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Chapter 5. Communication, Collaboration, and Outreach
One of the requirements of Section 805 is to establish guidelines to “ensure the quality, comparability, and scope of State energy data, including data on energy production and consumption by product and sector and renewable and alternative sources, required to provide a comprehensive, accurate energy profile at the State level. . . .” EIA’s stakeholders and customers note that it takes Federal initiatives to provide data that are comparable across States. Section 805 also instructs EIA to “assess any existing gaps” in EIA’s data and to consult with State officials and others on a regular basis.
As a recent independent study noted, “EIA has a wide variety of customers and a long history of collecting feedback in order to better understand the needs of the public and to improve the quality of its products.”8 Current consulting and collaborating activities include the following:
- Consultations with Other Government Agencies. EIA consults with other State and Federal agencies. For example, EIA consults with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) on a regular basis concerning new and existing survey forms, particularly in conjunction with seeking the necessary periodic approval from the Office of Management and Budget for EIA survey forms.
- Participation with State Organizations. One way EIA stays informed about changes in energy markets that affect States in particular is through participation in workshops and conferences with groups such as the National Governors Association, the National Conference of State Legislatures, the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners, and others. The National Association of State Energy Officials (NASEO) is a good example. EIA staff regularly attend NASEO conferences and co-sponsor conferences and workshops with NASEO every year. EIA’s communications with NASEO are intended to assess changes in interest for State energy data, to identify emerging energy issues and trends among the States, and to share solutions to State energy market or distribution problems. EIA staff often provide presentations or suggest and recruit energy industry conference speakers at NASEO’s request.
- Joint Data Collection. One of EIA’s best known collaborations with the States is the State Heating Oil and Propane Program (SHOPP), a cooperative data collection program between State energy officials and EIA that operates during the winter months of October through March. EIA provides funding to the States through grants to cover 50 percent of their costs for participating in the weekly heating oil and propane price survey. EIA selects the sample for each State, edits and verifies the incoming data, aggregates the data, and disseminates the data on the EIA Web site. The States make weekly phone calls to the companies in their sample and transmit the prices to EIA via an Internet data collection system. SHOPP is important in terms of outreach. It provides EIA with a contact person in each State Energy Office, enabling a communication network with the participating State Energy Offices. The cooperative program promotes the States’ ability to monitor market conditions for heating oil and propane during the winter season.
In addition to continuing activities such as those described above, EIA could expand its interaction with the States through the following initiatives, which also could involve the U.S. territories, as feasible and appropriate:
- Develop a Plan To Evaluate and Address Emerging State and U.S. Territory Data Needs. New data needs related to emerging State and territorial energy issues are of particular concern to them. In order to collect and publish data that are responsive to those needs and also comparable across States and territories, EIA proposes to initiate an ongoing plan. In each cycle, the first step would be to identify emerging issues and to evaluate the data needs through iterative interactions with State and territorial officials and others. The second step would be to interview EIA analysts and to research current data collections. The third and final step would be to write recommendations about the ways in which EIA could address the needs by expanding the scope and coverage of existing surveys, by adding new surveys, or by other means. EIA’s recommendations to fill the gaps could help ensure that current, comparable datasets are available for State- and territorial-level energy analysis. Initiative 5.1. Start-up Cost: $130,000; Annual Operating Cost: $65,000 (increment to EIA’s 2009 budget request).
- Conduct Biannual State and U.S. Territory Energy Data Workshops. EIA could conduct workshops to educate users of State and territorial energy data about current and new EIA initiatives to enhance the relevancy, scope, quality, comparability, and timeliness of EIA’s data, as well as to seek feedback. The workshops would be aimed at a broad audience. Each workshop would result in a record of written and oral comments from workshop participants and proposed follow-up actions which, if funded, would address the data needs identified in the workshop. Initiative 5.2. Start-up Cost: $65,000; Annual Operating Cost: $65,000 (increment to EIA’s 2009 budget request).
- Consult with Other Government Agencies on State and U.S. Territory Data Needs. EIA could regularly consult with Federal and State agencies and organizations about the relevancy, scope, quality, comparability, and timeliness of EIA’s data in order to gain information about State and territorial data needs. EIA would write annual reports describing the data needs and recommending changes in EIA’s data collection activities which, if funded, would meet the needs. Initiative 5.3. Start-up Cost: $130,000; Annual Operating Cost: $130,000 (increment to EIA’s 2009 budget request).
- Investigate Options for Supporting Independent State and U.S. Territory Data Collection. Currently, EIA publishes a set of statistical and methodological guidelines on EIA’s Web site. One option for cooperative data collection between EIA and the States and territories would be for EIA to work with them to assess their data needs, plan an approach to collecting the data, and develop detailed, individualized guidance on how to collect the targeted data. With that approach, State and Territory data collection efforts could mesh with EIA’s, yielding comparable datasets. Initiative 5.4. Start-up Cost: $130,000; Annual Operating Cost: $130,000 (increment to EIA’s 2009 budget request).
