Modification of Hydropower Procedural Regulations, Including the Deletion of Certain Outdated or Non-Essential Regulations

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission) is amending its regulations concerning applications for preliminary permits to eliminate certain outdated requirements and reduce unnecessary burdens on persons subject to the Commission's regulations. These modifications are the result of a review begun by the Commission's FERC Information Assessment Team (FIAT) to identify all of the Commission's current information collections to evaluate their original purposes and current uses, and to propose ways to reduce the burden on industry through the elimination, reduction, streamlining or reformatting of current collections. The Commission is amending its regulations to eliminate 18 CFR 4.81(d)(3) to remove the requirements for identifying a market for power and related power system information in the application for a preliminary permit. The Commission expects that these minor modifications of its regulations will not have a significant impact on preliminary permit proceedings. Because these changes relate only to the Commission's procedures and relieve unnecessary regulatory burdens, notice and comment on the changes is not required.