7084 Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 15 / Tuesday, January 26, 2021 / Notices 

1Columbia Gas Transmission Corporation 

(predecessor to Columbia Gas Transmission, LLC), 

22 FERC ¶ 62,029 (1983). 

licensees to maintain an individual trust 

or remediation fund that is similar to 

what is done in the nuclear industry. 

The Commission could also require 

funds to be placed in escrow. The 

Commission seeks comment on this 

option and the following questions: 

i. Should the Commission establish an 

industry-wide trust or fund as a 

financial assurance mechanism? 

ii. If so, how should the Commission 

generate funds for the trust? Should the 

Commission consider using its annual 

charge authority to fund an industrywide trust? 

iii. How should the Commission 

determine the appropriate level of funds 

for an industry-wide trust? 

iv. How should the Commission 

determine how funds are distributed? 

v. Should the Commission require 

licensees to maintain an individual trust 

or escrow fund as a financial assurance 

mechanism? 

vi. For individual trusts, how should 

the Commission determine the 

appropriate level of the trust and what 

factors should the Commission consider 

in determining amounts? 

vii. For individual escrows, should 

the Commission require licensees to 

retain a certain percentage of generation 

receipts in an escrow account? 

viii. What other challenges would an 

industry-wide or individual trust pose 

on individual licensees, small 

hydroelectric project licensees, 

municipal licensees, the public, or the 

Commission? 

C. Insurance 

15. The Commission could require 

licensees to obtain insurance policies to 

cover costs in the event of a safety 

hazard or dam failure. The Commission 

seeks comment on this option and the 

following questions: 

i. Should the Commission require 

licensees to obtain insurance policies as 

a financial assurance mechanism for 

project maintenance? 

ii. How should the Commission 

determine the amount of required 

coverage of an insurance policy or what 

factors should the Commission consider 

when determining the amount of 

coverage? 

iii. What other challenges would a 

requirement to obtain an insurance 

policy pose on individual licensees, 

small hydroelectric project licensees, 

municipal licensees, the public, or the 

Commission? 

III. Comment Procedures 

16. The Commission invites interested 

persons to submit comments and other 

information on the matters, issues, and 

specific questions identified in this 

notice, and any alternative proposals 

that commenters may wish to discuss. 

Comments are due March 29, 2021. 

Comments must refer to Docket No. 

RM21–9–000, and must include the 

commenter’s name, the organization 

they represent, if applicable, and their 

address. 

17. The Commission encourages 

comments to be filed electronically via 

the eFiling link on the Commission’s 

website at http://www.ferc.gov. The 

Commission accepts most standard 

word processing formats. Documents 

created electronically using word 

processing software should be filed in 

native applications or print-to-PDF 

format and not in a scanned format. 

Commenters filing electronically do not 

need to make a paper filing. 

18. In lieu of electronic filing, you 

may submit a paper copy. Submissions 

sent via the U.S. Postal Service must be 

addressed to: Kimberly D. Bose, 

Secretary, Federal Energy Regulatory 

Commission, 888 First Street NE, Room 

1A, Washington, DC 20426. 

Submissions sent via any other carrier 

must be addressed to: Kimberly D. Bose, 

Secretary, Federal Energy Regulatory 

Commission, 12225 Wilkins Avenue, 

Rockville, Maryland 20852. The first 

page of any filing should include docket 

number RM21–9–000. 

19. All comments will be placed in 

the Commission’s public files and may 

be viewed, printed, or downloaded 

remotely as described in the Document 

Availability section below. Commenters 

on this proposal are not required to 

serve copies of their comments on other 

commenters. 

IV. Document Availability 

20. In addition to publishing the full 

text of this document in the Federal 

Register, the Commission provides all 

interested persons an opportunity to 

view and/or print the contents of this 

document via the internet through the 

Commission’s Home Page (http://

www.ferc.gov). At this time, the 

Commission has suspended access to 

the Commission’s Public Reference 

Room due to the President’s March 13, 

2020 proclamation declaring a National 

Emergency concerning the Novel 

Coronavirus Disease (COVID–19). 

