Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection; Comment Request, 62428-62429 [E6-17856]
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62428
Federal Register / Vol. 71, No. 206 / Wednesday, October 25, 2006 / Notices
Information Relay Service (FIRS) at 1–
800–877–8339.
[FR Doc. E6–17852 Filed 10–24–06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000–01–P
DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Energy Information Administration
Agency Information Collection
Activities: Proposed Collection;
Comment Request
Energy Information
Administration (EIA), Department of
Energy (DOE).
ACTION: Agency information collection
activities: proposed collection; comment
request.
AGENCY:
SUMMARY: The EIA is soliciting
comments on the proposed
reinstatement of the Forms EIA–
871A,B,C,E,G, and H, ‘‘2007
Commercial Buildings Energy
Consumption Survey’’.
DATES: Comments must be filed by
December 26, 2006. If you anticipate
difficulty in submitting comments
within that period, contact the person
listed below as soon as possible.
ADDRESSES: Send comments to Joelle
Michaels. To ensure receipt of the
comments by the due date, submission
by fax (202–586–0018) or e-mail
(joelle.michaels@eia.doe.gov) is
recommended. The mailing address is
Joelle Michaels, Survey Manager, EI–63,
Forrestal Building, U.S. Department of
Energy, Washington, DC 20585.
Alternatively, Ms. Michaels may be
contacted by telephone at (202) 586–
8952.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Requests for additional information or
copies of any forms and instructions
should be directed to Joelle Michaels at
the address listed above.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
mstockstill on PROD1PC61 with NOTICES
I. Background
II. Current Actions
III. Request for Comments
I. Background
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 the 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 and statistical information.
This information is used to assess the
VerDate Aug<31>2005
15:12 Oct 24, 2006
Jkt 211001
adequacy of energy resources to meet
near and longer-term domestic
demands.
The EIA, as part of its effort to comply
with the Paperwork Reduction Act of
1995 (Pub. L. 104–13, 44 U.S.C. Chapter
35), provides the general public and
other Federal agencies with
opportunities to comment on collections
of energy information conducted by or
in conjunction with the EIA. Any
comments received help the EIA to
prepare data requests that maximize the
utility of the information collected, and
to assess the impact of collection
requirements on the public. Also, the
EIA will later seek approval by the
Office of Management and Budget
(OMB) under Section 3507(a) of the
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.
The Commercial Buildings Energy
Consumption Survey (CBECS) has been
conducted eight times covering the
years 1979, 1983 and 1986 under the
name of the ‘‘Nonresidential Buildings
Energy Consumption Survey,’’ and years
1989, 1992, 1995, 1999, and 2003 under
the current name, ‘‘Commercial
Buildings Energy Consumption
Survey.’’ CBECS collects baseline data
on energy consumption and
expenditures in commercial buildings,
and on the energy-related characteristics
of those buildings. To obtain this
information, interviews are conducted
for a sample of commercial buildings in
the 50 States and the District of
Columbia. For buildings in the survey,
data are collected on the types, amount
and cost of energy consumed in the
building, how the energy is used,
structural characteristics of the
buildings, activities conducted inside
the buildings that relate to energy use,
building ownership and occupancy,
energy conservation measures, and
energy-using equipment. The
information will be collected using
Computer Assisted Personal
Interviewing (CAPI) for the 2007
CBECS. For those buildings that cannot
provide energy consumption data for
the building, the data will be obtained
in a mail survey from the suppliers of
electricity and natural gas to the
building, after receiving permission
from the building owner, manager or
tenant. This mail survey to the energy
suppliers is mandatory. The data
obtained from the CBECS are available
to the public in a variety of EIA
electronic tables and reports at https://
www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cbecs. Public
use files that have been screened to
protect the identity of the individual
respondents are also available
electronically at the above Web address.
Selected data from the surveys are also
PO 00000
Frm 00013
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
published in the Monthly Energy Review
and the Annual Energy Review.
II. Current Actions
This will be a proposed reinstatement
of a previously approved collection and
three-year clearance request to OMB.
The content of the 2007 CBECS will
be largely unchanged from the 2003
CBECS. The sampling frame, which was
redesigned for the 2003 CBECS, will be
updated to account for new construction
since 2003.
Proposed changes include:
Form EIA–871I—which collected
information from college/university and
hospital complexes on the inputs and
outputs to their central physical plant,
if present—will be discontinued. This
form had been added for the 2003
CBECS, but upon review, it was
determined that using a separate form
was cumbersome and the data that were
collected were not of high quality.
However, a few questions from the form,
such as the total square footage of the
entire campus, may be incorporated into
the computerized survey instrument for
the 2007 CBECS.
The Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) has requested the inclusion of
questions on the CBECS, relating to
water consumption in commercial
buildings. Pending funding from EPA
and EIA and OMB approval, these
questions will be used to gather some
basic water use information to support
a program to help consumers select
more water efficient products.
