Federal Register / Vol. 70, No. 201 / Wednesday, October 19, 2005 / Notices 60819 

1 110 FERC ¶ 62,227 (2005). 

897TH—MEETING, REGULAR MEETING, OCTOBER 20, 2005, 10 A.M.—Continued 

Item No. Docket No. Company 

C–6 ........................... CP04–365–001 ..................................... Dominion Transmission, Inc. 

C–7 ........................... CP04–34–001 ....................................... Columbia Gas Transmission Corporation. 

Magalie R. Salas, 

Secretary. 

The Capitol Connection offers the 

opportunity for remote listening and 

viewing of the meeting. It is available 

for a fee, live over the Internet, via CBand Satellite. Persons interested in 

receiving the broadcast, or who need 

information on making arrangements 

should contact David Reininger or Julia 

Morelli at the Capitol Connection (703–

993–3100) as soon as possible or visit 

the Capitol Connection Web site at 

http://www.capitolconnection.gmu.edu 

and click on ‘‘FERC’’

Immediately following the conclusion 

of the Commission Meeting, a press 

briefing will be held in Hearing Room 

2. Members of the public may view this 

briefing in the Commission Meeting 

overflow room. This statement is 

intended to notify the public that the 

press briefings that follow Commission 

meetings may now be viewed remotely 

at Commission headquarters, but will 

not be telecast through the Capitol 

Connection service. 

[FR Doc. 05–21013 Filed 10–17–05; 2:05 pm] 

BILLING CODE 6717–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY 

Federal Energy Regulatory 

Commission 

[Project No. 12533–001] 

Christopher James Phil; Notice of 

Surrender of Preliminary Permit 

October 12, 2005. 

Take notice that Christopher James 

Phil, permittee for the proposed May 

Creek Project, has requested that its 

preliminary permit be terminated. The 

permit was issued on March 8, 2005, 

and would have expired on February 29, 

2008.1 The project would have been 

located on May Creek and Lake Isabel in 

Snohomish County, Washington. 

The permittee filed the request on 

September 26, 2005, and the 

preliminary permit for Project No. 

12533 shall remain in effect through the 

thirtieth day after issuance of this notice 

unless that day is a Saturday, Sunday, 

part-day holiday that affects the 

Commission, or legal holiday as 

described in section 18 CFR 385.2007, 

in which case the effective date is the 

first business day following that day. 

New applications involving this project 

site, to the extent provided for under 18 

CFR Part 4, may be filed on the next 

business day. 

Magalie R. Salas, 

Secretary. 

[FR Doc. E5–5763 Filed 10–18–05; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6717–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY 

Federal Energy Regulatory 

Commission 

[Docket No. AD05–17–000] 

Electric Energy Market Competition 

Task Force; Notice Requesting 

Comments on Wholesale and Retail 

Electricity Competition 

October 13, 2005. 

Overview 

Section 1815 of the Energy Policy Act 

of 2005 requires the Electric Energy 

Market Competition Task Force to 

conduct a study of competition in 

wholesale and retail markets for electric 

energy in the United States. Over the 

past several years, wholesale 

competition has developed unevenly in 

many regions of the country. Moreover, 

fewer than 20 States have adopted retail 

choice programs that allow some 

electricity consumers to choose their 

retail electric generation supplier. The 

purpose of this study is to analyze and 

report to Congress on the critical 

elements for effective wholesale and 

retail competition, the status of each 

element, impediments to realizing each 

element, and suggestions for 

overcoming these impediments. 

In recent years, some states and the 

Federal government have taken steps to 

encourage competition in the electric 

power industry. In the Energy Policy 

Act of 2005, Congress established an 

inter-agency task force, known as the 

‘‘Electric Energy Market Competition 

Task Force’’ (the Task Force), to conduct 

a study and analysis of competition 

within the wholesale markets and retail 

markets for electric energy in the United 

States. The Task Force consists of 5 

members: 

(1) 1 employee of the Department of 

Justice, appointed by the Attorney 

General of the United States—J. Bruce 

McDonald, Deputy Assistant Attorney 

General, Antitrust Division; (202) 514–

1157, bruce.mcdonald@usdoj.gov. 

