Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 60 / Wednesday, March 28, 2012 / Notices 18799 

and Director, Office of Science and 

Technology Policy, Executive Office of 

the President, The White House; and Dr. 

Eric S. Lander, President, Broad 

Institute of the Massachusetts Institute 

of Technology and Harvard. 

Type of Meeting: Open. 

Proposed Schedule and Agenda: The 

President’s Council of Advisors on 

Science and Technology (PCAST) is 

scheduled to hold a conference call in 

open session on April 16, 2012, from 

4:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. (EST) 

During the conference call, PCAST 

will discuss its Advanced 

Manufacturing Partnership report. 

Additional information and the agenda, 

including any changes that arise, will be 

posted at the PCAST Web site at: 

http://whitehouse.gov/ostp/pcast. 

Public Comments: It is the policy of 

the PCAST to accept written public 

comments of any length, and to 

accommodate oral public comments, 

whenever possible. The PCAST expects 

that public statements presented at its 

meetings will not be repetitive of 

previously submitted oral or written 

statements. 

The public comment period for this 

meeting will take place on April 16, 

2012, at a time specified in the meeting 

agenda posted on the PCAST Web site 

at http://whitehouse.gov/ostp/pcast. 

This public comment period is designed 

only for substantive commentary on 

PCAST’s work, not for business 

marketing purposes. 

Oral Comments: To be considered for 

the public speaker list at the meeting, 

interested parties should register to 

speak at http://whitehouse.gov/ostp/ 

pcast, no later than 12 p.m. (EST) on 

April 12, 2012. Phone or email 

reservations to be considered for the 

public speaker list will not be accepted. 

To accommodate as many speakers as 

possible, the time for public comments 

will be limited to two (2) minutes per 

person, with a total public comment 

period of 15 minutes. If more speakers 

register than there is space available on 

the agenda, PCAST will randomly select 

speakers from among those who 

applied. Those not selected to present 

oral comments may always file written 

comments with the committee, as 

described below. 

Written Comments: Although written 

comments are accepted until the date of 

the meeting, written comments should 

be submitted to PCAST no later than 12 

p.m. (EST) on April 12, 2012, so that the 

comments may be made available to the 

PCAST members prior to the meeting 

for their consideration. Information 

regarding how to submit comments and 

documents to PCAST is available at 

http://whitehouse.gov/ostp/pcast in the 

section entitled ‘‘Connect with PCAST.’’ 

Please note that because PCAST 

operates under the provisions of FACA, 

all public comments and/or 

presentations will be treated as public 

documents and will be made available 

for public inspection, including being 

posted on the PCAST Web site. 

Meeting Accommodations: 

Individuals requiring special 

accommodation to access this public 

meeting should contact Dr. Stine at least 

ten business days prior to the meeting 

so that appropriate arrangements can be 

made. 

Issued in Washington, DC, on March 22, 

2012. 

LaTanya R. Butler, 

Acting Deputy Committee Management 

Officer. 

[FR Doc. 2012–7433 Filed 3–27–12; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6450–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY 

U.S. Energy Information 

Administration 

Proposed Agency Information 

Collection 

AGENCY: U.S. Energy Information 

Administration (EIA), Department of 

Energy (DOE). 

ACTION: Agency Information Collection 

Activities: Proposed Information 

Collection; Notice and Request for 

Comments. 

SUMMARY: The EIA invites public 

comment on a proposed collection of 

information that EIA is developing for 

submission to the Office of Management 

and Budget (OMB) pursuant to the 

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. The 

EIA is soliciting comments on the 

proposed reinstatement of the Forms 

EIA–871A–J, ‘‘2012 Commercial 

Buildings Energy Consumption 

Survey.’’ 

The Federal Energy Administration 

Act of 1974 (Pub. L. 93–275, 15 U.S.C. 

