43590 Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 151 / Tuesday, August 10, 2021 / Rules and Regulations 

regulatory evaluation as the anticipated 

impact is so minimal. Since this is a 

routine matter that will only affect air 

traffic procedures and air navigation, it 

is certified that this rule, when 

promulgated, would not have a 

significant economic impact on a 

substantial number of small entities 

under the criteria of the Regulatory 

Flexibility Act. 

Environmental Review 

The FAA has determined that this 

action qualifies for categorical exclusion 

under the National Environmental 

Policy Act in accordance with FAA 

Order 1050.1F, ‘‘Environmental 

Impacts: Policies and Procedures,’’ 

paragraph 5–6.5a. This airspace action 

is not expected to cause any potentially 

significant environmental impacts, and 

no extraordinary circumstances exist 

that warrant the preparation of an 

environmental assessment. 

List of Subjects in 14 CFR Part 71 

Airspace, Incorporation by reference, 

Navigation (air). 

Adoption of the Amendment 

In consideration of the foregoing, the 

Federal Aviation Administration 

amends 14 CFR part 71 as follows: 

PART 71—DESIGNATION OF CLASS A, 

B, C, D, AND E AIRSPACE AREAS; AIR 

TRAFFIC SERVICE ROUTES; AND 

REPORTING POINTS 

■ 1. The authority citation for 14 CFR 

part 71 continues to read as follows: 

Authority: 49 U.S.C. 106(f), 106(g), 40103, 

40113, 40120; E.O. 10854, 24 FR 9565, 3 CFR, 

1959–1963 Comp., p. 389. 

§ 71.1 [Amended] 

■ 2. The incorporation by reference in 

14 CFR 71.1 of FAA Order 7400.11E, 

Airspace Designations and Reporting 

Points, dated July 21, 2020, and 

effective September 15, 2020, is 

amended as follows: 

Paragraph 5000 Class D Airspace. 

* * * * * 

AAL AK D Kodiak, AK [Amended] 

Kodiak Airport, AK 

(Lat. 57°44′59′′ N, long. 152°29′38′′ W) 

Trident Basin Airport, AK 

(Lat. 57°46′51′′ N, long. 152°23′29′′ W) 

That airspace extending upward from the 

surface to and including 2,600 feet MSL 

within a 4.4-mile radius of the airport, and 

within 1 mile each side of the 091° bearing 

from the airport, extending from the 4.4-mile 

radius to 6.1 miles east of Kodiak Airport, 

excluding that airspace west and northwest 

of a line beginning at the 228° bearing from 

Kodiak Airport, to the 308° bearing at 2.9 

miles from Kodiak Airport, to the 012° 

bearing from Kodiak Airport, and excluding 

that airspace from the 024° bearing from the 

Kodiak Airport to the 325° bearing at 1.0 mile 

from Trident Basin Airport, and excluding 

that airspace within a 1.0-mile radius of 

Trident Basin Airport from the 325° bearing 

from Trident Basin Airport counterclockwise 

to the 250° bearing from Trident Basin 

airport, and within a 0.3-mile radius of 

Trident Basin Airport from the 250° bearing 

from Trident Basin Airport counterclockwise 

to the 119° bearing from the Trident Basin 

Airport, and from the 119° bearing at 0.3 

miles from Trident Basin Airport to the 072° 

bearing at 4.4 miles from Kodiak Airport. 

This Class D airspace area is effective during 

the specific dates and times established in 

advance by a Notice to Airmen. The effective 

date and time will thereafter be continuously 

published in the Chart Supplement. 

Paragraph 6004 Class E Airspace Areas 

Designated as an Extension to a Class D or 

Class E Surface Area. 

* * * * * 

AAL AK E4 Kodiak, AK [Removed] 

Kodiak Airport, AK 

(Lat. 57°45′00′′ N, long. 152°29′38′′ W) 

Paragraph 6005 Class E Airspace Areas 

Extending Upward From 700 feet or More 

Above the Surface of the Earth. 

* * * * * 

AAL AK E5 Kodiak, AK [Amended] 

Kodiak Airport, AK 

(Lat. 57°44′59′′ N, long. 152°29′38′′ W) 

That airspace extending upward from 700 

feet above the surface within a 6.9-mile 

radius of the airport, and within 8 miles 

north and 4.1 miles south of the 071° bearing 

from the airport, extending from the 6.9-mile 

radius and extending from 5.2 miles east of 

the airport to 21.2 miles east of the airport, 

excluding that airspace extending beyond 12 

miles of the shoreline; and that airspace 

extending upward from 1,200 feet above the 

surface within a 73-mile radius of the Kodiak 

Airport, AK, excluding that airspace 

extending beyond 12 miles of the shoreline. 

Issued in Des Moines, Washington, on 

August 2, 2021. 

B.G. Chew, 

Acting Group Manager, Operations Support 

Group, Western Service Center. 

[FR Doc. 2021–16827 Filed 8–9–21; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4910–13–P 

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY 

Federal Energy Regulatory 

Commission 

18 CFR Part 284 

[Docket No. RM96–1–042; Order No. 587– 

Z] 

Standards for Business Practices of 

Interstate Natural Gas Pipelines 

AGENCY: Federal Energy Regulatory 

Commission, Department of Energy. 

ACTION: Final rule. 

SUMMARY: The Federal Energy 

Regulatory Commission is amending its 

regulations to incorporate by reference, 

with certain enumerated exceptions, the 

latest version (Version 3.2) of business 

practice standards adopted by the 

Wholesale Gas Quadrant of the North 

American Energy Standards Board 

(NAESB) applicable to natural gas 

pipelines in place of the currently 

incorporated version (Version 3.1) of 

those business practice standards. The 

revisions made by NAESB in this 

version of the standards are designed to 

enhance the natural gas industries’ 

system and software security measures 

and to clarify the processing of certain 

business transactions. 

DATES:

Effective date: This rule is effective 

October 12, 2021. 

Compliance date: Compliance filings 

required by this rule are due on 

November 12, 2021 and compliance 

with the standards incorporated in this 

rule is required on and after June 1, 

2022. 

Incorporation by reference: The 

incorporation by reference of certain 

publications listed in this rule is 

approved by the Director of the Federal 

Register as of October 12, 2021. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Stanley Wolf (technical issues), Office of 

Energy Policy and Innovation, Federal 

Energy Regulatory Commission, 888 

First Street NE, Washington, DC 

20426, (202) 502–6841, stanley.wolf@

ferc.gov. 

Oscar F. Santillana (technical issues), 

Office of Energy Market Regulation, 

Federal Energy Regulatory 

Commission, 888 First Street NE, 

Washington, DC 20426, (202) 502– 

6392, oscar.santillana@ferc.gov. 

