70742 Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 228 / Tuesday, November 27, 2012 / Notices 

Definitions ................................................................................................. https://eiaweb.inl.gov/clearance2012/eiaweb-frm886Defs.png 

Sanctions, Burden & Confidentiality ......................................................... https://eiaweb.inl.gov/clearance2012/eiaweb-frm886Info.png 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This 

information collection request contains: 

(1) OMB No. 1905–0191; 

(2) Information Collection Request 

Title: Annual Survey of Alternative 

Fueled Vehicles; 

(3) Type of Request: Revision of 

currently approved collection; 

(4a) Purpose: Form EIA–886 is an 

annual survey that collects information 

on the number and type of AFVs and 

other advanced technology vehicles that 

vehicle suppliers made available in the 

previous calendar year and plan to make 

available in the following calendar year; 

the number, type and geographic 

distribution of AFVs in use in the 

previous calendar year; and the amount 

and distribution of each type of ATF 

consumed in the previous calendar year. 

Form EIA–886 data are collected from 

suppliers and users of AFVs. 

EIA uses data from these groups as a 

basis for estimating total AFV and ATF 

use in the U.S. These data are needed 

by federal and state agencies, fuel 

suppliers, transit agencies and other 

fleets to determine if sufficient 

quantities of AFVs are available for 

purchase and to provide Congress with 

a measure of the extent to which the 

objectives of the Energy Policy Act of 

1992 are being achieved. These data 

satisfy the reporting requirements to 

Congress under Section 503(b)(2) of the 

Energy Policy Act of 1992 and serve as 

market analysis tools for federal/state 

agencies, AFV suppliers, vehicle fleet 

managers, and other interested 

organizations and persons. These data 

are also needed to satisfy numerous 

public requests for detailed information 

on AFVs and ATFs (in particular, the 

number of AFVs distributed by State, as 

well as the amount and location of the 

ATFs being consumed). 

EIA publishes summary information 

from the Form EIA–886 database in an 

annual Alternative Fuel Vehicle Data 

report on EIA’s Web site (http:// 

www.eia.gov/renewable/afv/). This 

report covers historical and projected 

supplies of AFVs, AFV usage by 

selected user groups, and estimates of 

total U.S. AFV counts and U.S. 

consumption of ATFs. These data 

provide baseline inputs for DOE’s 

transportation sector energy models and 

the energy consumption measures for 

ATFs in EIA’s State Energy Data System. 

For example, EIA’s National Energy 

Modeling System (NEMS) has a 

component model that forecasts 

transportation sector energy 

consumption and provides a framework 

for AFV policy and technology analysis. 

The data obtained from Form EIA–886 

are used to improve the explanatory 

power of the NEMS Transportation 

Demand Model by allowing for greater 

detail in representing AFV types and 

characteristics; 

(4b) Proposed Changes to Information 

Collection: EIA proposes to modify the 

drop-down selection menus under Form 

EIA–886 Parts 2 and 3 to include the 

fuel type/engine configuration code 

‘‘EVC–PH’’ to capture data on plug-in 

hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV). PHEVs 

are considered alternative fueled 

vehicles under the Energy Policy Act of 

1992 definition of an alternative fueled 

vehicle because their primary fuel 

source is electricity; however, PHEVs 

differ from straight battery-powered 

electric vehicles because they use the 

electric battery as the primary energy 

source, relying on battery power for 

propulsion for a limited range (15–40 

miles) before switching to internal 

combustion propulsion. Currently, EIA 

collects data on electric battery-powered 

vehicles with the code ‘‘EVC BP.’’ 

Adding the code ‘‘EVC PH’’ will 

differentiate between straight batterypowered AFVs and PHEVs. 

EIA also proposes reformatting the 

Form EIA–886 to better use visual 

design to reduce the respondent’s 

burden, while not changing the existing 

constructs being measured on the form. 

For example, instructions will be placed 

next to the questions where they are 

needed, and dense paragraphs will be 

broken up into bullet-pointed lists. 

Survey methodology literature and 

empirical evidence from cognitive 

testing of other forms suggests these 

changes, along with formatting edits, 

should allow respondents to read and 

more easily process the information. 