21. From the Commission’s Home 

Page on the internet, this information is 

available on eLibrary. The full text of 

this document is available on eLibrary 

in PDF and Microsoft Word format for 

viewing, printing, and/or downloading. 

To access this document in eLibrary, 

type the docket number excluding the 

last three digits of this document in the 

docket number field. 

22. User assistance is available for 

eLibrary and the Commission’s website 

during normal business hours from the 

Commission’s Online Support at (202) 

502–6652 (toll free at 1–866–208–3676) 

or email at ferconlinesupport@ferc.gov, 

or the Public Reference Room at (202) 

502–8371, TTY (202) 502–8659. Email 

the Public Reference Room at 

public.referenceroom@ferc.gov. 

By direction of the Commission. 

Issued: January 19, 2021. 

Kimberly D. Bose, 

Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 2021–01613 Filed 1–25–21; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6717–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY 

Federal Energy Regulatory 

Commission 

[Docket No. CP21–21–000] 

Columbia Gas Transmission, LLC; 

Notice of Request Under Blanket 

Authorization and Establishing 

Intervention and Protest Deadline 

Take notice that on January 6, 2021, 

Columbia Gas Transmission, LLC 

(Columbia), 700 Louisiana Street, Suite 

700, Houston, Texas 77002–2700, filed 

in the above referenced docket a prior 

notice pursuant to Section 157.205 and 

157.216(b) of the Federal Energy 

Regulatory Commission’s regulations 

under the Natural Gas Act and the 

blanket certificate issued to Columbia 

by the Commission in Docket No. CP83– 

76–000,1 seeking authorization to 

abandon ten injection/withdrawal wells 

and associated pipelines and 

appurtenances, located in its Benton, 

Crawford1, Laurel and McArthur 

Storage Fields in Hocking, and Vinton 

Counties, Ohio (2021 Southcentral Ohio 

Well Abandonments Project). Columbia 

states that there will be no change to the 

existing boundary, total inventory, 

reservoir pressure, reservoir and buffer 

boundaries, or the certificated capacity 

of the Benton, Crawford, Laurel and 

McArthur Storage Fields as a result of 

these abandonments. Further, Columbia 

avers that the proposed abandonments 

will not affect any other Columbia 

storage fields, operations, or service, all 

as more fully set forth in the request 

which is on file with the Commission 

and open to public inspection. 

In addition to publishing the full text 

of this document in the Federal 

Register, the Commission provides all 

interested persons an opportunity to 

Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 15 / Tuesday, January 26, 2021 / Notices 7085 

2 18 CFR 157.205. 

3Persons include individuals, organizations, 

businesses, municipalities, and other entities. 18 

CFR 385.102(d). 

4 18 CFR 157.205(e). 

5 18 CFR 385.214. 

6 18 CFR 157.10. 

7Additionally, you may file your comments 

electronically by using the eComment feature, 

which is located on the Commission’s website at 

www.ferc.gov under the link to Documents and 

Filings. Using eComment is an easy method for 

interested persons to submit brief, text-only 

comments on a project. 

8Hand-delivered submissions in docketed 

proceedings should be delivered to Health and 

Human Services, 12225 Wilkins Avenue, Rockville, 

Maryland 20852. 

view and/or print the contents of this 

document via the internet through the 

Commission’s Home Page (http://

ferc.gov) using the ‘‘eLibrary’’ link. 

Enter the docket number excluding the 

last three digits in the docket number 

field to access the document. At this 

time, the Commission has suspended 

access to the Commission’s Public 

Reference Room, due to the 

proclamation declaring a National 

Emergency concerning the Novel 

Coronavirus Disease (COVID–19), issued 

by the President on March 13, 2020. For 

assistance, contact the Federal Energy 

Regulatory Commission at 

FERCOnlineSupport@ferc.gov or call 

toll-free, (886) 208–3676 or TYY, (202) 

502–8659. 

Any questions concerning this 

application should be directed to Dave 

Hammel, Director, Commercial & 

Regulatory Law, Columbia Gas 

Transmission, LLC, 700 Louisiana 

Street, Suite 700, Houston, Texas 

77002–2700, by telephone (832) 320– 

5861, or by email at dave_hammel@

tcenergy.com. 