(2) 1 employee of the Federal Energy 

Regulatory Commission, appointed by 

the Chairperson of that Commission—

Michael Bardee, Associate General 

Counsel, Office of the General CounselMarkets, Tariffs, and Rates; (202) 502–

8068, michael.bardee@ferc.gov. 

(3) 1 employee of the Federal Trade 

Commission, appointed by the 

Chairperson of that Commission—

Michael Wroblewski, Assistant General 

Counsel for Policy Studies; (202) 326–

2166, mwroblewski@ftc.gov. 

(4) 1 employee of the Department of 

Energy, appointed by the Secretary of 

Energy—David Meyer, Deputy Director, 

Division of Permitting, Siting, and 

Analysis, Office of Electricity Delivery 

and Energy Reliability; (202) 586–1411, 

David.Meyer@hq.doe.gov. 

(5) 1 employee of the Rural Utilities 

Service, appointed by the Secretary of 

Agriculture—Karen Larsen, Office of 

Assistant Administrator, Electric 

Programs (202) 720–9545, 

Karen.Larsen@usda.gov. 

Section 1815(c) of the Energy Policy 

Act of 2005 requires the Task Force to 

‘‘consult with and solicit comments 

from any advisory entity of the task 

force, the States, representatives of the 

electric power industry, and the 

public.’’ This Notice begins this process. 

The Task Force also will publish a draft 

final report for public comment, before 

submitting the final version to Congress 

as required by Section 1815(b)(2)(B). 

Listed below is a series of questions 

for which the Task Force seeks public 

comment. For both wholesale and retail 

competition for electric power, we focus 

on the current state of competition and 

on factors that help support 

competition, or that otherwise may limit 

competition, among suppliers and 

buyers in regional wholesale markets 

and retail markets at the state level. The 

questions listed below are by no means 

exhaustive. The Task Force encourages 

commentors to raise any other 

additional factors that affect 

competition in wholesale and retail 

electric power markets. It is not 

necessary to respond to each question. 

Rather, it would be helpful for 

60820 Federal Register / Vol. 70, No. 201 / Wednesday, October 19, 2005 / Notices 

respondents to provide, for example, 

specific information about market 

responses to particular governing 

regulations, or to compare and contrast 

the market reaction to the means 

individual states have used to address 

various retail competition issues (e.g., 

generation siting, provider of last resort 

pricing, etc.). 

Overview Questions 

1. What are the critical elements or 

attributes of competition in wholesale 

electricity markets that the Task Force 

should examine? 

2. What are the critical elements or 

attributes of competition in retail 

electricity markets that the Task Force 

should examine? 

3. What benefits have occurred 

because of competition in wholesale 

and retail electricity markets? What 

additional benefits are expected? What 

benefits were forecasted and have not 

occurred? Why? What harms have 

occurred because of competition in 

wholesale and retail electricity markets? 

4. What are the major public policy 

concerns that the Task Force should 

examine in its review of competition in 

wholesale and retail electricity markets? 

5. In what significant ways do 

wholesale and retail electricity markets 

differ from other energy or commodity 

markets? What implications do their 

differences have for public policy? 

Wholesale Market Questions 

Commentors should answer with a 

specific regional wholesale market in 

mind and should be as specific as 

possible. 

A. Wholesale Supply Trading and 

Participation 

1. To what extent does wholesale 

trading help result in an economic and 

reliable supply of electricity in each 

region? What are ways to improve the 

provision of an economic and reliable 

supply of electricity? 

2. What share of electric power used 

to serve retail (or ultimate consumer) 

load is obtained through wholesale 

market transactions in each state or 

region? In what ways has this share 

changed over the past 10 years and the 

past 5 years and why? 

3. What share of electric power used 

to serve ultimate consumer load is 

generated by a utility for its own native 

load? What share of electric power used 

to serve utility customer load comes 

from utility affiliates? What share comes 

from unaffiliated generators? 

