Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 39 / Monday, March 1, 2010 / Notices 9203 

2A Notice of Extension of Time is being issued 

concurrently with this notice granting all natural 

gas participants an extension of time until July 1, 

2010 to file their Form No. 552 for calendar year 

2009. 

Commission Meeting Room at the 

headquarters of the Federal Energy 

Regulatory Commission, 888 First 

Street, NE., Washington, DC, from 9 a.m. 

to 2 p.m. (EDT). The conference will be 

open to the public; there is no 

registration to attend.2

On December 26, 2007, the 

Commission issued Order No. 704, 

Transparency Provisions of Section 23 

of the Natural Gas Act. The Final Rule, 

among other things, requires natural gas 

market participants to report sales and 

purchase volumes of physical natural 

gas that use, contribute to, or may 

contribute to the formation of a price 

index during a calendar year. On 

September 18, 2008, the Commission 

issued Order 704–A Order on Rehearing 

and Clarification and on December 18, 

2008 the Commission issued Order 704– 

B, Order Dismissing Rehearing Request 

as Deficient, Denying Reconsideration, 

and Granting and Denying Clarification. 

On October 9, 2009 and November 3, 

2009, the American Gas Association and 

Pacific Gas & Electric Company, 

respectively, submitted supplemental 

comments requesting clarification of 

certain reporting requirements in Form 

No. 552. Staff has also identified other 

areas in the form that require 

clarification and inconsistencies in 

reporting physical natural gas 

transactions that arose during data 

collection and outreach. The 

inconsistencies and issues identified 

and discussed below will be the subject 

of the technical conference for Form No. 

552. The Commission may elect to 

modify Form No. 552 following reviews 

of the supplemental comments 

requesting clarification and its own 

clarifications after the technical 

conference. 

The technical conference will address 

only the issues identified by staff. The 

topics for discussion at the conference 

are: (1) Inconsistencies in reporting 

upstream transactions in the natural gas 

supply chain on Form No. 552, and 

whether these transactions contribute to 

wholesale price formation; (2) whether 

transactions involving balancing, cashout, operational, and in-kind 

transactions should be reported on Form 

No. 552; and (3) whether the units of 

measurement (TBtu) currently used for 

reporting volumes in the form are 

appropriate. 

Order No. 704–A held that 

transactions involving unprocessed 

natural gas were not reportable on Form 

No. 552. The Commission also held that 

transactions regarding unprocessed 

natural gas should not be counted when 

determining whether an entity falls 

below the de minimis threshold. 

Through various outreach efforts and 

data collected in Form No. 552 for 

calendar year 2008, Commission staff 

has learned that substantial volumes of 

upstream natural gas transactions may 

not be reflected in Form No. 552, 

because of inconsistent reporting 

practices. The sales and purchase 

volumes of upstream natural gas 

transactions are currently reportable on 

Form No. 552 if they use, contribute to, 

or may contribute to the formation of a 

price index. Staff believes that Form No. 

552 filers have interpreted this 

requirement in various ways based on 

their unique situations. Therefore, staff 

would like to gain a better 

understanding of industry reporting 

practices for upstream transactions in 

the natural gas supply chain and to 

determine whether upstream natural gas 

contributes to wholesale price 

formation. 

In Orders 704–A and 704–B, the 

Commission found that balancing, cashout, operational, in-kind, and similar 

transactions must be reported in Form 

No. 552 if they use, contribute to, or 

could contribute to the formation of a 

price index. Staff has preliminary 

indications that the volumes of natural 

gas identified as cash-outs are relatively 

low in relation to the total reportable 

physical natural gas reported on Form 

No. 552. Therefore, staff is seeking to 

better understand the burden and 

benefits of reporting these volumes. 

Finally, filers have expressed 

confusion about the requirement in 

Form No. 552 to report transactions in 

trillion Btus (TBtu). Converting data to 

TBtus led to a number of filing errors, 

and subsequent resubmissions to correct 

the data were required. Staff is seeking 

feedback on whether changing the 

reporting units to an industry standard 

unit of measure like decatherms would 

facilitate reporting. 

An agenda for the conference will be 

issued in a later notice. This technical 

conference will not be webcast. It will 

be transcribed. Transcripts of the 

conference will be available 

immediately for a fee from Ace 

Reporting Company (202–347–3700 or 

1–800–336–6646). 

Any person interested in filing 

comments after the conference should 

do so in this docket by April 2, 2010. 

