Document ID: FERC-2020-1223-0001
Agency: ferc
Document Type: Notice
Title: Staff Review of Enforcement Programs: North American Electric Reliability Corp.
Posted Date: 2020-09-21T04:00Z

[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 183 (Monday, September 21, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 59299-59300]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-20684]

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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Docket No. RC11-6-010]

North American Electric Reliability Corporation; Notice of Staff 
Review of Enforcement Programs

    Commission staff coordinated with the staff of the North American 
Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) to conduct the annual oversight 
of the Find, Fix, Track and Report (FFT) program, as outlined in the 
March 15, 2012 Order,\1\ and the Compliance Exception (CE) Program, as 
proposed by NERC's September 18, 2015 annual Compliance Filing.\2\ The 
Commission supported NERC's plan to coordinate with Commission staff to 
review the same sample of possible violations, thereby reducing the 
burden on the Regional Entities of providing evidence for two different 
samples. Furthermore, NERC and Commission staff agreed to exclude the 
Florida Reliability Coordinating Council Regional Entity (FRCC) from 
the survey, reducing the burden on FRCC as it continued toward a 
planned and approved termination of its responsibilities as a Regional 
Entity by June 30, 2019.
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    \1\ North American Electric Reliability Corp., 138 FERC ] 
61,193, at P 73 (2012) (discussing Commission plans to survey a 
random sample of FFTs submitted each year to gather information on 
how the FFT program is working).
    \2\ North American Electric Reliability Corp., Docket No. RC11-
6-004, at 1 (Nov. 13, 2015) (delegated letter order) (stating 
``NERC's intention to combine the evaluation of Compliance 
Exceptions with the annual sampling of FFTs to further streamline 
oversight of the FFT and compliance exception programs'').
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    Commission staff reviewed a sample of 24 FFT possible violations 
out of 102 FFT possible violations posted by NERC between October 2018 
and September 2019 and a sample of 38 CE instances of noncompliance out 
of 957 CE instances of noncompliance posted by NERC between October 
2018 and September 2019.
    Commission staff believes that the FFT and CE programs are meeting 
expectations, with one minor observation. Specifically, Commission 
staff identified one CE with an incomplete description of the 
noncompliance. Sampling for the 2019 program year indicated that the 
Regional Entities appropriately included all 62 of the sampled possible 
violations in the FFT and CE programs, and that all 62 of the sampled 
FFTs and CEs have been adequately remediated. Commission staff's sample 
analysis indicated a decreasing number of documentation concerns, 
particularly with regard to the clear identification of root cause in 
the FFT and/or CE postings. Specifically, the identification of root 
cause in FFTs and CEs has improved significantly over the past five 
years, moving from 5 percent missing an

[[Page 59300]]

identification of root cause to all now being included in this year's 
sampling. Commission staff subsequently reviewed the supporting 
information for these FFTs or CEs and agreed with the final risk 
determinations for all 62 samples. Commission staff also noted a 
significant improvement in the clear identification of factors 
affecting the risk prior to mitigation (such as potential and actual 
risk), and actual harm, which was identified in all samples. In 
addition, Commission staff noted that the FFTs and CEs sampled did not 
contain any material misrepresentations by the registered entities.

    Dated: September 14, 2020.
Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2020-20684 Filed 9-18-20; 8:45 am]
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