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

Pursuant to section 14(a)(2)(A) of the Federal Advisory Committee Act (Pub. L. 92-463) and in accordance with Title 41 of the Code of Federal Regulations, Section 102-3.65(a), and following consultation with the Committee Management Secretariat, General Services Administration, notice is hereby given that the National Coal Council will be renewed for a two-year period beginning November 23, 2011. The Council will provide advice and recommendations to the Secretary of Energy on general policy matters relating to coal issues. Additionally, the renewal of the Council has been determined to be essential to the conduct of the Department's business and to be in the public interest in connection with the performance of duties imposed upon the Department of Energy by law and agreement. The Council will continue to operate in accordance with the provisions of the Federal Advisory Committee Act and the rules and regulations in implementation of that Act.

The Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability has submitted the form OE-417 ``Electric Emergency Incident and Disturbance Report'' to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and a three-year extension under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. The OE-417 is used to report electric emergency incidents and disturbances to the DOE. The Form OE- 417 reports will enable the DOE to monitor electric emergency incidents and disturbances in the United States (including all 50 States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, and the U.S. Territories) so that the Government may help prevent the physical or virtual disruption of the operation of any critical infrastructure.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) published an interim final rule on March 9, 2011, amending its test procedures for microwave ovens under the Energy Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA) to provide for the measurement of standby mode and off mode power use by microwave ovens. Those amendments incorporated into the DOE test procedure provisions from the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) Standard 62301, ``Household electrical appliancesMeasurement of standby power,'' First Edition 2005-06 (IEC Standard 62301 (First Edition)). In addition, those amendments adopted in the DOE test procedure definitions of modes based on the relevant provisions from the IEC Standard 62301 Second Edition, Final Draft International Standard (IEC Standard 62301 (FDIS)), as well as language to clarify application of these provisions for measuring standby mode and off mode power consumption in microwave ovens. Just prior to publication of the interim final rule, the IEC replaced the First Edition of this standard with the current Second Edition. This supplemental notice of proposed rulemaking proposes to incorporate the latest edition of IEC Standard 62301.

In this Final Rule, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission revises its regulations governing interstate natural gas pipelines to prohibit multiple affiliates of the same entity from bidding in an open season for pipeline capacity in which the pipeline may allocate capacity on a pro rata basis, unless each affiliate has an independent business reason for submitting a bid. The Commission does not find it necessary to adopt its proposal in the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that if more than one affiliate of the same entity participates in such an open season, then none of those affiliates may release any capacity obtained in that open season pursuant to a pro rata allocation to any affiliate, or otherwise allow any affiliate to obtain the use of the allowed capacity.

The Federal Power Act requires hydropower licensees to recompense the United States for the use, occupancy, and enjoyment of its lands. The Commission assesses annual charges for the use of Federal lands through Part 11 of its regulations. The Commission is proposing to revise the methodology used to compute these annual charges. Under the proposed rule, the Commission would create a fee schedule based on the U.S. Bureau of Land Management's (BLM) methodology for calculating rental rates for linear rights of way. This methodology includes a land value per acre, an encumbrance factor, a rate of return, and an annual adjustment factor. The fee schedule would include all adjustments described in the BLM rule adopting this methodology, except the allocation of county land values into zones. In addition, the Commission proposes to eliminate its current practice of doubling the per-acre rental rate for non-transmission line lands.