26828 Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 90 / Tuesday, May 9, 2000 / Notices

[FR Doc. 00–11581 Filed 5–8–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6450–01–P

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory

Commission

[Docket No. IC99–715–001, FERC Form No.

715]

Information Collection Submitted for

Review and Request for Comments

May 3, 2000.

AGENCY: Federal Energy Regulatory

Commission, DOE.

ACTION: Notice of submission for review

by the Office of Management and

Budget (OMB) and request for

comments.

SUMMARY: The Federal Energy

Regulatory Commission (Commission)

has submitted the energy information

collection listed in this notice to the

Office of Management and Budget

(OMB) for review under provisions of

Section 3507 of the Paperwork

Reduction Act of 1995 (Pub. L. 104–13).

Any interested person may file

comments on the collection of

information directly with OMB and

should address a copy of those

comments to the Commission, as

explained below. The Commission

received comments from eleven entities

in response to an earlier FEDERAL

REGISTER notice of August 20, 1999 (64

FR 45522–23) and has responded to

those comments in this submission.

DATES: Comments regarding this

collection are best assured of having

their full effect if received on or before

June 8, 2000.

ADDRESSES: Address comments to Office

of Management and Budget, Office of

Information and Regulatory Affairs,

Attention: Federal Energy Regulatory

Commission Desk Officer, 725 17th

Street N.W., Washington, D.C. 20503. A

copy of the comments should also be

sent to Federal Energy Regulatory

Commission, Office of the Chief

Information Officer, Attention: Mr.

Michael Miller, 888 First Street, NE,

Washington, DC 20426. Mr. Miller may

be reached by telephone at (202) 208–

1415 and by e-mail at

mike.miller@ferc.fed.us

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Description

The energy information collection

submitted to OMB for review contains:

1. Collection of Information: FERC

Form 715, ‘‘Annual Transmission

Planning and Evaluation Report.’’

2. Sponsor: Federal Energy Regulatory

Commission.

3. Control No.: 1902–0171. The

Commission is now requesting that

OMB approve a three year extension of

the current expiration date, with no

changes to the existing collection. This

is a mandatory collection requirement.

4. Necessity of Collection of

Information: Submission of the

information is necessary to enable the

Commission to carry out its

responsibilities in implementing

provisions of Section 213 of the Federal

Power Act. Section 213(b) requires the

Commission to collect annually from

transmitting utilities sufficient

information about their transmission

systems to inform potential

transmission customers, state regulatory

authorities, and the public of available

transmission capacity and constraints.

This information collection also

supports the Commission’s expanded

responsibilities under Sections 211, 212,

304, 307(a), 309 and 311 of the Federal

Power Act as amended, for reviewing

reliability issues, market structure

relationships, for rate and other

regulatory proceedings.

5. Respondent Description: The

respondent universe currently

comprises approximately 117 public

utilities. There are 273 regulated

transmitting utilities, however, many of

these utilities submit some or all of the

information through their North

American Electric Reliability Council

(NERC) regions. With three exceptions,

power flow base cases are filed by each

utility’s NERC region, a total of nine

regions. The descriptions of each

utility’s transmission planning

assessment practices, including how

reliability criteria are applied, the

descriptions of the transmission

planning reliability criteria used to

evaluate system performance, system

maps and diagrams are submitted

separately by 117 respondents.

6. Estimated Burden: 18,720 total

burden hours, 117 respondents, 1

response annually, 160 hours per

response.

Statutory Authority: Sections 213 of the

FPA (16 U.S.C. 8241) and Sections 211, 212,

304, 307(a), 309, and 311 of the Federal

Power Act (FPA). (16 U.S.C. 824j–825(i)).

David P. Boergers,

Secretary.

[FR Doc. 00–11487 Filed 5–8–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6717–01–M

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory

Commission

[Project Nos. 2576 and 2597]

Connecticut Light and Power

Company; Notice of Public Information

Meetings on the Housatonic Projects

2576 and 2597

May 3, 2000.

A significant number of hydroelectric

licenses will expire between now and

2010. Among these are the Connecticut

Light and Power Company’s (CL&P)

licenses for the Falls Village Project

(Project No. 2597) and the Housatonic

Project (Project No. 2576). Both of these

projects are located on the Housatonic

River, in the western portion of

Connecticut in Fairfield, New Haven,

and Litchfield Counties.

In its application for a new license,

filed with the Federal Energy Regulatory

Commission (Commission) on August

31, 1999, CL&P proposes to combine

both projects under a single license for

the Housatonic River Project (Project

No. 2576). The existing licenses for the

Falls Village Project and the Housatonic

Project expire in August and September

(respectively) of 2001.

Members of the public living in

Western Connecticut have demonstrated

significant interest in the Commission’s

licensing process as it pertains to this

project, and Commission staff have

received numerous requests for

information about how members of the

public might participate.

Consequently, Commission staff will

hold two early evening public

information meetings at New Milford

and Falls Village, Connecticut, to

familiarize the public with the

Commission’s hydropower licensing

program.

Commission staff will present a brief

overview of the Commission and its

responsibilities, the status of this

pending license application, a general

description of the procedures

Commission staff will use for the

remainder of this license proceeding,

and instructions on how members of the

public may participate in this license

proceeding.

While there will be an opportunity for

questions and answers about

Commission staff’s presentation, all

discussion of the merits of the pending

application is strongly discouraged. At

these meetings, Commission staff will

entertain no questions pertaining to the

merits of the pending application.

Interested persons are invited to

attend either or both meetings

scheduled as follows: