avenue SW., EI–21
Washington, DC 20585 or by email at
[email protected].
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Requests for additional information or
copies of the information collection
supporting statement should be directed
to Jacob Bournazian, U.S. Energy
Information Administration, telephone:
202–586–5562, email:
[email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The
proposed information collection activity
provides a means to collect qualitative
customer and stakeholder feedback in
an efficient, timely manner, in
accordance with the Administration’s
commitment to improving service
delivery. By qualitative feedback we
mean information that provides useful
insights on perceptions and opinions,
but are not statistical surveys that yield
quantitative results that can be
generalized to the population of study.
This feedback will provide insights into
customer or stakeholder perceptions,

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SUMMARY:

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experiences and expectations. This
feedback also provides an early warning
of issues with service, or focuses
attention on areas where
communication, training or changes in
operations might improve the accuracy
of data reported on survey instruments
or the delivery of products or services.
These collections will allow for
ongoing, collaborative and actionable
communications between the agency
and its customers and stakeholders. It
will also allow feedback to contribute
directly to the improvement of program
management.
This information collection request
contains:
(1) OMB Control No.: 1905–0210;
(2) Information Collection Request
Title: Generic Clearance for the
Collection of Qualitative Feedback on
Agency Service Delivery;
(3) Type of Request: Renewal with
changes;
(4) Purpose: The solicitation of
feedback will target areas such as:
Timeliness, understanding of questions
and terminology used in survey
instruments, perceptions on data
confidentiality and security,
appropriateness and relevancy of
information, accuracy of information,
courtesy, efficiency of service delivery,
and resolution of issues with service
delivery. Responses will be assessed to
plan and inform efforts to improve or
maintain the quality of service offered to
the public. If this information is not
collected, vital feedback from customers
and stakeholders on the agency’s
services will be unavailable.
The agency will only submit a
collection for approval under this
generic clearance if it meets the
following conditions: The collections
are voluntary; The collections are lowburden for respondents (based on
considerations of total burden hours,
total number of respondents, or burdenhours per respondent) and are low-cost
for both the respondents and the Federal
Government; The collections are noncontroversial and do not raise issues of
concern to other Federal agencies; Any
collection is targeted to the solicitation
of opinions from respondents who have
experience with the program or may
have experience with the program in the
near future; Personally identifiable
information (PII) is collected only to the
extent necessary for initially contacting
respondents and is not retained;
Information gathered is intended to be
used only internally for general service
improvement, the design, modification,
and evaluation of survey instruments,
modes of data collection, and program
management purposes. It is not
intended for release outside of the

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agency (if released, the agency must
indicate the qualitative nature of the
information); Information gathered will
not be used for the purpose of
substantially informing influential
policy decisions; and the collections
will not be designed or expected to
yield statistically reliable results or used
as though the results are generalizable to
the population of study. The
information gathered will only generate
qualitative type of information.
Feedback collected under this generic
clearance provides useful information,
but it does not yield data that can be
generalized to the overall population.
This type of generic clearance for
qualitative information will not be used
for quantitative information collections
that are designed to yield reliably
actionable results, such as monitoring
trends over time or documenting
program performance. Such data uses
require more rigorous designs that
address: The target population to which
generalizations will be made, the
sampling frame, the sample design
(including stratification and clustering),
the precision requirements or power
calculations that justify the proposed
sample size, the expected response rate,
methods for assessing potential nonresponse bias, the protocols for data
collection, and any testing procedures
that were or will be undertaken prior to
fielding the study. Depending on the
degree of influence the results are likely
to have, such collections may still be
eligible for submission for other generic
mechanisms that are designed to yield
quantitative results. As a general matter,
information collections will not result
in any new system of records containing
privacy information and will not ask
questions of a sensitive nature, such as
sexual behavior and attitudes, religious
beliefs, and other matters that are
commonly considered private.
(5) Annual Estimated Number of
Respondents: 80,600.
(6) Annual Estimated Number of
Responses: 80,600.
(7) Annual Estimated Number of
Burden Hours: 8,450.
Request for Comments: Comments
submitted in response to this notice will
be summarized and/or included in the
request for OMB approval. Comments
are invited on: (a) Whether the
collection of information is necessary
for the proper performance of the
functions of the agency, including
whether the information shall have
practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the
agency’s estimate of the burden of the
collection of information; (c) ways to
enhance the quality, utility, and clarity
of the information to be collected; (d)
ways to minimize the burden of the