Robert McLean (legal issues), Office of 

the General Counsel, Federal Energy 

Regulatory Commission, 888 First 

Street NE, Washington, DC 20426, 

(202) 502–8156, robert.mclean@

ferc.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Order No. 587–Z 

Final Rule 

(Issued July 13, 2021) 


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1As explained below, we are not incorporating by 

reference in this Final Rule the optional model 

contracts and the eTariff-related standards included 

in the North American Energy Standards Board 

(NAESB) Wholesale Gas Quadrant (WGQ) Version 

3.2 package of business practice standards. 2As explained below, NAESB has developed and 

adopted, in conjunction with Sandia National 

Laboratories, a series of business practice standards 

to protect the natural gas industries’ internet 

security. 

3Sandia is a multidisciplinary national laboratory 

and federally funded research and development 

center for the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) 

National Nuclear Security Administration that 

supports numerous federal, state, and local 

government agencies, companies, and 

organizations. 

4OpenPGP is an encryption standard defined by 

the internet Engineering Task Force enabling design 

and implementation free of licensing fees. At 

present, the encryption method is generally 

considered the most secure. 

5HTTPS authentication encrypts username and 

password combinations as part of a Uniform 

Resource Locator address. To obtain an HTTPS 

connection, a web browser must contact a trusted, 

commercial Certificate Authority, such as a NAESB 

Authorized Certificate Authority, to obtain the web 

server’s public key, and follow other applicable 

HTTPS procedures. 

Table of Contents 

Paragraph Nos. 

I. Background ................................................................................................................................................................................ 5 

II. Discussion ................................................................................................................................................................................ 12 

A. The NAESB WGQ Version 3.2 Business Practice Standards ......................................................................................... 12 

1. Modifications to Previous Version of Standards ..................................................................................................... 12 

B. NAESB’s Process ............................................................................................................................................................... 22 

C. Adoption of Version 3.2 of the Standards ...................................................................................................................... 23 

D. Required Compliance Filings ........................................................................................................................................... 25 

E. Implementation Schedule ................................................................................................................................................ 26 

III. Notice of Use of Voluntary Consensus Standards ................................................................................................................ 28 

IV. Incorporation by Reference .................................................................................................................................................... 29 

V. Information Collection Statement ........................................................................................................................................... 39 

VI. Environmental Analysis ......................................................................................................................................................... 46 

VII. Regulatory Flexibility Act ..................................................................................................................................................... 47 

VIII. Document Availability ......................................................................................................................................................... 50 

IX. Effective Date and Congressional Notification ..................................................................................................................... 53 

1. In this Final Rule, the Federal 

Energy Regulatory Commission 

(Commission) amends its regulations at 

18 CFR 284.12 to incorporate by 

reference, with certain enumerated 

exceptions,1 the latest version (Version 

3.2) of business practice standards 

adopted by NAESB’s WGQ applicable to 

natural gas pipelines that NAESB 

reported to the Commission on August 

17, 2020 in place of the currently 

incorporated version (Version 3.1) of 

those business practice standards. This 

Final Rule requires interstate natural gas 

pipelines to file compliance filings with 

the Commission by November 12, 2021 

and to comply with the standards 

incorporated by reference in this rule on 

and after June 1, 2022. 

2. The implementation of these 

standards and regulations will promote 

the additional efficiency and reliability 

of the natural gas industries’ operations 

thereby helping the Commission to 

carry out its responsibilities under the 

Natural Gas Act (NGA). Further, the 

implementation of these standards will 

enhance the natural gas industries’ 

computer security requirements.2 In 

addition, the implementation of these 

data requirements will provide 

additional transparency to Informational 

Postings websites and will improve 

communication standards. 

3. The NAESB WGQ Version 3.2 

package of standards contains revisions 

to the NAESB WGQ Version 3.1 package 

of standards. As explained further 

below, in response to the 

recommendations in the Sandia 

National Laboratory (Sandia) 3 report, 

NAESB updated the Quadrant 

Electronic Delivery Mechanism (EDM) 

Related Standards and internet 

Electronic Transport (IET) Related 

Standards to specifically: (1) Require the 

implementation of fixes or patches for 

known vulnerabilities as soon as 

reasonably practicable in coordination 

with other trading partners; (2) specify 

notification timelines to provide notice 

to trading partners of any systems or 

software that have not been updated and 

the potential impact of using the 

vulnerable system; (3) include both 

specific and broad adoptions of system 

security measures and specific 

notification and coordination during 

outages with affected trading partners; 

(4) maintain a minimum encryption 

strength of 128 bits, (5) specify that 

OpenPGP 4 should be used to create 

public and private keys for privacy and 

digital signature applications; (6) 

specify Hyper-Text Transport Protocol 

Secure (HTTPS) 5 whenever secure 

communication is required to protect 

information in transit and support 

overall privacy needs; (7) use the largest 

feasible key length consistent with 

implementation of current business 

processes; (8) state that secure websites 

should employ individual user 

credentials; and (9) encourage security 

assessments and coordination between 

customers, vendors, and trading 

partners. 

4. Further, in response to industry 

requests or through the normal course of 

WGQ activities, NAESB: (1) Updated the 

Nominations Related Standards to allow 

a Service Requester to determine which 

rights of the contract its segmentation 

nomination is using; (2) updated the 

Quadrant EDM Related Standards to (i) 

define a NAESB standard time frame for 

information to be retained on a 

pipeline’s Informational Postings 

website, (ii) allow for processing 

functions at the line item level on 

Customer Activities websites and allow 

for the use of icons and/or graphical 

control elements for navigation and/or 

processing functions, and (iii) make 

minor revisions designed to add clarity, 

update the minimum technical 

characteristics to account for changes in 

technology since the previous version 

(Version 3.1) of the WGQ standards, and 

update the minimum and suggested 

operating systems and web browsers 

that entities should support; (3) updated 

multiple sets of standards to remove 

references to the term ‘‘gigacalories’’ 

and add the term ‘‘gigajoules’’ as the 

standard quantity for nominations, 

confirmations, and scheduling in 

Mexico; and (4) revised the NAESB 

WGQ data sets or other technical 

implementation documentation while 

not resulting in modifications to the 

underlying business practice standards. 

I. Background 

5. Since 1996, the Commission has 

adopted regulations to standardize the 

business practices and communication 

methodologies of interstate natural gas 

pipelines to create a more integrated 

and efficient pipeline system. These 

regulations have been promulgated in 


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43592 Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 151 / Tuesday, August 10, 2021 / Rules and Regulations 

6This series of orders began with the 

Commission’s issuance of Standards for Bus. Pracs. 

of Interstate Nat. Gas Pipelines., Ord. No. 587, 61 

FR 39053 (July 26, 1996), FERC Stats. & Regs. 

¶ 31,038 (1996) (cross-referenced at 76 FERC 

¶ 61,042). 

7 In April 2017, NAESB announced that Sandia, 

through funding provided by DOE, would be 

performing a surety assessment of the NAESB 

standards. As determined by Sandia and DOE, the 

purpose of the surety assessment was to analyze 

cybersecurity elements within the standards, 

focusing on four areas: (1) The NAESB Certification 

Program for Accredited Certification Authorities, 

including the Wholesale Electric Quadrant (WEQ)– 

012 Public Key Infrastructure Business Practice 

Standards, the NAESB Accreditation Requirements 

for Authorized Certificate Authorities, and the 

Authorized Certification Authority Process; (2) the 

WEQ Open Access Same-Time Information Systems 

suite of standards; (3) the WGQ and Retail Markets 

Quadrant IET and Quadrant EDM Related Standards 

Manual; and (4) a high-level dependency analysis 

between the gas and electric markets to evaluate the 

different security paradigms the markets employ. 

