Department of Energy December 2024 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

In compliance with the requirements of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission or FERC) is soliciting public comment on the currently approved information collections, FERC 725G, Mandatory Reliability Standards for the Bulk-Power System: Regional Reliability Standard PRC standards; FERC-725G1, Mandatory Reliability Standards for the Bulk-Power System: Reliability Standard PRC-004-6 (Protection System Misoperation Identification and Correction), FERC-725G4, Mandatory Reliability Standards: Reliability Standard PRC-010-2 (Under Voltage Load Shedding) and 725P1, PRC-005-6 (Protection System, Automatic Reclosing, and Sudden Pressure Relaying Maintenance). There are no changes made to the reporting requirements for this information collection.

The Colorado River Storage Project (CRSP) Management Center (MC) of the Western Area Power Administration (WAPA) proposes new formula rates for CRSP transmission and ancillary services for CRSP MC's costs to be recovered under the Southwest Power Pool's (SPP) Open Access Transmission Tariff (Tariff) should CRSP MC decide to become a member of SPP. The proposed formula rates will become effective on the latter of CRSP MC's membership date or the go-live date of the expansion of the SPP Regional Transmission Organization (RTO) into the Western Interconnection (scheduled for April 1, 2026, as of the date of this notice) and will remain in effect for 5 years from the effective date, which with an effective date of April 1, 2026, will be March 31, 2031, or until superseded.

The Energy Policy and Conservation Act, as amended ("EPCA"), prescribes energy conservation standards for various consumer products and certain commercial and industrial equipment, including gas-fired instantaneous water heaters, which are a type of consumer water heater. EPCA also requires the U.S. Department of Energy ("DOE" or the "Department") to periodically review its existing standards to determine whether more-stringent standards would be technologically feasible and economically justified, and would result in significant energy savings. In this final rule, DOE is adopting amended energy conservation standards for gas-fired instantaneous water heaters. It has determined that the amended energy conservation standards for these products would result in significant conservation of energy, and are technologically feasible and economically justified.

This notice announces an open meeting of the Department of Energy (DOE) Advanced Scientific Computing Advisory Committee (ASCAC). The Federal Advisory Committee Act requires that public notice of these meetings be announced in the Federal Register.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announces its decision to construct an interim aboveground storage facility for storage of two Defense Waste Processing Facility (DWPF) failed melters (Melter Nos. 1 and 2) in lieu of underground storage units. Moving Melter Nos. 1 and 2 from the Failed Equipment Storage Vaults (FESVs) to aboveground storage will allow space for storage of two melters with a higher radiological nature to be stored in the FESVs. The potential environmental impacts of this decision were analyzed in DOE/ EIS-0082-S-SA-01, "Supplement Analysis for Defense Waste Processing Facility Failed Melter Aboveground Storage" (the SA). The SA found that the proposed change and information discussed in this SA are not significant and therefore do not require a supplement to the Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (Final SEIS) Defense Waste Processing Facility (DOE/EIS-0082-S).

The Office of Fossil Energy & Carbon Management (FECM) of the Department of Energy (DOE) gives notice of availability of a multi- volume study updating DOE's understanding of the potential effects of U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports on the domestic economy; U.S. households and consumers; communities that live near locations where natural gas is produced or exported; domestic and international energy security, including effects on U.S. trading partners; and the environment and climate (Study or 2024 LNG Export Study). The Study is composed of a summary report and four appendices containing three coordinated modeled analyses and a qualitative literature review. The Study materials are available on the DOE/FECM website at https:// www.energy.gov/fecm/regulation. DOE intends to use the Study to inform its public interest review of, and ultimately decisions in, certain applications to export LNG to countries with which the United States does not have a free trade agreement (FTA) requiring national treatment for trade in natural gas and with which trade is not prohibited by U.S. law or policy (non-FTA applications), including decisions in the above- referenced proceedings and future proceedings, and for other purposes. DOE invites the submission of comments regarding the Study. DOE does not intend to revise the Study upon receipt of comments. Rather, comments received will inform DOE's public interest determination in each of the above-listed non-FTA application proceedings and future non-FTA export proceedings. Comments submitted in compliance with the instructions in this Notice will be placed in the administrative record for all of the above-listed proceedings and need only be submitted once.

The Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM), Department of Energy (DOE), is issuing this NOI to notify interested parties of its intent to launch a "Carbon Transport Research, Development and Demonstration (RD&D) Consortium (the Consortium)" to identify and coordinate carbon transport RD&D efforts (e.g., pipeline, rail, truck, ship, and barge transportation); facilitate communication among stakeholders; and compile and curate information in an open access platform. The DOE initially sought input from stakeholders through a Request for Information DE-FOA-0003330 (RFI 3330) (www.fedconnect.net/FedConnect/ default.aspx?ReturnUrl=%2ffedconnect%2f%3fdoc%3dDE-FOA- 0003330%26agency%3dDOE&doc=DE-FOA-0003330&agency=DOE) issued on September 18, 2024. Through this NOI, the DOE is establishing a second opportunity to obtain information that could be used to inform DOE's decisions on the initiation of the Consortium and to gauge interest in participating in the Consortium. FECM intends to launch the Consortium after reviewing responses to RFI 3330 and this NOI. Parties that express interest in joining the Consortium, either through this NOI or through RFI 3330, will be contacted via email with instructions on how to officially register to join.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE or the Department) seeks public comment to inform development of its Energy Storage Strategy and Roadmap (SRM). DOE is seeking input from the public, especially from interested individuals and entities, such as industry, academia, research laboratories, government agencies, and other stakeholders in the energy storage sector, on its draft Energy Storage SRM. This opportunity is solely for information gathering and planning purposes; it does not constitute a Request for Proposals (RFP). Information received may be used to assist DOE in planning the scope of future technology studies, deployment, or technology commercialization efforts and may be shared with other Federal agencies. DOE may also use information received to expand and facilitate public access to DOE's resources, and to mobilize investment in U.S. energy storage technologies as well as ancillary technologies and efforts that will enable commercialization and widespread adoption. The information collected may be used for internal DOE planning and decision-making to ensure that future activities maximize public benefit while advancing reliable, sustainable, and affordable energy storage solutions.

As required by the Privacy Act of 1974 and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circulars A-108 and A-130, the Department of Energy (DOE or the Department) is publishing notice of a modification to an existing Privacy Act System of Records. DOE proposes to amend System of Records DOE-24 Land Records System. This System of Records Notice (SORN) is being modified to align with new formatting requirements, published by OMB, and to ensure appropriate Privacy Act coverage of business processes and Privacy Act information.

As required by the Privacy Act of 1974 and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circulars A-108 and A-130, the Department of Energy (DOE or the Department) is publishing notice of a modification to an existing Privacy Act System of Records. DOE proposes to amend System of Records DOE-25 U.S. Commuter Locator and Parking Space Information System. This System of Records Notice (SORN) is being modified to align with new formatting requirements, published by OMB, and to ensure appropriate Privacy Act coverage of business processes and Privacy Act information.