Department of Energy 2012 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

RBC Energy Services LP (RBC Energy) has applied to renew its authority to transmit electric energy from the United States to Canada pursuant to section 202(e) of the Federal Power Act (FPA).

The Department of Energy (DOE) Wind and Water Power Program (WWPP) is planning a workshop to exchange information on hydropower's ability to integrate variable renewables into our nation's grid. Some renewable energy resources, such as wind and solar, can stress power systems as their electricity generation varies with fluctuations in their renewable ``fuel'' (i.e. wind speed and sunlight availability). Development of these resources is essential for meeting the President's goal of producing 80% of U.S. electricity from clean energy sources by 2035, but will require grid integration solutions. DOE is seeking individual technical advice with regard to the use of existing hydropower resources and advanced pumped storage technologies for integrating variable renewables.

DOE announces its decision to issue a Presidential permit to Energia Sierra Juarez U.S. Transmission, LLC (ESJ), to construct, operate, maintain, and connect a double-circuit, 230,000-volt (230-kV) electric transmission line across the U.S.-Mexico border in eastern San Diego County, California. The potential environmental impacts associated with the transmission line are analyzed in the Environmental Impact Statement for the Energia Sierra Juarez U.S. Transmission Line Project (DOE/EIS-0414). The transmission line would originate at San Diego Gas and Electric's planned East County Substation (ECO Substation), and extend southward approximately 0.65 miles to the U.S. border with Mexico, near Jacumba, California, where it would cross the border and connect with a transmission line to be built in Mexico.

On August 18, 2011, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced its intention to use full-fuel-cycle (FFC) measures of energy use and greenhouse gas and other emissions in the national impact analyses and environmental assessments included in future energy conservation standards rulemakings. While DOE stated in that notice that it intended to use the Greenhouse Gases, Regulated Emissions, and Energy Use in Transportation (GREET) model to conduct the analyses, the Department also said that it would review alternative methods, including the use of the National Energy Modeling System (NEMS) developed by DOE's Energy Information Administration (EIA). After evaluating both NEMS and GREET, DOE has determined that NEMS is ultimately a more appropriate tool to calculate FFC measures of energy use and greenhouse gas and other emissions. Therefore, DOE intends to use the NEMS model, rather than the GREET model, as the basis for deriving the energy and emission multipliers used to conduct FFC analyses in support of future energy conservation standards rulemakings. The public is free to send in comments on this policy amendment at any time. DOE will address comments on this policy amendment in the first notice of proposed rulemaking (NOPR) to utilize the NEMS-based approach for the FFC.

This notice announces a meeting of the Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board (EM SSAB), Oak Ridge Reservation. 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.

Pursuant to Section 14(a)(2)(A) of the Federal Advisory Committee Act, App. 2, and Section 102-3.65(a), Title 41, Code of Federal Regulations, and following consultation with the Committee Management Secretariat, General Services Administration, notice is hereby given that the Electricity Advisory Committee's (EAC) charter has been renewed for a two-year period beginning on August 9, 2012. The Committee will provide advice and recommendations to the Assistant Secretary for Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability on programs to modernize the Nation's electric power system. Additionally, the renewal of the EAC has been determined to be essential to conduct Department of Energy 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 Committee will continue to operate in accordance with the provisions of the Federal Advisory Committee Act, the rules and regulations in implementation of that Act.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) proposes to amend its test procedures for residential dishwashers to update certain obsolete dishware, flatware and food items, make minor amendments to the definition of the normal cycle, and update the ambient temperature and preconditioning requirements as well as the industry test method referenced in DOE's test procedure. DOE also proposes to add water pressure, drain height, rack position, loading, rinse aid container, and soil preparation specifications to the dishwasher test procedure. DOE additionally proposes to amend the test procedures for both dishwashers and conventional cooking products for the measurement of energy use in fan-only mode.

This notice announces a meeting of the Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board (EM SSAB), Hanford. The Federal Advisory Committee Act requires that public notice of this meeting be announced in the Federal Register.