(5) Type of Respondents: Suppliers of 

alternative-fueled vehicles are required 

to report; 

(6) Annual Estimated Number of 

Respondents: 2,050; 

(7) Annual Estimated Number of 

Total Responses: 2,050; 

(8) Annual Estimated Number of 

Burden Hours: 8,215; 

(9) Annual Estimated Reporting and 

Recordkeeping Cost Burden: No 

additional costs beyond burden hours 

are anticipated from the proposed 

collection instrument revision. 

Statutory Authority 

The legal authority for this data 

collection effort is provided by the 

following provisions: Section 13(b) of 

the Federal Energy Administration Act 

of 1974, Public Law 93–275, (FEA Act), 

and codified at 15 U.S.C. § 772 (b), and 

Section 503(b)(2) of the Energy Policy 

Act of 1992, Public Law 102–486 

(EPACT92) codified at 42 U.S.C. 13253. 

Issued in Washington, DC, on November 

20, 2012. 

Stephanie Brown, 

Director, Office of Survey Development and 

Statistical Integration, U.S. Energy 

Information Administration. 

[FR Doc. 2012–28700 Filed 11–26–12; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6450–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY 

U.S. Energy Information 

Administration 

Agency Information Collection 

Extension 

AGENCY: U.S. Energy Information 

Administration (EIA), Department of 

Energy (DOE). 

ACTION: Notice and Request for Office of 

Management and Budget (OMB) Review 

and Comment. 

SUMMARY: EIA has submitted, under the 

provisions of the Paperwork Reduction 

Act of 1995, an information collection 

request to the OMB for a three-year 

extension, with changes, of its 

Petroleum Supply Reporting System 

(PSRS) information collection (OMB 

1905–0165). The Petroleum Supply 

Reporting System consists of weekly 

and monthly petroleum and biofuels 

supply surveys and an annual refinery 

survey of capacity, crude oil receipts, 

and fuels consumed. 

EIA proposes the following changes to 

several Petroleum Supply Reporting 

System surveys: (1) Move to site level 

weekly reporting of all bulk terminal 

activity on an expanded version of Form 

EIA–805, ‘‘Weekly Bulk Terminal and 

Blender Report;’’ (2) discontinue weekly 

reporting on Form EIA–801, ‘‘Weekly 

Bulk Terminal Report;’’ (3) discontinue 

reporting the maximum sustainable fuel 

ethanol capacity on Form EIA–819, 

‘‘Monthly Oxygenate Report;’’ (4) 

include the Form EIA–22M in the PSRS 

data collection, (5) change the data 

protections for specific data elements on 

Forms EIA–810, EIA–819 and EIA–22M 

and publicly release these data elements 

in identifiable form (a) monthly 

atmospheric crude oil distillation 

reported on Form EIA–810, ‘‘Monthly 

Refinery Report;’’ (b) ethanol nameplate 


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Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 228 / Tuesday, November 27, 2012 / Notices 70743 

production capacity reported on Form 

EIA–819, ‘‘Monthly Oxygenate Report;’’ 

and (c) biodiesel production capacity 

reported on Form EIA–22M, ‘‘Monthly 

Biodiesel Production Survey;’’ and (6) 

discontinue application of disclosure 

avoidance procedures to U.S. and 

regional biodiesel production and stocks 

data reported on Form EIA–22M. This 

change will make the data protection 

policy for biodiesel production and 

stocks consistent with the policy 

applied to all other data released in the 

Petroleum Supply Monthly and 

Petroleum Supply Annual reports. 

DATES: Comments regarding this 

collection must be received on or before 

December 27, 2012. If you anticipate 

that you will be submitting comments, 

but find it difficult to do so within the 

period of time allowed by this notice, 

please advise the DOE Desk Officer at 

OMB of your intention to make a 

submission as soon as possible. The 

Desk Officer may be telephoned at (202) 

395–4718 or contacted by email at 

Chad_S_Whiteman@omb.eop.gov. 

