FERC 567 576 30-day Issued

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

FEDERAL ENERGY REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket No. IC21-20-000]

COMMISSION INFORMATION COLLECTION ACTIVITIES (FERC-567, FERC-576); CONSOLIDATED COMMENT REQUEST; EXTENSION

(July 13, 2021)

AGENCY: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Notice of information collection and request for comments.

SUMMARY: In compliance with the requirements of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission or FERC) is soliciting public comment on the currently approved information collections, FERC-567 (Gas Pipeline Certificates: Annual Reports of System Flow Diagrams) and FERC-576 (Report of Service Interruptions or Damage to Facilities) which will be submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for a review of the information collection requirements.

DATES: Comments on the collection of information are due [Insert Date 30 days after date of publication in the Federal Register].

ADDRESSES: Send written comments on FERC-567 and/or FERC-576 to OMB through www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain, Attention: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Desk Officer. Please identify the OMB control number (1902-0005 and/or 1902-0004) in the subject line. Your comments should be sent within 30 days of publication of this notice in the Federal Register.

Please submit copies of your comments (identified by Docket No. IC21-20-000) to the Commission as noted below. Electronic filing through http://www.ferc.gov, is preferred.

• Electronic Filing: Documents must be filed in acceptable native applications and print-to-PDF, but not in scanned or picture format.

• For those unable to file electronically, comments may be filed by USPS mail or by hand (including courier) delivery.

  • Mail via U.S. Postal Service Only: Addressed to: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Secretary of the Commission, 888 First Street, N.E., Washington, DC 20426.

  • Hand (including courier) delivery: Deliver to: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 12225 Wilkins Avenue, Rockville, MD 20852.

Instructions:

OMB submissions must be formatted and filed in accordance with submission guidelines at www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain; Using the search function under the “Currently Under Review field,” select Federal Energy Regulatory Commission; click “submit” and select “comment” to the right of the subject collection.

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

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.

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

The Commission published a 60-day Paperwork Reduction Act Notice¹ in the Federal Register on May 11, 2021 and no comments were received on the renewal of FERC-567 and FERC-576 information collections. Inadvetently, the cost caluations for FERC-576 indicated that it used the 2020 Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) costs estimates when in fact it used the 2021 costs figures. The correct cost estimated are reflected below. This does not effect any information related to the collection of FERC-567.

Comments: Comments are invited on: (1) whether the collections of information is 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.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

The following information pertains to FERC-567 only.

Title: FERC-567, Gas Pipeline Certificates: Annual Reports of System Flow Diagrams

OMB Control No.: 1902-0005

Type of Request: Three-year extension of the FERC-567 information collection requirements with no changes to the current reporting requirements.

Abstract: Per 18 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 260.8(a), each major interstate natural gas pipeline with a system delivery capacity exceeding 100,000 Mcf² per day is required to submit, by June 1 of each year, diagrams reflecting operating conditions on the pipeline’s main transmission system during the previous 12 months ending on December 31. The submitted information must include (i) configuration and location of installed pipeline facilities; (ii) receipt and delivery points between shippers, and pipeline companies; (iii) location of compressor stations on a pipeline system; (iv) pipeline diameters; (v) maximum allowable operating pressures; (vi) suction and discharge pressures at compressor stations; (vii) installed horsepower and volumes compressed at each compressor station; (viii) existing shippers currently nominating service under firm contracts on each pipeline company; and (ix) peak capacity on the system. The data is collected so that it’s available in the event the Commission needs to confirm pipeline facility data.

Type of Respondents: Natural gas pipeline companies with a system delivery capacity in excess of 100,000 Mcf per day.

Estimate of Annual Burden: The Commission estimates the annual public reporting burden for the information collection as:

FERC-567: Gas Pipeline Certificates: Annual Reports of System Flow Diagrams
Respondents	Number of Respondents3 (1)	Annual Number of Responses per Respondent (2)	Total Number of Responses (1)*(2)=(3)	Average Annual Burden & Cost Per Response4 (4)	Total Annual Burden Hours & Total Annual Cost (3)*(4)=(5)	Average Annual Cost per Respondent ($) (5)÷(1)
Natural Gas Pipelines	124	1	124	4 hrs.; $332	496 hrs.; $41,168	$332

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The following information pertains to FERC-576 only.

