Microsoft Word - EIA_070826

Status: Original and derived artifacts are available for this document.

Download: pdf

From: Alparslan, Tuncay <[email protected]>
Sent: Wednesday, July 8, 2026 12:39 PM
To: Thomas J Smith (CENSUS/ADEP FED) <[email protected]>
Subject: Commodity Flow Survey Federal Register Notice (#2026-10118)


You don't often get email from [email protected]. Learn why this is important
Mr. Smith:

As Director of the O ice of Energy Demand at the U.S. Energy Information Administration
(EIA), I am writing to express our strong support for the continued collection of data by the
U.S. Census Bureau for the 2027 Commodity Flow Survey (CFS). The CFS data are critical
to the quality of EIA’s Annual Energy Outlook (AEO), which is mandated by Congress.

EIA’s Transportation Demand Module (TDM) relies extensively on data from the Freight
Analysis Framework (FAF), which in turn is heavily dependent on the CFS. The FAF is vital to
the TDM because it serves as the mechanism enabling EIA to link freight travel demand to
broader macroeconomic growth. Specifically, EIA utilizes FAF data to examine how
changes in U.S. industrial output translate into demand for freight transport. The CFSsupported FAF provides detailed freight travel demand, measured in ton-miles, segmented
by mode (truck, rail, and marine), commodity type, and origin/destination pairings. We
crosswalk these physical commodities to the industrial sectors represented in our
macroeconomic module within the National Energy Modeling System (NEMS), allowing us
to estimate ton-mile per dollar parameters. We then apply these parameters to project
growth in freight travel demand based on industrial output, ultimately informing our
estimates of miles traveled by mode and the consumption of diesel and other fuels.

Without the comprehensive, multimodal data provided by the CFS, the analytical quality of
our counterfactual baseline projections and policy case scenarios, intended to support
evidence-based policy making and e icient decision making in both the public and private
sectors, would be negatively impacted.

We respectfully request to be kept informed about any modifications proposed for the 2027
CFS forms during the clearance process, especially those that might a ect the granularity
or quality of commodity and modal shipping data. Should you require any assistance in
justifying the necessity of this data collection to the O ice of Management and Budget
(OMB), please do not hesitate to contact EIA.

Thank you for your continued commitment to this essential survey.

Sincerely,

Ugur Tuncay Alparslan
Director
O ice of Energy Demand
U.S. Energy Information Administration