Department of Energy December 2010 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

Under section 215 of the Federal Power Act, the Commission proposes to approve four revised regional Reliability Standards developed by the Western Electricity Coordinating Council and approved by the North American Electric Reliability Corporation, which the Commission has certified as the Electric Reliability Organization responsible for developing and enforcing mandatory Reliability Standards. These regional Reliability Standards have been designated by WECC as FAC-501-WECC-1Transmission Maintenance, PRC-004-WECC-1 Protection System and Remedial Action Scheme Misoperation, VAR-002- WECC-1Automatic Voltage Regulators, and VAR-501-WECC-1Power System Stabilizer. Proposed FAC-501-WECC-1 addresses transmission maintenance for specified transmission paths in the Western Interconnection. Proposed PRC-004-WECC-1 addresses the analysis of misoperations that occur on transmission and generation protection systems and remedial action schemes in the Western Interconnection. Proposed VAR-002-WECC-1 is meant to ensure that automatic voltage regulators remain in service on synchronous generators and condensers in the Western Interconnection. Proposed VAR-501-WECC-1 is meant to ensure that power system stabilizers remain in service on synchronous generators in the Western Interconnection. In addition, under section 215(d)(5) of the Federal Power Act, the Commission proposes to direct the Western Electricity Coordinating Council, working through its standards development process, to develop modifications to these to regional Reliability Standards to address specific issues, as discussed below.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Western Area Power Administration (Western) is issuing this notice to advise the public that it is cancelling the preparation of an environmental impact statement (EIS) under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) on an interconnection request by the Basin Electric Power Cooperative (BEPC). BEPC proposed to design, construct, operate, and maintain a 500- to 700-megawatt base load, coal-fired generation facility near Selby, Walworth County, South Dakota, and interconnect it with Western's transmission system, thus triggering a NEPA review of Western's action to allow the interconnection. BEPC has notified Western it is suspending further action on its proposed project.

The U.S Department of Energy (DOE) waives the general rule of Federal preemption for energy conservation standards under 42 U.S.C. 6297(c) with respect to any State regulation concerning the water use or water efficiency of faucets, showerheads, water closets and urinals if such State regulation is: More stringent than Federal regulation concerning the water use or water efficiency for that same type or class of product; and applicable to any sale or installation of all products in that particular type or class.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission) is issuing this Final Order concluding its third five-year review of the oil pricing index, established in Order No. 561. After consideration of the initial, reply and supplemental comments, the Commission has concluded that an index level of Producer Price Index for Finished Goods plus 2.65 percent (PPI-FG+2.65) should be established for the five-year period commencing July 1, 2011. At the end of this five-year period, the Commission will once again initiate review of the index to determine whether it continues to measure adequately the cost changes in the oil pipeline industry.

The Department of Energy (DOE) has prepared and is making available its portion of the semiannual Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions (Agenda), including its Regulatory Plan (Plan), pursuant to Executive Order 12866 ``Regulatory Planning and Review,'' 58 FR 51735, and the Regulatory Flexibility Act, 5 U.S.C. 601 et seq.

Twin Rivers Paper Company Inc. (Twin Rivers) has applied for authority to transmit electric energy from the United States to Canada pursuant to section 202(e) of the Federal Power Act.

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the Department of Energy (DOE) (the Agencies) as co-lead agencies announce the availability of the Draft Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for Solar Energy Development in Six Southwestern States (BLM/DES 10-59, DOE/EIS0403). The BLM and the DOE have prepared this document in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969, as amended; the Council on Environmental Quality, the DOE, and the Department of the Interior (DOI) regulations implementing NEPA; and the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976, as amended.

BPA is conducting the 2012 Residential Exchange Program Settlement Agreement Proceeding (REP-12) to review the terms and conditions of a proposed 17-year settlement of issues regarding the implementation of the Residential Exchange Program (REP). The REP is a statutory power exchange program established by section 5(c) of the Pacific Northwest Electric Power Planning and Conservation Act (Northwest Power Act). The proposed settlement under review is the 2012 REP Settlement Agreement (2012 REP Settlement). If adopted, BPA will include in its power rates for FY 2012-2028 the REP benefits stated in the proposed 2012 REP Settlement. In addition to reviewing the terms of the proposed 2012 REP Settlement, BPA's REP-12 initial proposal will describe BPA's proposed implementation of the REP for its FY 2012-2013 rates in the event the 2012 REP Settlement is not adopted. The REP-12 initial proposal will include studies and testimony supporting BPA's proposed implementation of the section 7(b)(2) rate test for the FY 2012-2013 rate period, the section 7(b)(3) surcharge allocation, Average System Cost (ASC) forecasts, and the amount of refunds to be provided to BPA customers overcharged during the FY 2002-2006 rate period, (i.e., Lookback repayments). If, at the conclusion of the REP-12 proceeding the Administrator decides not to adopt the 2012 REP Settlement, BPA will incorporate into the BP-12 rate proceeding the studies, testimony, and documentation associated with the section 7(b)(2) rate test, the section 7(b)(3) surcharge allocation, ASC forecasts, and Lookback repayment and use such studies and documentation in establishing the BP-12 rates.

On May 27, 2010, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) issued a notice of proposed rulemaking (NOPR) to amend the test procedures for refrigerators, refrigerator-freezers, and freezers. That proposed rulemaking serves as the basis for today's action. DOE is issuing a final rule regarding Appendix A1 and Appendix B1, and an interim final rule for Appendix A and Appendix B. The final rule amends the current procedures, incorporating changes that will take effect 30 days after the final rule publication date. These changes will be mandatory for product testing to demonstrate compliance with the current energy standards and for representations starting 180 days after publication. These changes, which will not affect measured energy use, include test procedures to account for refrigerator-freezers equipped with variable anti-sweat heater controls, establishing test procedures for refrigerator-freezers equipped with more than two compartments, making minor adjustments to eliminate any potential ambiguity regarding how to conduct tests, and clarifying certain reporting requirements. The interim final rule establishes amended test procedures for refrigerators, refrigerator-freezers, and freezers that would be required for measuring energy consumption once DOE promulgates new energy conservation standards for these products. These new standards are currently under development in a separate rulemaking activity and will apply to newly manufactured products starting in 2014. Today's action also discusses the treatment of combination wine storage-freezer products that were the subject of a recent test procedure waiver, energy use measurement round-off, and additional topics raised by stakeholders during the rulemaking's comment period. While the amended test procedures will be based largely on the test methodology used in the existing test procedures, they also include significant revisions with respect to the measurement of compartment temperatures and compartment volumes. These measurements will provide a more comprehensive accounting of energy usage by these products. The amended test procedure will modify the long-time automatic defrost test procedure to capture all energy use associated with the defrost cycle, establish a test procedure for products with a single compressor and multiple evaporators with active defrost cycles, incorporate into the energy use metric the energy use associated with icemaking for products with automatic icemakers, and clarify requirements on temperature control settings during testing.