FERC 512 supporting statement - final 4.23.24

FERC-512 (OMB Control No. 1902-0073)

Supporting Statement for

FERC-512 (Preliminary Permit)

(Three-year approval for extension requested)

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC or Commission) requests that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) review and approve the FERC-512 (Preliminary Permit) information collection under OMB Control No. 1902-0073. The reporting requirements are contained in 18 CFR Parts 4.31-4.33, 4.81-4.84, 4.35, 4.36(a) and 4.36(c).

1. CIRCUMSTANCES THAT MAKE THE COLLECTION OF INFORMATION NECESSARY

Sections 4(f) and 5(b) of the Federal Power Act authorize the Commission to issue a preliminary permit for a term of up to four years, extend a permit term once for not more than four additional years, and issue an additional permit after the end of an extension period.

The FERC-512 is an application for a preliminary permit or to extend a preliminary permit term.

The purpose of obtaining a preliminary permit is to maintain priority status for an application for a license while the applicant conducts site examinations and surveys to inform a decision on whether to pursue a license for the project, and if so, prepare a license application. A preliminary permit neither authorizes construction of any facilities, nor provides the use of eminent domain to acquire lands for the project. No application for a preliminary permit or license submitted by another party for the same site can be accepted during the permit term.

2. HOW, BY WHOM, AND FOR WHAT PURPOSE THE INFORMATION IS TO BE USED AND THE CONSEQUENCES OF NOT COLLECTING THE INFORMATION

Commission staff review preliminary permit applications to assess the scope of the proposed project, the technology to be used, and jurisdictional aspects of the project. The staff assessment includes a review of the proposed hydro development for conflicts with other current permits or licensed projects, and issuance of public notice of the permit application to solicit public and agency comments. An application for a preliminary permit or an extension of a preliminary permit term includes the applicant’s name and contact information, and as relevant, a description of the proposed project, the requested term of the permit, names and addresses of the affected political jurisdictions, a verification of the application’s facts, and three exhibits, per 18 CFR 4.81.

3. DESCRIBE ANY CONSIDERATION OF THE USE OF IMPROVED INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY TO REDUCE THE BURDEN AND TECHNICAL OR LEGAL OBSTACLES TO REDUCING BURDEN

FERC continually considers the use of improved information technology to reduce burden in the filing requirements for submission of information.

The Commission allows eFiling of the FERC-512 application. See http://www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/efiling.asp for more details and information.

4. DESCRIBE EFFORTS TO IDENTIFY DUPLICATION AND SHOW SPECIFICALLY WHY ANY SIMILAR INFORMATION ALREADY AVAILABLE CANNOT BE USED OR MODIFIED FOR USE FOR THE PURPOSE(S) DESCRIBED IN INSTRUCTION NO. 2

No similar information is available; these are case-specific applications for a benefit (e.g., permit) and are unique to the applicant and the site for which the filing is made.

5. METHODS USED TO MINIMIZE THE BURDEN IN COLLECTION OF INFORMATION INVOLVING SMALL ENTITIES

The FERC-512 reporting requirements are basic filing requirements pertaining to all applications for a preliminary permit or for an extension of a preliminary permit. The data required impose the least possible burden on applicants while collecting information required to process the information.

6. CONSEQUENCE TO FEDERAL PROGRAM IF COLLECTION WERE CONDUCTED LESS FREQUENTLY

If the information were not collected, the potential license applicant(s) would have no means to establish priority for future development of the site (i.e. hold the site while studies are conducted to determine the feasibility of hydropower development). The lack of priority would place potential license applicants at greater financial risk in pursuing hydropower and could discourage developers from pursuing hydropower. The collection could not be made less frequently since it is made only once upon the filing of the permit application and once for a one-time extension of up to four years.

7. EXPLAIN ANY SPECIAL CIRCUMSTANCES RELATING TO THE INFORMATION COLLECTION

There are no special circumstances related to this information collection.

8. DESCRIBE EFFORTS TO CONSULT OUTSIDE THE AGENCY: SUMMARIZE PUBLIC COMMENTS AND THE AGENCY’S RESPONSE

In accordance with OMB requirements, the Commission published a 60-day notice¹ and a 30-day notice² to the public regarding this information collection on February 5, 2024, and April 23, 2024, respectively. Within the public notices, the Commission noted that it would be requesting a three-year extension of the public reporting burden.