8Standards for Bus. Pracs. of Interstate Nat. Gas 

Pipelines, Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, 86 FR 

12879 (Mar. 5, 2021), 174 FERC ¶ 61,103 (2021) 

(Version 3.2 NOPR). 

9HTTP is the original communications protocol 

of the internet which enables a web browser to 

depict text, pictures, shapes, live data, and click 

targets on a web browser. However, username and 

password combinations are not encrypted in HTTP 

Basic Authentication. 

10NAESB Cmts. at 1. 

11 INGAA Cmts. at 3. 

12 Id. at 2. 

13 Id. 

14The National Institute of Standards and 

Technology Special Pub. 800–52 requires 

government Transport Layer Security servers and 

clients to support Transport Layer Security Version 

the Order No. 587 series of orders,6

wherein the Commission has 

incorporated by reference standards for 

interstate natural gas pipeline business 

practices and electronic 

communications that were developed 

and adopted by NAESB’s WGQ. Upon 

incorporation by reference, this version 

of the standards will replace the 

currently incorporated version (Version 

3.1) of those business practice 

standards. 

6. On August 17, 2020, NAESB filed 

a report informing the Commission that 

it had adopted and ratified WGQ 

Version 3.2 of its business practice 

standards applicable to interstate 

natural gas pipelines. Version 3.2 of the 

WGQ includes business practice 

standards developed and modified in 

response to industry requests and 

directives from the NAESB Board of 

Directors. This version also includes the 

standards developed in response to the 

recommendations of Sandia, which in 

2019 issued a cybersecurity surety 

assessment of the NAESB standards 

sponsored by DOE (Sandia Surety 

Assessment),7 and the standards 

developed to enable the use of 

distributed ledger technologies when 

transacting the NAESB Base Contract for 

Sale and Purchase of Natural Gas. 

7. The NAESB report identifies all the 

changes made to the WGQ Version 3.1 

Standards and summarizes the 

deliberations that led to the changes 

being made. It also identifies changes to 

the existing standards that were 

considered but not adopted due to a 

lack of consensus or other reasons. 

8. On February 18, 2021, the 

Commission issued a Notice of 

Proposed Rulemaking proposing to 

amend its regulations to incorporate by 

reference, with certain enumerated 

exceptions, the NAESB WGQ Version 

3.2 business practice standards 

(referenced above) applicable to natural 

gas pipelines.8

9. In response to the Version 3.2 

NOPR, NAESB and the Interstate 

Natural Gas Association of America 

(INGAA) filed comments. NAESB 

clarifies that Standards 4.3.60 and 

10.3.16 do not require multi-factor (e.g., 

two-factor) authentication on an 

individual basis. NAESB clarifies that 

Standard 4.3.60 states that a Customer 

Activities website should be protected 

by [Hyper-Text Transport Protocol] 

(HTTP) 9 Basic Authentication using 

transport layer security and require a 

single logon/password pair for each user 

session. NAESB further clarifies that 

Standard 10.3.16 states that trading 

partners should implement HTTP Basic 

Authentication using transport layer 

security.10 INGAA supports NAESB’s 

clarifying comments.11

10. INGAA expresses support for the 

Commission’s proposal to incorporate 

by reference NAESB’s WGQ Version 3.2 

business practice standards. INGAA also 

supports the Commission’s proposal in 

the Version 3.2 NOPR, but urges the 

Commission to ensure that 

implementation of a Final Rule in this 

proceeding occurs for the first gas day 

of the month, but not prior to April 1, 

2022, after the winter heating season. 

INGAA states that implementation of a 

Final Rule in this proceeding will 

require substantial time and effort from 

both pipelines and their customers to 

alter business systems, scheduling, and 

coordination processes and, thus, it 

would be best to schedule 

implementation to not occur during the 

winter heating season.12

11. Further, INGAA states that 

requiring implementation to occur for 

the first gas day of the month is 

important for both pipelines and 

shippers. INGAA explains that while 

pipelines update their software to 

accommodate the new NAESB version 

ahead of the implementation date, both 

pipelines and shippers need to ensure 

that contract, nomination, allocation, 

invoice, and other changes will be fully 

in place and working properly with the 

start of the gas month. INGAA states 

that this is consistent with the 

industry’s monthly billing cycle and 

shall avoid the complications of a midmonth transition.13

II. Discussion 

A. The NAESB WGQ Version 3.2 

Business Practice Standards 

1. Modifications to Previous Version of 

Standards 

a. Modifications in Response to the 

Sandia Surety Assessment 

12. NAESB revised previously 

incorporated standards and developed 

new standards in response to the 

recommendations in the Sandia Surety 

Assessment. Specifically, NAESB 

adopted revisions to the WGQ EDM 

Related Business Practice Standards, 

which establish the framework for the 

electronic dissemination and 

communication of information between 

parties in the North American wholesale 

gas marketplace, and to the WGQ IET 

Related Business Practice Standards, 

which define the implementation of 

various technologies necessary to 

communicate transactions and other 

electronic data using standard protocols 

for electronic commerce over the 

internet between trading partners. First, 

NAESB adopted two new standards, 

4.3.109 and 10.3.28, to provide that 

trading partners should evaluate 

software fixes or patches for known 

vulnerabilities within 30 days and 

implement the fix or patch as soon as 

reasonably practicable based on the 

severity of the risk. Second, NAESB 

adopted two new standards, 4.3.110 and 

10.3.29, to provide that trading partners 

should mutually agree to the version of 

the EDM and IET to be used. Third, the 

new standards specify notification and 

coordination timelines with trading 

partners, where applicable, to address 

vulnerable systems or software as soon 

as possible. Fourth, the Sandia Surety 

Assessment recommended that NAESB 

consider guidelines for configuration 

and logging, network traffic monitoring, 

alerting systems, and manual continuity 

of operations in the event of abnormal 

behavior or failure conditions within 

the system. In response, NAESB added 

language to new Standards 4.3.110 and 

10.3.28 to include both specific and 

broad adoptions of such system security 

measures. 

13. Further, NAESB added language 

to existing Standards 4.3.60, 4.3.61, 

10.2.33, and 10.3.25 to clarify the 

Transport Layer Security protocol,14


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1.2 and recommends support for Transport Layer 

Security Version 1.3 by the year 2024. 

15Rivest-Shamir-Adelman is a public key 

infrastructure algorithm composed of a public 

component and a private component that is 

typically installed on a recognized Certificate 

Authority. 

16Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm 

public keys generate an encrypted signature to 

validate data. 

17A Hash is a cryptology technique used for 

digital signatures in which a series of numbers that 

may represent, for example, a password, an image, 

a document, or an executable file is used to generate 

a cryptographic hash (i.e., a large number). 

18SHA–2 is a set of cryptographic hash functions. 

19PGP is a proprietary (i.e., an organization must 

pay to use it) encryption program developed to 

enhance the confidentiality and integrity of data. 

20 In order for a Service Requester to have control 

over its segmented nomination(s), the 

Transportation Service Provider (TSP) will require 

a ‘‘Capacity Block ID’’ to be submitted with each 

nomination line item specifying a Transaction Type 

of ‘‘Segmented.’’ 

21NAESB WGQ Version 3.2 Standards 1.3.14, 

1.3.15, 1.3.82, and 3.3.3. 

22NAESB WGQ Version 3.2 Standards 0.4.1 

through 0.4.3, 1.4.1, 1.4.3 through 1.4.6, 2.4.1, 2.4.6, 

2.4.17, 3.4.1, 3.4.2, and 5.4.24 through 5.4.26. 

23Public Law 104–113, 12(d), 110 Stat. 775 

(1996). 

24 Version 3.2 NOPR, 174 FERC ¶ 61,103 at n.1 & 

P 19. 

25NAESB’s clarifying comments regarding 

revised existing Standards 4.3.60 and 10.3.16 are 

discussed separately in section II above. 

which encrypts data to hide information 

from electronic observers on the 

internet. NAESB also deleted all 

references to the Secure Sockets Layer 

protocol in the standards. 

14. Concerning identification key 

lengths, the Sandia Surety Assessment 

recommended that Rivest-ShamirAdelman keys 15 must be no shorter 

than 2048 bits, Elliptic Curve Digital 

Signature Algorithm keys 16 must be no 

shorter than 224 bits, Hash 17 algorithms 

should be from the Secure Hash 

Algorithm (SHA)–2 18 or SHA–3 

families, and acceptable Advanced 

Encryption Standard key lengths range 

from 128, to 192, to 256. The Sandia 

Surety Assessment recommended that, 

in general, implementors use the largest 

feasible key length consistent with 

implementation of current business 

processes. In response, NAESB deleted 

Standard 4.3.83 to remove legacy 

support references and maintain a 

minimum encryption strength of 128 

bits. Further, NAESB revised existing 

Standards 10.2.34 and 10.3.15 to delete 

a proprietary Pretty Good Privacy 

(PGP) 19-related hyperlink and to 

accommodate license-free OpenPGP, 

respectively. NAESB also adopted a new 

Standard 10.2.39 to specify that 

OpenPGP should be used to create 

public and private keys for privacy and 

digital signature applications. 

15. Further, NAESB revised existing 

Standards 4.3.60, 4.3.84, 10.3.4, and 

10.3.16 to specify HTTPS, which is an 

encrypted version of HTTP, whenever a 

secure communication is required to 

protect information in transit and 

support overall privacy needs. 

b. Modifications in Response to Industry 

Requests 

16. The following section describes 

standards development efforts 

undertaken by NAESB in response to 

industry requests or through the normal 

course of WGQ activities that resulted in 

modifications to the Nomination 

Related Standards, Quadrant EDM 

Related Standards, and an effort that 

impacted multiple sets of standards. 

NAESB made corresponding revisions, 

where appropriate, to the related data 

sets and technical implementation as 

part of the standards development 

effort. 

i. Nomination Related Standards 

17. NAESB revised existing Standards 

1.3.27, 1.4.1, and 1.4.2 to add a new 

data element ‘‘Capacity Block ID’’ to 

allow a Service Requester to determine 

which primary point rights of the 

contract their segmented nomination 20

is using and eliminate an existing 

manual business process from the TSP 

to automate the business process. 

ii. Quadrant Electronic Delivery 

Mechanism Related Standards 

18. NAESB developed two new 

standards, Standard 4.3.107 to establish 

a standard data retention period for 

retrieval of Operationally Available data 

from the Informational Postings website, 

and Standard 4.3.108, to establish a 

standard data retention period for 

retrieval of Notices for the subcategories 

of Critical, Non-Critical, and Planned 

Service Outage from the Informational 

Postings website. 

iii. Revisions Impacting Multiple 

Standards 

19. NAESB revised multiple 

standards 21 and data sets 22 to remove 

references to the term ‘‘gigacalories’’ 

and add the term ‘‘gigajoules,’’ as the 

standard quantity for nominations, 

confirmations, and scheduling in 

Mexico. 

iv. Other Material in NAESB’s Report 

20. NAESB revised multiple data sets 

which impacted technical 

implementation documentation only. 

21. Further, NAESB revised its 

optional model contracts and 

corresponding Mexican and Canadian 

Addendums to reflect a standard digital 

representation of natural gas trade 

events. NAESB states that these 

revisions are intended to capitalize on 

smart contracts and distributed ledger 

technologies. 

B. NAESB’s Process 

22. NAESB used its consensus 

procedures to develop and approve the 

WGQ Version 3.2 Standards. As the 

Commission found in Order No. 587, 

the adoption of consensus standards is 

appropriate, because the consensus 

process helps ensure the reasonableness 

of the standards by requiring that the 

standards draw support from a broad 

spectrum of industry participants 

representing all segments of the 

industry. Moreover, since the industry 

itself must conduct business under 

these standards, the Commission’s 

regulations should reflect those 

standards that have the widest possible 

support. In section 12(d) of the National 

Technology Transfer and Advancement 

Act of 1995 (NTT&AA),23 Congress 

affirmatively requires federal agencies to 

use technical standards developed by 

voluntary consensus standards 

organizations, like NAESB, as means to 

carry out policy objectives or activities 

determined by the agencies unless an 

agency determines that the use of such 

standards would be inconsistent with 

applicable law or otherwise impractical. 

C. Adoption of Version 3.2 of the 

Standards 

23. In the Version 3.2 NOPR, the 

Commission proposed to incorporate by 

reference, in its regulations, Version 3.2 

of the NAESB WGQ consensus business 

practice standards, with the exception 

of NAESB’s standards specifying the 

terms of optional model contracts and 

the eTariff-related standards.24 None of 

the commenters opposed the 

Commission’s proposal to incorporate 

by reference the NAESB WGQ Version 

3.2 business practice standards as 

proposed in the Version 3.2 NOPR.25

24. After a review of the comments 

filed in response to the Version 3.2 

NOPR, and because the revisions made 

by NAESB in this version of the 

standards are designed to enhance the 

natural gas industries’ system and 

software security measures and to 

clarify the processing of certain business 

transactions, we amend Part 284 of the 

Commission’s regulations to incorporate 

by reference the NAESB WGQ Version 

3.2 business practice standards, with the 

exceptions (as explained in the Version 

3.2 NOPR) of the optional model 

contracts and the eTariff-related 

standards. 


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26To aid in compliance, promptly after issuance 

of this Final Rule, we will post a sample tariff 

record on the Commission’s website that may be 

accessed at https://www.ferc.gov/ferc-online/ 

elibrary. All interstate natural gas pipelines are to 

file their tariff records in conformance with this 

sample tariff record. 

27 Version 3.2 NOPR, 174 FERC ¶ 61,103 at PP 

20–24. 

28Standards for Bus. Pracs. of Interstate Nat. Gas 

Pipelines, Ord. No. 587–W, 80 FR 67302 (Nov. 2, 

2015), 153 FERC ¶ 61,061, at P 42 (2015) (Ord. No. 

587–W). 

29See supra n.21. 

30 Id. 

31For example, pipelines are required to include 

the full text of the NAESB nomination and capacity 

release timeline standards (WGQ Standards 1.3.2(ivi) and 5.3.2, respectively) in their tariffs. See, e.g., 

Standards for Bus. Pracs. of Interstate Nat. Gas 

Pipelines, Ord. No. 587–U, 75 FR 16337 (Apr. 1, 

2010), 130 FERC ¶ 61,212, at P 39 & n.42 (2010). 

Each pipeline’s submittal is to identify which tariff 

provision complies with each of these standards. 

32Shippers can use the Commission’s electronic 

tariff system to locate the tariff record containing 

the NAESB WGQ standards, which will indicate the 

docket number in which any waiver or extension 

of time was granted. 

33Public Law 104–113, 12(d), 110 Stat. 775 

(1996), 15 U.S.C. 272 note (1997). 

34 1 CFR 51.5 (2020). See Incorporation by 

Reference, 79 FR 66267 (Nov. 7, 2014). 

D. Required Compliance Filings 

25. As suggested by INGAA, we have 

selected an implementation schedule for 

compliance with this Final Rule that 

delays implementation until after the 

2021–2022 winter heating period. To 

implement the standards that we are 

incorporating by reference in this Final 

Rule, we will require each interstate 

natural gas pipeline to file a separate 

tariff record reflecting the changed 

standards by November 12, 2021, to take 

effect on June 1, 2022 26 We are adopting 

this implementation schedule to give 

the interstate natural gas pipelines 

subject to these standards adequate time 

to implement these changes. 

E. Implementation Schedule 

26. To implement these standards, we 

require interstate natural gas pipelines 

to file tariff records to reflect the 

changed standards by November 12, 

2021. None of the comments took issue 

with the Commission’s explanation of 

its policies on tariff filings and on 

waiver requests to comply with these 

standards.27 Therefore, we are not 

modifying these policies in this Final 

Rule and affirm the explanation of those 

policies the Commission made in the 

Version 3.2 NOPR. 

27. In addition, consistent with the 

requirements in Order No. 587–W,28 we 

are including the following filing 

requirements for the November 12, 2021 

compliance filing to increase the 

transparency of the pipelines’ 

incorporation by reference of the 

NAESB WGQ Standards so that shippers 

and the Commission will know which 

tariff provision(s) implements each 

standard as well as the status of each 

standard. 

(1) The pipelines must designate a 

single tariff record under which every 

NAESB standard currently incorporated 

by reference by the Commission is 

listed.29 This section should be a 

separate tariff record under the 

Commission’s electronic tariff filing 

requirement and should be filed 

electronically using the eTariff portal 

using the Type of Filing Code 580. We 

will post on the Commission’s eLibrary 

website (under Docket No. RM96–1– 

042) a sample tariff record, to provide 

filers an illustrative example to aid them 

in preparing their compliance filings; 30

(2) For each standard, each pipeline 

must specify in the tariff record a list of 

all the NAESB standards currently 

incorporated by reference by the 

Commission: 

(a) whether the standard is 

incorporated by reference; 

(b) for those standards not 

incorporated by reference, the tariff 

provision that complies with the 

standard; 31 and 

(c) a statement identifying any 

standards for which the pipeline has 

been granted a waiver, extension of 

time, or other variance with respect to 

compliance with the standard.32

(3) If the pipeline is requesting a 

continuation of a previously granted 

waiver or extension of time to comply 

with certain NAESB WGQ standards, it 

must include a table in its transmittal 

letter that states the standard for which 

a waiver or extension of time was 

granted, and the docket number or order 

citation to the proceeding in which the 

waiver or extension of time was granted. 

III. Notice of Use of Voluntary 

Consensus Standards 

28. Office of Management and Budget 

(OMB) Circular A–119 (section 11) (Feb. 

10, 1998) provides that when a federal 

agency issues or revises a regulation 

containing a standard, the agency 

should publish a statement in the Final 

Rule stating whether the adopted 

standard is a voluntary consensus 

standard or a government-unique 

standard. In this Final Rule, we are 

incorporating by reference voluntary 

consensus standards developed by 

NAESB’s WGQ. In section 12(d) of 

NTT&AA, Congress affirmatively 

requires federal agencies to use 

technical standards developed by 

voluntary consensus standards 

organizations to carry out policy 

objectives or activities determined by 

the agencies unless use of such 

standards would be inconsistent with 

applicable law or otherwise 

impractical.33

IV. Incorporation by Reference 

29. The Office of the Federal Register 

requires agencies incorporating material 

by reference in final rules to discuss the 

ways that the materials it incorporates 

by reference are reasonably available to 

interested parties and how interested 

parties can obtain the materials.34 The 

regulations also require agencies to 

summarize, in the preamble of the final 

rule, the material it incorporates by 

reference. The standards that we are 

incorporating by reference in this Final 

Rule consist of seven suites of NAESB 

WGQ Business Practice Standards that 

address a variety of topics and are 

designed to streamline the transactional 

processes for the wholesale natural gas 

industry by promoting a more 

competitive and efficient market. These 

include the: Additional Business 

Practice Standards; Nominations 

Related Business Practice Standards; 

Flowing Gas Related Business Practice 

Standards; Invoicing Related Business 

Practice Standards; Quadrant Electronic 

Delivery Mechanism Related Business 

Practice Standards; Capacity Release 

Related Business Practice Standards; 

and internet Electronic Transport 

Related Business Practice Standards. We 

summarize these standards below. 

30. The Additional Business Practice 

Standards address six areas: 

Creditworthiness; Storage Information; 

Gas/Electric Operational 

Communications; Operational Capacity; 

Unsubscribed Capacity; and Location 

Data Download. 

• The Creditworthiness related 

standards describe requirements for the 

exchange of information, notification, 

and communication between parties 

during the creditworthiness evaluation 

process. 

• The Storage Information related 

standards define the information to be 

provided to natural gas service 

requesters related to storage activities 

and/or balances. 

• The Gas/Electric Operational 

Communications related standards 

define communication protocols 

intended to improve coordination 

between the gas and electric industries 

in daily operational communications 

between transportation service 

providers and gas-fired power plants. 

The standards include requirements for 

communicating anticipated power 

generation fuel for the upcoming day as 


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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 151 / Tuesday, August 10, 2021 / Rules and Regulations 43595 

35 5 CFR 1320.11 (2020). 

36FERC–545 covers rate change filings made by 

natural gas pipelines, including tariff changes. 

37FERC–549C covers Standards for Business 

Practices of Interstate Natural Gas Pipelines. 

well as any operating problems that 

might hinder gas-fired power plants 

from receiving contractual gas 

quantities. 

• The Operational Capacity related

standards define requirements of the 

transportation service provider related 

to the reporting and requesting of a 

transportation service provider’s 

operational capacity, total scheduled 

quantity, and operationally available 

capacity. 