761 et seq.) and the DOE Organization 

Act (Pub. L. 95–91, 42 U.S.C. 7101 et 

seq.) require the EIA to carry out a 

centralized, comprehensive, and unified 

energy information program. This 

program collects, evaluates, assembles, 

analyzes, and disseminates information 

on energy resource reserves, production, 

demand, technology, and related 

economic and statistical information. 

This information is used to assess the 

adequacy of energy resources to meet 

near and longer-term domestic 

demands. 

The EIA, as part of its effort to comply 

with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 

1995 (Pub. L. 104–13, 44 U.S.C. Chapter 

35), provides the general public and 

other Federal agencies with 

opportunities to comment on collections 

of energy information conducted by or 

in conjunction with the EIA. Any 

comments received help the EIA to 

prepare data requests that maximize the 

utility of the information collected, and 

to assess the impact of collection 

requirements on the public. Also, the 

EIA will later seek approval by the 

Office of Management and Budget 

(OMB) under Section 3507(a) of the 

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. 

The Commercial Buildings Energy 

Consumption Survey (CBECS) has been 

conducted nine times covering the years 

1979, 1983 and 1986 under the name of 

the ‘‘Nonresidential Buildings Energy 

Consumption Survey,’’ and years 1989, 

1992, 1995, 1999, 2003, and 2007 under 

the current name, ‘‘Commercial 

Buildings Energy Consumption 

Survey.’’ CBECS collects baseline data 

on energy consumption and 

expenditures in commercial buildings, 

and on the energy-related characteristics 

of those buildings. To obtain this 

information, interviews are conducted 

for a sample of commercial buildings 

representing the 50 States and the 

District of Columbia. For buildings in 

the survey, data are collected on the 

types, amount and cost of energy 

consumed in the building, how the 

energy is used, structural characteristics 

of the buildings, activities conducted 

inside the buildings that relate to energy 

use, building ownership and occupancy, 

energy conservation measures, and 

energy-using equipment. The 

information will be collected using 

computer assisted interviewing for the 

2012 CBECS; interviews will be 

conducted both in-person and by 

telephone. For those buildings that 

cannot provide energy consumption 

data for the building, the data will be 

obtained in a follow-up survey 

(historically a mail survey) from the 

suppliers of electricity, natural gas, fuel 

oil and/or district heat to the building, 

after receiving permission from the 

building owner, manager or tenant. This 

survey to the energy suppliers is 

mandatory. The data obtained from the 

CBECS are available to the public in a 

variety of EIA electronic tables and 

reports at http://www.eia.gov/emeu/ 

cbecs. Public use files that have been 

screened to protect the identity of the 

individual respondents are also 

available electronically at the above web 

address. Selected data from the surveys 


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18800 Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 60 / Wednesday, March 28, 2012 / Notices 

are also published in the Annual Energy 

Review. 

DATES: Comments regarding this 

proposed information collection must 

be received on or before May 29, 2012. 

If you anticipate difficulty in submitting 

comments within that period, contact 

the person listed in ADDRESSES below as 

soon as possible. 

ADDRESSES: Send comments to Joelle 

Michaels. To ensure receipt of the 

comments by the due date, submission 

by email is recommended 

(joelle.michaels@eia.gov). Comments 

may also be submitted by mail to Joelle 

Michaels, Survey Manager, EI–22, 

Forrestal Building, U.S. Department of 

Energy, Washington, DC 20585. 

Alternatively, Ms. Michaels may be 

contacted by telephone at (202) 586– 

8952. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Requests for additional information or 

copies of the forms and instructions 

should be directed to Ms. Michaels at 

the contact information given above. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This 

information collection contains: 

(1) OMB No. 1905–0145. 

(2) Information Collection Request 

Title: EIA–871A–J, ‘‘Commercial 

Building Energy Consumption Survey’’. 

(3) Type of Request: Reinstatement 

with change, of a previously approved 

collection for which approval has 

discontinued. 