The Commission received no comments in response to either of these notices.

9. EXPLAIN ANY PAYMENT OR GIFTS TO RESPONDENTS

There are no payments or gifts to respondents.

10. DESCRIBE ANY ASSURANCE OF CONFIDENTIALITY PROVIDED TO RESPONDENTS

The Commission does not consider the information collected in filings to be confidential. However, the Commission will consider specific requests for confidential treatment (e.g., Critical Energy/Electric Infrastructure Information [CEII] or privileged) to the extent permitted by law.³

11. PROVIDE ADDITIONAL JUSTIFICATION FOR ANY QUESTIONS OF A SENSITIVE NATURE, SUCH AS SEXUAL BEHAVIOR AND ATTITUDES, RELIGIOUS BELIEFS, AND OTHER MATTERS THAT ARE COMMONLY CONSIDERED PRIVATE.

There are no questions of a sensitive nature.

12. ESTIMATED BURDEN OF COLLECTION OF INFORMATION

The currently approved information collection burden is:

Number of respondents: 65

Hourly Burden: 1,560 hours

The burden is explained in further detail in the following tables:

FERC-512: (Preliminary Permit)
	Number of Respondents (1)	Annual Number of Responses per Respondent (2)	Total Number of Responses (1)*(2)=(3)	Average Burden Hours & Cost Per Response (4)	Total Annual Burden Hours & Total Annual Cost (3)*(4)=(5)	Average Annual Cost per Respondent (5)÷(1)
Annual Reporting and Recordkeeping	65	1	65	24 hrs.; $2,400	1,560 hrs.; $156,000	$2,400
TOTAL FERC-512	65	1	65	24 hrs.; $2,400	1,560 hrs.; $156,000	$2,400

13. ESTIMATE OF THE TOTAL ANNUAL COST BURDEN TO RESPONDENTS

There are no capital or start-up costs associated with these information collections. All costs are associated with the burden hours and accounted for in Questions #12 and #15.

14. ESTIMATED ANNUALIZED COST TO FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

The estimated costs of the program related to these filing requirements follows.

FERC-512	Number of Employees (FTEs)	Estimated Annual Federal Cost
FERC-512 Analysis and Processing of filings4	5	$1,038,935
Paperwork Reduction Act Administrative Cost5		$8,396
TOTAL		$1,047,331

15. REASONS FOR CHANGES IN BURDEN INCLUDING THE NEED FOR ANY INCREASE

The recordkeeping and reporting requirements are increased slightly due to normal fluctuation in burden for this ICR. The annual responses increased by 15 hours and burden hours increased by 360 hours for the FERC-512 information collection.

FERC-512	Total Request	Previously Approved	Change due to Adjustment in Estimate	Change Due to Agency Discretion
Annual Number of Responses	65	50	0	15
Annual Time Burden (Hr.)	1,560	1200	0	360
Annual Cost Burden ($)	$0	$0	$0	$0

16. TIME SCHEDULE FOR PUBLICATION OF DATA

There are no tabulations, statistical analyses, or publications of information planned for the information collection. The Commission intends to use the data for regulatory purposes only.

17. DISPLAY OF EXPIRATION DATE

The expiration date is displayed in a table posted on ferc.gov at https://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain.

18. EXCEPTIONS TO THE CERTIFICATION STATEMENT

There are no exceptions.

1 89 FR 7703

2 89 FR 30351

3 18 CFR 388.112

4 The “Estimated Annual Federal Cost” The FERC 2024 average salary plus benefits for one FERC full-time equivalent (FTE) is $207,787/year (or $100/hour).

5 The PRA Administrative Cost is a Federal Cost associated with preparing, issuing, and submitting materials necessary to comply with the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) for rulemakings, orders, or any other vehicle used to create, modify, extend, or discontinue an information collection.   This average annual cost includes requests for extensions, all associated rulemakings, and other changes to the collection. This average annual cost includes requests for extensions, all associated rulemakings and orders, other changes to the collection, and associated publications in the Federal Register.

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