Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 234 / Thursday, December 5, 2024 / Rules and Regulations 96531 

1See 5 U.S.C. 552a(a)(5). 

deemed to have waived the certification 

requirements of section 401(a)(1) of the 

Clean Water Act if the certifying 

authority has not denied, expressly 

waived, or granted certification by one 

year after the date the certifying 

authority received a written request for 

certification. If a certifying authority 

denies certification, the applicant must 

file a copy of the denial within 30 days 

after the applicant receives it. 

(5) Endangered Species Act (ESA). 

The application must include: 

(i) A no-effect determination that 

includes documentation that no listed 

species or critical habitat are present in 

the action area; 

(ii) Documentation of concurrence 

from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 

and the National Marine Fisheries 

Service (Service(s)), as necessary, that 

the action is not likely to adversely 

affect ESA-listed species or critical 

habitat; or 

(iii) A draft Biological Assessment 

that includes documentation of 

consultation with the Service(s). 

(6) Section 106 of the National 

Historic Preservation Act. 

Documentation that section 106 

consultation has been initiated with the 

state historic preservation officer(s) and 

any Indian Tribes identified as having 

an interest in the project. 

(7) Dam owner documentation. For 

projects to be located at existing 

nonpowered dams: 

(i) Documentation of consultation 

with any nonfederal owner of the 

nonpowered dam if the applicant is not 

the owner and confirmation that the 

owner is not opposed to a hydropower 

development at the location; or 

(ii) Documentation from the federal 

entity that non-federal hydropower 

development is not precluded at the 

proposed location and confirmation that 

the federal entity is not opposed to a 

hydropower development at the 

location. 

(8) Public parks, recreation areas, and 

wildlife refuges. If the project would use 

any public park, recreation area, or 

wildlife refuge established under state 

or local law, documentation from the 

managing entity indicating it is not 

opposed to the site’s use for hydropower 

development. 

(c) Before it files any application for 

an original license for a qualifying nonfederal hydropower project at an 

existing nonpowered dam or for a 

closed-loop pumped storage project 

pursuant to sections 34 and 35 of the 

Federal Power Act, a potential applicant 

must consult with the relevant Federal, 

State, and interstate resource agencies, 

including the National Marine Fisheries 

Service, the United States Fish and 

Wildlife Service, the National Park 

Service, the United States 

Environmental Protection Agency, the 

Federal agency administering any 

federal lands or facilities utilized or 

occupied by the project, the appropriate 

State fish and wildlife agencies, the 

appropriate State water resource 

management agencies, the certifying 

authority under section 401(a)(1) of the 

Federal Water Pollution Control Act 

(Clean Water Act), 33 U.S.C. 1341(c)(1), 

the agency that administers the Coastal 

Zone Management Act, 16 U.S.C. 1451– 

1465, any Indian Tribe that may be 

affected by the proposed project, and 

members of the public. 

(d) The Director of the Office of 

Energy Projects will, upon request, 

provide a list of known appropriate 

Federal, state, and interstate resource 

agencies, and Indian tribes, and local, 

regional, or national non-governmental 

organizations likely to be interested in 

any license application proceeding. 

■ 10. Revise § 7.7(a) to read as follows: 

§ 7.7 Amendment of application. 

(a) Any proposed amendments to the 

pending license application after 

issuance of the notice of acceptance and 

ready for environmental analysis under 

this section must include updates to all 

material submitted under § 7.2(c). 

* * * * * 

[FR Doc. 2024–27981 Filed 12–4–24; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6717–01–P 

PENSION BENEFIT GUARANTY 

CORPORATION 

29 CFR Part 4902 

RIN 1212–AB59 

Privacy Act Regulation; Exemption for 

Legal Case Management Records 

AGENCY: Pension Benefit Guaranty 

Corporation. 

ACTION: Final rule. 

SUMMARY: This final rule amends 

Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation’s 

Privacy Act regulation to exempt a 

system of records that supports law 

enforcement investigations through 

legal case management. 

DATES: This rule is effective January 6, 

2025. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Karen Levin (levin.karen@pbgc.gov), 

Attorney, Regulatory Affairs Division 

(reg.comments@pbgc.gov), Office of the 

General Counsel, at 202–229–3559, or 

Shawn Hartley (hartley.shawn@

pbgc.gov), Chief Privacy Officer, Office 

of the General Counsel, at 202–229– 

6321. If you are deaf or hard of hearing, 

or have a speech disability, please dial 

7–1–1 to access telecommunications 

relay services. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Executive Summary 

This final rule amends the Pension 

Benefit Guaranty Corporation’s (PBGC’s) 

regulation on Disclosure and 

Amendment of Records Pertaining to 

Individuals under the Privacy Act (29 

CFR part 4902) to exempt from 

disclosure information contained in a 

system of records for PBGC’s Office of 

Negotiations and Restructuring/Office of 

General Counsel Case Management 

System. The exemption is needed 

because records in this system include 

investigatory material compiled for 

administrative, civil, and criminal law 

enforcement purposes. 