ADDRESSES: Written comments should 

be sent to the DOE Desk Officer, Office 

of Information and Regulatory Affairs, 

Office of Management and Budget, New 

Executive Office Building, Room 10102, 

735 17th Street NW., Washington, DC 

20503. And to Sylvia Norris, EI–25, U.S. 

Energy Information Administration, 

1000 Independence Ave. SW., 

Washington, DC 20585. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Requests for additional information or 

copies of the information collection 

instrument and instructions should be 

directed to Sylvia Norris, EI–25, U.S. 

Energy Information Administration, 

U.S. Department of Energy, 1000 

Independence Avenue SW., 

Washington, DC 20585, fax: (202) 586– 

3873, email: sylvia.norris@eia.gov, 

phone: (202) 586–6106. 

The collection instrument and 

instructions are also available on the 

Internet, at: http://www.eia.gov/survey/ 

#petroleum. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This 

information collection request contains: 

(1) OMB No.: 1905–0165; 

(2) Information Collection Request 

Title: Petroleum Supply Reporting 

System. The survey forms included in 

this system are: 

Form EIA–22M, ‘‘Monthly Biodiesel 

Production Survey’’ 

Form EIA–800, ‘‘Weekly Refinery 

Report’’ 

Form EIA–801, ‘‘Weekly Bulk Terminal 

Report’’ (to be discontinued in this 

proposal) 

Form EIA–802, ‘‘Weekly Product 

Pipeline Report’’ 

Form EIA–803, ‘‘Weekly Crude Oil 

Report’’ 

Form EIA–804, ‘‘Weekly Import Report’’ 

Form EIA–805, ‘‘Weekly Bulk Terminal 

and Blender Report’’ 

Form EIA–809, ‘‘Weekly Oxygenate 

Report’’ 

Form EIA–810, ‘‘Monthly Refinery 

Report’’ 

Form EIA–812, ‘‘Monthly Product 

Pipeline Report’’ 

Form EIA–813, ‘‘Monthly Crude Oil 

Report’’ 

Form EIA–814, ‘‘Monthly Import 

Report’’ 

Form EIA–815, ‘‘Monthly Bulk Terminal 

and Blender Report’’ 

Form EIA–816, ‘‘Monthly Natural Gas 

Plant Liquids Report’’ 

Form EIA–817, ‘‘Monthly Tanker and 

Barge Movements Report’’ 

Form EIA–819, ‘‘Monthly Oxygenate 

Report’’ 

Form EIA–820, ‘‘Annual Refinery 

Report;’’ 

(3) Type of Request: Three-year 

extension with changes; 

(4) Purpose: 

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. Furthermore, Section 1508 of 

the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPACT 

2005) (42 U.S.C. § 7135(m)) requires the 

EIA to conduct a survey that collects the 

quantity of renewable fuels produced, 

blended, imported, and demanded as 

well as market price data on a monthly 

basis. Form EIA–22M collects these data 

in order to fulfill this mandate. 

Weekly petroleum and biofuels 

supply surveys (Forms EIA–800, 802, 

803, 804, 805, and 809) are used to 

gather data on petroleum refinery 

operations, blending, biofuels 

production, inventory levels, and 

imports of crude oil, petroleum 

products, and biofuels from a sample of 

operating companies. Data from weekly 

surveys appear in EIA reports including 

the following: 

• Weekly Petroleum Status Report, 

http://www.eia.gov/oil_gas/petroleum/ 

data_publications/ 

weekly_petroleum_status_report/ 

wpsr.html; 

• Short-Term Energy Outlook, http:// 

www.eia.gov/forecasts/steo/; 

• This Week in Petroleum, http:// 

www.eia.gov/oog/info/twip/twip.asp; 

and 

• Monthly Energy Review, http:// 

www.eia.gov/totalenergy/data/monthly/. 

Monthly petroleum and biofuels 

supply surveys (Forms EIA–810, 812, 

813, 814, 815, 816, 817, 819, and 22M) 

are used to gather data on petroleum 

refinery operations, blending, biofuels 

production, natural gas plant liquids 

production, inventory levels, imports, 

inter-regional movements, and storage 

capacity for crude oil, petroleum 

products, and biofuels. Crude oil 

production data and petroleum and 

biofuels export data from the U.S. 

Census Bureau are integrated with data 

from EIA petroleum supply surveys to 

create a comprehensive statistical view 

of U.S. petroleum supplies that is 

unavailable from any other source. 