• The Unsubscribed Capacity related

standards define requirements of the 

transportation service provider related 

to the reporting and requesting of a 

transportation service provider’s 

available unsubscribed capacity. 

• The Location Data Download

related standards define requirements 

for the use of codes assigned by the 

transportation service provider for 

locations and common codes for parties 

communicating electronically. 

31. The Nominations Related

Business Practice Standards define the 

process by which a natural gas service 

requester with a natural gas 

transportation contract nominates (or 

requests) service from a pipeline or a 

transportation service provider for the 

delivery of natural gas. 

32. The Flowing Gas Related Business

Practice Standards define the business 

processes related to the communication 

of entitlement rights of flowing gas at a 

location, of the entitlement rights on a 

contractual basis, of the management of 

imbalances, and of the measurement 

and gas quality information of the actual 

flow of gas. 

33. The Invoicing Related Business

Practice Standards define the process 

for the communication of charges for 

services rendered (Invoice), 

communication of details about funds 

rendered in payment for services 

rendered (Payment Remittance), and 

communication of the financial status of 

a customer’s account (Statement of 

Account). 

34. The Quadrant Electronic Delivery

Mechanism Related Business Practice 

Standards define the framework for the 

electronic dissemination and 

communication of information between 

parties in the North American wholesale 

gas marketplace for Electronic Data 

Interchange/EDM transfers, batch flat 

file/EDM transfers, informational 

postings websites, Electronic Bulletin 

Boards/EDM, and interactive flat file/ 

EDM. 

35. The Capacity Release Related

Business Practice Standards define the 

business processes for communication 

of information related to the selling of 

all or any portion of a transmission 

service requester’s contract rights. 

36. The internet Electronic Transport

Related Business Practice Standards 

define the implementation of various 

technologies necessary to communicate 

transactions and other electronic data 

using standard protocols for electronic 

commerce over the internet between 

trading partners. 

37. The Commission’s regulations

provide that copies of the standards 

incorporated by reference may be 

obtained from NAESB at https://

www.naesb.org// or (713) 356–0060. 

Once the Novel Coronavirus Disease 

(COVID–19) restrictions are lifted, 

copies of the standards may be 

inspected at the Federal Energy 

Regulatory Commission, Public 

Reference Room, 888 First Street NE, 

Washington, DC 20426, Phone: (202) 

502–8371, https://www.ferc.gov/. At this 

time, the Commission has suspended 

access to the Commission’s Public 

Reference Room due to the President’s 

March 13, 2020 proclamation declaring 

a National Emergency concerning 

COVID–19. 

38. NAESB is a private consensus

standards developer that develops 

voluntary wholesale and retail 

standards related to the energy industry. 

The procedures used by NAESB make 

its standards reasonably available to 

those affected by Commission 

regulations, which generally is 

comprised of entities that have the 

means to acquire the information they 

need to effectively participate in 

Commission proceedings. Participants 

can join NAESB, for an annual 

membership cost of $8,000, which 

entitles them to full participation in 

NAESB and enables them to obtain 

these standards at no additional cost. 

Non-members may obtain the Individual 

Standards Manual or Booklets for each 

of the seven Manuals by email for $250 

per manual, which in the case of these 

standards would total $1,750. Nonmembers also may obtain the complete 

set of Standards Manuals, Booklets, and 

Contracts on USB flash drive for $2,000. 

NAESB also provides a free electronic 

read-only version of the standards for a 

three-business day period or, in the case 

of a regulatory comment period, through 

the end of the comment period. In 

addition, NAESB considers requests for 

waivers of the charges on a case-by-case 

basis depending on need. 

V. Information Collection Statement

39. OMB regulations require that

OMB approve certain reporting, record 

keeping, and public disclosure 

requirements (information collection) 

imposed by an agency.35 Therefore, we 

are submitting this proposed 

information collection to OMB for 

review in accordance with section 

3507(d) of the Paperwork Reduction Act 

of 1995. Upon approval of a collection 

of information, OMB will assign an 

OMB control number and an expiration 

date. Respondents subject to the filing 

requirements of a rule will not be 

penalized for failing to respond to these 

collections of information unless the 

collection of information displays a 

valid OMB control number. 

40. The Commission solicited

comments on the need for this 

information, whether the information 

will have practical utility, the accuracy 

of the provided burden estimates, ways 

to enhance the quality, utility, and 

clarity of the information to be 

collected, and any suggested methods 

for minimizing respondents’ burden, 

including the use of automated 

information techniques. No comments 

were filed raising any objections to the 

burden estimate presented in the 

Version 3.2 NOPR. Accordingly, we will 

use that same burden estimate in this 

Final Rule. 

41. Public Reporting Burden: The

burden estimates for this Final Rule are 

for one-time implementation of the 

information collection requirements of 

this Final Rule (including tariff filing, 

documentation of the process and 

procedures, and information technology 

work). 

42. The collections of information

related to this Final Rule fall under 

FERC–545 (Gas Pipeline Rates: Rate 

Change (Non-Formal)) 36 and FERC– 

549C (Standards for Business Practices 

of Interstate Natural Gas Pipelines).37

The following estimates of reporting 

burden are related only to this Final 

Rule and include the costs to pipelines 

for compliance with the Commission’s 

directives in this Final Rule. The burden 

estimates are primarily related to 

implementing these standards and 

regulations and will not result in 

ongoing costs. 


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43596 Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 151 / Tuesday, August 10, 2021 / Rules and Regulations 

38 The number of respondents is the number of 

entities in which a change in burden from the 

current standards to the proposed exists, not the 

total number of entities from the current or 

proposed standards that are applicable. 

39The estimated hourly cost (salary plus benefits) 

provided in this section is based on the salary 

figures for May 2019 posted by the Bureau of Labor 

Statistics for the Utilities sector (available at https:// 

www.bls.gov/oes/current/naics3_221000.htm) and 

scaled to reflect benefits using the relative 

importance of employer costs for employee 

compensation from June 2020 (available at https:// 

www.bls.gov/news.release/ecec.nr0.htm). The 

hourly estimates for salary plus benefits are: 

Computer and Information Systems Manager 

(Occupation Code: 11–3021), $101.58 

Computer and Information Analysts (Occupation 

Code: 15–1210), $87.42 

Electrical Engineer (Occupation Code: 17–2071), 

$70.19 

Legal (Occupation Code: 23–0000), $142.65 

The average hourly cost (salary plus benefits), 

weighting all of these skill sets evenly, is $100.50. 

We round it to $101/hour. 

RM96–1–042 FINAL RULE (STANDARDS FOR BUSINESS PRACTICES OF INTERSTATE NATURAL GAS PIPELINES) 

Number of 

respondents 38

Annual 

number of 

responses 

per respondent 

Total number 

of responses 

Average burden 

hr. per response 

Total annual 

burden hours & 

total annual 

cost 39

Annual costs 

per 

respondent 

(1) (2) (1)*(2) = (3) (4) (3)*(4) = (5) (5)/(1) = (6) 

FERC–545 (one-time) ........................ 178 1 178 10 hrs.; $1,010 1,780 hrs.; 

$179,780.