4. What opportunities exist for 

generation owners to sell output in 

wholesale markets? 

5. What opportunities exist for 

wholesale power buyers to purchase 

electricity in wholesale markets? Is 

demand (negawatts) a product that can 

be traded in the wholesale market? 

6. Is there an organized regional 

market or exchange serving buyers and 

sellers in the region? What products 

does the organized market provide? 

What percentage of energy supplied is 

secured through organized markets and 

through bilateral trades? Are there 

liquid trading points in the region? 

What are the volumes traded? What is 

the trend of bid/ask spreads (getting 

greater or smaller)? 

7. To what extent do wholesale buyers 

and sellers participate in futures or 

others commodity markets or 

transactions to balance the financial 

risks of competitive electricity markets? 

How liquid are forward markets in 

different regions and how far ahead can 

one transact in these markets? 

8. What role have credit issues played 

in the ability of market participants to 

participate in wholesale markets, 

including forward markets? 

9. Are there competitive processes by 

which distribution utilities solicit 

proposals for native load or default 

service? 

10. How can changes and trends in 

wholesale market prices by region be 

measured? 

11. How should the performance of 

wholesale markets in serving the needs 

of various types of power sellers (e.g., 

marketer, generator, independent 

producer, merchant, public utility, 

nonpublic utility, qualified facility, 

renewable power producer, cogenerator) be measured? 

12. How has restructuring of 

incumbent utility operations and the 

introduction of competitive retail 

markets in retail choice states affected 

participation in regional wholesale 

markets? Has the introduction of retail 

markets affected the level of long-term 

contracting in wholesale markets? 

13. Please describe instances in which 

competition has resulted in relatively 

higher prices or lower reliability in a 

specific regional market. 

B. Generation Ownership 

1. How has ownership of electric 

generating plants changed over the past 

10 years? 

2. In the past 10 years, when 

generations assets have been sold or 

transferred, how much capacity was 

sold or transferred to (a) Utility or utility 

affiliates, (b) existing non-utility market 

participants; (c) new market 

participants? 

3. How much existing merchant or 

non-utility generation assets have been 

sold or transferred? What were the 

reasons for these transactions? 

4. How much existing capacity has 

been sold or transferred to utilities and 

converted to rate-based assets? Of those 

how many were previously affiliated 

with a utility and how many were 

purchased from other entities? 

C. Generation Adequacy 

1. How is generation adequacy 

addressed in each region or system? Is 

there a specific enforceable requirement 

that load serving entities or market 

participants must meet? How is 

planning for generation adequacy 

conducted? 

2. Has new generation construction 

kept pace with demand growth in the 

state or market region? If not, why not? 

What are the most important factors that 

affect whether generation will be built? 

3. What role does the ability to enter 

into long-term contracts play in 

financing new generation projects? 

4. What generation facilities have 

been installed in the past five years? 

What was the experience in the process? 

5. What generation facilities have 

been cancelled in the past five years and 

why? 

6. What difficulties, if any, have 

developers of new generation facilities 

encountered in bringing generation 

supply to market? (E.g., difficulties in 

financing, siting, permitting, licensing, 

interconnection, transmission access, 

fuel supply.) What are ways to improve 

the process? 

7. Are there instances in the past five 

years in which a new generation facility 

has been completed that caused prices 

in a previously congested area to 

decline? 

8. How do the approaches and 

responsibilities for assuring the 

availability of sufficient generation 

capacity to meet peak load and load 

growth vary among regions and states 

that have retail choice and/or tightly 

organized regional markets and those 

that do not? 

9. What incentives do competitive 

suppliers have to maintain adequate 

reserve capacity? 

10. What incentives or responsibilities 

do load serving utilities have to 

maintain adequate reserve capacity? 

11. How can competitive markets 

assure adequacy of generation supply? 

How is reserve sharing to meet state or 

regional generation adequacy standards 

accomplished in competitive markets? 

