36794 Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 125 / Monday, June 30, 2014 / Notices 

Issued in Washington, DC, on 24 June 

2014. 

Jose Zayas, 

Director, Wind and Water Power Technologies 

Office, Energy Efficiency and Renewable 

Energy. 

[FR Doc. 2014–15258 Filed 6–27–14; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6450–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY 

Bonneville Power Administration 

[BPA File No.: PNCA–14] 

Proposed Changes to the Interchange 

Energy Imbalances Rate Under the 

Pacific Northwest Coordination 

Agreement (PNCA) 

AGENCY: Bonneville Power 

Administration (BPA or Bonneville), 

Department of Energy (DOE). 

ACTIONS: Notice of Proposed Adjustment 

to Interchange Energy Imbalances Rate 

under the Pacific Northwest 

Coordination Agreement (PNCA). 

SUMMARY: BPA is holding this 

proceeding, Docket No. PNCA–14, to 

establish a new Interchange Energy 

Imbalances rate under the PNCA. 

The Pacific Northwest Electric Power 

Planning and Conservation Act 

(Northwest Power Act) provides that 

BPA must establish and periodically 

review and revise its rates so that they 

are adequate to recover, in accordance 

with sound business principles, the 

costs associated with the acquisition, 

conservation, and transmission of 

electric power, including amortization 

of the Federal investment in the Federal 

Columbia River Power System (FCRPS) 

over a reasonable number of years and 

BPA’s other costs and expenses. The 

Northwest Power Act also requires that 

BPA’s rates be established based on the 

record of a formal hearing. By this 

notice, BPA announces the 

commencement of a rate adjustment 

proceeding for establishment of a new 

Interchange Energy Imbalances rate 

under the PNCA. 

DATES: Anyone wishing to become a 

party to the PNCA–14 proceeding must 

provide written notice, via U.S. Mail or 

electronic mail, which must be received 

by BPA no later than 3:00 p.m. on July 

10, 2014. 

The PNCA–14 rate adjustment 

proceeding begins with a prehearing 

conference at 9:00 a.m. on July 9, 2014, 

in the BPA Rates Hearing Room, 1201 

Lloyd Blvd., Suite 200, Portland, Oregon 

97232. 

Written comments by non-party 

participants must be received by August 

15, 2014, to be considered in the 

Administrator’s Record of Decision 

(ROD). 

ADDRESSES: 1. Petitions to intervene 

should be directed to: Hearing Clerk— 

L–7, Bonneville Power Administration, 

905 NE. 11th Avenue, Portland, Oregon 

97232, or may be emailed to rateclerk@

bpa.gov. In addition, copies of the 

petition must be served concurrently on 

BPA’s General Counsel and directed to 

both Mr. Peter J. Burger, LP–7, Office of 

General Counsel, 905 NE. 11th Avenue, 

Portland, Oregon 97232, or via email to 

pjburger@bpa.gov (see section III.A. for 

more information regarding 

interventions). 

2. Written comments by participants 

should be submitted to the Public 

Affairs Office, DKE–7, Bonneville Power 

Administration, P.O. Box 14428, 

Portland, Oregon 97293. Participants 

may also submit comments by email at: 

www.bpa.gov/comment. BPA requests 

that all comments and documents 

intended to be part of the Official 

Record in this rate proceeding contain 

the designation PNCA–14 in the subject 

line. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms. 

Heidi Y. Helwig, DKC–7, Supervisory 

Public Affairs Specialist, Bonneville 

Power Administration, P.O. Box 3621, 

Portland, Oregon 97208; by phone toll 

free at 1–800–622–4520; or via email to 

hyhelwig@bpa.gov. Responsible 

Officials: Mr. Robert Diffely, BPA’s 

PNCA Representative, is the official 

responsible for the development of 

BPA’s Interchange Energy rate. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Table of Contents 

Part I. Introduction and Procedural 

Background 

Part II. Purpose and Scope of the PNCA–14 

Rate Proceeding 

Part III. Public Participation in BP–14 

Part IV. Summary of Rate Proposals 

Part I—Introduction and Procedural 

Background 

Section 7(i) of the Northwest Power 

Act, 16 U.S.C. 839e(i), requires that 

BPA’s rates be established according to 

certain procedures, including 

publication in the Federal Register of 

this notice of the proposed rates; one or 

more hearings conducted as 

expeditiously as practicable by a 

Hearing Officer; opportunity for both 

oral presentation and written 

submission of views, data, questions, 

and arguments related to the proposed 

rates; and a decision by the 

Administrator based on the record. 