Monthly petroleum and biofuels 

supply surveys support weekly surveys 

by providing a complete set of in-scope 

petroleum and biofuels supply data 

from which weekly survey samples are 

drawn. In addition, monthly surveys 

include data elements that are not 

collected on weekly reports such as 

production of natural gas plant liquids 

and refinery processing gain. Data from 

monthly petroleum and biofuels supply 

surveys appear in EIA reports, including 

the following: 

• Petroleum Supply Monthly, http:// 

www.eia.gov/petroleum/supply/ 

monthly/; 

• Petroleum Supply Annual, http:// 

www.eia.gov/petroleum/supply/annual/ 

volume1/; 

• Monthly Biodiesel Report, http:// 

www.eia.gov/biofuels/biodiesel/ 

production/; 

• Monthly Energy Review, http:// 

www.eia.gov/mer/; 

• Annual Energy Review, http:// 

www.eia.gov/totalenergy/data/annual/; 

• Short-Term Energy Outlook, http:// 

www.eia.gov/forecasts/steo/; and 

• Annual Energy Outlook, http:// 

www.eia.gov/forecasts/aeo/. 

These monthly survey data provide 

input for reports in the EIA State Energy 

Data System and included as U.S. data 

submitted to the International Energy 

Agency. 

Form EIA–820, ‘‘Annual Refinery 

Report,’’ provides plant-level data on 

refinery capacities as well as national 

and regional data on fuels consumed by 

refineries, natural gas consumed as 

hydrogen feedstock, and crude oil 

receipts by method of transportation for 

operating and idle petroleum refineries 

(including new refineries under 

construction) and refineries shutdown 


wreier-aviles on DSK5TPTVN1PROD with 
70744 Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 228 / Tuesday, November 27, 2012 / Notices 

during the previous year. The 

information collected appears in the 

Refinery Capacity Report, http:// 

www.eia.gov/petroleum/ 

refinerycapacity/; Annual Energy 

Review, http://www.eia.gov/totalenergy/ 

data/annual/, and other reports 

available electronically from the EIA 

Web site at http://www.eia.gov; 

(4a) Proposed Changes to Information 

Collection: 

EIA proposes to discontinue Form 

EIA–801 ‘‘Weekly Bulk Terminal 

Report’’ and collect that same 

information by adding data elements to 

Form EIA–805, ‘‘Weekly Bulk Terminal 

and Blender Report,’’ so that Form EIA– 

805 will be used to collect bulk terminal 

inventory data that were collected on 

Form EIA–801 as well as gasoline and 

other blending operations data. The 

following are proposed modifications to 

Form EIA–805: 

• Add stocks of total natural gas plant 

liquids (NGPL) and liquefied refinery 

gases (LRG) 

• Add stocks of propane and 

propylene (a subset of total NGPL and 

LRG) 

• Add stocks of nonfuel propylene (a 

subset of propane/propylene stocks) 

• Add stocks of residual fuel oil 

• Add stocks of unfinished oils 

• Add stocks of products currently 

listed on Form EIA–805 including: 

—Fuel ethanol 

—Finished Motor Gasoline, 

Reformulated, blended with Fuel 

Ethanol 

—Finished Motor Gasoline, 

Reformulated, Other 

—Finished Motor Gasoline, 

Conventional, blended with Fuel 

Ethanol, Ed55 and lower 

—Finished Motor Gasoline, 

Conventional, blended with Fuel 

Ethanol, Greater than Ed55 

—Finished Motor Gasoline, 

Conventional, Other 

—Motor Gasoline Blending 

Components, Reformulated 

Blendstock for Oxygenate Blending 

(RBOB) 

—Motor Gasoline Blending 

Components, Conventional 

Blendstock for Oxygenate Blending 

(CBOB) 

—Motor Gasoline Blending 

Components, Gasoline Treated as 

Blendstock (GTAB) 

—Motor Gasoline Blending 

Components, All Other 

—Kerosene-Type Jet Fuel 

—Distillate Fuel Oil by Sulfur Category 

(15 ppm sulfur and under, Greater 

than 15 ppm to 500 ppm sulfur, and 

Greater than 500 ppm sulfur) 

EIA also proposes to change the data 

protection policy regarding monthly 

atmospheric crude oil distillation 

capacity reported on Form EIA–810, 

‘‘Monthly Refinery Report,’’ to no longer 

protect monthly atmospheric crude oil 

distillation reported on Form EIA–810 

because atmospheric crude oil 

distillation capacity data is reported 

annually on Form EIA–820 and has 

been publicly released in identifiable 

form for over twenty years. 