How can other institutions/market 

processes provide an effective substitute 

for reserve sharing? 

Federal Register / Vol. 70, No. 201 / Wednesday, October 19, 2005 / Notices 60821 

D. Transmission Investment and 

Regulation 

1. What are the most important factors 

that affect whether transmission will be 

built? What are ways to improve the 

process? What difficulties have 

transmission owners had in upgrading 

or building new transmission facilities? 

What are the prospects for merchant 

transmission? 

2. Over the past 10 years, what have 

been the trends in investments in 

transmission by utilities by state or 

region? Are there any prevailing 

patterns in transmission investments in 

upgrades and replacement of existing 

plant versus new lines, 

interconnections, automation? Have 

these patterns of investment shifted over 

this period? Are there any projected 

changes in patterns of transmission 

investment over the next 5 years? 

3. How are transmission needs of 

merchant generators and renewable 

energy projects included in regional or 

utility transmission planning and 

upgrades? 

4. How has the establishment of 

Regional Transmission Organizations 

(RTOs) changed transmission 

operations, transmission planning, and 

investment patterns? 

5. Within a region or RTO, is there a 

different process for transmission 

upgrades that are not required for 

reliability but would increase access to 

lower priced power in areas with 

economic congestion? 

6. In the absence of RTOs, how is 

transmission planning, siting, and 

construction for regional needs 

coordinated among utilities, generators, 

and State regulators? What challenges 

do transmission owners face upgrading 

or building new transmission facilities? 

7. How have transmission costs 

changed for transmission owners and 

for transmission customers over the past 

10 years? What are the reasons for any 

increases or decreases? 

E. Wholesale Market Transparency and 

Information 

1. Do purchasers and sellers view 

markets as providing stable, transparent 

prices? Are there differences among 

products and markets? 

2. Is there sufficient timely and 

accurate publicly available information 

to assure that market participants can 

adequately assess the economics of 

proposed wholesale power transactions 

or assess the financial implications of 

self build versus competitive 

alternatives for generation supply? 

3. How can any information deficits 

be remedied to improve the utility of 

market information? Are there any 

competitive risks associated with greater 

transparency of prices or of other 

information about market participants? 

4. Are there open and transparent 

processes by which load serving entities 

solicit proposals for generation from 

independent firms and/or from affiliated 

generators? 

Retail Market Questions 

Commentors can answer the following 

questions based on their knowledge and 

experience in any state with retail 

competition: 

A. Retail Markets Overview 

1. What factors or measures should 

the Task Force examine in reviewing 

state retail choice experiences? How 

should these factors and measures be 

evaluated? 

2. How should the Task Force assess 

the performance of evolving competitive 

retail markets? 

3. How can the performance of 

competitive retail markets for retail 

customers be measured in the absence 

of competitive suppliers for residential 

and small business customers in many 

areas? 

4. Why did your state implement a 

retail electric choice program? 

5. Why did your state decide not to 

implement a retail electric choice 

program? 

B. State Retail Choice Experience 

1. How have consumers benefited 

from retail electric competition? How 

have consumers been harmed by retail 

electric competition? 

2. How have retail customer prices 

changed since the beginning of the 

transition to retail choice? Have the 

changes been comparable across all 

classes of customers? 

3. How many alternative competitive 

retail suppliers are currently soliciting 

or accepting new customers in each 

service area? Has the number increased 

or decreased since the state introduced 

retail choice? 

4. Does the availability of alternative 

competitive suppliers differ among 

service areas, customer classes, load 

size, rural and urban areas, or other 

geographic areas, or by credit policies? 

If so, why? If not, why not? 

5. Have suppliers offered new types of 

products and services (e.g., time of day 

pricing, interruptible contracts, green 

power, etc.) in states where retail 

competition has been implemented? If 

so, describe the products and what 

customer response has been. 

6. How do retail customers obtain 

information about competitive 

alternatives? Do retail consumers have 

enough information to readily make 

informed choices among competing 

suppliers? 

