Department of Energy 2007 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

In compliance with the requirements of section 3507 of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, 44 U.S.C. 3507, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission) has submitted the information collection described below to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and reinstatement of this information collection requirement. Any interested person may file comments directly with OMB and should address a copy of those comments to the Commission as explained below. The Commission received no comments in response to an earlier Federal Register notice of June 6, 2007 (72 FR 31305) and has made this notification in its submission to OMB.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission) is amending its regulations to modify landowner notification requirements and to require a noise survey following the completion of projects involving compressor facilities undertaken pursuant to blanket certificate authority. The proposed regulatory revisions are intended to enhance public participation in the Commission's consideration of proposed projects and ensure that compressor projects completed under blanket certificate authority will not have a significant adverse environmental impact.

The Department of Energy (DOE) is amending its test procedure for residential central air conditioners and heat pumps. This final rule implements test procedure changes for small-duct, high-velocity systems, two-capacity units, and updates references to the current American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) standards. Today's rule also clarifies issues associated with sampling tested systems and rating untested split- system combinations.

This notice announces a meeting of the National Coal Council (NCC). Federal Advisory Committee Act (Pub. L. 92-463, 86 Stats.770) requires notice of these meetings be announced in the Federal Register.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is providing an Advance Notice of its Intent (ANOI) to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for remediation of Area IV of the Santa Susana Field Laboratory (SSFL). DOE is preparing the EIS in response to a May 2, 2007, decision by the U.S. District Court of Northern California that a 2003 DOE decision to prepare a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) and conduct remediation of Area IV on the basis of an environmental assessment, rather than prepare an EIS, violated the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). DOE is also requesting early comments from the public and other stakeholders on the scope of the EIS and issues to be considered in EIS analysis. To facilitate collaboration on these EIS issues, DOE also is announcing plans for public involvement activities to be held this fall, to provide information to its stakeholders and to receive comments from them. DOE is issuing this ANOI, pursuant to 10 CFR 1021.311(b), in order to inform and request early comments and assistance from Federal and State agencies, State and local governments, natural resource trustees, the general public, and other interested parties on the appropriate scope of the EIS, possible environmental issues, and the potential environmental impacts related to DOE's proposed activities for Area IV. Following the issuance of this ANOI, DOE intends to collect updated information that it will incorporate into the EIS analysis. DOE will conduct community and regulator interviews through November 2007. These public involvement opportunities will focus on consultation with the public about the process for EIS scoping, the development of the range of reasonable alternatives to be analyzed in the EIS, and related public concerns about the remediation. If, based on community input, DOE decides to hold a public meeting, DOE will notify the community through local media. Early comments on the scope of the EIS and issues to be considered are due by December 14, 2007. Though DOE will attempt to consider comments received after this date, it will only be able to do so to the extent practicable. DOE plans to issue a Notice of Intent (NOI) for this EIS in the spring of calendar year 2008.