Title: FERC–576, Report of Service Interruptions or Damage to Facilities.

OMB Control No.: 1902-0004

Type of Request: Three-year extension of the FERC-576 information collection requirements with no changes to the current reporting requirements.

Abstract: Per 18 CFR 260.9, natural gas pipeline companies must report (i) damage to any jurisdictional natural gas facilities other than liquefied natural gas facilities caused by a hurricane, earthquake or other natural disaster or terrorist activity that results in a loss of or reduction in pipeline throughput or storage deliverability; and (ii) serious interruptions of service to any shipper involving jurisdictional natural gas facilities other than liquefied natural gas facilities.

The notifications, made to the Director, Division of Pipeline Certificates via email or fax as soon as feasibly possible, must state: (1) The location of the service interruption or damage to natural gas pipeline or storage facilities; (2) The nature of any damage to pipeline or storage facilities; (3) Specific identification of the facilities damaged; (4) The time the service interruption or damage to the facilities occurred; (5) The customers affected by the service interruption or damage to the facilities; (6) Emergency actions taken to maintain service; and (7) Company contact and telephone number. The information provided by these notifications are kept by the Commission and are not made part of the public record.

In addition, if an incident requires reporting of the incident to the Department of Transportation under the Natural Gas Pipeline Safety Act of 1968, a copy of such report shall be submitted to the Director of the Commission’s Division of Pipeline Certificates, within 30 days of the reportable incident. Natural gas companies must also send a copy of submitted reports to each state commission for the state(s) in which the reported service interruption occurred. If the Commission did not collect this information, it would lose a data point that assists in the monitoring of transactions, operations, and reliability of interstate pipelines.

Type of Respondents: Natural gas companies experiencing service interruptions or damage to facilities.

Estimate of Annual Burden: The Commission estimates the average annual burden and cost⁵ for this information collection as follows. Please note that the cost figures in the Table for FERC-576 has been rounded (columns 4) for display purposes only. The calculations for the ‘cost per response’ are based on the number of hours mutplied by the total weight hourly cost.

FERC-576, Report of Service Interruptions or Damage to Facilities
	Number of Respondents6 (1)	Annual Number of Responses per Respondent (2)	Total Number of Responses (1)*(2)=(3)	Average Annual Burden Hrs. & Cost ($) Per Response (4)	Total Annual Burden Hrs. & Total Annual Cost (3)*(4)=(5)	Average Annual Cost per Respondent ($) (5)÷(1)
Notification of Incident – Service Interruption	50	1	50	1 hr.; $133.38	50 hrs.; $6,669	$133.38
Notification of Incident – Damage	22	1	22	0.25 hrs.; $33.35	5.5 hrs.; $733.59	$33.35
Submittal of DOT Incident Report	10	1	10	0.25 hrs.; $33.35	2.5 hrs.; $333.45	$33.35
TOTAL	82				58 hrs.; $7,736.04

Kimberly D. Bose,

Secretary.

1 86 FR 25852

2 Mcf is a unit of measurement for natural gas that equals 1,000 cubic feet.

3 The number of respondents in the currently approved OMB inventory for FERC-567 is 197. Changes to the estimate were based on average number of respondents over the past three years.

4 The Commission staff estimates that the average respondent for FERC-567 is similarly situated to the Commission, in terms of salary plus benefits. Based on FERC’s 2020 annual average of $172,329 (for salary plus benefits), the average hourly cost is $83/hour.

5 Costs (for wages and benefits) are based on wage figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) at http://bls.gov/oes/current/naics3_221000.htm, as of June 2021. In the 60-day notice, the costs incorrectly reflected 2020 figures rather than the actual 2021 cost estimates. The corrected costs are listed above and does not impact the renewal notice for FERC-567. Commission staff estimates that 20% of the work is performed by a manager, and 80% is performed by legal staff. The hourly costs for wages plus benefits are:

• Management (Occupational Code: 11-0000) is $97.89.

• Legal (Occupational Code: 23-0000) is $142.25.

Therefore, the weighted hourly cost (for wages plus benefits) is $133.38 [(0.20 * $97.89) + (0.80 * $142.25)].

6 The total number of respondents in the currently approved OMB inventory for FERC-576 is 147. Changes to the estimate were based on average number of respondents over the past three years.