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[Federal Register: July 27, 2010 (Volume 75, Number 143)]
[Notices]               
[Page 43956]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr27jy10-63]                         

[[Page 43956]]

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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Energy Information Administration

 
Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Change of 
Disclosure Information From Protected to Public

AGENCY: Energy Information Administration (EIA), Department of Energy 
(DOE).

ACTION: Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Public 
Release of Past Responses; Comment Request.

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SUMMARY: The EIA proposes to change the data confidentiality protection 
provisions for data collected from the ``Annual Nonutility Power 
Producer Report'' Form EIA-867.

DATES: Comments must be filed by September 27, 2010. If you anticipate 
difficulty in submitting comments within that period, contact the 
person listed below as soon as possible.

ADDRESSES: Send comments to Christopher Cassar. To ensure receipt of 
the comments by the due date, submission by FAX (202-287-1938) or e-
mail (EIA-867@eia.doe.gov) is recommended. The mailing address is 
Christopher Cassar, EI-53, Forrestal Building, U.S. Department of 
Energy, 1000 Independence Ave., SW., Washington, DC 20585. 
Alternatively, Christopher Cassar may be contacted by telephone at 202-
586-5448.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Requests for additional information 
should be directed to Christopher Cassar at the address listed above.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background
II. Current Actions
III. Request for Comments

I. Background

    The Form EIA-867, ``Annual Nonutility Power Producer Report'' was 
used to collect data from the nonutility electricity generator sector 
from 1989 through 1997. The data collected on the survey form included 
plant-level electric power production and consumption data. The survey 
also collected ownership statistics such as, company name, number of 
electric generating facilities owned, and contact person name, title, 
and telephone number. From 1989 through 1997, EIA collected some 
information as public and non-confidential and other data such as fuels 
consumed, generation, purchases of electricity, sales, electricity used 
at the facility, number and type of customers, maximum contract amount 
by customer, deliveries by customer, environmental information, and 
electric generator information as confidential. EIA stated in its 
survey instructions that it would protect the information to the extent 
that it satisfied the criteria for exemption under the Freedom of 
Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552, the Department of Energy (DOE) 
regulations, 10 CFR 1004.11 implementing the FOIA, and the Trade 
Secrets Act, 18 U.S.C. 1905.
    After 1997, the industry became deregulated and many plants 
previously categorized as ``utility plants'' were divested by 
utilities, and moved into the ``nonutility'' sector as independent 
power producers. Those facilities were accustomed to EIA's publicly 
disclosing information that was collected on Form EIA-867. On January 
13, 1998, EIA published a Federal Register Notice (Volume 63, Number 8) 
to solicit comments on what electric power data should be treated as 
non-confidential and be available for dissemination in company-specific 
form and what electric power data should be treated as confidential by 
EIA and not disclosed in identifiable form. Based on the comments 
received from the electric power producers and data users, EIA made the 
decision to treat the information collected on Form EIA-867 as public 
information and began releasing plant-level electric power production 
and consumption data from its Web site beginning with data collected 
from January 1, 1998.

II. Current Actions

    The Form EIA-867 survey was discontinued December 31, 1998, and the 
data elements were merged into Form EIA-860. Beginning with the 
collection of 1998 data on January 1, 1999, these data elements are 
treated as public information. EIA now proposes to treat all data 
submitted on Form EIA-867 from 1989 through 1997 data as public 
information and release it on EIA's Web site.

III. Request for Comments

    Past respondents to Form EIA-867 and other interested parties 
should comment on the actions discussed in item II. Comments submitted 
in response to this notice will be considered before EIA changes the 
disclosure status.

    Statutory Authority: Section 13(b) of the Federal Energy 
Administration Act of 1974, Public Law 93-275, codified at 15 U.S.C. 
772(b).

    Issued in Washington, DC, July 21, 2010.
Stephanie Brown,
Director, Statistics and Methods Group, Energy Information 
Administration.
[FR Doc. 2010-18356 Filed 7-26-10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-P
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