In addition, EIA proposes to 

discontinue collection of maximum 

sustainable fuel ethanol production 

capacity and change the data protection 

policy on Form EIA–819 to treat all 

information reported on fuel ethanol 

nameplate production capacity on Form 

EIA–819 as public information and 

release this information on EIA’s Web 

site. The proposed policy change is 

consistent with past EIA practices and 

will improve the utility of the data by 

permitting comparisons of the growth in 

capacity at the state level over the past 

twenty years. Also, this type of 

information is currently publicly 

available from other exogenous sources 

through the Internet. 

Also, EIA proposes to include the 

Form EIA–22M in the PSRS data 

collection and treat all information 

reported on biodiesel production 

capacity on Form EIA–22M as public 

information that may be released on 

EIA’s Web site. Information on biodiesel 

production capacities by plant is 

currently publicly available from the 

National Biodiesel Board Web site at 

http://www.nbb.org/about-us/memberplants/nbb-member-plant-lists. 

This change also provides a consistent 

policy for biodiesel production capacity 

data, oil refinery capacity, and fuel 

ethanol production capacity. 

Finally, EIA proposes to further 

modify the data protection policy for 

monthly biodiesel production data 

reported on Form EIA–22M by not 

applying any disclosure limitation 

methodology to the published statistical 

aggregates for quantities of biodiesel 

production and ending stocks at the 

Petroleum Administration for Defense 

District (PADD) level. The change in 

data protection policy for production 

and stocks of biodiesel is necessary, as 

EIA has incorporated biodiesel 

production and stocks in petroleum 

supply and disposition balance tables 

(with data for the U.S. and PADDs) 

published in the Petroleum Supply 

Monthly and Petroleum Supply Annual, 

and disclosure limitation procedures are 

not applied to data in these reports. EIA 

is not proposing to explicitly report 

biodiesel production in company 

identifiable form, but only to 

discontinue application of disclosure 

limitation procedures to U.S. and PADD 

level biodiesel production and stocks 

totals calculated from data reported on 

Form EIA–22M. Applying statistical 

disclosure limitation procedures to 

biodiesel production and stocks data 

would potentially prevent EIA from 

accurately reporting data on distillate 

fuel oil supply, disposition, and 

demand including biodiesel, especially 

at the PADD level. Disclosure limitation 

procedures will continue to be applied 

to the other data reported on Form EIA– 

22M not addressed in this notice. 

(5) Estimated Number of Survey 

Respondents: 

Weekly Survey Forms: 

EIA–800: 141 Respondents; EIA–802: 

51 Respondents; EIA–803: 57 

Respondents; EIA–804, 104 

Respondents; EIA–805, 750 

Respondents; EIA–809, 142 

Respondents; 

Monthly Survey Forms: 

EIA–22M: 150 Respondents; EIA–810: 

153 Respondents; EIA–812: 80 

Respondents; EIA–813: 167 

Respondents; EIA–814: 391 

Respondents; EIA–815: 1,476 

Respondents; EIA–816: 451 

Respondents; EIA–817: 34 Respondents; 

EIA–819: 203 Respondents; 

Annual Survey Forms: 

EIA–820: 148 Respondents. 

