9202 Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 39 / Monday, March 1, 2010 / Notices 

1Transparency Provisions of Section 23 of the 

Natural Gas Act, Order No. 704, FERC Stats. & Regs. 

¶ 31,260 (2007) (Final Rule); Transparency 

Provisions of Section 23 of the Natural Gas Act, 

Order No. 704–A, FERC Stats. & Regs. ¶ 31,275 

(2008); and Transparency Provisions of Section 23 

of the Natural Gas Act, Order No. 704–B, 125 FERC 

¶ 61,302 (2008). 

in lieu of an environmental assessment 

(EA). The EIS will be prepared in 

accordance with the National 

Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). 

Scoping 

The FERC staff prepared a scoping 

document and held public scoping 

meetings on October 19, 2009 in Palo 

Cedro, CA and October 22, 2009 in 

Redding, CA. FERC staff held public 

environmental site reviews of the 

project on October 20 and 21, 2009. The 

public meetings and environmental site 

reviews assisted staff in identifying the 

scope of the environmental issues that 

should be analyzed. The results of the 

scoping were extensive and indicate 

than an EIS should be prepared for this 

project rather than an EA, as staff had 

initially anticipated. The upcoming EIS 

will reflect input received at the scoping 

meetings and justify why staff has 

determined that an EIS should be 

prepared. 

Process 

The FERC staff will first issue and 

circulate a draft EIS to all of the 

interested parties for comment. All 

comments filed on the draft EIS will be 

analyzed by the FERC staff and 

considered in the final EIS pursuant to 

NEPA. The FERC staff will also hold a 

public meeting in California before 

issuing the final EIS. The staff’s 

conclusions and recommendations will 

then be presented for the consideration 

of the Commission in the order reaching 

its final decision. 

For further information please contact 

the project coordinator, CarLisa Linton 

at (202) 502–8416 or carlisa.lintonpeters@ferc.gov. 

Kimberly D. Bose, 

Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 2010–4093 Filed 2–26–10; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6717–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY 

Federal Energy Regulatory 

Commission 

[Docket No. EF10–5–000] 

Western Area Power Administration; 

Notice of Filing 

February 19, 2010. 

Take notice that on February 2, 2010, 

the Deputy Secretary of the Department 

of Energy, under the authority vested in 

the Federal Energy Regulatory 

Commission by Delegation Order No. 

00–037.00, submitted Rate Order No. 

WAPA–149, the power rate formula for 

the Provo River Project, for confirmation 

and final approval to be effective April 

1, 2010, and ending March 31, 2015. 

Any person desiring to intervene or to 

protest this filing must file in 

accordance with Rules 211 and 214 of 

the Commission’s Rules of Practice and 

Procedure (18 CFR 385.211, 385.214). 

Protests will be considered by the 

Commission in determining the 

appropriate action to be taken, but will 

not serve to make protestants parties to 

the proceeding. Any person wishing to 

become a party must file a notice of 

intervention or motion to intervene, as 

appropriate. Such notices, motions, or 

protests must be filed on or before the 

comment date. On or before the 

comment date, it is not necessary to 

serve motions to intervene or protests 

on persons other than the Applicant. 

The Commission encourages 

electronic submission of protests and 

interventions in lieu of paper using the 

‘‘eFiling’’ link at http://www.ferc.gov. 

Persons unable to file electronically 

should submit an original and 14 copies 

of the protest or intervention to the 

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 

888 First Street, NE., Washington, DC 

20426. 

This filing is accessible on-line at 

http://www.ferc.gov, using the 

‘‘eLibrary’’ link and is available for 

review in the Commission’s Public 

Reference Room in Washington, DC. 

There is an ‘‘eSubscription’’ link on the 

Web site that enables subscribers to 

receive e-mail notification when a 

document is added to a subscribed 

docket(s). For assistance with any FERC 

Online service, please e-mail 

FERCOnlineSupport@ferc.gov, or call 

(866) 208–3676 (toll free). For TTY, call 

(202) 502–8659. 

Comment Date: 5 p.m. Eastern Time 

on March 4, 2010. 

Kimberly D. Bose, 

Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 2010–4091 Filed 2–26–10; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6717–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY 

Federal Energy Regulatory 

Commission 

[Project No. 1354–081] 

Pacific Gas & Electric Company; 

Notice of Availability of Final 

Environmental Assessment 

February 19, 2010. 

In accordance with the National 

Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as 

amended, and the Federal Energy 

Regulatory Commission’s (Commission) 

regulations (18 CFR Part 380), 

Commission staff has prepared a Final 

Environmental Assessment (FEA) 

regarding Pacific Gas & Electric 

Company’s (PG&E) proposal to perform 

seismic remediation work at Crane 

Valley Dam, part of the Crane Valley 

Hydroelectric Project. The project 

occupies approximately 738 acres of 

federal lands within Sierra National 

Forest, approximately 40 miles 

northeast of the city of Fresno in 

Modesto County, California. Crane 

Valley Dam is located on North Fork 

Willow Creek, in the San Joaquin River 

Basin. The FEA analyzes the 

environmental effects of the seismic 

remediation proposal, PG&E’s resource 

protection and mitigation plans, and 

recommends further measures to 

minimize any environmental effects. 

The FEA concludes that the proposed 

seismic remediation and resource plans, 

with the recommended measures, 

would not constitute a major federal 

action significantly affecting the quality 

of the human environment. 

A copy of the FEA is available for 

review at the Commission’s Public 

Reference Room, or it may be viewed on 

the Commission’s Web site at http:// 

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

Enter the docket number (P–1354) in the 

docket number field to access the 

document. For assistance, call (202) 

502–8222, or (202) 502–8659 (for TTY). 

For further information on this notice, 

please contact B. Peter Yarrington at 

(202) 502–6129. 

Kimberly D. Bose, 

Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 2010–4092 Filed 2–26–10; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6717–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY 

Federal Energy Regulatory 

Commission 

[Docket No. RM07–10–002] 

Transparency Provisions of Section 23 

of the Natural Gas Act; Notice of Form 

No. 552 Technical Conference 

February 22, 2010. 

Take notice that on March 25, 2010, 

a technical conference will be convened 

to consider certain issues concerning 

Form No. 552, related to Order Nos. 704, 

704–A and 704–B.1 The technical 

conference will be held in the 

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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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