OMB Approves New CEII NPRM

Yesterday the OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) announced that it had approved a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) from the Department of Energy on their Critical Electric Infrastructure Information (CEII) program. The NPRM was submitted to OMB in July.

When this NPRM was submitted the rulemaking had not been listed in the latest (Spring 2018) Unified Agenda. Yesterday OIRA published the Fall 2018 Unified Agenda (more on this in another post) and this rulemaking was included; not much information in the listing, unfortunately. The abstract in the listing simply notes:

“The Department of Energy (DOE or Department) is publishing a proposed rule for public comment to implement DOE’s critical electric infrastructure information (CEII) designation authority under section 215A of the Federal Power Act.  The proposed administrative procedures are intended to ensure that stakeholders and the public understand how the Department would designate, protect, and share CEII under the Federal Power Act”

I expect that the NPRM will be published in the Federal Register in the next week or two; even when it initiates regulatory action, the Trump Administration is not quick about these things.