Public Participation 

There are three ways to become 

involved in the Commission’s review of 

this project: You can file a protest to the 

project, you can file a motion to 

intervene in the proceeding, and you 

can file comments on the project. There 

is no fee or cost for filing protests, 

motions to intervene, or comments. The 

deadline for filing protests, motions to 

intervene, and comments is 5:00 p.m. 

Eastern Time on March 15, 2021. How 

to file protests, motions to intervene, 

and comments is explained below. 

Protests 

Pursuant to section 157.205 of the 

Commission’s regulations under the 

NGA,2 any person 3 or the Commission’s 

staff may file a protest to the request. If 

no protest is filed within the time 

allowed or if a protest is filed and then 

withdrawn within 30 days after the 

allowed time for filing a protest, the 

proposed activity shall be deemed to be 

authorized effective the day after the 

time allowed for protest. If a protest is 

filed and not withdrawn within 30 days 

after the time allowed for filing a 

protest, the instant request for 

authorization will be considered by the 

Commission. 

Protests must comply with the 

requirements specified in section 

157.205(e) of the Commission’s 

regulations,4 and must be submitted by 

the protest deadline, which is March 15, 

2021. A protest may also serve as a 

motion to intervene so long as the 

protestor states it also seeks to be an 

intervenor. 

Interventions 

Any person has the option to file a 

motion to intervene in this proceeding. 

Only intervenors have the right to 

request rehearing of Commission orders 

issued in this proceeding and to 

subsequently challenge the 

Commission’s orders in the U.S. Circuit 

Courts of Appeal. 

To intervene, you must submit a 

motion to intervene to the Commission 

in accordance with Rule 214 of the 

Commission’s Rules of Practice and 

Procedure 5 and the regulations under 

the NGA 6 by the intervention deadline 

for the project, which is March 15, 2021. 

As described further in Rule 214, your 

motion to intervene must state, to the 

extent known, your position regarding 

the proceeding, as well as your interest 

in the proceeding. For an individual, 

this could include your status as a 

landowner, ratepayer, resident of an 

impacted community, or recreationist. 

You do not need to have property 

directly impacted by the project in order 

to intervene. For more information 

about motions to intervene, refer to the 

FERC website at https://www.ferc.gov/ 

resources/guides/how-to/intervene.asp. 

All timely, unopposed motions to 

intervene are automatically granted by 

operation of Rule 214(c)(1). Motions to 

intervene that are filed after the 

intervention deadline are untimely and 

may be denied. Any late-filed motion to 

intervene must show good cause for 

being late and must explain why the 

time limitation should be waived and 

provide justification by reference to 

factors set forth in Rule 214(d) of the 

Commission’s Rules and Regulations. A 

person obtaining party status will be 

placed on the service list maintained by 

the Secretary of the Commission and 

will receive copies (paper or electronic) 

of all documents filed by the applicant 

and by all other parties. 

Comments 

Any person wishing to comment on 

the project may do so. The Commission 

considers all comments received about 

the project in determining the 

appropriate action to be taken. To 

ensure that your comments are timely 

and properly recorded, please submit 

your comments on or before March 15, 

2021. The filing of a comment alone will 

not serve to make the filer a party to the 

proceeding. To become a party, you 

must intervene in the proceeding. 

How To File Protests, Interventions, 

and Comments 

There are two ways to submit 

protests, motions to intervene, and 

comments. In both instances, please 

reference the Project docket number 

CP21–21–000 in your submission. 

(1) You may file your protest, motion 

to intervene, and comments by using the 

Commission’s eFiling feature, which is 

located on the Commission’s website 

(www.ferc.gov) under the link to 

Documents and Filings. New eFiling 

users must first create an account by 

clicking on ‘‘eRegister.’’ You will be 

asked to select the type of filing you are 

making; first select General’’ and then 

select ‘‘Protest’’, ‘‘Intervention’’, or 

‘‘Comment on a Filing’’; or 7

(2) You can file a paper copy of your 

submission by mailing it to the address 

below.8 Your submission must reference 

the Project docket number CP21–21– 

000. 