Total respondents for Petroleum 

Supply Reporting System: 4,491 

respondents. (Many respondents report 

on multiple surveys and are counted for 

each survey they report. For example, 

the 104 respondents on the weekly 

Form EIA–804 are also included as a 

subset of the 391 respondents reporting 

on the monthly Form EIA–814, so that 

the two surveys contribute a total of 495 

respondents.); 

(6) Annual Estimated Number of 

Total Responses: 

Weekly Survey Forms (Respondents x 

52): 

EIA–800: 7,332 Responses; EIA–802: 

2,652 Responses; EIA–803:2,964 

Responses; EIA–804: 5,408 Responses; 

EIA–805: 39,000 Responses; EIA–809: 

7,384 Responses; 

Monthly Survey Forms (Respondents 

x 12): 

EIA–22M: 1,800 Responses; EIA–810: 

1,800 Responses; EIA–812: 960 

Responses; EIA–813: 2,004 Responses; 

EIA–814: 4,692 Responses; EIA–815: 

17,712 Responses; EIA–816: 5,412 

Responses; EIA–817: 408 Responses; 

EIA–819: 2,436 Responses; 

Annual Survey Forms (Respondents x 

1): 

EIA–820: 144 Responses. 

Total annual responses for the 

Petroleum Supply Reporting System: 

102,108 responses; 

(7) Annual Estimated Number of 

Burden Hours: 


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Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 228 / Tuesday, November 27, 2012 / Notices 70745 

Weekly Survey Forms: 

EIA–800: 11,585 hours; EIA–802: 

2,519 hours; EIA–803: 1,482 hours; EIA– 

804: 9,464 hours; EIA–805: 62,400 

hours; EIA–809: 7,384 hours; 

Monthly Survey Forms: 

EIA–22M: 5,400 hours; EIA–810: 

9,360 hours; EIA–812: 3,360 hours; EIA– 

813: 4,008 hours; EIA–814: 11,965 

hours; EIA–815: 74,390 hours; EIA–816: 

5,141 hours; EIA–817: 918 hours; EIA– 

819: 3,898 hours; 

Annual Survey Forms: 

EIA–820: 288 hours; 

Total annual response burden for the 

Petroleum Supply Reporting System: 

213,562 hours; 

(8) Annual Estimated Reporting and 

Recordkeeping Cost Burden: EIA 

estimates that there are not any 

additional costs to respondents 

associated with the surveys other than 

the costs associated with the burden 

hours. 

Statutory Authority: Section 13(b) of the 

Federal Energy Administration Act of 1974, 

P.L. 93–275, codified at 15 U.S.C. 772(b), and 

the DOE Organization Act of 1977, Public 

Law 95–91, codified at 42 U.S.C. 7101 et seq. 

Issued in Washington, DC, November, 20, 

2012. 

Stephanie Brown, 

Director, Office of Survey Development and 

Statistical Integration, U.S. Energy 

Information Administration. 

[FR Doc. 2012–28712 Filed 11–26–12; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6450–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY 

U.S. Energy Information 

Administration 

Proposed Change to Data Protection 

AGENCY: U.S. Energy Information 

Administration (EIA), U.S. Department 

of Energy (DOE). 

ACTION: Notice and Request for Review 

and Comment. 

SUMMARY: This notice pertains to Forms 

EIA–3, the Quarterly Coal Consumption 

and Quality Report—Manufacturing and 

Transformation/Processing Coal Plants 

and Commercial and Institutional Coal 

Users; EIA–5, the Quarterly Coal 

Consumption and Quality Report—Coke 

Plants; EIA–7A, the Coal Production 

and Preparation Report—Coal Mines 

and Preparation Plants; and EIA–8A, the 

Coal Stocks Report—Traders and 

Brokers. DOE’s proposed changes will 

release or publish data received from 

mandatory respondents that is not 

company identifiable, and does not 

satisfy the criteria for an exemption 

under the Freedom of Information Act 

or satisfy the requirements of the Trade 

Secrets Act. 

No changes are proposed for the 

standby surveys Forms: EIA–1, Weekly 

Coal Monitoring Report—General 

Industries and Blast Furnaces; EIA–4, 

Weekly Coal Monitoring Report—Coke 

Plants; EIA–6Q, Quarterly Coal Report— 

Coal Producers and Distributors; and 

EIA–20, Weekly Coal Monitoring Report 

of Coal Burning Utilities and 

Independent Power Producers. 

Prior to 2011, data reported on Forms 

EIA–1, EIA–3, EIA–4, EIA–5, EIA–6Q, 

EIA–8A, and EIA–20 were protected to 

the extent it satisfied exemption criteria 

under the Freedom of Information Act 

and the Trade Secrets Act. Disclosure 

limitation procedures were applied to 

all data. The data protection policy for 

Form EIA–7A was similar except that 

the name and address of the responding 

company, the mine or plant type, and 

location were considered public 

information. 