$1,010 

FERC–549C (one-time) ..................... 178 1 178 100 hrs.; 

$10,100.

17,800 hrs.; 

$1,797,800.

$10,100 

Total ................................................... ........................ ........................ 356 ........................... 19,580 hrs.; 

$1,977,580.

........................

The one-time burden (for both the 

FERC–545 and FERC–549C) will take 

place in Year 1 and will be averaged 

over three years: 

FERC–545: 1,780 hours ÷ 3 = 593 hours/ 

year over three years 

FERC–549C: 17,800 hours ÷ 3 = 5,933 

hours/year over three years 

The number of responses is also 

averaged over three years (for both the 

FERC–545 and FERC–549C): 

FERC–545: 178 responses ÷ 3 = 59 

responses/year 

FERC–549C: 178 responses ÷ 3 = 59 

responses/year 

The responses and burden for Years 

1–3 will total respectively as follows: 

Year 1: 59 responses; 593 hours (FERC– 

545); 5,933 hours (FERC–549C) 

Year 2: 59 responses; 593 hours (FERC– 

545); 5,933 hours (FERC–549C) 

Year 3: 59 responses; 593 hours (FERC– 

545); 5,933 hours (FERC–549C) 

Title: FERC–545, Gas Pipeline Rates: 

Rates Change (Non-Formal); FERC– 

549C, Standards for Business Practices 

of Interstate Natural Gas Pipelines. 

Action: Proposed information 

collections. 

OMB Control Nos.: 1902–0154 (FERC– 

545), 1902–0174 (FERC–549C). 

Respondents: Business or other for 

profit (e.g., Natural Gas Pipelines, 

applicable to only a few small 

businesses). 

Frequency of Responses: One-time 

implementation (related to business 

procedures, capital/start-up). 

Necessity of Information: In response 

to the recommendations in the Sandia 

report, the revisions in this Final Rule 

to the Commission’s regulations will 

upgrade current business practices and 

communication standards by updating 

the Quadrant EDM Related Standards 

and IET Related Standards to 

specifically: (1) Require the 

implementation of fixes or patches for 

known vulnerabilities as soon as 

reasonably practicable in coordination 

with other trading partners; (2) specify 

notification timelines to provide notice 

to trading partners of any systems or 

software that have not been updated and 

the potential impact of using the 

vulnerable system; (3) include both 

specific and broad adoptions of system 

security measures and specific 

notification and coordination during 

outages with affected trading partners; 

(4) maintain a minimum encryption 

strength of 128 bits; (5) specify that 

OpenPGP should be used to create 

public and private keys for privacy and 

digital signature applications; (6) 

specify HTTPS whenever secure 

communication is required to protect 

information in transit and support 

overall privacy needs; (7) use the largest 

feasible key length consistent with 

implementation of current business 

processes; (8) state that secure websites 

should employ individual user 

credentials; and (9) encourage security 

assessments and coordination between 

customers, vendors, and trading 

partners. 

43. Further, in response to industry 

requests or through the normal course of 

WGQ activities, the revisions in this 

Final Rule to the Commission’s 

regulations will upgrade current 

business practices and communication 

standards by specifically: (1) Updating 

the Nominations Related Standards to 

allow a Service Requester to determine 

which rights of the contract its 

segmentation nomination is using; (2) 

updating the Quadrant EDM Related 

Standards to (i) define a NAESB 

standard time frame for information to 

be retained on a pipeline’s 

Informational Postings website, (ii) 

allow for processing functions at the 

line item level on Customer Activities 

websites and allow for the use of icons 

and/or graphical control elements for 

navigation and/or processing functions, 

and (iii) make minor revisions designed 

to add clarity, update the minimum 

technical characteristics to account for 

changes in technology since the 

previous version (Version 3.1) of the 

WGQ standards, and update the 

minimum and suggested operating 

systems and web browsers that entities 

should support; (3) updating multiple 

sets of standards to remove references to 

the term ‘‘gigacalories’’ and add the 

term ‘‘gigajoules’’ as the standard 

quantity for nominations, confirmations, 

and scheduling in Mexico; and (4) 

revising the NAESB WGQ data sets or 

other technical implementation 

documentation while not resulting in 

modifications to the underlying 

business practice standards. The 

package of standards also includes 

minor corrections. The implementation 

of these data requirements will provide 

additional transparency to Informational 

Postings websites and will improve 

communication standards. The 

implementation of these standards and 

regulations will promote the additional 

efficiency and reliability of the natural 

gas industries’ operations thereby 

helping the Commission to carry out its 

responsibilities under the NGA. In 

addition, the Commission’s Office of 


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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 151 / Tuesday, August 10, 2021 / Rules and Regulations 43597 

40Reguls. Implementing the Nat’l Envt’l Pol’y Act, 

Ord. No. 486, 52 FR 47897 (Dec. 17, 1987), FERC 

Stats. & Regs. Preambles 1986–1990 ¶ 30,783 (1987) 

(cross-referenced at 41 FERC ¶ 61,284). 

41See 18 CFR 380.4(a)(2)(ii), 380.4(a)(5), and 

380.4(a)(27) (2020). 

42 5 U.S.C. 601–612. 

43See 5 U.S.C. 601(3) citing section 3 of the Small 

Business Act (SBA), 15 U.S.C. 623. Section 3 of the 

SBA defines a ‘‘small business concern’’ as a 

business which is independently owned and 

operated, and which is not dominant in its field of 

operation (2019). 

44 13 CFR 121.201 (Subsector 486—Pipeline 

Transportation; North American Industry 

Classification System code 486210; Pipeline 

Transportation of Natural Gas) (2020). ‘‘Annual 

Receipts’’ are total income plus cost of goods sold. 

45This number is derived by dividing the total 

cost figure by the number of respondents. 

$1,977,580/178 = $11,110. 

46 5 U.S.C. 605(b). 

Enforcement will use the data for 

general industry oversight. 

Internal Review: We have reviewed 

the requirements pertaining to business 

practices of interstate natural gas 

pipelines and have determined that the 

revisions are necessary to establish a 

more efficient and integrated pipeline 

grid. These requirements conform to the 

Commission’s plan for efficient 

information collection, communication, 

and management within the natural gas 

pipeline industries. We determined, 

through our internal review, that there 

is specific, objective support for the 

burden estimates associated with the 

information requirements. 

44. Interested persons may obtain 

information on the reporting 

requirements by contacting the 

following: Federal Energy Regulatory 

Commission, 888 First Street NE, 

Washington, DC 20426 [Attention: Ellen 

Brown, Office of the Executive Director], 

email: DataClearance@ferc.gov, 

telephone: (202) 502–8663, fax: (202) 

273–0873. 

45. Comments concerning the 

collection of information(s) and the 

associated burden estimate(s), should be 

sent to the contact listed above and to 

the Office of Management and Budget, 

Office of Information and Regulatory 

Affairs, Washington, DC 20503 

[Attention: Desk Officer for the Federal 

Energy Regulatory Commission], 

telephone: (202) 395–0710; fax: (202) 

395–4718. 

