Transcript of 12/14/05 prehearing conference at FERC regarding Northern Border Pipeline Co udner RP06-72.

113FERC62,209 UNITEDSTATESOFAMERICA FEDERALENERGYREGULATORYCOMMISSION AndyUnverzagt DocketNos.CE063000 CE064000 CE065000 CE066000 CE067000 CE068000 ORDERGRANTINGREQUESTSFORCRITICALENERGYINFRASTRUCTURE INFORMATION (IssuedDecember14,2005) 1. OnOctober3,2005,AndyUnverzagtsubmittedrequests,onbehalfofPivotalEnergy Development, a division of AGL Resources, under the Federal Energy Regulatory Commissions (Commission or FERC) critical energy infrastructure information (CEII) regulationsat18C.F.R.388.113(d)(2005),forsystemflowdata(FERCFormNo.567) from six companies: Texas Eastern Transmission, LP; ANR Pipeline; Florida Gas Transmission Company; Gulfstream Natural Gas System, L.L.C.; Natural Gas Pipeline CompanyofAmerica;andTennesseeGasPipelineCompany.ByletterdatedOctober18, 2005,LawrenceD.Crocker,III,AssociateGeneralCounselforGeneralandAdministrative Law,notifiedthesubmittersoftherequestsandprovidedthemwithfive(5)businessdays inwhichtocommentontherequests. 2. FourcompaniesthatreceivedMr.Crockersletterresponded. Onecompany,Natural GasPipelineofAmerica,statedinaletterdatedNovember16,2005,thattheywillnegotiate directlywiththerequestertoprovidehimwiththeFERCFormNo.567subjecttohis signing an appropriate nondisclosure agreement. Florida Gas Transmission Company, SteveVeatch,leftavoicemailexpressingthattheydidnotobjecttotheprocessingofthe request,solongasanondisclosureagreementwassigned. AletterfromJayAllenon behalfofANRandTennesseeagreedthattheinformationcontainsCEII,andstatedthat they believe the Commission is in the best position to determine whether to grant the requests. 3. TheCommissioncontactedLaurieKorte,NaturalGasPipelineCompanyofAmerica (Natural Gas Pipeline), on November 29, 2005, to determine whether a deal had been reachedwiththerequestertoprovidetheFERCFormNo.567information. Ms.Korte responded that they had not received a completed nondisclosure agreement from the DocketNos.CE063000,etal. 2 requester.OnNovember30,2005,theCommissioncontactedtherequester,whoprovided thathewouldprefertoworkwiththeCommissiononreceivingNaturalGasPipelines information.OnDecember2,2005,theCommissionnotifiedMs.Korteviaemail,thatit would process the request. This order addresses the Form No. 567 data from all six companies. 4. CEIIisdefinedin18C.F.R.388.113(c)(1)asinformationaboutproposedorexisting critical infrastructure that (i)relates to the production, generation, transportation, transmission,ordistributionofenergy;(ii)couldbeusefultoapersoninplanninganattack oncriticalinfrastructure;(iii)isexemptfrommandatorydisclosureundertheFreedomof InformationAct(FOIA),5U.S.C.552;and(iv)doesnotsimplygivethelocationofthe criticalinfrastructure. TheFERCFormNo.567sincludesystemflowdiagrams. These documents qualify as CEII because they contain information that could be useful to someone planning an attack on the energy infrastructure; is exempt from mandatory disclosure under FOIA exemption 7(F), and does not merely reveal the location of the facility.Exemption7(F)protectslawenforcementrecordswherereleaseoftheinformation couldreasonably