7. Does the state allow groups of retail 

customers to aggregate their electricity 

demand? How are they structured? 

What customer groups are included? Is 

participation on an opt-in or an opt-out 

basis? Has aggregation enabled 

consumers to benefit from retail 

electricity competition? If not, why not? 

8. Now that many state-mandated 

transition periods to phase-in retail 

competition are ending, what issues do 

states face to ensure competitive retail 

markets? 

C. Retail Supply Questions in States 

With Retail Competition 

1. How does the state program address 

assurance of adequate generation 

supplies for default service customers 

(i.e., customers that: (a) Do not choose 

a competitive provider, or (b) have lost 

their competitive supplier for whatever 

reason)? 

2. How do default service obligations 

affect retail power competition? Do the 

transmission services allowed for 

default service obligations affect retail 

competition and, if so, how? What 

changes, if any, would you suggest in 

these transmission services? 

3. How has the development of RTOs 

affected the development of retail 

competition in the state? 

4. Did the state require that the 

incumbent utility divest all or some of 

its generation assets used to serve its 

retail native load when retail 

competition was introduced? Did 

incumbent utilities voluntarily divest 

generation assets as part of restructuring 

to implement retail competition? Did 

incumbent utilities transfer ownership 

of generation assets used to serve native 

load to an affiliated entity? 

5. What has been the result of 

generation ownership transfers serving 

the state or region since the start of 

retail competition? Has there been a 

consolidation of generation ownership 

in the state or region? 

6. If a retail load serving utility no 

longer owns sufficient generation assets 

to meet its obligations to its retail 

customers (existing customers, or as the 

supplier of last resort or default service 

provider) what mechanism (e.g., spot 

market purchases, buy back or output 

contracts, etc.) does it use to obtain 

generation services to fulfill these 

obligations? What share of a utility’s 

load is obtained via the different 

mechanisms? How are these shares 

trending? 

7. How do non-utility retail service 

providers in the state secure access to 

transmission and distribution services 

60822 Federal Register / Vol. 70, No. 201 / Wednesday, October 19, 2005 / Notices 

needed to deliver power to their retail 

customers? 

8. What difficulties have retail 

supplier entrants encountered in 

entering the market? What conditions/ 

incentives attract suppliers to retail 

markets? 

D. Demand Side Participation 

1. How do rate structures affect the 

incentives of large, medium, or small 

electric customers to participate in 

demand side response programs? Does 

this effect differ if a state has a retail 

choice program? 

2. What measures have states taken to 

make customer demand responsive to 

changes in availability and price of 

electricity supply? Do these measures 

differ if a state has a retail choice 

program? 

3. What mechanisms allow for the 

participation of load response measures 

‘‘ interruptible load, self-generation, 

demand-side management, conservation 

and energy efficiency measures as 

alternatives in wholesale electric 

markets and or load serving utility 

resource portfolios? How has the 

performance of these measures been 

monitored? 

4. Have states adopted alternatives to 

average cost pricing to encourage 

demand response? 

5. What has been the effect on 

demand and demand elasticity in light 

of these measures? 

6. How prevalent is the use of 

distributed resources (e.g., distributed 

generation and distributed energy 

storage) within the state? 

7. To what extent are retail customers 

within the state or region increasing use 

of distributed resources and what types 

of resources are involved? 

E. Rising Fuel Prices 

1. Are changes in prices for oil, 

natural gas, and coal affecting the 

results of competitive wholesale 

markets and viability of competitive 

suppliers and if so, how? 

2. How are changes in prices for oil, 

natural gas, and coal affecting retail 

electricity costs? 

3. Are there differences in retail price 

impacts between states and/or utility 

systems operating under retail 

competition models and those that 

operate under traditional utility cost 

based rate models? 

How To File Comments 

Any interested person may submit a 

written comment that will be 

considered part of the public record. 