(4) Purpose: Need for and proposed 

use of the information: The EIA–871A– 

J is used to collect data on energy 

consumption by commercial buildings 

and the characteristics of these 

buildings. The surveys fulfill planning, 

analyses and decision-making needs of 

DOE, other Federal agencies, State 

governments, and the private sector. 

Respondents are owners/managers of 

selected commercial buildings and their 

energy suppliers. Response obligations 

are Voluntary (buildings) and 

Mandatory (energy suppliers). 

This will be a proposed reinstatement 

of a previously approved collection and 

three-year clearance request to OMB. 

The content of the 2012 CBECS will be 

largely unchanged from the 2007 

CBECS. The sampling frame, which was 

redesigned for the 2003 CBECS, will be 

updated to account for new construction 

since 2003. 

The EIA proposes the following 

changes to EIA–871A–J, ‘‘Commercial 

Building Energy Consumption Survey’’: 

a. The sample size for the 2012 

CBECS will be 50 percent larger relative 

to the previous CBECS. The increase in 

sample size will allow for fewer cell 

suppressions in published tables, better 

capture of emerging energy phenomena, 

lower relative standard errors (RSEs) for 

key statistics for publishable sample 

domains, more publishable data for 

more principal building activities, and 

more releasable microdata on the public 

use dataset. 

b. Previous CBECS designs have 

relied on in-person personal interviews 

for data collection. In 2007, field 

interviewers needed an average of six 

contacts to complete a building 

interview; this process can be timeconsuming and costly when done inperson. For 2012, certain respondents 

(large buildings for which contact 

information is usually available) will be 

initially contacted by telephone. All 

respondents will be given the option to 

complete the interview by phone. The 

balance of interviews will remain 

personal interviews. 

c. Water usage questions introduced 

in the 2007 will be revised and remain 

in the 2012 CBECS. The Office of 

Wastewater Management within the 

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 

(EPA) sponsored questions related to 

water use on the 2007 CBECS. The 

water-energy use connections are strong, 

and there is limited data about how 

water is actually used in commercial 

buildings. Getting better information on 

how water is used by commercial 

buildings is the first step toward 

understanding commercial water use 

and the energy impact of that use. The 

revisions to the water questions are 

based on extensive review by EIA on the 

data that were collected in 2007. The 

proposed changes will make the 

interview proceed more smoothly 

through the water questions and result 

in cleaner data. 

d. Based upon a recommendation 

from the National Academy of Sciences, 

approximately 200 buildings will 

receive an ‘‘energy audit.’’ The main 

objective will be to support a cost and 

data quality comparison between data 

collected by field interviewers and 

professional energy auditors. 

e. Based on review of the 2007 CBECS 

and consultation with data users, 

refining and reformatting of the 

Building Questionnaire (Form EIA– 

871A), Mall Building Questionnaire 

(EIA–871I) and the Mall Establishment 

Questionnaire (EIA–871J) is occurring. 

Some changes have been made already, 

and more are expected. For the 2012 

CBECS questionnaire, wording changes 

will be made, clarifying definitions will 

be added, and response categories will 

be refined. Edits will be added to the 

survey instrument to help preclude callbacks to respondents. 

(5) Annual Estimated Number of 

Respondents: 5,142. 

(6) Annual Estimated Number of 

Total Responses: 5,142. 

(7) Annual Estimated Number of 

Burden Hours: 3,759. 

(8) Annual Estimated Reporting and 

Recordkeeping Cost Burden: $0. There 

are no additional costs to respondents 

associated with the survey other than 

the costs associated with the burden 

hours. 

Request for Comments 

Prospective respondents and other 

interested parties should comment on 

the actions discussed in item (4). The 

following guidelines are provided to 

assist in the preparation of comments. 

Please indicate to which form(s) your 

comments apply. 

