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OMB Control No: 1902-0089	ICR Reference No: 201608-1902-005
Status: Historical Active	Previous ICR Reference No: 201308-1902-003
Agency/Subagency: FERC	Agency Tracking No: FERC-550
Title: FERC-550, Oil Pipeline Rates - Tariff Filings
Type of Information Collection: Extension without change of a currently approved collection	Common Form ICR: No
Type of Review Request: Regular
OIRA Conclusion Action: Approved with change	Conclusion Date: 12/19/2016
	Date Received in OIRA: 08/31/2016
Terms of Clearance: In accordance with 5 CFR 1320, the information collection is approved for three years.

	Inventory as of this Action	Requested	Previously Approved
Expiration Date	12/31/2019	36 Months From Approved	12/31/2016
Responses	765	0	773
Time Burden (Hours)	5,978	0	8,076
Cost Burden (Dollars)	0	0	41,750

Abstract: The Commission's regulatory jurisdiction over oil pipelines includes: (a)the regulation of rates and practices of oil pipeline companies engaged in interstate transportation; (b)the establishment of equal service conditions to provide shippers with equal access to pipeline transportation; and (c)the establishment of reasonable rates for transporting petroleum and petroleum products by pipeline. Order No. 561 (issued 10/22/1993 in Docket No. RM93-11) revised the Commission’s “regulations of oil pipelines in order to implement the requirements of Title XVIII of the Energy Policy Act of 1992. The revisions provide a simplified and generally applicable method for regulating oil pipeline rates by use of an index for setting rate ceilings for such rates. In certain circumstances, an oil pipeline would be permitted to establish rates using a traditional cost of service or other methods of ratemaking.” As discussed further in Order No. 650 (issued 8/27/2004 in Docket RM93-11-002), “[a]mong other things, Order No. 561 established a price cap for oil pipeline rates, to be adjusted annually based upon changes in the Producer Price Index for Finished Goods (published each May by the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics) minus one percent (PPI-1). Order No. 561 recognized that its responsibilities under the Interstate Commerce Act, to both shippers and pipelines, required monitoring of the relationship between the change in the selected index and the actual cost changes experienced by the industry. Therefore, the Commission stated that it would review the choice of index every 5 years. ” The filing requirements for oil pipeline tariffs and rates under the FERC-550 data collection provide the Commission with the information it needs to analyze the rates, practices, and service conditions of oil pipelines. As a result, the Commission can implement statutory directives for the federal regulation of these carriers to determine whether the proposed tariffs and rates are just and reasonable.

Authorizing Statute(s): US Code: 49 USC 1 Name of Law: Interstate Commerce Act

Citations for New Statutory Requirements: None

Associated Rulemaking Information
RIN:	Stage of Rulemaking:	Federal Register Citation:	Date:
	Not associated with rulemaking

Federal Register Notices & Comments
60-day Notice:	Federal Register Citation:	Citation Date:
	81 FR 33499	05/26/2016
30-day Notice:	Federal Register Citation:	Citation Date:
	81 FR 59995	08/31/2016
Did the Agency receive public comments on this ICR? No

Number of Information Collection (IC) in this ICR: 1

IC Title	Form No.	Form Name
FERC-550: Oil Pipeline Rates - Tariff Filings
One-Time Burden (Final Rule in RM12-15)

ICR Summary of Burden

	Total Approved	Previously Approved	Change Due to Agency Discretion	Change Due to Adjustment in Estimate
Annual Number of Responses	765	773	-167	159
Annual Time Burden (Hours)	5,978	8,076	-3,340	1,242
Annual Cost Burden (Dollars)	0	41,750	-41,750	0

Burden increases because of Program Change due to Agency Discretion: No

Burden Increase Due to:

Burden decreases because of Program Change due to Agency Discretion: Yes

Burden Reduction Due to: Miscellaneous Actions

Short Statement: Program Decrease. The one-time burden imposed by Order 780 (issued May 16, 2013, in Docket No. RM12-15-000; 78 FR 32090, 5/29/2013) has been completed and is being correspondingly removed as a program decrease (‘change due to agency discretion’). Similarly, that annual cost burden is being removed. (That results in a reduction of 167 respondents representing 167 responses and 3,340 hrs. [figures approved by OMB on 9/30/2013], due to completion of that effort. That was represented in reginfo.gov and ROCIS in a separate stand-alone IC which is removed in this submittal.) Adjustments in Estimate. The estimates for nos. of pipelines (respondents), filings (responses), and average annual no. of responses per respondent have changed since the previous OMB approval, due to various factors, described below. • The Commission has seen an increase in the number of FERC-550 filings. There were 779 filings in all of 2015. [Between January 1, 2016 to August 23, 2016there were 658 FERC-550 filings, compared to 607 filings during that period in 2015.] The increase of filings is due to the number of pipelines (respondents) which had to decrease their rates to remain under the ceiling established by the oil index. The oil index ceiling decreased because of downward fluctuations in the economy. • In addition, the number of oil pipelines (respondents) that filed tariff filings in 2015 increased by 80 to 208. The increase of 80 new midstream oil pipelines since the last renewal occurred because fracking and horizontal drilling during recent years significantly increased the amount of crude oil and petroleum products that need to be transported from wells to markets. We expect the number of pipelines needing to file tariffs over the next 3 years to be at least 208. [The number we report for the next renewal cycle (in approximately 2019) will likely increase. New pipelines continued to be proposed in 2016, and construction on some of them began in 2016.] • The average number of annual filings per respondent [for the remaining IC, Oil Pipeline Rates-Tariff Filings] decreased from 4.734 to 3.68.

Annual Cost to Federal Government: $1,242,657

Does this IC contain surveys, censuses, or employ statistical methods? No

Is the Supporting Statement intended to be a Privacy Impact Assessment required by the E-Government Act of 2002? No

Is this ICR related to the Affordable Care Act [Pub. L. 111-148 & 111-152]? No

Is this ICR related to the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, [Pub. L. 111-203]? No

Is this ICR related to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA)? No

Is this ICR related to the Pandemic Response? Uncollected

Agency Contact: Norma McOmber 202 502-8022

View ICR - OIRA Conclusion