Effective January, 2011, EIA changed 

the data protection policy for Forms 

EIA–3, EIA–5, EIA–7A and EIA–8A 

from protecting the data as described 

above, to release all data reported in 

company identifiable form with the 

exception of cost data. Cost data are 

protected and not released in company 

identifiable form to the extent it satisfies 

exemption criteria under the Freedom of 

Information Act and the Trade Secrets 

Act. Disclosure limitation procedures 

(suppression methods) are applied to 

protect against the identifiability of the 

reported cost data. No changes were 

made to the pre-2011 protection policy 

for Forms EIA–1, EIA–4, EIA–6Q, and 

EIA–20. 

The U.S. Energy Information 

Administration proposes to change and 

strengthen the data protection 

provisions on Forms EIA–3, EIA–5, 

EIA–7A and EIA–8A. Currently, data 

reported on these forms are not 

protected except for certain selected 

cost and revenue data elements. For 

Forms EIA–3, EIA–5 and EIA–8A, EIA 

proposes to protect company 

information reported on these forms 

from public release in identifiable form 

to the extent it satisfies exemption 

criteria under the Freedom of 

Information Act and the Trade Secrets 

Act. However, disclosure limitation 

procedures will not be applied to the 

State—and regional-level, statistical, 

and quantity data published from these 

surveys. Thus, there may be some 

statistics that are based on data from 

fewer than three respondents that may 

affect the identifiability of reported data. 

Disclosure limitation procedures will be 

applied to cost data reported on Forms 

EIA–3 and EIA–5 and revenue data 

reported on Forms EIA–7A and EIA–8A. 

With regards to Form EIA–7A only, the 

name and address of the responding 

company, the mine or plant type, and 

location will continue to be considered 

public information. These data elements 

will continue to be released in EIA’s 

public use files and will not be 

protected from disclosure in identifiable 

form when releasing statistical aggregate 

(State-level) information. These data 

elements are currently released on the 

EIA Web site in the Form EIA–7A 

public use file, along with company 

identifiable MSHA data, which are also 

not protected. All other information 

reported on Form EIA–7A will be 

protected from public release in 

identifiable form to the extent it satisfies 

exemption criteria under the Freedom of 

Information Act and the Trade Secrets 

Act. All proposed changes to the data 

protection provisions for Forms EIA–3, 

EIA–5, EIA–7A and EIA–8A will be 

retroactive and apply to data reported 

for calendar years 2011 and 2012. 

Applying this change retroactively to 

data reported for 2011 preserves the 

continuity of certain data series and 

provides continuity for the main 

components of EIA’s pre-2011 data 

protection policy. 

DATES: Comments regarding this 

collection must be received on or before 

December 27, 2012. If you anticipate 

that you will be submitting comments, 

but find it difficult to do so within the 

period of time allowed by this notice, 

please advise the EIA–3 Survey Manager 

at DOE of your intention to make a 

submission as soon as possible. The 

Survey Manager may be telephoned at 

202–586–8926 or emailed at 

tejasvi.raghuveer@eia.gov. 

ADDRESSES: Written comments should 

be sent to: Attn: Tejasvi Raghuveer, 

EIA–3 Survey Manager, U.S. Energy 

Information Administration, EI–24, 

1000 Independence Avenue SW., 

Washington, DC 20585. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

EIA–3: (1) OMB No. 1905–0167; (2) 

Information Collection Request Title: 

Quarterly Coal Consumption and 

Quality Report—Manufacturing and 

Transformation/Processing Coal Plants 

and Commercial and Institutional Coal 

Users; (3) Type of Request: Change to 

respondent-level protection policy and 

disclosure limitation procedures; (4) 

Purpose: To collect all data elements 

from Form EIA–3 respondents, to 

release or publish data that is not 

company identifiable, and does not 

satisfy the criteria for an exemption 

under the Freedom of Information Act 

or satisfy the requirements of the Trade 

Secrets Act; (5) Estimated Number of 


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