[Code of Federal Regulations] [Title 18, Volume 1] [Revised as of April 1, 2004] From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access [CITE: 18CFR157.22] [Page 525-527] TITLE 18--CONSERVATION OF POWER AND WATER RESOURCES CHAPTER I--FEDERAL ENERGY REGULATORY COMMISSION, DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY PART 157_APPLICATIONS FOR CERTIFICATES OF PUBLIC CONVENIENCE AND NECESSITY Subpart A_Applications for Certificates of Public Convenience and Sec. 157.22 Collaborative procedures for applications for certificates of public convenience and necessity and for orders permitting and approving abandonment. (a) A potential applicant may submit to the Commission a request to approve the use of collaborative procedures for pre-filing consultation and the filing and processing of an application for certificate or abandonment authorization that is subject to part 157 of this chapter. (b) A potential applicant requesting to use the pre-filing collaborative procedures must provide a list of potentially interested entities invited to participate in a pre-filing collaborative process and: (1) Demonstrate that a reasonable effort has been made to contact all entities affected by the applicant's proposal, such as resource agencies, local governments, Indian tribes, citizens' groups, landowners, customers, and others, and that a consensus exists that the use of the collaborative process is appropriate under the circumstances; (2) Submit a communications protocol, supported by interested entities, governing how the applicant and other participants in the pre- filing collaborative process, including the Commission staff, may communicate with each other regarding the merits of the applicant's proposal and recommendations of interested entities; and (3) Submit a request to use the pre-filing collaborative process and, within five days, send a copy of the request, along with the docket number of the request, instructions on how to submit comments to the Commission, and a copy of Sec. Sec. 157.1 and 157.22, to all affected resource agencies and Indian tribes, and all entities contacted by the applicant that have expressed an interest in the pre-filing collaborative process. (c) As appropriate under the circumstances of the case, the request to use the pre-filing collaborative procedures must include provisions for: (1) Distribution of a description of the proposed project (including its intended purpose, location and scope, and the estimated dates of its construction), and scheduling of an initial information meeting (or meetings, if more than one such meeting is appropriate) open to the public; (2) The cooperative scoping of environmental issues (including necessary scientific studies), the analysis of completed studies and any further scoping; and (3) The preparation of a preliminary draft environmental assessment or preliminary draft environmental impact statement and related application. (d) The Commission will give public notice in the Federal Register and the prospective applicant will inform potentially interested entities of a request to use the pre-filing collaborative procedures and will invite comments on the request within 30 days. The Commission will consider the submitted comments in determining whether to grant or deny the applicant's request to use the pre-filing collaborative procedures. Such a decision will not be subject to interlocutory rehearing or appeal. (e) If the Commission accepts the use of a pre-filing collaborative process, the following provisions will apply: (1) The Commission will publish notice of its authorization to use the pre-filing process in the Federal Register; the applicant will publish notice of the Commission's authorization to use the pre-filing process in a local newspaper of general circulation in the [[Page 526]] county or counties in which the proposed project is to be located. To the extent feasible, the applicants' notice will specify the time and place of the initial information meeting(s) and the scoping of environmental issues and will be sent to a mailing list approved by the Commission that includes the names and addresses of landowners affected by the project. (2) The applicant must also file with the Commission a copy of the initial description of its proposed project, each scoping document, and the preliminary draft environmental review document. (3) All filings submitted to the Commission under this section shall consist of an original and seven copies. The applicant shall send a copy of each filing to each participant that requests a copy. (4) At a suitable location (or at more than one location if appropriate), the applicant will maintain a public file of all relevant documents, including scientific studies, correspondence, and minutes or summaries of meetings, compiled during the pre-filing collaborative process. The Commission will maintain a public file of the applicant's initial description of its proposed project, scoping documents, periodic reports on the pre-filing collaborative process, and the preliminary draft environmental review document. (5) Every three months, the applicant shall file with the Commission a report summarizing the progress made in the pre-filing collaborative process, referencing the public file maintained by the applicant as provided in paragraph (e)(4), of this section where additional information on that process can be obtained. Summaries or minutes of meetings held as part of the collaborative process may be used to satisfy this filing requirement. (6) An applicant authorized to use the pre-filing collaborative process may substitute a preliminary draft environmental review document and additional material specified by the Commission instead of an environmental report with its application as required by Sec. 380.3 of this chapter and need not supply additional documentation of the pre- filing collaborative process with its application. The applicant will file with the Commission the results of any studies conducted or other documentation as directed by the Commission, either on its own motion or in response to a motion by a party to the proceeding. (7) Pursuant to the procedures approved, the participants will set reasonable deadlines requiring all resource agencies, Indian tribes, citizens' groups, and interested entities to submit to the applicant requests for scientific studies or alternative route analyses during the pre-filing collaborative process. Additional requests for studies may be made to the Commission after the filing of the application only for good cause shown. (8) During the pre-filing collaborative process the Commission may require deadlines for the filing of preliminary resource agency recommendations, conditions, and comments, to be submitted in final form after the filing of the application. (9) If paragraphs (e)(3) or (e)(4) of this section require an applicant to reveal Critical Energy Infrastructure Information (CEII), as defined by Sec. 388.113(c) of this chapter, to any person, the applicant shall follow the procedures set out in Sec. 157.10(d). (f) If the potential applicant or any resource agency, Indian tribe, citizens' group, or other entity participating in the pre-filing collaborative process can show that it has cooperated in the process but that a consensus supporting the use of the pre-filing collaborative process no longer exists and that continued use of that process would not be productive, the participant may petition the Commission for an order directing the use by the potential applicant of appropriate procedures to complete its pre-filing process. No such request will be accepted for filing unless the participant submitting it certifies that the request has been served on all other participants. The request must recommend specific procedures that are appropriate under the circumstances. (g) The Commission staff may participate in the pre-filing collaborative process (and in discussions contemplating initiating a collaboration) and assist in the integration of this process and the environmental review process [[Page 527]] in any case. Commission staff positions are not binding on the Commission. (h) A potential applicant for gas facilities is not precluded by these regulations from filing an application with the Commission at any time, even if the pre-filing collaborative process for the proposed facilities has not been completed. [Order 608, 64 FR 51221, Sept. 22, 1999, as amended by Order 608-A, 65 FR 65756, Nov. 2, 2000; Order 643, 68 FR 52096, Sept. 2, 2003] Subparts B-C [Reserved]