Department of Energy November 2005 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Department of Energy is seeking comment and information from the public to assist the Department in deciding how to implement section 638 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005. That section authorizes the Secretary of Energy to enter into standby support contracts with sponsors of advanced nuclear power facilities to provide risk insurance for certain delays attributed to facility licensing or litigation.

The Hydrogen Technical and Fuel Cell Advisory Committee (HTAC or Committee) was established by section 807 of Title VIII, Hydrogen (``Spark M. Matsunaga Act of 2005''), of the 2005 Energy Policy Act (Pub. L. 109-58). In order to ensure a wide range of candidates for HTAC and a balanced committee, DOE is using this public announcement as an avenue to solicit nominations for this Committee.

On September 1, 2005, DOE announced its intention to prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) for site selection and expansion of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve as required by the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (70 FR 52088). DOE at that time planned to assess the impacts of capacity expansion at three of the four existing storage sites and the development of a new storage site in the Gulf Coast region. Three scoping meetings were held and the scoping period, which was extended in response to conditions following Hurricane Katrina, closed on October 28, 2005 (70 FR 56649; September 28, 2005). On October 27, 2005, the Governor of Mississippi requested the Secretary of Energy to include a new site at Bruinsburg Salt Dome in the analysis of potential sites and environmental impacts for the proposal to expand the storage capacity of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. In light of this request, DOE has reopened the public scoping period and scheduled another scoping meeting.