Department of Energy August 2006 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) has requested that Western Area Power Administration (Western), a Federal power marketing agency of the Department of Energy (DOE), initiate and administer a public process to obtain comments on the proposed Amended Navajo Power Marketing Plan (Amended Plan). This notice initiates that public process. The proposed Amended Plan is to provide for the future marketing of the United States' entitlement to generation from the Navajo Generating Station (Navajo) which is in excess of the pumping requirements of the Central Arizona Project (CAP) and certain needs for desalting and protective pumping facilities. The proposed Amended Plan was developed in consultation with representatives of Reclamation, Western, the Governor of Arizona, and the Central Arizona Water Conservation District (CAWCD) as required by the Hoover Power Plant Act of 1984 (Act). All interested parties are invited to submit comments to Western concerning the proposed Amended Plan. Western will provide all comments and related public record documents to Reclamation for its review and response prior to the consideration and adoption of the Amended Plan by the Secretary of the Interior, in accordance with the Act.

The Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy is publishing amendments to its regulations for the Renewable Energy Production Incentives (REPI) program to incorporate changes made by section 202 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPACT 2005). The REPI program provides for production incentive payments to owners or operators of qualified renewable energy facilities, subject to the availability of appropriations. The statutory changes in these amendments to part 451 relate to allocation of available funds between owners or operators of two categories of qualified facilities, incorporation of additional ownership categories, extension of the eligibility window and program termination date, and expansion of applicable renewable energy technologies. In addition to the changes specified by EPACT 2005, this final rule modifies the method for accrued energy accounting. Other minor changes are made to update the regulations.

This document corrects a compliance deadline error and a typographical error in a final rule that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission published in the Federal Register on August 1, 2006. That action amended the Commission's regulations to require transmission organizations that are public utilities with organized electricity markets to make available long-term firm trnamission rights that satisfy certain guidelines adopted in the Final Rule.

The Department of Energy (Department) is adopting, with changes, the interim final rule published on May 15, 2006. This interim final rule established a new part to implement section 638 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, which 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 the regulatory process or litigation.