Kimberly D. Bose, Secretary, Federal 

Energy Regulatory Commission, 888 

First Street NE, Washington, DC 

20426 

The Commission encourages 

electronic filing of submissions (option 

1 above) and has eFiling staff available 

to assist you at (202) 502–8258 or 

FercOnlineSupport@ferc.gov. 

Protests and motions to intervene 

must be served on the applicant either 

by mail or email (with a link to the 

document) at: dave_hammel@

tcenergy.com or 700 Louisiana Street, 

Suite 700, Houston, Texas 77002–2700. 

Any subsequent submissions by an 

intervenor must be served on the 

applicant and all other parties to the 

proceeding. Contact information for 

parties can be downloaded from the 

service list at the eService link on FERC 

Online. 

Tracking the Proceeding 

Throughout the proceeding, 

additional information about the project 

will be available from the Commission’s 

Office of External Affairs, at (866) 208– 

FERC, or on the FERC website at 

7086 Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 15 / Tuesday, January 26, 2021 / Notices 

1Non-hydro renewable assets, as referred to in 

this notice, are production assets other than 

hydroelectric generators such as solar, wind energy, 

geothermal, biomass, etc., that rely on the heat or 

motion of the earth or sun’s radiation to produce 

energy. Specifically, these are denoted as renewable 

because the power production is based on a fuel 

source that is not consumed or destroyed by the 

generation process, such as buried hydrocarbons 

(coal, oil, natural gas), or the decay of rare 

irradiated heavy metals (nuclear). Biomass (trees, 

nut shells, grain husks and stalks, etc.) is 

considered renewable, despite its hydrocarbon 

source being consumed, due to its carbon release 

being offset by regrowth of carbon capturing 

equivalent biomass. 

2 18 CFR part 101; Accounting and Financial 

Reporting for Public Utilities Including RTOs, Order 

No. 668, 113 FERC ¶ 61,276 at 59 (2005). 

3Comments of the Edison Electric Institute, 

Docket No. AC20–103–000, at 3 (filed May 28, 

2020). 4Comments of Ameren Services Company, 

Docket No. AC20–103–000, at 8–9 (filed May 28, 

2020). 5 Id. at 6–7; Comments of Edison Electric Institute 

at 4. 6Ameren Illinois Co., 170 FERC ¶ 61,267, at P 52 

(2020) (citing Revisions to Uniform Systems of 

Accounts to Account for Allowances under the 

Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 and RegulatoryCreated Assets and Liabilities and to Form Nos. 1, 

1–F, 2 and 2–A, Order No. 552, FERC Stats. and 

Regs. ¶ 30,967 (1993) (cross-referenced at 62 FERC 

¶ 61,299)). 

7Revisions to Uniform Systems of Accounts to 

Account for Allowances under the Clean Air Act 

Amendments of 1990 and Regulatory-Created 

Assets and Liabilities and to Form Nos. 1, 1–F, 2 

and 2–A, Order No. 552, FERC Stats. and Regs. 

¶ 30,967 (cross-referenced at 62 FERC ¶ 61,299). 

www.ferc.gov using the ‘‘eLibrary’’ link 

as described above. The eLibrary link 

also provides access to the texts of all 

formal documents issued by the 

Commission, such as orders, notices, 

and rulemakings. 

In addition, the Commission offers a 

free service called eSubscription which 

allows you to keep track of all formal 

issuances and submittals in specific 

dockets. This can reduce the amount of 

time you spend researching proceedings 

by automatically providing you with 

notification of these filings, document 

summaries, and direct links to the 

documents. For more information and to 

register, go to www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/ 

esubscription.asp. 

Dated: January 12, 2021. 

Kimberly D. Bose, 

Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 2021–01556 Filed 1–25–21; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6717–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY 

Federal Energy Regulatory 

Commission 

[Docket No. RM21–11–000] 

Accounting and Reporting Treatment 

of Certain Renewable Energy Assets 

AGENCY: Federal Energy Regulatory 

Commission, DOE. 

ACTION: Notice of inquiry. 