For the 2003 CBECS, EPA’s Energy
Star program funded some
supplemental sample cases and a few
additional questions regarding the
building activity. The purpose of their
additional work was to help improve
their publicly-available benchmarking
models. We anticipate that a similar
agreement will be put in place for the
2007 CBECS; discussions are currently
underway.
The CBECS no longer collects data
from energy suppliers about fuel oil or
district heat consumption (consumption
information for these sources are
collected only from the building
respondents). Forms EIA–871D and F
have been eliminated.
Existing survey questions may be
modified slightly based on knowledge
gained from the 2003 CBECS and based
on feedback from CBECS data users.
III. Request for Comments
Prospective respondents and other
interested parties should comment on
the actions discussed in item II. The
following guidelines are provided to
assist in the preparation of comments.
E:\FR\FM\25OCN1.SGM
25OCN1
Federal Register / Vol. 71, No. 206 / Wednesday, October 25, 2006 / Notices
Please indicate to which form(s) your
comments apply.
General Issues
A. Is the proposed collection of
information necessary for the proper
performance of the functions of the
agency and does the information have
practical utility? Practical utility is
defined as the actual usefulness of
information to or for an agency, taking
into account its accuracy, adequacy,
reliability, timeliness, and the agency’s
ability to process the information it
collects.
B. What enhancements can be made
to the quality, utility, and clarity of the
information to be collected?
mstockstill on PROD1PC61 with NOTICES
As a Potential Respondent to the
Request for Information
A. What actions could be taken to
help ensure and maximize the quality,
objectivity, utility, and integrity of the
information to be collected?
B. Are the instructions and definitions
clear and sufficient? If not, which
instructions need clarification?
C. Can the information be submitted
by the due date?
D. Public reporting burden for this
collection is estimated to average
approximately 45 minutes per interview
for the building respondent (Form EIA–
871A) and approximately 30 minutes
per energy supplier response in those
cases where the data must be collected
from the energy suppliers (Forms EIA–
871C and E). The estimated burden
includes the total time necessary to
provide the requested information. In
your opinion, how accurate is this
estimate?
E. The agency estimates that the only
cost to a respondent is for the time it
will take to complete the collection.
Will a respondent incur any start-up
costs for reporting, or any recurring
annual costs for operation, maintenance,
and purchase of services associated with
the information collection?
F. What additional actions could be
taken to minimize the burden of this
collection of information? Such actions
may involve the use of automated,
electronic, mechanical, or other
technological collection techniques or
other forms of information technology.
G. Does any other Federal, State, or
local agency collect similar information?
If so, specify the agency, the data
element(s), and the methods of
collection.
As a Potential User of the Information
To Be Collected
A. What actions could be taken to
help ensure and maximize the quality,
VerDate Aug<31>2005
15:12 Oct 24, 2006
Jkt 211001
objectivity, utility, and integrity of the
information disseminated?
B. Is the information useful at the
levels of detail to be collected?
C. For what purpose(s) would the
information be used? Be specific.
D. Are there alternate sources for the
information and are they useful? If so,
what are their weaknesses and/or
strengths?
Comments submitted in response to
this notice will be summarized and/or
included in the request for OMB
approval of the form. They also will
become a matter of public record.
Statutory Authority: Section 3507(h)(1) of
the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (Pub.
L. 104–13, 44 U.S.C. Chapter 35).
Issued in Washington, DC, October 18,
2006.
Jay H. Casselberry,
Agency Clearance Officer, Energy Information
Administration.
[FR Doc. E6–17856 Filed 10–24–06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450–01–P
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
AGENCY
[EPA–HQ–OPP–2006–0616; FRL–8083–6]
Agency Information Collection
Activities; Proposed Collection;
Comment Request; Submission of
Unreasonable Adverse Effects
Information Under FIFRA Section
6(a)(2); EPA ICR No. 1204.10, OMB
Control No. 2070–0039
Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice.
AGENCY:
SUMMARY: In compliance with the
Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) (44
U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), this document
announces that EPA is planning to
submit a request to renew an existing
approved Information Collection
Request (ICR) to the Office of
Management and Budget (OMB). This
ICR, entitled: ‘‘Submission of
Unreasonable Adverse Effects
Information Under Federal Insecticide,
Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA)
Section 6(a)(2)’’ and identified by EPA
ICR No. 1204.10 and OMB Control
No.2070–0039, is scheduled to expire
on May 31, 2007. Before submitting the
ICR to OMB for review and approval,
EPA is soliciting comments on specific
aspects of the proposed information
collection.
Comments must be received on
or before December 26, 2006.