BPA’s rate proceedings are further 

governed by BPA’s Procedures 

Governing Bonneville Power 

Administration Rate Hearings, 51 FR 

7611 (March 5, 1986), which implement 

and expand the statutory requirements. 

This proceeding is being conducted 

under the rule for Expedited Rate 

Proceedings, section 1010.10 of BPA’s 

Procedures. BPA is proposing to use the 

Expedited Rate Proceedings because 

BPA is only proposing a change to the 

index used to price the balance of 

interchange energy between pairs of 

parties to the PNCA. The PNCA calls for 

the application of the Dow Jones 

Mid-C Index (Dow Jones Index) to price 

imbalance energy. The Dow Jones Index 

is no longer published and a 

replacement index needs to be 

identified for purposes of pricing the 

interchange energy. For this reason, the 

issues in this proceeding are anticipated 

to be very limited. Given these 

circumstances, BPA believes that a 90- 

day Expedited Rate Proceeding is 

sufficient to develop a full and complete 

record. If it is determined that 

additional time is required, the hearing 

officer may petition the Administrator 

for additional time as provided under 

Rule 1010.10(b). A proposed schedule 

for the proceeding is provided below. A 

final schedule will be established by the 

Hearing Officer at the prehearing 

conference. 

BPA Direct Case—July 9, 2014 

Prehearing Conference—July 9, 2014 

Deadline to Intervene—July 10, 2014 

Data Request Deadline—July 22, 2014 

Data Response Deadline—July 29, 2014 

Parties file Direct Case—August 1, 2014 

Data Request Deadline—August 8, 2014 

Data Response Deadline—August 15, 

2014 

Close of Participant Comments—August 

15, 2014 

Litigants file Rebuttal—August 25, 2014 

Data Request Deadline—September 2, 

2014 

Data Response Deadline—September 9, 

2014 

Cross-Examination—September 12, 

2014 

Initial Briefs Filed—September 19, 2014 

Briefs on Exceptions—September 26, 

2014 

Final ROD—Final Studies—October 8, 

2014 

Section 1010.7 of BPA’s Procedures 

prohibits ex parte communications. The 

ex parte rule applies to all BPA and 

DOE employees and contractors. Except 

as provided below, any outside 

communications with BPA and/or DOE 

personnel regarding the merits of any 

issue in BPA’s rate proceeding by other 

Executive Branch agencies, Congress, 

existing or potential BPA customers 

(including tribes), or nonprofit or public 

interest groups are considered outside 

communications and are subject to the 

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Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 125 / Monday, June 30, 2014 / Notices 36795 

ex parte rule. The rule does not apply 

to communications relating to: (1) 

Matters of procedure only (the status of 

the rate proceeding, for example); (2) 

exchanges of data in the course of 

business or under the Freedom of 

Information Act; (3) requests for factual 

information; (4) matters for which BPA 

is responsible under statutes other than 

the ratemaking provisions; or (5) matters 

which all parties agree may be made on 

an ex parte basis. The ex parte rule 

remains in effect until the 

Administrator’s Final ROD is issued, 

which is scheduled to occur on or about 

October 8, 2014. 