PBGC’s legal authority for this 

rulemaking is provided by section 

4002(b)(3) of the Employee Retirement 

Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) 

and 5 U.S.C. 552a(k)(2). 

Background 

PBGC administers two insurance 

programs for private-sector defined 

benefit pension plans under title IV of 

the Employee Retirement Income 

Security Act of 1974 (ERISA): a singleemployer plan termination insurance 

program and a multiemployer plan 

insolvency insurance program. In 

addition, PBGC administers a special 

financial assistance program for certain 

financially distressed multiemployer 

plans. 

As a Federal agency, PBGC is subject 

to the Privacy Act of 1974, 5 U.S.C. 552a 

(Privacy Act), in its collection, 

maintenance, use, and dissemination of 

any personally identifiable information 

that it maintains in a ‘‘system of 

records.’’ A system of records is defined 

under the Privacy Act as ‘‘a group of any 

records under the control of any agency 

from which information is retrieved by 

the name of the individual or by some 

identifying number, symbol, or other 

identifying particular assigned to the 

individual.’’ 1

PBGC previously established a system 

of records, ‘‘PBGC–19, Office of 

Negotiations and Restructuring/Office of 

General Counsel Case Management 

System.’’ This system of records was 

last published in the ‘‘Notice’’ section of 

the Federal Register on September 9, 

2024, at 89 FR 73196. 

This system collects and maintains 

personally identifiable information 

obtained by the Office of General 

Counsel in matters involving 


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96532 Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 234 / Thursday, December 5, 2024 / Rules and Regulations 

2See 5 U.S.C. 552a(k)(2). 

administrative, civil, or criminal law 

enforcement investigations. Records 

from this system are used on a need-toknow basis to manage various legal 

matters; to facilitate administrative, 

civil, or criminal law enforcement 

investigations and activities; to receive 

referrals for investigation from internal 

and external partners; to meet other 

Office of General Counsel program 

requirements; and to investigate/manage 

cases involving violations of 

administrative, civil, or criminal laws. 

On October 22, 2024 (89 FR 84314), 

PBGC published a proposed rule to 

amend its Privacy Act regulation (29 

CFR part 4902) to exempt certain 

records that will be maintained in 

PBGC–19 from certain provisions of the 

Privacy Act, and to make other minor 

changes. PBGC received no comments 

on the proposed rule. The final 

regulation is unchanged from the 

proposed regulation except for editorial 

changes to conform some system names. 

Exemption 

Under section 552a(k) of the Privacy 

Act, PBGC may promulgate regulations 

exempting information contained in 

certain systems of records from 

specified sections of the Privacy Act 

including the section mandating 

disclosure of information to an 

individual who has requested it. Among 

other systems, PBGC may exempt a 

system that is ‘‘investigatory material 

compiled for law enforcement 

purposes.’’ 2 Under this provision, PBGC 

has exempted, in §§ 4902.10, 4902.11, 

and 4902.12 of its Privacy Act 

regulation, records of the investigations 

conducted by its Personnel Security 

Department contained in ‘‘PBGC–12, 

Personnel Security Investigation 

Records,’’ records of the investigations 

conducted by the Office of Inspector 

General contained in ‘‘PBGC–17, Office 

of Inspector General Investigative File 

System,’’ and records of insider threat 

investigations conducted by PBGC 

contained in ‘‘PBGC–26, PBGC Insider 

Threat and Data Loss Prevention.’’ 

The PBGC–19, Office of Negotiations 

and Restructuring/Office of General 

Counsel Case Management System 

contains: (1) records derived from the 

Office of Inspector General, Personnel 

Security, or insider threat 

investigations, (2) summaries or reports 

containing information about 

administrative, civil, and criminal legal 

investigations, (3) information related to 

investigative or analytical efforts by 

PBGC legal, security, or law 

enforcement personnel, (4) reports about 

potential administrative, civil, or 

criminal law enforcement activities 

obtained through the management and 

operation of the Office of General 

Counsel, and (5) reports about potential 

civil or criminal legal investigations 

obtained from other Federal 

Government sources involving PBGC. 

