### 52708 Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 169 / Thursday, August 30, 2012 / Notices

1 The 60-day notice included the following estimate of the aggregate burden hours for this generic clearance Federal-wide:

Average Expected Annual Number of Activities: 25,000.

Average Number of Respondents per Activity:
200.

Average Responses: 5,000,000. Frequency of Responses: Once per request. Average Minutes per Response: 30. Burden hours: 2,500,000. You may also access documents of the Department published in the Federal Register by using the article search feature at: www.federalregister.gov

. Specifically, through the advanced search feature at this site, you can limit your search to documents published by the Department.

Dated: August 27, 2012. Arne Duncan, Secretary of Education.
[FR Doc. 2012–21446 Filed 8–29–12; 8:45 am]

**BILLING CODE 4000–01–P**

**DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY**

**Bonneville Power Administration**

**Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection;**  **Comment Request; Generic Clearance for the Collection of Qualitative**  **Feedback on Agency Service Delivery**

**AGENCY :**  Bonneville Power Administration (BPA), DOE.

**ACTION :**  30-Day notice of submission of information collection approval from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and request for comments.

**SUMMARY :**  As part of a Federal Government-wide effort to streamline the process to seek feedback from the public on service delivery, the Bonneville Power Administration has submitted a Generic Information Collection request (Generic ICR): ‘‘Generic Clearance for the Collection of Qualitative Feedback on Agency Service Delivery’’ to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for approval under the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) (44 U.S.C. et seq. ).

**DATES :**  Comments must be submitted by September 30, 2012.

**ADDRESSES :**  Written comments may be submitted to: DOE Desk Officer, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget, New Executive Office Building, Room 10102, 735 17th Street NW., Washington, DC
20503.

**FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT :**  To request additional information: Information Collection Clearance Officer, Christopher M. Frost, Governance and Internal Controls, DGC–7, Bonneville Power Administration, 905 NE. 11th Avenue, Portland, Oregon 97232.

**SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION :** 

Title: Generic Clearance for the Collection of Qualitative Feedback on agency Service Delivery.

Abstract: The information collection activity will garner qualitative customer and stakeholder feedback in an efficient, timely manner in accordance with the Administration’s commitment to improving service delivery. Qualitative feedback means information that provides useful insights on perceptions and opinions, but are not statistical surveys that yield quantitative results that can be generalized to the population of study. This feedback will provide insights into customer or stakeholder perceptions, experiences and expectations, provide an early warning of issues with service, or focus attention on areas where training or changes in operations might improve delivery of products or services. These collections will allow for ongoing, collaborative and actionable communications between the Agency and its customers and stakeholders. It will also allow feedback to contribute directly to the improvement of program management.

Feedback collected under this generic clearance will provide useful information, but it will not yield data that can be generalized to the overall population. This type of generic clearance for qualitative information will not be used for quantitative information collections that are designed to yield reliable actionable results, such as monitoring trends over time or documenting program performance. Such data uses require more rigorous designs that address: The target population to which generalizations will be made, the sampling frame, the sample design (including stratification and clustering), the precision requirements or power calculations that justify the proposed sample size, the expected response rate,methods for assessing potential nonresponse bias, the protocols for data collection, and any testing procedures that were or will be undertaken prior to fielding the study. Depending on the degree of influence the results are likely to have, such collections may still be eligible for submission for other generic mechanisms that are designed to yield qualitative results.

The 60-day notice was published in the Federal Register of December 22, 2010 (75 FR 80542).

Below we provide the BPA projected average estimates for the next three
years: 1 Current Actions: New collection of information.

Type of Review: New Collection. Affected Public: Individuals and Households, Businesses and Organizations, State, Local, or Tribal Government.

Average Expected Annual Activities:
5. Respondents: 500.

Annual Responses: 2,500. Frequency of Responses: Once per request.

Average Minutes per Response: 30. Burden Hours: 1,250. An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid Office of Management and Budget control number.

Issued in Portland, Oregon, on August 23,
2012. John L. Hairston, Chief Compliance Officer, Agency Governance and Compliance.
[FR Doc. 2012–21445 Filed 8–29–12; 8:45 am]

**BILLING CODE P**

**DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY**

**U.S. Energy Information Administration** 

**Request to Revise a Currently Approved Data Collection** 

**AGENCY :**  U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), Department of Energy.

**ACTION :**  Notice and request for OMB review and comment.

**SUMMARY :**  EIA has submitted a request to revise a currently-approved data collection under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). EIA proposes changes to the data collection requirements for the Forms EIA–861, ‘‘Annual Electric Power Industry Report,’’ EIA–923, ‘‘Power Plant Operations Report,’’ and the proposed creation of the Form EIA– 861S, ‘‘Annual Electric Power Industry Report (Short).’’ All collection instruments are under OMB Control Number 1905–0129. The Form EIA–861 proposal is to modify the survey frame from a census of approximately 3,300 entities to a sample of approximately 2,200 entities and to estimate the total sales, revenues, and customer counts by sector. The Form EIA–861S proposal will collect data from the approximately


### 52709 Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 169 / Thursday, August 30, 2012 / Notices

1,100 respondents that will no longer report on the Form EIA–861. The Form EIA–861S will collect a limited amount of sales, revenue, and customer count data and, for certain respondents, data on time-based rate customers and advanced meter reading (Advanced Metering Infrastructure/Automatic Meter Reading). Once every 5 years, the Form EIA–861S respondents will be asked to complete the Form EIA–861 in lieu of Form EIA–861S for sampling methodology purposes.