General Issues 

A. Is the proposed collection of 

information necessary for the proper 

performance of the functions of the 

agency and does the information have 

practical utility? Practical utility is 

defined as the actual usefulness of 

information to or for an agency, taking 

into account its accuracy, adequacy, 

reliability, timeliness, and the agency’s 

ability to process the information it 

collects. 

B. What enhancements can be made 

to the quality, utility, and clarity of the 

information to be collected? 

As a Potential Respondent to the 

Request for Information 

A. What actions could be taken to 

help ensure and maximize the quality, 

objectivity, utility, and integrity of the 

information to be collected? 

B. Are the instructions and definitions 

clear and sufficient? If not, which 

instructions need clarification? 

C. Can the information be submitted 

by the due date? 

D. Public reporting burden for this 

collection is estimated to average 

approximately 55 minutes per interview 

for the building respondent (Form EIA– 

871A), 25 minutes per interview for the 

mall building respondent (Form EIA– 

871I), 45 minutes per interview for the 

mall establishment respondent (Form 

EIA–871A), and approximately 30 

minutes per energy supplier response in 

those cases where the data must be 

collected from the energy suppliers 

(Forms EIA–871C–F). The estimated 

burden includes the total time necessary 

to provide the requested information. In 

your opinion, how accurate is this 

estimate? 

E. The agency estimates that the only 

cost to a respondent is for the time it 

will take to complete the collection. 

Will a respondent incur any start-up 

costs for reporting, or any recurring 


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Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 60 / Wednesday, March 28, 2012 / Notices 18801 

annual costs for operation, maintenance, 

and purchase of services associated with 

the information collection? 

F. What additional actions could be 

taken to minimize the burden of this 

collection of information? Such actions 

may involve the use of automated, 

electronic, mechanical, or other 

technological collection techniques or 

other forms of information technology. 

G. Does any other Federal, State, or 

local agency collect similar information? 

If so, specify the agency, the data 

element(s), and the methods of 

collection. 

As a Potential User of the Information 

To Be Collected 

A. What actions could be taken to 

help ensure and maximize the quality, 

objectivity, utility, and integrity of the 

information disseminated? 

B. Is the information useful at the 

levels of detail to be collected? 

C. For what purpose(s) would the 

information be used? Be specific. 

D. Are there alternate sources for the 

information and are they useful? If so, 

what are their weaknesses and/or 

strengths? 

Comments submitted in response to 

this notice will be summarized and/or 

included in the request for OMB 

approval of the form. They will also 

become a matter of public record. 

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, March 22, 2012. 

Renee Miller, 

Acting Director, Office of Survey Development 

and Statistical Integration, U.S. Energy 

Information Administration. 

[FR Doc. 2012–7424 Filed 3–27–12; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6450–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY 

Federal Energy Regulatory 

Commission 

[Project No. 2216–079] 

Notice of Application for Non-Capacity 

Amendment of License and Soliciting 

Comments, Motions To Intervene, and 

Protests: Power Authority of the State 

of New York 

Take notice that the following 

application has been filed with the 

Commission and is available for public 

inspection: 

a. Application Type: Non-Capacity 

Amendment of License. 

b. Project No.: 2216–079. 

c. Date Filed: December 15, 2011 and 

supplemented on February 15, 2012. 

d. Applicant: Power Authority of the 

State of New York. 

e. Name of Project: Niagara Power 

Project. 

f. Location: On the Niagara River, in 

the City of Niagara Falls and the Towns 

of Niagara and Lewiston in Niagara 

County, New York. 

g. Filed Pursuant to: Federal Power 

Act, 16 U.S.C. 791a–825r. 

h. Applicant Contact: Mr. John J. 

Suloway, Vice President, Licensing, 

Acquisition and Project Development, 

New York Power Authority, 123 Main 

Street, 9th Floor, White Plains, New 

York 10601, (914) 287–3971. 

i. FERC Contact: Jake Tung, (202) 

502–8757, email at hong.tung@ferc.gov. 

j. Deadline for filing comments, 

motions to intervene, and protest: April 

4, 2012. 