VI. Environmental Analysis 

46. The Commission is required to 

prepare an Environmental Assessment 

or an Environmental Impact Statement 

for any action that may have a 

significant adverse effect on the human 

environment.40 The actions that we take 

here fall within categorical exclusions 

in the Commission’s regulations for 

rules that are clarifying, corrective, or 

procedural, for information gathering, 

analysis, and dissemination, and for 

rules regarding sales, exchange, and 

transportation of natural gas that require 

no construction of facilities.41

Therefore, an environmental review is 

unnecessary and has not been prepared 

as part of this Final Rule. 

VII. Regulatory Flexibility Act 

47. The Regulatory Flexibility Act of 

1980 (RFA) 42 generally requires a 

description and analysis of final rules 

that will have significant economic 

impact on a substantial number of small 

entities. The Commission is not 

required to make such analysis if 

proposed regulations would not have 

such an effect. 

48. As we stated in the WGQ Version 

3.2 NOPR, approximately 178 interstate 

natural gas pipelines, both large and 

small, are potential respondents subject 

to the requirements adopted by this 

rule. Most of the natural gas pipelines 

regulated by the Commission do not fall 

within the RFA’s definition of a small 

entity,43 which is currently defined for 

natural gas pipelines as a company that, 

in combination with its affiliates, has 

total annual receipts of $30 million or 

less.44 For the year 2019, only 11 

companies not affiliated with larger 

companies had annual revenues in 

combination with its affiliates of $30 

million or less and therefore could be 

considered a small entity under the 

RFA. This represents about six percent 

of the total universe of potential 

respondents that may have a significant 

burden imposed on them. We estimate 

that the one-time implementation cost 

of the proposals in this Final Rule is 

$1,977,580 (or $11,110 per entity, 

regardless of entity size).45 We do not 

consider the estimated $11,110 impact 

per entity to be significant. Moreover, 

these requirements are designed to 

benefit all customers, including small 

businesses that must comply with them. 

Further, as noted above, adoption of 

consensus standards helps ensure the 

reasonableness of the standards by 

requiring that the standards draw 

support from a broad spectrum of 

industry participants representing all 

segments of the industry. Because of 

that representation and the fact that 

industry conducts business under these 

standards, the Commission’s regulations 

should reflect those standards that have 

the widest possible support. 

49. Accordingly, pursuant to section 

605(b) of the RFA,46 the regulations 

being promulgated herein should not 

have a significant economic impact on 

a substantial number of small entities. 

VIII. Document Availability 

50. In addition to publishing the full 

text of this document in the Federal 

Register, we provide all interested 

persons an opportunity to view and/or 

print the contents of this document via 

the internet through the Commission’s 

Home Page (https://www.ferc.gov/). At 

this time, we have suspended access to 

the Commission’s Public Reference 

Room due to the President’s March 13, 

2020 proclamation declaring a National 

Emergency concerning COVID–19. 

51. From the Commission’s Home 

Page on the internet, this information is 

available on eLibrary. The full text of 

this document is available on eLibrary 

in PDF and Microsoft Word format for 

viewing, printing, and/or downloading. 

To access this document in eLibrary, 

type the docket number excluding the 

last three digits of this document in the 

docket number field. 

52. User assistance is available for 

eLibrary and the Commission’s website 

during normal business hours from the 

Commission’s Online Support at (202) 

502–6652 (toll free at 1–866–208–3676) 

or email at ferconlinesupport@ferc.gov, 

or the Public Reference Room at (202) 

502–8371, TTY (202) 502–8659. Email 

the Public Reference Room at 

public.referenceroom@ferc.gov. 

IX. Effective Date and Congressional 

Notification 

53. These regulations are effective 

October 12, 2021. We have determined 

(with the concurrence of the 

Administrator of the Office of 

Information and Regulatory Affairs of 

OMB) that this rule is not a ‘‘major rule’’ 

as defined in section 351 of the Small 

Business Regulatory Enforcement 

Fairness Act of 1996. This Final Rule is 

being submitted to the Senate, House, 

and Government Accountability Office. 

List of Subjects in 18 CFR Part 284 

Incorporation by reference, Natural 

gas, Reporting and recordkeeping 

requirements. 

By direction of the Commission. 

Issued: July 15, 2021. 

Debbie-Anne A. Reese, 

Deputy Secretary. 

In consideration of the foregoing, we 

amend part 284, chapter I, title 18, Code 

of Federal Regulations, as follows: 

PART 284—CERTAIN SALES AND 

TRANSPORTATION OF NATURAL GAS 

UNDER THE NATURAL GAS POLICY 

ACT OF 1978 AND RELATED 

AUTHORITIES 

■ 1. The authority citation for part 284 

continues to read as follows: 


jbell on DSKJLSW7X2PROD with RULES
43598 Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 151 / Tuesday, August 10, 2021 / Rules and Regulations 

Authority: 15 U.S.C. 717–717z, 3301– 

3432; 42 U.S.C. 7101–7352; 43 U.S.C. 1331– 

1356. 

■ 2. Amend § 284.12 by revising 

paragraphs (a)(1) and (2) to read as 

follows: 

§ 284.12 Standards for pipeline business 

operations and communications. 

(a) * * * 

(1) An interstate pipeline that 

transports gas under subparts B or G of 

this part must comply with the business 

practices and electronic 

communications standards as 

promulgated by the North American 

Energy Standards Board, as 

incorporated herein by reference in 

paragraphs (a)(1)(i) through (vii) of this 

section. 

(i) Additional Standards (Version 3.2, 

August 15, 2020); 

(ii) Nominations Related Standards 

(Version 3.2, August 15, 2020); 

(iii) Flowing Gas Related Standards 

(Version 3.2, August 15, 2020); 

(iv) Invoicing Related Standards 

(Version 3.2, August 15, 2020); 

(v) Quadrant Electronic Delivery 

Mechanism Related Standards (Version 

3.2, August 15, 2020); 

(vi) Capacity Release Related 

Standards (Version 3.2, August 15, 

2020); and 

(vii) internet Electronic Transport 

Related Standards (Version 3.2, August 

15, 2020). 

(2) This incorporation by reference 

was approved by the Director of the 

Federal Register in accordance with 5 

U.S.C. 552(a) and 1 CFR part 51. Copies 

of these standards may be obtained from 

the North American Energy Standards 

Board, 801 Travis Street, Suite 1675, 

Houston, TX 77002, Phone: (713) 356– 

0060. NAESB’s website is at https://

www.naesb.org/. Copies may be 

inspected at the Federal Energy 

Regulatory Commission, Public 

Reference Room, 888 First Street NE, 

Washington, DC 20426, Phone: (202) 

502–8371, https://www.ferc.gov/, or at 

the National Archives and Records 

Administration (NARA). For 

information on the availability of this 

material at NARA, email fr.inspection@

nara.gov, or go to: www.archives.gov/ 

federal-register/cfr/ibr-locations.html. 

* * * * * 

[FR Doc. 2021–16915 Filed 8–9–21; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6717–01–P 


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