ADDRESSES: Submit your comments,
identified by docket identification (ID)
DATES:
PO 00000
Frm 00014
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
62429
number EPA–HQ–OPP–2006–0616, by
one of the following methods:
• Federal eRulemaking Portal: https://
www.regulations.gov. Follow the on-line
instructions for submitting comments.
• Mail: Office of Pesticide Programs
(OPP) Regulatory Public Docket (7502P),
Environmental Protection Agency, 1200
Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington,
DC 20460–0001.
• Delivery: OPP Regulatory Public
Docket (7502P), Environmental
Protection Agency, Rm. S–4400, One
Potomac Yard (South Building), 2777 S.
Crystal Drive, Arlington, VA. Deliveries
are only accepted during the Docket’s
normal hours of operation (8:30 a.m. to
4 p.m., Monday through Friday,
excluding legal holidays). Special
arrangements should be made for
deliveries of boxed information. The
Docket telephone number is (703) 305–
5805.
Instructions: Direct your comments to
docket ID number EPA–HQ–OPP–2006–
0616. EPA’s policy is that all comments
received will be included in the docket
without change and may be made
available on-line at https://
www.regulations.gov/, including any
personal information provided, unless
the comment includes information
claimed to be Confidential Business
Information (CBI) or other information
whose disclosure is restricted by statute.
Do not submit information that you
consider to be CBI or otherwise
protected through regulations.gov or email. The Federal regulations.gov
website is an ‘‘anonymous access’’
system, which means EPA will not
know your identity or contact
information unless you provide it in the
body of your comment. If you send an
e-mail comment directly to EPA without
going through regulations.gov, your email address will be automatically
captured and included as part of the
comment that is placed in the docket
and made available on the Internet. If
you submit an electronic comment, EPA
recommends that you include your
name and other contact information in
the body of your comment and with any
disk or CD-ROM you submit. If EPA
cannot read your comment due to
technical difficulties and cannot contact
you for clarification, EPA may not be
able to consider your comment.
Electronic files should avoid the use of
special characters, any form of
encryption, and be free of any defects or
viruses.
Docket: All documents in the docket
are listed in the docket index. Although
listed in the index, some information is
not publicly available, e.g., CBI or other
information whose disclosure is
restricted by statute. Certain other
E:\FR\FM\25OCN1.SGM
25OCN1
Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 206 (Wednesday, October 25, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 62428-62429]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-17856]
=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Energy Information Administration
Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection;
Comment Request
AGENCY: Energy Information Administration (EIA), Department of Energy
(DOE).
ACTION: Agency information collection activities: proposed collection;
comment request.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The EIA is soliciting comments on the proposed reinstatement
of the Forms EIA-871A,B,C,E,G, and H, ``2007 Commercial Buildings
Energy Consumption Survey''.
DATES: Comments must be filed by December 26, 2006. If you anticipate
difficulty in submitting comments within that period, contact the
person listed below as soon as possible.
ADDRESSES: Send comments to Joelle Michaels. To ensure receipt of the
comments by the due date, submission by fax (202-586-0018) or e-mail
(joelle.michaels@eia.doe.gov) is recommended. The mailing address is
Joelle Michaels, Survey Manager, EI-63, Forrestal Building, U.S.
Department of Energy, Washington, DC 20585. Alternatively, Ms. Michaels
may be contacted by telephone at (202) 586-8952.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Requests for additional information or
copies of any forms and instructions should be directed to Joelle
Michaels at the address listed above.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
II. Current Actions
III. Request for Comments
I. Background
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 the 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 and statistical information. This information is used
to assess the adequacy of energy resources to meet near and longer-term
domestic demands.
The EIA, as part of its effort to comply with the Paperwork
Reduction Act of 1995 (Pub. L. 104-13, 44 U.S.C. Chapter 35), provides
the general public and other Federal agencies with opportunities to
comment on collections of energy information conducted by or in
conjunction with the EIA. Any comments received help the EIA to prepare
data requests that maximize the utility of the information collected,
and to assess the impact of collection requirements on the public.
Also, the EIA will later seek approval by the Office of Management and
Budget (OMB) under Section 3507(a) of the Paperwork Reduction Act of
1995.
The Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey (CBECS) has been
conducted eight times covering the years 1979, 1983 and 1986 under the
name of the ``Nonresidential Buildings Energy Consumption Survey,'' and
years 1989, 1992, 1995, 1999, and 2003 under the current name,
``Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey.'' CBECS collects
baseline data on energy consumption and expenditures in commercial
buildings, and on the energy-related characteristics of those
buildings. To obtain this information, interviews are conducted for a
sample of commercial buildings in the 50 States and the District of
Columbia. For buildings in the survey, data are collected on the types,
amount and cost of energy consumed in the building, how the energy is
used, structural characteristics of the buildings, activities conducted
inside the buildings that relate to energy use, building ownership and
occupancy, energy conservation measures, and energy-using equipment.