Part II—Purpose and Scope of the 

PNCA–14 Rate Proceeding 

A. Circumstances Necessitating the 

Proposed Change 

In PNCA–02, BPA established a rate 

for Interchange Energy under the PNCA 

contract. The PNCA–02 proceeding 

adopted a rate that was linked to a 

market index. The Dow Jones MidColumbia Firm index was chosen as the 

index for pricing the energy. The sole 

purpose of this proceeding is to propose 

a replacement for the index used to 

price the balance of interchange energy 

exchanged between pairs of parties to 

the PNCA. Dow Jones ceased 

publication of the Dow Jones Mid-C 

Index in 2013 so currently there is no 

index to price this energy. BPA is 

proposing to substitute the 

Intercontinental Exchange Mid-C Index 

for the Dow Jones index. In addition to 

replacing the Dow Jones Index, BPA is 

also proposing to place a floor of $0.00/ 

MWh for energy provided for the 

Interchange Energy imbalances. The 

purpose of the floor is to avoid having 

a PNCA party pay another PNCA party 

when it provides Interchange Energy 

during periods when Intercontinental 

Exchange has negative prices. 

B. Scope 

The scope of this proceeding is 

limited to the appropriateness of 

substituting the Intercontinental 

Exchange as the index used to price the 

energy and the additional proposal to 

place a floor on the index price of $0.00/ 

MWh. Pursuant to § 1010.3(f) of BPA’s 

Procedures, the Administrator hereby 

directs the Hearing Officer to exclude 

from the record all argument, testimony, 

or other evidence that seeks in any way 

to address matters outside of these two 

issues. 

C. The National Environmental Policy 

Act (NEPA) 

BPA is in the process of assessing the 

potential environmental effects of its 

proposal, consistent with NEPA. A 

preliminary review of the proposal 

indicates that it involves solely 

administrative and financial matters 

that appear to fall within a class of 

actions that are categorically excluded 

from further NEPA review pursuant to 

applicable NEPA regulations. Comments 

regarding the potential environmental 

effects of the proposal may be submitted 

to Katherine S. Pierce, NEPA 

Compliance Officer, KEC–4, Bonneville 

Power Administration, 905 NE. 11th 

Avenue, Portland, OR 97232. Any such 

comments received by the comment 

deadline for Participant Comments 

identified in section III.A. below will be 

considered by BPA’s NEPA compliance 

staff in the NEPA process that will be 

conducted for this proposal. 

Part III—Public Participation in BP–14 

A. Distinguishing Between 

‘‘Participants’’ and ‘‘Parties’’ 

BPA distinguishes between 

‘‘participants in’’ and ‘‘parties to’’ the 

hearings. Apart from the formal hearing 

process, BPA will receive written 

comments, views, opinions, and 

information from ‘‘participants,’’ who 

may submit comments without being 

subject to the duties of, or having the 

privileges of, parties. Participants’ 

written comments will be made part of 

the official record and considered by the 

Administrator. Participants are not 

entitled to take part in the prehearing 

conference; may not cross-examine 

parties’ witnesses, seek discovery, or 

serve or be served with documents; and 

are not subject to the same procedural 

requirements as parties. BPA customers 

whose rates are subject to this 

proceeding, or their affiliated customer 

groups, may not submit participant 

comments. Members or employees of 

organizations that have intervened in 

the rate proceeding may submit general 

comments as participants but may not 

use the comment procedures to address 

specific issues raised by their intervenor 

organizations. 

Written comments by participants 

will be included in the record if they are 

received by August 15, 2014. Written 

views, supporting information, 

questions, and arguments should be 

submitted to the address listed in the 

ADDRESSES section of this notice. 

Entities or persons become parties to 

the proceeding by filing petitions to 

intervene, which must state the name 

and address of the entity or person 

requesting party status and the entity’s 

or person’s interest in the hearing. BPA 

customers and affiliated customer 

groups will be granted intervention 

based on petitions filed in conformance 

with BPA’s Procedures. Other 

petitioners must explain their interests 

in sufficient detail to permit the Hearing 

Officer to determine whether the 

petitioners have a relevant interest in 

the hearing. Pursuant to Rule 1010.1(d) 

of BPA’s Procedures, BPA waives the 

requirement in Rule 1010.4(d) that an 

opposition to an intervention petition be 

filed and served 24 hours before the 

prehearing conference. The time limit 

for opposing a timely intervention will 

be established at the prehearing 

conference. Any party, including BPA, 

may oppose a petition for intervention. 

All petitions will be ruled on by the 

Hearing Officer. Late interventions are 

strongly disfavored. Opposition to an 

untimely petition to intervene must be 

filed and received by BPA within two 

days after service of the petition. 