A person is not required to have 

attended the conference in order to file 

comments on the specific topics herein. 

Commission conferences and 

meetings are accessible under section 

508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. 

For accessibility accommodations 

please send an e-mail to 

accessibility@ferc.gov or call toll free 

(866) 208–3372 (voice) or 202–502–8659 

(TTY), or send a fax to 202–208–2106 

with the required accommodations. 

For additional information, please 

contact Christopher Peterson at 202– 

502–8933 or 

Christopher.Peterson@ferc.gov and 

Thomas Russo at 202–502–8792 or 

Thomas.Russo@ferc.gov of FERC’s 

Office of Enforcement. 

Kimberly D. Bose, 

Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 2010–4089 Filed 2–26–10; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6717–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY 

Federal Energy Regulatory 

Commission 

[Docket No. AD10–4–000] 

Guidance on Preparation of MarketBased Rate Filings and Electric 

Quarterly Reports by Public Utilities; 

Supplemental Notice of Technical 

Conference 

February 22, 2010. 

As announced in the ‘‘Notice of 

Technical Conference’’ issued on 

January 28, 2010, a technical conference 

will be held on March 3, 2010, from 9 

a.m. to 3 p.m. (EST) in the Commission 

Meeting Room at the Federal Energy 

Regulatory Commission, 888 First 

Street, NE., Washington, DC 20426. The 

conference will be open for the public 

to attend and advance registration is not 

required. 

The technical conference will focus 

on the mechanics of how to prepare an 

initial electric public utility marketbased rate application and subsequent 

filings (including triennial market 

power reviews and change in status 

filings), as well as the requirement to 

submit Electric Quarterly Reports to the 

Commission once a seller has received 

market-based rate authorization. At the 

technical conference staff will also 

address the most frequently-asked 

questions that arise on electric marketbased rate filings, the most common 

errors that are made in such filings, and 

highlight what tools are currently 

available to sellers in order to simplify 

the market-based rate application 

process as well as the preparation of 

subsequent required filings. The agenda 

for this conference is attached. 

Any person planning to attend the 

technical conference is strongly 

encouraged to register, preferably by 

close of business on Friday, February 

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9204 Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 39 / Monday, March 1, 2010 / Notices 

26, 2010. Registration may be submitted 

either online at https://www.ferc.gov/ 

whats-new/registration/mbr-03–03–10- 

form.asp or by faxing a copy of the form 

(found at the referenced online link) to 

(202) 208–0353. 

A free webcast of the technical 

conference will be available. 

Registration to view the webcast is not 

required. webcast viewers will not be 

permitted to participate during the 

technical conference. Anyone with 

Internet access interested in viewing 

this conference can do so by navigating 

to http://www.ferc.gov’s Calendar of 

Events and locating the appropriate 

event in the Calendar. The events will 

contain a link to the applicable webcast 

option. The Capitol Connection 

provides technical support for the 

webcasts and offers the option of 

listening to the conferences via phonebridge for a fee. If you have any 

questions, visit http:// 

www.CapitolConnection.org or call (703) 

993–3100. 

FERC conferences are accessible 

under section 508 of the Rehabilitation 

Act of 1973. For accessibility 

accommodations please send an e-mail 

to accessibility@ferc.gov or call toll free 

(866) 208–3372 (voice) or (202) 502– 

8659 (TTY), or send a fax to (202) 208– 

2106 with the required 

accommodations. 

For further information, please 

contact Ryan Anderson at (202) 502– 

8122 or e-mail ryan.anderson@ferc.gov. 

Kimberly D. Bose, 

Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 2010–4096 Filed 2–26–10; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6717–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY 

Federal Energy Regulatory 

Commission 

[Docket No. RM01–5–000] 

Electronic Tariff Filings; Notice of 

Rescheduled Technical Conference 

February 19, 2010. 

As a result of inclement weather 

closing the Federal Government in 

Washington, DC, a technical conference 

scheduled for February 9, 2010 could 

not occur. Take notice that that this 

event has been rescheduled for February 

26, 2010. The conference will last from 

10 a.m.–1:30 p.m. EST that day. 

Please refer to the notice of technical 

conferences issued on December 16, 

2009 in this proceeding for details 

related to the originating Commission 

action for this conference, as well as the 

topics that will be covered. 

The conference will be held at the 

Commission’s offices, 888 First Street, 

NE., Washington, DC. All interested 

persons are invited to attend. The 

documents that will be discussed are 

located at http://www.ferc.gov/docsfiling/etariff.asp. 