- Establish a “Wiki” to Allow for Collaboration in a Common Workspace. EIA understands the mutual benefits of good communications with the States and other stakeholders who are interested in State- and territory-level information, and EIA communicates with stakeholders in a variety of ways. Some electronic media currently in use are “one-way,” in that EIA posts content to its Web site or sends list-serve notices about new products. EIA also uses interactive approaches, such as those that allow users to create customized graphs and tables. There are also options for two-way electronic communications, including the use of wikis (Web sites, or parts of a Web site, using software that allows for content to be edited and revised by all users.) The use of a wiki would allow EIA’s data users to collaborate in a common workspace on data projects. The main benefit of a wiki would be quick and efficient communications during collaborations and a public record of data projects. Initiative 5.5. Start-up Cost: $50,000; Annual Operating Cost: $45,000 (increment to EIA’s 2009 budget request).
Sharing of Company-Level Data
Section 805 directs the Administrator to “share company-level data collected at the State level with each State involved, in a manner consistent with the legal authorities, confidentiality protections, and stated uses in effect at the time the data were collected, subject to the condition that the State shall agree to reasonable requirements for use of the data, as the Administrator may require. . . .” Information collected by EIA falls into three groups with respect to how it is shared:
- Protected information is collected under a pledge that EIA will protect information to the extent it satisfies exemption 4 of section 522(b) of the Freedom of Information Act (FIOA). Title 15 Section 796(d) of the United States Code also contains a provision that requires EIA to protect certain types of information that, if made public, would reveal methods or processes that are entitled to protection as trade secrets. Broadly stated, information is considered protected by EIA if the release of respondent-identifiable information would be likely to cause harm to the respondent’s competitive position or impair EIA’s ability to obtain similar data in the future. EIA staff and contractors are subject to the penalties (imprisonment, fines and termination) cited in Title 18 Section 1905 of the United States Code for disclosing trade secret information or confidential statistical data in any manner not authorized by law.
- Public Information is information that is collected with the notice to respondents that the information may be publicly released in company- or individually-identifiable form.
Respondent-level confidential and protected data may be shared under certain conditions as outlined in CIPSEA and other authorizing legislation pertinent to EIA, including the DOE Organization Act, the Federal Energy Administration Act, and the Energy Supply and Environmental Coordination Act of 1974. Requests for data sharing are reviewed on a case-by-case basis. EIA formalizes the sharing of confidential and protected data with a Data Sharing Agreement signed by EIA’s Administrator. Several factors are evaluated when a request is received, including: 1) the legal authority controlling the sharing of requested data; 2) the resources involved in providing the requested data, such as if any special file formatting or re-programming is required; 3) what direct identifiers, if any, need to be removed from the data file before its release; 4) the duration of the sharing activity, i.e., is it one-time or on-going; 5) can the agency requesting the data appropriately safeguard it; and 6) will any tabular data satisfy the requesting agency’s data needs or is respondent-level data necessary for its use and purpose for accessing the information.
Confidential data, or data that is collected under CIPSEA, can only be shared for statistical purposes and CIPSEA attaches stringent data protection and eligibility requirements. CIPSEA allows EIA to designate other agents, besides contractors, who may have access to identifiable information collected under CIPSEA as long as the agent’s access is properly controlled by EIA. These agents, such as researchers, function under the agency umbrella, i.e., under the supervision of EIA employees through contracts or special agreements and subject to the same limitations and penalties that are described in CIPSEA. The fact that CIPSEA allows EIA to share information collected under CIPSEA with approved agents does not create a researcher’s right to such information. If EIA chooses to designate an agent, it still remains responsible for all confidential information protected under CIPSEA. EIA must approve the researcher and the researcher must agree in writing to comply with all terms and conditions required by EIA prior to any access.
Protected data can be shared for official use by other DOE components, other Federal agencies, the General Accounting Office, and any Committee of the Congress. Official use of EIA data by other Federal agencies may include both statistical and non-statistical uses. A court of competent jurisdiction may obtain protected information in response to a court order. With respect to the States, Title 15 Section 779(a)(3) of the United States Code requires the Administrator to provide, upon request, to State governments all relevant information he/she possesses concerning the status and impact of energy shortages and the extent and location of available supplies of crude oil, petroleum products, natural gas, and coal, within the distribution area serving that particular State. EIA has, in fact, worked closely with the States over many years to share relevant information in its possession concerning the status and impact of energy shortages. However, because Section 779(a)(3) explicitly states that such information is to be provided in accordance with other provisions of this Code chapter, which includes Section 796(d) cited previously, the sharing of protected information remains subject to confidentiality requirements.
As noted, existing laws also permit the sharing of protected or confidential information for statistical purposes related to the EIA mission provided that the entity seeking access to the data has the ability to protect it from disclosure. EIA’s implementation of data-sharing agreements provides State entities or agencies with an avenue to access company-level data for statistical purposes.
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