B. Developing the Record 

The hearing record will include, 

among other things, the transcripts of 

the hearing, written evidence and 

argument entered into the record by 

BPA and the parties, written comments 

from participants, and other material 

accepted into the record by the Hearing 

Officer. The Hearing Officer will review 

the record and certify the record to the 

Administrator for final decision. 

The Administrator will make a 

decision on the modification to the 

PNCA Interchange Energy rate based on 

the record and such other materials and 

information as may have been submitted 

to or developed by the Administrator. 

The Administrator will serve copies of 

the Final ROD on all parties. BPA will 

file its rates with the Commission for 

confirmation and approval after 

issuance of the Final ROD. 

Part IV—Summary of Rate Proposal 

A. Initial Deliveries of IE 

This charge applies to IE delivered 

from BPA to another PNCA party. 

Formula 1 

C = (IDON * ION) + (IDOFF * IOFF) 

Where for each day 

C = Daily charge for Initial Deliveries of ID 

in Dollars 

IDON = The Initial Deliveries of IE made 

during the day during On Peak hours. 

ION = The Intercontinental Exchange Mid-C 

index for On Peak hours in dollars per 

megawatt hour, but ION shall not be less 

than $0.00 per megawatt hour. 

IDOFF = The Initial Deliveries of IE made 

during the day during Off Peak hours. 

IOFF = The Intercontinental Exchange Mid-C 

index for Off Peak hours in dollars per 

megawatt hour, but ION shall not be less 

than $0.00 per megawatt hour. 

Initial Deliveries of IE on Sunday or 

a NERC (or its successor organization(s)) 

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36796 Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 125 / Monday, June 30, 2014 / Notices 

recognized holidays are priced at the Off 

Peak rate. 

B. Return of IE 

This charge applies to the return of ID 

that was initially delivered to BPA from 

another PNCA party. The charge is as 

follows: 

Formula 2 

CPARTY = IERPARTY * RPARTY

Where for each PNCA Party for a given day: 

CPARTY = Daily charge for the return of such 

PNCA party’s IE in dollars 

IERPARTY = The quantity of IE returned to a 

PNCA party on a day in megawatt hours 

RPARTY = the applicable IE return rate for the 

PNCA party for the given day as 

calculated in in Formula 3 below in 

dollars per megawatt hour. 

Formula 3 

RPARTY = èCPARTY ÷ èIERPARTY

Where for each PNCA Party for a given day: 

RPARTY = the IE return rate calculated for the 

PNCA party as of the given day in dollars 

per megawatt hours. 

èCPARTY = all payments received by BPA 

from such PNCA party from the date of 

the last cash out of IE Imbalances to the 

date BPA returns the ID, in dollars 

èIERPARTY = the net of all IE BPA has 

received from such PNCA party and the 

IE returned by BPA to such PNCA party 

from the date of the last cash out of IE 

Imbalances to the date BPA returns the 

IE, in megawatt hours. 

Issued this 19th day of June 2014. 

Elliot E. Mainzer, 

Administrator and Chief Executive Officer. 

[FR Doc. 2014–15272 Filed 6–27–14; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6450–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY 

Federal Energy Regulatory 

Commission 

[Docket No. CP14–501–000] 

National Fuel Gas Supply Corporation; 

Notice of Application 

Take notice that on June 13, 2014, 

National Fuel Gas Supply Corporation 

(National Fuel), 6363 Main Street, 

Williamsville, New York 14221 filed an 

application in Docket No. CP14–501– 

000 pursuant to section 7(c) of the 

Natural Gas Act (NGA), and Part 157 of 

the Commission’s regulations, for a 

certificate of public convenience and/or 

necessity requesting authorization to 

revise the reservoir and buffer 

boundaries of its adjacent Beech Hill, 

East Independence and West 

Independence Storage Fields in 

Alleghany and Steuben Counties, New 

York and that would extend the Beech 

Hill field into Potter County, 

Pennsylvania. The proposed expansions 

would increase the storage reservoir by 

8,299.02 acres and the buffer area by 

4,654.67 acres. Additionally, National 

Fuel requests authorization to convert 

Well 7451 from observation to 

withdrawal only status. National Fuel 

does not seek to change the certificated 

capacity or deliverability of the three 

fields, nor are there any new facilities 

proposed, all as more fully set forth in 

the application which is on file with the 

Commission and open for public 

inspection. The filing may also be 

viewed on the Web 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. For 

assistance, contact FERC at FERCOnline

Support@ferc.gov or call toll-free, (866) 

208–3676 or TTY, (202) 502–8659. 