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Federal Register / Vol. 82, No. 202 / Friday, October 20, 2017 / Notices

collection of information on
respondents, including through the use
of automated collection techniques or
other forms of information technology;
and (e) estimates of capital or start-up
costs and costs of operation,
maintenance, and purchase of services
to provide information. Burden means
the total time, effort, or financial
resources expended by persons to
generate, maintain, retain, disclose or
provide information to or for a Federal
agency. This includes the time needed
to review instructions; to develop,
acquire, install and utilize technology
and systems for the purpose of
collecting, validating and verifying
information, processing and
maintaining information, and disclosing
and providing information; to train
personnel and to be able to respond to
a collection of information, to search
data sources, to complete and review
the collection of information; and to
transmit or otherwise disclose the
information. All written comments will
be available for public inspection at
www.Regulations.gov. Comments
submitted in response to this notice may
be made available to the public through
relevant Web sites. For this reason,
please do not include in your comments
information of a confidential nature,
such as sensitive personal information
or proprietary information. If you send
an email comment; your email address
will be automatically captured and
included as part of the comment that is
placed in the public docket and made
available on the Internet. Please note
that responses to this public comment
request containing any routine notice
about the confidentiality of the
communication will be treated as public
comments that may be made available to
the public notwithstanding the
inclusion of the routine notice. An
agency may not conduct or sponsor, and
a person is not required to respond to,
a collection of information unless it
displays a currently valid Office of
Management and Budget control
number.

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Statutory Authority: Executive Order
(E.O.) 13571, Streamlining Service Delivery
and Improving Customer Service.
Issued in Washington, DC, on August 24,
2017.
Nanda Srinivasan,
Director, Office of Survey Development and
Statistical Integration, U.S. Energy
Information Administration.
[FR Doc. 2017–22802 Filed 10–19–17; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450–01–P

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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
U.S. Energy Information
Administration
Notice and Request for Comments
U.S. Energy Information
Administration (EIA), Department of
Energy.
ACTION: Notice and request for
comments.
AGENCY:

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) Form EIA–63C
Densified Biomass Fuel Report. Form
EIA–63C collects data on pellet fuel and
other densified biomass fuel production,
sales, and inventory levels from
operators of U.S. pellet fuel
manufacturing facilities. The data
collected is used for the purpose of
estimating densified biomass fuel
consumption in the United States, as
well as production, sales, and inventory
at state, regional, and national levels.
DATES: Comments regarding this
proposed information collection must
be received on or before December 19,
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 Connor Murphy, U.S.
Department of Energy, EI–23, 1000
Independence Avenue SW.,
Washington, DC 2058, or by email at
[email protected]. The
draft form and instructions are available
at https://www.eia.gov/survey/#eia-63c.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Requests for additional information or
copies of the information collection
instrument and instructions should be
directed to Connor Murphy at 202–287–
5982, or by email at Connor.Murphy@
eia.gov.
SUMMARY:

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
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

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

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or other forms of information
technology.
This information collection request
contains:
(1) OMB No.: 1905–0209;
(2) Information Collection Request
Title: Densified Biomass Fuel Report;
(3) Type of Request: Renewal, with
Changes;
(4) Purpose: Form EIA–63C Densified
Biomass Fuel Report is part of EIA’s
comprehensive energy data program.
The survey collects information on the
manufacture, shipment, exports, energy
characteristics, and sales of pellet fuels
and other densified biomass fuel
products data from facilities that
manufacture densified biomass fuel
products, primarily pellet fuels, for
energy applications. The data collected
is a primary source of information for
the nation’s growing production of
biomass products for heating and
electric power generation, for both
domestic use and export markets.
(4a) Proposed Changes to Information
Collection: To reduce reporting burden,
EIA proposes to eliminate the following
seven questions: Part 2 Question 2.2
‘‘What is the operational month’’ Part 2
Question 2.4 ‘‘What is the total installed
horsepower of the pellet extrusion
machinery at this facility’’; Part 2.
Question 2.5 ‘‘If the pellet extrusion
machinery was not fully utilized during
the month, choose the applicable
explanation’’ and all of explanation
selection choices’’; Part 2. Question 2.6
‘‘What is the planned maximum annual
production capacity at this facility’’;
Part 2. Question 2.7 ‘‘What is the
planned total installed horsepower of
the pellet extrusion machinery at this
facility’’; Part 3. Question 3.2 ‘‘In the
reporting period, did the mill utilize any
portion of the above feedstock for uses
other than transformation into densified
biomass products, such as to operate the
mill, produce electricity (combined heat
and power) or other beneficial use of
energy produced (such as heating/
cooling)’’; Part 4. Question 4.2, Delete
the column for reporting ‘‘Export Port.’’
Respondents will continue to report on
all other data elements in section 4.2.
EIA is proposing to delete these data
elements based on consultations with
respondents during the collection cycle.
The questions that EIA proposes to
delete were questions that respondents
stated were either confusing or difficult
to answer, or are questions that EIA
receives too few responses to allow
publication because of the data
confidentiality rules that EIA applies to
the aggregate statistical estimates. EIA is
also proposing to change the due date
for annual respondents (small biomass
fuel manufacturers having a capacity of

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