Department of Energy December 28, 2012 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

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.

On December 12, 2012, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) published in the Federal Register, a notice of availability for the Draft Programmatic Environmental Assessment (PEA) for the Recycling of Scrap Metals Originating from Radiological Areas (DOE/EA-1919) for public review and comment (77 FR 73996). In that notice, the email address for submitting comments on the Draft PEA contained an error. On December 20, 2012, DOE resolved this issue, and the email address listed in that notice is now working. In addition, on December 20, 2012, DOE received requests to extend the comment period due to the several holidays falling during the original 30-day comment period. Because the email address for submitting electronic comments was not working from December 12 through December 20, 2012, and in response to the requests for additional time, DOE has decided to extend the public comment period by 30 days. The email address printed in the Draft PEA was correct and now both that email address (Scrap_PEA_ Comments@hq.doe.gov) and the one in the notice of availability (Scrap_ PEAcomments@hq.doe.gov) may be used to submit comments.

In this Final Rule, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (the Commission) is amending its regulations, pursuant to sections 222 and 307(a) of the Federal Power Act (FPA), to grant Commission access, on a non-public and ongoing basis, to the complete electronic tags (e- Tags) used to schedule the transmission of electric power interchange transactions in wholesale markets. This Final Rule will require e-Tag Authors (through their Agent Service) and Balancing Authorities (through their Authority Service) to take appropriate steps to ensure Commission access to the e-Tags covered by this Final Rule by designating the Commission as an addressee on the e-Tags. After the Commission is designated as an addressee, the Commission will access the e-Tags by contracting with a commercial vendor. The commercial vendor will provide data management services and receive e-Tags addressed to the Commission. The information made available under this Final Rule will bolster the Commission's market surveillance and analysis efforts by helping the Commission to detect and prevent market manipulation and anti-competitive behavior. This information will also help the Commission monitor the efficiency of markets and better inform Commission policies and decision-making, thereby helping to ensure just and reasonable rates. In addition, this Final Rule will require that e- Tag information be made available to regional transmission organizations and independent system operators and their Market Monitoring Units, upon request to e-Tag Authors and Authority Services, subject to appropriate confidentiality restrictions.