The Form EIA–923 proposal involves modifying the reporting requirements for only Schedule 2, which collects cost and quality data of fossil fuel purchases at electricity generating plants. The proposal is to raise the reporting threshold to 200 megawatts (MW) of nameplate capacity for power plants primarily fueled by natural gas, petroleum coke, distillate fuel oil, and residual fuel oil. EIA will remove the reporting requirement for self-produced and minor fuels, i.e., blast furnace gas, other manufactured gases, kerosene, jet fuel, propoane, and waste oils. The reporting threshold for coal plants will remain at 50 MW of nameplate capacity.

**DATES :**  Comments regarding this proposed information collection must be received on or before October 1, 2012. If you anticipate that you will be submitting comments, but find it difficult to do so within the period of time allowed by this notice, please advise the DOE Desk Officer at OMB of your intention to make a submission as soon as possible. The Desk Officer may be telephoned at 202–395–4718 or contacted by email at Chad

_S

_ Whiteman@omb.eop.gov.

**ADDRESSES :**  Written comments should be sent to: DOE Desk Officer, Office of Information

and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget, New Executive Office Building, 735 17th Street NW., Washington, DC 20503.
And to: Rebecca A. Peterson, Office of

Electricity, Renewables, and Uranium Statistics, Energy Information Administration, Email: ERUS2013@eia.gov, Fax: 202–287–
1938.

**FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT :**  Requests for additional information or copies of the information collection instrument and instructions should be directed to Rebecca A. Peterson, ERUS2013@eia.gov. Further details are available on the ERUS 2013 Web page
at http://www.eia.gov/survey/changes/ electricity/. **SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION :**  This information collection request contains: (1) OMB No.: 1905–0129; (2) Information Collection Request Title: Electricity Data Program; (3) Type of Request: Revision of a currently approved collection; (4) Purpose: The Forms EIA–861 and EIA–861S are mandatory surveys used to collect retail sales of electricity and associated revenue from all electric utilities, energy service providers, and distribution companies in the United States, its territories, and Puerto Rico on an annual basis. Form EIA–923 Schedule 2 collects information from regulated and unregulated electric power plants in the United States that burn certain fossil fuels and meet the reporting threshold. Data collected include fuel receipts, cost, quality, and coal mine information. Data from these three collection instruments are published for use by Congress and public and private analysts to monitor the status and trends of the electric power industry. The proposed changes to the Forms EIA–861 and EIA–923 data collections, and the proposed creation of the Form EIA– 861S, are anticipated to reduce reporting burden for smaller respondents, in particular, and to reduce the level of effort EIA requires to collect and validate survey data; (5) Annual Estimated Number of Respondents: 4,376; (6) Annual Estimated Number of Total Responses: 15,354; (7) Annual Estimated Number of Burden Hours: 35,934; (8) Annual Estimated Reporting and Recordkeeping Cost Burden: EIA estimates that there are no additional costs to respondents associated with the surveys other than the costs associated with the burden hours.

Statutory Authority: Section 13(b) of the Federal Energy Administration Act of 1974, 93, codified at 15 U.S.C. 772(b).

Issued in Washington, DC, on August 24,

2012. Stephanie Brown, Director, Office of Survey Development and Statistical Integration, U.S. Energy Information Administration.
[FR Doc. 2012–21403 Filed 8–29–12; 8:45 am]

**BILLING CODE 6450–01–P DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY** 

**Federal Energy Regulatory Commission** 

**[Project No. 1256–031]**

**Loup River Public Power District; Notice of Application Accepted for**  **Filing, Soliciting Motions To Intervene and Protests, Ready for Environmental**  **Analysis, and Soliciting Comments, Recommendations, Preliminary Terms**  **and Conditions, and Preliminary Fishway Prescriptions** 

Take notice that the following hydroelectric application has been filed with the Commission and is available for public inspection.

a. Type of Application: New Major License.

b. Project No.: 1256–031.

c. Date filed: April 16, 2012. d. Applicant: Loup River Public Power District (Loup Power District).

e. Name of Project: Loup River Hydroelectric Project.

f. Location: The existing project is located on the Loup River, Loup Canal (a diversion canal off the Loup River), and Platte River in Nance and Platte counties, Nebraska. The project does not occupy federal lands.

g. Filed Pursuant to: Federal Power Act 16 U.S.C. 791 (a)–825(r).

h. Applicant Contact: Neal Suess, President/CEO, Loup Power District, P.O. Box 988, 2404 15th Street, Columbus, Nebraska 68602, Telephone (866) 869–2087.

i. FERC Contact: Lee Emery, Telephone (202) 502–8379 or email lee.emery@ferc.gov.

j. Deadline for filing motions to intervene and protests, comments, recommendations, preliminary terms and conditions, and preliminary prescriptions: 60 days from the issuance date of this notice; reply comments are due 105 days from the issuance date of this notice.

Motions to intervene, protests, comments, recommendations, preliminary terms and conditions, and preliminary fishway prescriptions may be filed electronically via the Internet. See 18 CFR 385.2001(a)(1)(iii) and the instructions on the Commission’s Web site http://www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/ efiling.asp. Commenters can submit brief comments up to 6,000 characters, without prior registration, using the eComment system at http:// www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/ ecomment.asp. You must include your name and contact information at the end of your comments. For assistance, please contact FERC Online Support at FERCOnlineSupport@ferc.gov or toll