Teleconferencing will be available. 

The number and instructions for 

teleconferencing in these meetings is 

posted on http://www.ferc.gov/docsfiling/etariff.asp and an RSS alert 

related to this rescheduled event will be 

issued. 

The meeting is open to the public. No 

preregistration is required. FERC 

meetings are accessible under section 

508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. 

For accessibility accommodations 

please send an e-mail to 

accessibility@ferc.gov or call toll free 

(866) 208–3372 (voice) or (202) 502– 

8659 (TTY), or send a fax to (202) 208– 

2106 with the required 

accommodations. 

For more information about these 

conferences, please contact Keith Pierce, 

Office of Energy Market Regulation at 

(202) 502–8525 or send an e-mail to 

ETariff@ferc.gov. 

Kimberly D. Bose, 

Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 2010–4095 Filed 2–26–10; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6717–01–P 

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 

AGENCY 

[EPA–R04–OAR–2009–0561–201006; FRL– 

9119–9] 

Adequacy Status of the HickoryMorganton-Lenoir, North Carolina 1997 

PM2.5 Attainment Demonstration Motor 

Vehicle Emissions Budget for 

Transportation Conformity Purposes 

AGENCY: Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA). 

ACTION: Notice of adequacy. 

SUMMARY: In this notice, EPA is 

notifying the public of its finding that 

the nitrogen oxides (NOx) motor vehicle 

emissions budget (MVEB) in the 

Hickory-Morganton-Lenoir, North 

Carolina (hereafter referred to as the 

Hickory Area) attainment demonstration 

for the 1997 PM2.5 standard, submitted 

on August 21, 2009, by the North 

Carolina Department of Environment 

and Natural Resources (NCDENR), is 

adequate for transportation conformity 

purposes. EPA is also making an 

insignificance finding for direct 

particulate matter (PM) through the 

transportation conformity adequacy 

process for the Hickory Area. The 

Hickory Area is comprised of the entire 

county of Catawba in North Carolina. 

On March 2, 1999, the District of 

Columbia Circuit Court ruled that 

submitted state implementation plans 

(SIPs) cannot be used for transportation 

conformity determinations until EPA 

has affirmatively found them adequate. 

As a result of EPA’s finding, the Hickory 

Area must use the NOX MVEB from the 

submitted Hickory, North Carolina 1997 

PM2.5 attainment demonstration for 

future conformity determinations, and 

the Hickory Area is not required to 

perform a regional emissions analysis 

for direct PM2.5 in future PM2.5

transportation conformity 

determinations for the 1997 annual 

PM2.5 standard. 

DATES: The adequacy finding for the 

NOX MVEB and the insignificance 

finding for direct PM2.5 are effective 

March 16, 2010. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Amanetta Somerville, Environmental 

Scientist, U.S. Environmental Protection 

Agency, Region 4, Air Planning Branch, 

Air Quality Modeling and 

Transportation Section, 61 Forsyth 

Street, SW., Atlanta, Georgia 30303. Ms. 

Somerville can also be reached by 

telephone at (404) 562–9025, or via 

electronic mail at 

somerville.amanetta@epa.gov. The 

finding is available at EPA’s conformity 

Web site: http://www.epa.gov/otaq/ 

transp.htm (once there, click on the 

‘‘Transportation Conformity’’ text icon, 

then look for ‘‘Adequacy Review of SIP 

Submissions’’). 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background 

Today’s notice is simply an 

announcement of findings that EPA has 

already made. EPA Region 4 sent a letter 

to NCDENR on January 20, 2010, stating 

that the 2009 NOX MVEB in the 1997 

PM2.5 attainment demonstration for 

Hickory, dated August 21, 2009, is 

adequate. The letter also states that 

direct PM2.5 is insignificant for the 

Hickory Area, therefore no regional 

emissions analysis is required. EPA 

posted the availability of the Hickory 

Area MVEB and insignificance 

demonstration on EPA’s Web site on 

September 8, 2009, as part of the 

adequacy process, for the purpose of 

soliciting comments. The comment 

period ran from September 8, 2009, 

through October 8, 2009. EPA’s findings 

have also been announced on EPA’s 

conformity Web site: http:// 

www.epa.gov/otaq/stateresources/ 

index.htm (once there, click 

‘‘Transportation Conformity’’ text icon, 

then look for ‘‘Adequacy Review of SIP 

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