Comments, motions to intervene, and 

protests may be filed electronically via 

the Internet. See 18 CFR 

385.2001(a)(1)(iii) and the instructions 

on the Commission’s Web site under the 

‘‘eFiling’’ link. If unable to be filed 

electronically, documents may be paperfiled. To paper-file, an original and 

seven copies should be mailed to: 

Kimberly D. Bose, Secretary, Federal 

Energy Regulatory Commission, 888 

First Street NE., Washington, DC 20426. 

For more information on how to submit 

these types of filings, please go to the 

Commission’s Web site located at http:// 

www.ferc.gov/filing-comments.asp. 

k. Description of Request: The 

applicant proposes to rehabilitate the 

twelve 50-year-old, 20 MW pumpturbine/motor generator units at the 

Lewiston Pumped Storage Development 

by: (1) Installing new high efficiency 

turbine runners, replacing runner seals, 

replacing or modifying head covers; (2) 

conducting non-destructive examination 

and possible rehabilitation and 

modification of shafts; (3) overhauling 

the operating mechanism, replacing 

wicket gates, and inspection and 

rehabilitation of stay rings; and (4) 

planning major maintenance for the 

motor/generators, replacing main 

transformers and exciters, circuit 

breakers, unit control boards and 

governors. The applicant proposed 

timelines for rehabilitating the 12 

turbine units will start in December 

2012 for the first unit and complete the 

last (12th) unit in November 2020. The 

proposed rehabilitation would increase 

the turbine hydraulic capacity by 

approximately 300 cfs per unit and the 

generating capacity by approximately 2 

MW per unit. 

l. Locations of the Application: A 

copy of the application is available for 

inspection and reproduction at the 

Commission’s Public Reference Room, 

located at 888 First Street NE., Room 

2A, Washington, DC 20426, or by calling 

(202) 502–8371. This filing may also be 

viewed on the Commission’s Web site at 

http://www.ferc.gov using the 

‘‘eLibrary’’ link. Enter the docket 

number excluding the last three digits in 

the docket number field to access the 

document. You may also register online 

at http://www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/

esubscription.asp to be notified via 

email of new filings and issuances 

related to this or other pending projects. 

For assistance, call 1–866–208–3676 or 

email FERCOnlineSupport@ferc.gov, for 

TTY, call (202) 502–8659. A copy is also 

available for inspection and 

reproduction at the address in item (h) 

above. 

m. Individuals desiring to be included 

on the Commission’s mailing list should 

so indicate by writing to the Secretary 

of the Commission. 

n. Comments, Protests, or Motions to 

Intervene: Anyone may submit 

comments, a protest, or a motion to 

intervene in accordance with the 

requirements of Rules of Practice and 

Procedure, 18 CFR 385.210, .211, .214. 

In determining the appropriate action to 

take, the Commission will consider all 

protests or other comments filed, but 

only those who file a motion to 

intervene in accordance with the 

Commission’s Rules may become a 

party to the proceeding. Any comments, 

protests, or motions to intervene must 

be received on or before the specified 

comment date for the particular 

application. 

o. Filing and Service of Responsive 

Documents—All filings must bear in all 

capital letters the title ‘‘COMMENTS’’, 

‘‘PROTEST’’, or ‘‘MOTION TO 

INTERVENE’’, as applicable, and the 

Project Number of the particular 

application to which the filing refers. 

p. Agency Comments: Federal, state, 

and local agencies are invited to file 

comments on the described application. 

A copy of the application may be 

obtained by agencies directly from the 

Applicant. If an agency does not file 

comments within the time specified for 

filing comments, it will be presumed to 

have no comments. One copy of an 

agency’s comments must also be sent to 

the Applicant’s representatives. 

Dated: March 21, 2012. 

Kimberly D. Bose, 

Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 2012–7381 Filed 3–27–12; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6717–01–P 


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