The information will be collected using Computer Assisted Personal
Interviewing (CAPI) for the 2007 CBECS. For those buildings that cannot
provide energy consumption data for the building, the data will be
obtained in a mail survey from the suppliers of electricity and natural
gas to the building, after receiving permission from the building
owner, manager or tenant. This mail survey to the energy suppliers is
mandatory. The data obtained from the CBECS are available to the public
in a variety of EIA electronic tables and reports at https://
www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cbecs. Public use files that have been screened to
protect the identity of the individual respondents are also available
electronically at the above Web address. Selected data from the surveys
are also published in the Monthly Energy Review and the Annual Energy
Review.
II. Current Actions
This will be a proposed reinstatement of a previously approved
collection and three-year clearance request to OMB.
The content of the 2007 CBECS will be largely unchanged from the
2003 CBECS. The sampling frame, which was redesigned for the 2003
CBECS, will be updated to account for new construction since 2003.
Proposed changes include:
Form EIA-871I--which collected information from college/university
and hospital complexes on the inputs and outputs to their central
physical plant, if present--will be discontinued. This form had been
added for the 2003 CBECS, but upon review, it was determined that using
a separate form was cumbersome and the data that were collected were
not of high quality. However, a few questions from the form, such as
the total square footage of the entire campus, may be incorporated into
the computerized survey instrument for the 2007 CBECS.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has requested the
inclusion of questions on the CBECS, relating to water consumption in
commercial buildings. Pending funding from EPA and EIA and OMB
approval, these questions will be used to gather some basic water use
information to support a program to help consumers select more water
efficient products.
For the 2003 CBECS, EPA's Energy Star program funded some
supplemental sample cases and a few additional questions regarding the
building activity. The purpose of their additional work was to help
improve their publicly-available benchmarking models. We anticipate
that a similar agreement will be put in place for the 2007 CBECS;
discussions are currently underway.
The CBECS no longer collects data from energy suppliers about fuel
oil or district heat consumption (consumption information for these
sources are collected only from the building respondents). Forms EIA-
871D and F have been eliminated.
Existing survey questions may be modified slightly based on
knowledge gained from the 2003 CBECS and based on feedback from CBECS
data users.
III. Request for Comments
Prospective respondents and other interested parties should comment
on the actions discussed in item II. The following guidelines are
provided to assist in the preparation of comments.
[[Page 62429]]
Please indicate to which form(s) your comments apply.
General Issues
A. Is the proposed collection of information necessary for the
proper performance of the functions of the agency and does the
information have practical utility? Practical utility is defined as the
actual usefulness of information to or for an agency, taking into
account its accuracy, adequacy, reliability, timeliness, and the
agency's ability to process the information it collects.
B. What enhancements can be made to the quality, utility, and
clarity of the information to be collected?
As a Potential Respondent to the Request for Information
A. What actions could be taken to help ensure and maximize the
quality, objectivity, utility, and integrity of the information to be
collected?
B. Are the instructions and definitions clear and sufficient? If
not, which instructions need clarification?
C. Can the information be submitted by the due date?
D. Public reporting burden for this collection is estimated to
average approximately 45 minutes per interview for the building
respondent (Form EIA-871A) and approximately 30 minutes per energy
supplier response in those cases where the data must be collected from
the energy suppliers (Forms EIA-871C and E). The estimated burden
includes the total time necessary to provide the requested information.
In your opinion, how accurate is this estimate?
E. The agency estimates that the only cost to a respondent is for
the time it will take to complete the collection. Will a respondent
incur any start-up costs for reporting, or any recurring annual costs
for operation, maintenance, and purchase of services associated with
the information collection?
F. What additional actions could be taken to minimize the burden of
this collection of information? Such actions may involve the use of
automated, electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection
techniques or other forms of information technology.
G. Does any other Federal, State, or local agency collect similar
information? If so, specify the agency, the data element(s), and the
methods of collection.
As a Potential User of the Information To Be Collected
A. What actions could be taken to help ensure and maximize the
quality, objectivity, utility, and integrity of the information
disseminated?
B. Is the information useful at the levels of detail to be
collected?
C. For what purpose(s) would the information be used? Be specific.
D. Are there alternate sources for the information and are they
useful? If so, what are their weaknesses and/or strengths?
Comments submitted in response to this notice will be summarized
and/or included in the request for OMB approval of the form. They also
will become a matter of public record.
Statutory Authority: Section 3507(h)(1) of the Paperwork
Reduction Act of 1995 (Pub. L. 104-13, 44 U.S.C. Chapter 35).
Issued in Washington, DC, October 18, 2006.
Jay H. Casselberry,
Agency Clearance Officer, Energy Information Administration.
[FR Doc. E6-17856 Filed 10-24-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-P