Any questions regarding this 

application may be directed to David W. 

Reitz, Deputy General Counsel, National 

Fuel Gas Supply Corporation, 6363 

Main Street, Williamsville, New York 

14221, or by calling 716–857–7949. 

Pursuant to section 157.9 of the 

Commission’s rules, 18 CFR 157.9, 

within 90 days of this Notice the 

Commission staff will either: Complete 

its environmental assessment (EA) and 

place it into the Commission’s public 

record (eLibrary) for this proceeding; or 

issue a Notice of Schedule for 

Environmental Review. If a Notice of 

Schedule for Environmental Review is 

issued, it will indicate, among other 

milestones, the anticipated date for the 

Commission staff’s issuance of the final 

environmental impact statement (FEIS) 

or EA for this proposal. The filing of the 

EA in the Commission’s public record 

for this proceeding or the issuance of a 

Notice of Schedule for Environmental 

Review will serve to notify federal and 

state agencies of the timing for the 

completion of all necessary reviews, and 

the subsequent need to complete all 

federal authorizations within 90 days of 

the date of issuance of the Commission 

staff’s FEIS or EA. 

There are two ways to become 

involved in the Commission’s review of 

this project. First, any person wishing to 

obtain legal status by becoming a party 

to the proceedings for this project 

should, on or before the comment date 

stated below, file with the Federal 

Energy Regulatory Commission, 888 

First Street NE., Washington, DC 20426, 

a motion to intervene in accordance 

with the requirements of the 

Commission’s Rules of Practice and 

Procedure (18 CFR 385.214 or 385.211) 

and the Regulations under the NGA (18 

CFR 157.10). A person obtaining party 

status will be placed on the service list 

maintained by the Secretary of the 

Commission and will receive copies of 

all documents filed by the applicant and 

by all other parties. A party must submit 

7 copies of filings made with the 

Commission and must mail a copy to 

the applicant and to every other party in 

the proceeding. Only parties to the 

proceeding can ask for court review of 

Commission orders in the proceeding. 

However, a person does not have to 

intervene in order to have comments 

considered. The second way to 

participate is by filing with the 

Secretary of the Commission, as soon as 

possible, an original and two copies of 

comments in support of or in opposition 

to this project. The Commission will 

consider these comments in 

determining the appropriate action to be 

taken, but the filing of a comment alone 

will not serve to make the filer a party 

to the proceeding. The Commission’s 

rules require that persons filing 

comments in opposition to the project 

provide copies of their protests only to 

the party or parties directly involved in 

the protest. 

Persons who wish to comment only 

on the environmental review of this 

project should submit an original and 

two copies of their comments to the 

Secretary of the Commission. 

Environmental commenter’s will be 

placed on the Commission’s 

environmental mailing list, will receive 

copies of the environmental documents, 

and will be notified of meetings 

associated with he Commission’s 

environmental review process. 

Environmental commenter’s will not be 

required to serve copies of filed 

documents on all other parties. 

However, the non-party commentary, 

will not receive copies of all documents 

filed by other parties or issued by the 

Commission (except for the mailing of 

environmental documents issued by the 

Commission) and ill not have the right 

to seek court review of the 

Commission’s final order. 

The Commission strongly encourages 

electronic filings of comments, 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 5 copies of the protest or 

intervention to the Federal Energy 

Regulatory Commission, 888 First Street 

NE., Washington, DC 20426. See, 18 

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

instructions on the Commission’s Web 

site under the ‘‘e-Filing’’ link. 

Comment Date: July 15, 2014. 

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