The records contained in this system 

include investigative material of actual, 

potential, or alleged criminal, civil, or 

administrative violations and law 

enforcement actions. These records are 

within the material permitted to be 

exempted under section 552a(k)(2) of 

the Privacy Act. 

This final rule amends PBGC’s 

Privacy Act regulation to redesignate 

§ 4902.13 (Filing rules; computation of 

time) as § 4902.14 and to add a new 

§ 4902.13 as an exemption for PBGC–19, 

Office of Negotiations and 

Restructuring/Office of General Counsel 

Case Management System, from 5 U.S.C. 

552a(c)(3), (d), (e)(1), (e)(4)(G), (H), and 

(I) and (f). Exemption from these 

sections of the Privacy Act means that, 

with respect to records in the system, 

PBGC is not required to: (1) disclose 

records to an individual upon request, 

(2) keep an accounting of individuals 

who request records, (3) maintain only 

records as necessary to accomplish an 

agency purpose, or (4) publish notice of 

certain revisions of the system of 

records. In addition, this final rule 

makes changes to some of the system 

names previously used in part 4902 to 

conform them to the systems of records 

published in the Federal Register on 

September 9, 2024, at 89 FR 73196. 

Compliance With Rulemaking 

Guidelines 

The Office of Management and Budget 

(OMB) has determined that this 

rulemaking is not a ‘‘significant 

regulatory action’’ under Executive 

Order 12866. Accordingly, OMB has not 

reviewed the final rule under Executive 

Order 12866. 

PBGC certifies under section 605(b) of 

the Regulatory Flexibility Act that this 

final rule will not have a significant 

economic impact on a substantial 

number of small entities. The rule will 

only affect the maintenance and 

disclosure of information about 

individuals by PBGC under the Privacy 

Act and therefore will have no 

economic impact on entities of any size. 

Accordingly, sections 603 and 604 of 

the Regulatory Flexibility Act do not 

apply. See 5 U.S.C. 603, 604. 

List of Subjects in 29 CFR Part 4902 

Privacy. 

In consideration of the foregoing, 

PBGC is amending 29 CFR part 4902 as 

follows: 

PART 4902—DISCLOSURE AND 

AMENDMENT OF RECORDS 

PERTAINING TO INDIVIDUALS UNDER 

THE PRIVACY ACT 

■ 1. The authority citation for part 4902 

continues to read as follows: 

Authority: 5 U.S.C. 552a, 29 U.S.C. 

1302(b)(3). 

§ 4902.1 [Amended] 

■ 2. In § 4902.1, amend paragraph (d) by 

removing ‘‘4902.12’’ and adding in its 

place ‘‘4902.13’’. 

§ 4902.10 [Amended] 

■ 3. In 4902.10, amend paragraph (a) by 

removing ‘‘—PBGC’’. 

§ 4902.11 [Amended] 

■ 4. In 4902.11, amend paragraphs 

(a)(1), (b)(1), and (c)(1) by removing ‘‘— 

PBGC’’. 

§ 4902.12 [Amended] 

■ 5. In 4902.12, amend paragraph (a) by 

removing ‘‘—PBGC’’. 

§ 4902.13 [Redesignated as § 4902.14] 

■ 6. Redesignate § 4902.13 as § 4902.14. 

■ 7. Add new § 4902.13 to read as 

follows: 

§ 4902.13 Specific exemptions: Legal Case 

Management. 

(a) Exemption. Under the authority 

granted by 5 U.S.C. 552a(k)(2), PBGC 

hereby exempts the system of records 

entitled ‘‘PBGC–19, Office of 

Negotiations and Restructuring/Office of 

General Counsel Case Management 

System’’ from the provisions of 5 U.S.C. 

552a(c)(3), (d), (e)(1), (e)(4)(G), (H), and 

(I), and (f). 

(b) Reasons for exemption. The 

reasons for asserting this exemption are 

because the disclosure and other 

requirements of the Privacy Act could 

substantially compromise the efficacy 

and integrity of PBGC’s ability to 

investigate administrative, civil, or 

criminal legal matters. Disclosure could 

invade the privacy of individuals and 

disclose their identity when they were 

expressly promised confidentiality. 

Disclosure could interfere with the 

integrity of information which would 

otherwise be subject to legal privileges, 

see, e.g., 5 U.S.C. 552(b)(5), and which 

could interfere with other important law 

enforcement concerns, see, e.g., 5 U.S.C. 

552(b)(7). 

Issued in Washington, DC. 

Ann Y. Orr, 

Acting Director, Pension Benefit Guaranty 

Corporation. 

[FR Doc. 2024–28442 Filed 12–4–24; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 7709–02–P 


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