Department of Energy July 2012 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This notice announces the availability of the ROD for the Mid- Columbia Coho restoration program, sponsored by the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation and based on the Mid-Columbia Coho Restoration Program EIS (DOE/EIS-0425, March 2012). The purpose of the program is to re-establish naturally spawning coho populations to harvestable levels in tributaries of the Wenatchee and Methow basins in north-central Washington State (Okanogan and Chelan Counties). To accomplish this goal, the Yakama Nation would expand an existing program, ongoing since 1996, by releasing up to 2.16 million coho smolts from up to 24 new acclimation sites in both basins. The Yakama Nation would also continue the use of hatcheries, incubation, and broodstock collection sites already in use by the existing program; build a small new hatchery in the Wenatchee basin; and implement a comprehensive monitoring and evaluation program. The ROD describes BPA's decision to fund the final phases of this program in order to honor commitments outlined in the 2008 Columbia Basin Fish Accords Memorandum of Agreement and to mitigate for the effects of the Federal Columbia River Power System on fish and wildlife in the Columbia River.

This notice announces a meeting of the Advanced Scientific Computing Advisory Committee (ASCAC). The Federal Advisory Committee Act (Pub. L. 92-463, 86 Stat. 770) requires that public notice of these meetings be announced in the Federal Register.

The Department of Energy (DOE) has submitted an information collection request to OMB for extension under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. The information collection requests a three-year extension of its Labor Relations collection. The collection requests information from the Department of Energy Management and Operation and Facilities Management Contractors for contract administration, management oversight and cost control. The information collection will assist the Department in evaluating the implementation of the contractors' work force collective bargaining agreements, and apprise the Department of significant labor-management developments at DOE contractor sites. This information is used to ensure that Department contractors maintain good labor relations and retain a workforce in accordance with the terms of their contract and in compliance with statutory and regulatory requirements as identified by contract.

The U. S. Department of Energy (DOE) announces the availability of the Draft Surplus Plutonium Disposition Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SPD Supplemental EIS; DOE/EIS-0283-S2) for public comment. DOE also is announcing the dates, times and locations for public hearings to receive comments on the Draft SPD Supplemental EIS. The Draft SPD Supplemental EIS analyzes the potential environmental impacts of alternatives for disposition of 13.1 metric tons (14.4 tons) of surplus plutonium for which DOE has not made a disposition decision, including 7.1 metric tons (7.8 tons) of plutonium from pits that were declared excess to national defense needs. It also updates previous DOE NEPA analyses on plutonium disposition to consider additional options for pit disassembly and conversion, which entails processing plutonium metal components to produce an oxide form of plutonium suitable for disposition, and the use of mixed oxide (MOX) fuel fabricated from surplus plutonium in domestic commercial nuclear power reactors to generate electricity, including five reactors at two specific Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) reactor plants. DOE is not revisiting the decision to fabricate 34 metric tons (MT) (37.5 tons) of surplus plutonium into MOX fuel in the MOX Fuel Fabrication Facility (MFFF) (65 FR 1608, January 11, 2000 and 68 FR 20134, April 24, 2003), now under construction at DOE's Savannah River Site (SRS) in South Carolina, and to irradiate the MOX fuel in commercial nuclear reactors used to generate electricity. TVA is a cooperating agency on this SPD Supplemental EIS. TVA is considering the use of MOX fuel, produced as part of DOE's Surplus Plutonium Disposition Program, in its nuclear power reactors.

This notice announces the availability of the BPA's ROD for entering into an Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with the Kalispel Tribe for implementing fish and wildlife projects in and around Lake Pend Oreille and the Pend Oreille River in Pend Orielle County, Washington and Bonner Counties, Idaho. BPA has decided to enter into the MOA to pursue mutual goals with the Kalispel Tribe of protecting and recovering fish and wildlife affected by the Federal Columbia River Power System in the area. This ROD is tiered to the BPA's Fish and Wildlife Implementation Program Environmental Impact Statement (DOE/EIS-0312, April 2003) and its ROD (October 31, 2003).

In this Final Rule, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission) amends its regulations to incorporate by reference the latest version (Version 2.0) of certain business practice standards adopted by the Wholesale Gas Quadrant (WGQ) of the North American Energy Standards Board (NAESB) applicable to natural gas pipelines. In addition, based on the minor corrections and errata made by NAESB and reported to the Commission on May 4, 2012, the Commission will incorporate by reference certain standards that it earlier proposed not to incorporate, as the revised standards no longer conflict with Commission regulations. In this Final Rule, the Commission also provides guidance on the criteria the Commission will use in deciding whether to grant or deny requests for waivers or extensions of time and modifies the compliance filing requirements to add transparency as to where in the tariff incorporated standards may be found.

The Department of Energy (DOE) has submitted an information collection request to the OMB for an extension under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. The information collection requests a three-year extension of its Environment, Safety and Health reporting requirements, OMB Control Number 1910-0300. This information collection request covers information necessary for the DOE to exercise management oversight and control over Management and Operating (M&O) contractors of the DOE's Government-Owned Contractor-Operated (GOCO) facilities, and offsite contractors. The contractor management oversight and control function concerns the ways in which the DOE's contractors provide goods and services for DOE organizations and activities in accordance with the terms of their contract(s); the applicable statutory, regulatory and mission support requirements of the DOE; and regulations in the functional area covered in this request.

Under section 215 of the Federal Power Act (FPA), the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission) proposes to approve regional Reliability Standard PRC-006-SERC-01 (Automatic Underfrequency Load Shedding Requirements) submitted to the Commission for approval by the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC). Regional Reliability Standard, PRC-006-SERC-01, is designed to ensure that automatic underfrequency load shedding protection schemes designed by planning coordinators and implemented by applicable distribution providers and transmission owners in the SERC Reliability Corporation (SERC) Region are coordinated to effectively mitigate the consequences of an underfrequency event. The Commission also proposes to approve the related violation risk factors, with one modification, and violation severity levels, implementation plan, and effective date proposed by NERC.