Quiero saber acerca de...

42712

Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 148 / Thursday, August 5, 2021 / Rules and Regulations
Moreover, the 5MW limit in the Commissions regulations could be burdensome to projects greater than 5
MW and up to and including 10 MW, in terms of the cost and time associated with the additional filing requirements of subparts E and F.
15. Therefore, the Commission proposed to amend parts 4 and 5 of its regulations to extend the licensing and amendment filing requirements that currently apply to major projects up to 5 MW to major projects 10 MW or less, consistent with the amended definition of a small hydroelectric power project in the 2013 HREA.18
C. Commission Determination 16. For the reasons discussed above, the Commission adopts the NOPRs proposal to: 1 Remove the requirement that an NOI include a profile drawing showing the source of the hydroelectric potential in instances where a dam would be constructed in association with the facility; and 2 extend the licensing requirements that currently
apply to major projects up to 5 MW to major projects 10 MW or less.
IV. Regulatory Requirements A. Information Collection Statement 17. The Paperwork Reduction Act 19
requires each Federal agency to seek and obtain the Office of Management and Budgets OMB approval before undertaking a collection of information directed to 10 or more persons or contained in a rule of general applicability. OMB regulations require approval of certain information collection requirements contained in final rules published in the Federal Register.20 Upon approval of a collection of information, OMB will assign an OMB control number and an expiration date. Respondents subject to the filing requirements of a rule will not be penalized for failing to respond to the collection of information unless the collection of information displays a valid OMB control number.
18. Public Reporting Burden: By revising regulations governing the filing
requirements for qualifying conduits and for major hydroelectric power projects greater than 5 MW and up to and including 10 MW, this final rule will modify certain reporting and recordkeeping requirements included in FERC500 OMB Control No 1902
0058 21 and FERC505 OMB Control No. 19020115.22
19. These revisions to the Commissions regulations will align the filing requirements for qualifying conduits with Commission precedent and align the filing requirements for major projects greater than 5 MW and up to and including 10 MW to be consistent with the amended definition of a small hydroelectric power project in the 2013 HREA. Both revisions represent a slight decrease in the reporting requirements and burden information for FERC500 and FERC
505.
20. The estimated burden and cost for the requirements affected by this final rule follow.

khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with RULES

CHANGES DUE TO THE FINAL RULE IN DOCKET NO. RM2021000
Numbers of respondents
Numbers of responses 23
per respondent
Total number of responses
Avg. burden hrs. &
cost per response 24

Total annual burden hours & total annual cost
1

2

1 2 = 3

4

3 4 = 5

FERC500

3

1

3

FERC505

8

1

8

Total

11

320 hours/$26,560
reduction.
10 hours/$830 reduction.

960 hours/$79,680
reduction.
80 hours/$6,640 reduction.

1,040 hours/
$86,320 reduction.

21. Titles: FERC500 Application for License/Relicense for Water Projects with More than 5 Megawatt MW
Capacity and FERC505 Small Hydropower Projects and Conduit Facilities including License/Relicense, Exemption, and Qualifying Conduit Facility Determination.
22. Action: Revisions to information collections FERC500 and FERC505.
23. OMB Control Nos.: 19020058
FERC500 and 19020115 FERC
505.

24. Respondents: Municipalities, businesses, private citizens, and forprofit and not-for-profit institutions.
25. Frequency of Information:
Ongoing.
26. Necessity of Information: The revised regulations remove the Commissions requirement for notices of intent to construct a qualifying conduit to include a profile drawing, consistent with Commission precedent, and align the Commissions filing requirements for major projects greater than 5 MW
and up to and including 10 MW to be consistent with the amended definition
of a small hydroelectric power project in the 2013 HREA. The revised regulations affect only the number of entities that would file applications with the Commission for these two project types and reduce information collection requirements.
27. Internal Review: The Commission has reviewed the revisions and has determined that they are necessary.
These requirements conform to the Commissions need for efficient information collection, communication, and management within the energy industry. The Commission has assured
18 Section 4.32a5ii, which contains a crossreference to 4.61, will also be revised.
19 44 U.S.C. 35013521.
20 See 5 CFR 1320.12.
21 FERC500 includes the reporting and recordkeeping requirements for Application for
License/Relicense for Water Projects with More than 5 Megawatt MW Capacity.
22 FERC505 includes the reporting and recordkeeping requirements for Small Hydropower Projects and Conduit Facilities including License/
Relicense, Exemption, and Qualifying Conduit Facility Determination.

23 We consider the filing of an application or notice of intent to be a response.
24 Commission staff estimates that the industrys skill set and cost for wages and benefits for FERC
500 and FERC505 are approximately the same as the Commissions average cost. The FERC 2020
average salary plus benefits for one FERC full-time equivalent FTE is $172,329/year or $83.00/hour.

VerDate Sep<11>2014

16:02 Aug 04, 2021

Jkt 253001

PO 00000

Frm 00032

Fmt 4700

Sfmt 4700

E:FRFM05AUR1.SGM

05AUR1