Department of Energy 2009 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Department of Energy (DOE) today publishes a final rule establishing the procedures and standards for reverse auctions of production incentives for cellulosic biofuels pursuant to section 942 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPAct 2005).

The Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technical Advisory Committee (HTAC) was established under section 807 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPACT), Public Law No. 109-58; 119 Stat. 849. The Federal Advisory Committee Act, Public Law No. 92-463, 86 Stat. 770, requires that agencies publish notice of an advisory committee meeting in the Federal Register. To attend the meeting and/or to make oral statements during the public comment period, please e-mail HTAC@nrel.gov at least 5 business days before the meeting. Please indicate if you will be attending the meeting, whether you want to make an oral statement on November 4, 2009, and what organization you represent.

The Department of Energy sets forth guidance on ex parte communications during informal rulemaking proceedings. The guidance is intended to encourage the public to provide DOE with all information necessary to develop rules that advance the public interest, while ensuring that rulemaking proceedings are not subject to improper influence from off-the-record communications. As President Obama stated in a January 21, 2009 memorandum, ``Executive departments and agencies should offer Americans increased opportunities to participate in policymaking and to provide their Government with the benefits of their collective expertise and information.'' (74 FR 4685) DOE intends this guidance to provide both increased public participation in the rulemaking process and additional transparency during that process.

In compliance with the requirements of section 3506(c)(2)(a) of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (Pub. L. 104-13), the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission or FERC) is soliciting public comment on the specific aspects of the information collection described below.

A meeting of the Industry Advisory Board (IAB) to the International Energy Agency (IEA) will be held on October 20, 2009, at the headquarters of the IEA in Paris, France, in connection with a meeting of the IEA's Standing Group on Emergency Questions (SEQ) on October 20 and 21, 2009.

BPA intends to prepare an EIS in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) on the construction, operation, and maintenance of a proposed 500-kilovolt (kV) transmission line and associated substations. The project would be located in Cowlitz and Clark counties, Washington, and Multnomah County, Oregon. The new BPA transmission line would extend generally southeast from a new substation proposed near Castle Rock in Cowlitz County, Washington (referred to as Castle Rock Substation), to a new substation proposed near BPA's existing Troutdale Substation near the city of Troutdale in Multnomah County, Oregon. Multiple preliminary transmission line route segments have been identified that, when combined, result in various transmission line routing alternatives approximately 70 miles long. The proposed transmission line and substations are needed to help ease transmission system congestion in the southwest Washington and northwest Oregon area, allowing BPA to fulfill existing and new transmission service requests for existing and new generation; improve system reliability; and meet continued electric load growth.

To further transparency and openness in its implementation of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Department of Energy (DOE) has established a new policy with regard to the online posting of certain categorical exclusion determinations. Under the new policy, each Program and Field Office (including the National Nuclear Security Administration and the Power Marketing Administrations) will document and post online all categorical exclusion determinations involving classes of actions listed in Appendix B to Subpart D of the Department's NEPA regulations, 10 CFR Part 1021. Posted categorical exclusion determinations shall not disclose classified, confidential, or other information that DOE otherwise would not disclose pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act (5 U.S.C. Part 552). Generally, each Program and Field Office will post categorical exclusion determinations on its Web site; where this is not feasible, the Office of NEPA Policy and Compliance will post categorical exclusions on the DOE NEPA Web site (https://www.gc.energy.gov/nepa).