Department of Energy June 2011 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

In this Notice of Inquiry (NOI), the Commission seeks comment on two sets of separate, but related issues. First, we seek comment on ways in which we can facilitate the development of robust competitive markets for the provision of ancillary services from all resource types. Second, the Commission is interested in issues unique to storage devices in light of the role they can play in providing multiple services, including ancillary services. As demonstrated by recent cases that have come before the Commission, there is growing interest in rate flexibility by both purchasers and sellers of ancillary services. A variety of resources are poised to provide ancillary services but may be frustrated from doing so by certain aspects of the Commission's market-based rate policies coupled with a lack of access to the information that could help satisfy the requirements of those policies. Those with an obligation to purchase ancillary services have raised concerns with the availability of those services. In reviewing ways to foster a more robust ancillary services market, the Commission identified certain issues regarding the use of electric storage as an ancillary service resource that warranted consideration. Over time, those issues expanded into more global questions as to the role that electric storage may play in a competitive market, including how electric storage should be compensated for the full range of services it provides under the Federal Power Act, and transparency issues regarding the Commission's current accounting and reporting requirements as applied to electric storage. As such, the Commission seeks comment on: Existing restrictions on third-party provision of ancillary services, irrespective of the technologies used for such provision; and the adequacy of current accounting and reporting requirements as they pertain to the oversight of jurisdictional entities using electric storage devices.

This notice announces a meeting of the Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board (EM SSAB), Northern New Mexico. The Federal Advisory Committee Act (Pub. L. 92-463, 86 Stat. 770) requires that public notice of this meeting be announced in the Federal Register.

In accordance with the Federal Advisory Committee Act, 5 U.S.C., App. 2, the U.S. Department of Energy is soliciting nominations for candidates to fill vacancies on the Biomass Research and Development Technical Advisory Committee (Technical Advisory Committee).

DOE announces its intent to prepare a Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS), pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) (42 U.S.C. 4321, et seq.), the Council on Environmental Quality's (CEQ) NEPA regulations (40 CFR Parts 1500-1508), and DOE's NEPA implementing procedures (10 CFR part 1021), to analyze the reasonably foreseeable environmental impacts, including the site-specific impacts, of alternatives for the management of DOE's Uranium Leasing Program (ULP), under which DOE administers tracts of land for the exploration, development, and extraction of uranium and vanadium ores. DOE's ULP includes tracts of land located in Mesa, Montrose, and San Miguel counties in western Colorado that cover a cumulative acreage of approximately 25,000 acres. In July 2007, DOE issued a Programmatic Environmental Assessment (PEA) for the ULP (DOE/ EA-1535) (available at https://www.lm.doe.gov/land/sites/uranium_ leasing/uranium_leasing.htm), in which it examined three alternatives for the management of the ULP for the next ten years. In that same month, DOE issued a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) (available at https://nepa.energy.gov/documents/EA-1535FONSI.pdf), in which DOE announced its decision to proceed with the preferred ``Expanded Program Alternative'' that was examined in its July 2007 PEA, and also determined that the preparation of an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) was not required. DOE has determined that, in light of the site-specific information that DOE has gathered as a result of the site-specific agency actions proposed and approved pursuant to the July 2007 PEA/FONSI, it is now appropriate for DOE to prepare a PEIS in order to analyze the reasonably foreseeable environmental impacts, including the site- specific impacts, of a range of alternatives for the management of the ULP for the remainder of the ten-year period that was covered by the July 2007 PEA. DOE is issuing this Notice of Intent (NOI) to inform interested parties of this PEIS and to invite public comments on its proposed scope, including the preliminary range of alternatives and environmental issues to be considered. DOE plans to invite Federal, state, and local governmental agencies with jurisdiction by law or special expertise to participate as cooperating agencies in preparing the PEIS.

The Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability is soliciting comments on the proposed revisions and three-year extension to the OE-417 ``Electric Emergency Incident and Disturbance Report.''

In compliance with the requirements of section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, 44 USC 3506(c)(2)(A) (2006), (Pub. L. 104-13), the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission or FERC) is soliciting public comment on the proposed information collection activities described below.

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 or FERC) has submitted the information collection described below to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review of the information collection requirements. 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 issued a Notice in the Federal Register (76 FR 18743, 4/ 5/2011) requesting public comments. FERC received no comments on the FERC-603 and has made this notation in its submission to OMB.