Comments may be filed electronically 

via the e-Filing link on the Federal 

Energy Regulatory Commission’s Web 

site at http://www.ferc.gov for Docket 

No. AD05–17–000. Most standard word 

processing formats are accepted, and the 

e-Filing link provides instructions for 

how to Login and complete an 

electronic filing. First-time users will 

have to establish a user name and 

password. User assistance for electronic 

filing is available at 202–208–0258 or by 

e-mail to efiling at ferc.gov. Comments 

should not be submitted to the e-mail 

address. Commentors filing 

electronically do not need to make a 

paper filing. Commentors that are not 

able to file comments electronically 

must send an original of their comments 

to: Federal Energy Regulatory 

Commission, Office of the Secretary, 

888 First Street NE., Washington, DC 

20426. 

This filing is accessible on-line at 

http://www.ferc.gov, using the 

‘‘eLibrary’’ link and is available for 

review in the Commission’s Public 

Reference Room in Washington, DC. For 

assistance with any FERC Online 

service, please e-mail 

FERCOnlineSupport@ferc.gov, or call 

(866) 208–3676 (toll free). For TTY, call 

(202) 502–8659. 

Comment Date: 5 p.m. eastern time on 

November 18, 2005. 

Magalie R. Salas, 

Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 05–20896 Filed 10–18–05; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 5717–01–P 

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 

AGENCY 

[OPP–2005–0257; FRL–7741–3] 

Cambridge Environmental Inc. and 

Dynamac; Transfer of Data 

AGENCY: Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA). 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: This notice announces that 

pesticide related information submitted 

to EPA’s Office of Pesticide Programs 

(OPP) pursuant to the Federal 

Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide 

Act (FIFRA) and the Federal Food, Drug, 

and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA), including 

information that may have been claimed 

as Confidential Business Information 

(CBI) by the submitter, will be tranferred 

to Cambridge Environmental Inc. and its 

subcontractor, Dynamac, in accordance 

with 40 CFR 2.307(h)(3) and 2.308(i)(2). 

Cambridge Environmental Inc. and its 

subcontractor, Dynamac, have been 

awarded a contract to perform work for 

OPP, and access to this information will 

enable Cambridge Environmental Inc. 

and its subcontractor, Dynamac, to 

fulfill the obligations of the contract. 

DATES: Cambridge Environmental Inc. 

and its subcontractor, Dynamac, will be 

given access to this information on or 

before October 24, 2005. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Felicia Croom, Acting Information 

Security Officer, Information 

Technology and Resources Management 

Division (ITRMD), (7502C), Office of 

Pesticide Programs, Environmental 

Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania 

Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460–

0001; telephone number: (703) 305–

0786; e-mail address: 

croom.felicia@epa.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. General Information 

A. Does this Action Apply to Me? 

This action applies to the public in 

general. As such, the Agency has not 

attempted to describe all the specific 

entities that may be affected by this 

action. If you have any questions 

regarding the applicability of this action 

to a particular entity, consult the person 

listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION

CONTACT. 

B. How Can I Get Copies of this 

Document and Other Related 

Information? 

1. Docket. EPA has established an 

official public docket for this action 

under docket identification (ID) number 

OPP–2005–0257. The official public 

docket consists of the documents 

specifically referenced in this action, 

any public comments received, and 

other information related to this action. 

Although a part of the official docket, 

the public docket does not include 

Confidential Business Information (CBI) 

or other information whose disclosure is 

restricted by statute. The official public 

docket is the collection of materials that 

is available for public viewing at the 

Public Information and Records 

Integrity Branch (PIRIB), Rm. 119, 

Crystal Mall #2, 1801 S. Bell St., 

Arlington, VA. This docket facility is 

open from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday 

through Friday, excluding legal 

holidays. The docket telephone number 

is (703) 305–5805. 

2. Electronic access. You may access 

this Federal Register document 

electronically through the EPA Internet 

under the ‘‘Federal Register’’ listings at 

http://www.epa.gov/fedrgstr/. 

An electronic version of the public 

docket is available through EPA’s 

electronic public docket and comment 

system, EPA Dockets. You may use EPA 

Dockets at http://www.epa.gov/edocket/ 

to submit or view public comments,