SUMMARY: In this Notice of Inquiry, the 

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission 

(Commission) seeks comments on the 

accounting and reporting treatment of 

certain renewable energy generating 

assets and renewable energy credits. In 

addition, the Commission seeks 

comments on the ratemaking 

implications of these accounting and 

reporting changes. 

DATES: Initial Comments are due March 

29, 2021, and Reply Comments are due 

April 26, 2021. 

ADDRESSES: Comments, identified by 

docket number, may be filed in the 

following ways: 

• Electronic Filing through http://

www.ferc.gov. Documents created 

electronically using word processing 

software should be filed in native 

applications or print-to-PDF format and 

not in a scanned format. 

• Mail/Hand Delivery: Those unable 

to file electronically may mail or handdeliver comments to: Federal Energy 

Regulatory Commission, Secretary of the 

Commission, 888 First Street NE, 

Washington, DC 20426. 

• Instructions: For detailed 

instructions on submitting comments, 

see the Comment Procedures Section of 

this document. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Daniel Birkam (Technical Information), 

Office of Enforcement, Federal Energy 

Regulatory Commission, 888 First 

Street NE, Washington, DC 20426, 

(202) 502–8035, Daniel.Birkam@

ferc.gov 

Sarah Greenberg (Legal Information), 

Office of the General Counsel, Federal 

Energy Regulatory Commission, 888 

First Street NE, Washington, DC 

20426, (202) 502–6230, 

Sarah.Greenberg@ferc.gov 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

1. In this Notice of Inquiry (NOI), the 

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission 

(Commission) seeks comments on the 

appropriate accounting treatment for 

certain renewable energy assets. First, 

the Commission seeks comments on 

whether to create new accounts within 

the Uniform System of Accounts 

(USofA) for non-hydro renewable 

energy generating assets,1 and, if so, 

how such accounts should be organized. 

Second, the Commission seeks 

comments on how to modify FERC 

Form No. 1 to reflect any new accounts. 

Third, the Commission seeks comments 

on whether to codify the proper 

accounting treatment of the purchase, 

generation, and use of renewable energy 

credits (RECs). Finally, the Commission 

seeks comments on the rate setting 

implications of these potential 

accounting and reporting changes. 

I. Background 

2. The USofA contains discrete 

accounts for steam production, nuclear 

production, hydraulic production, and 

other production.2 However, the USofA 

does not contain any accounts designed 

specifically for solar, wind, or other 

non-hydro renewable generating assets. 

Therefore, electric utilities currently 

record non-hydro renewable assets in 

the Other Production accounts of the 

USofA. Commenters have indicated that 

companies exercise ‘‘reasonable 

judgment’’ when determining in which 

Other Production account to book these 

assets.3

3. Recently, parties have expressed 

disagreement regarding which Other 

Production accounts should be used to 

book non-hydro renewable assets. In 

Docket No. AC20–103, the Commission 

received a request for confirmation that 

the costs of certain wind and solar 

generating equipment are properly 

booked to the Other Production 

Accounts 343 (Prime Movers), 344 

(Generators), and 345 (Accessory 

Electric Equipment). In that proceeding, 

commenters argued that the proposal 

booked an inappropriate amount of 

costs to Account 345, which are 

included in reactive power rates 

pursuant to the AEP Methodology.4

Commenters, including the Edison 

Electric Institute, suggested that the 

Commission consider creating new 

accounts for wind, solar, and other nonhydro renewables to resolve this issue.5

Concurrently with the issuance of this 

Notice of Inquiry, the Commission is 

issuing an order in Docket No. AC20– 

103, denying the request and explaining 

that this Notice of Inquiry will begin a 

proceeding in which the Commission 

will evaluate the need for further 

guidance regarding the proper 

accounting treatment of non-hydro 

renewable generating assets. 

4. In addition, the existing USofA 

accounts do not explicitly address the 

accounting treatment of the purchase, 

generation, or use of RECs. However, the 

Commission has stated that RECs are 

analogous to the sulfur dioxide emission 

allowances created by Title IV of the 

Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990, 

which the Commission addressed in 

Order No. 552.6 Order No. 552 classified 

emission allowances as inventoriable 

items and established new inventory 

and expense accounts to record the 

allowances.7 In keeping with Order No. 

552, the Commission has found that