UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
BEFORE THE

FEDERAL ENERGY REGULATORY COMMISSION

Electric Reliability Organization)Docket No. RM13-8-000

Proposal to Retire Requirements)

In Reliability Standards)

COMMENTS OF THE ISO/RTO COUNCIL

Pursuant to the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (“NOPR”) issued by the Commission on
June 20, 2013 in the above-captioned docket, Electric Reliability Organization Proposal to
Retire Requirements in Reliability Standards, 143 FERC ¶ 61,251 (2013), the ISO/RTO Council
(“IRC”)1 respectfully submits the following comments in support of the proposal to retire 34
separate requirements in 19 Reliability Standards and to withdraw 41 Commission-issued
reliability directives to the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (“NERC”). The IRC
strongly supports NERC’s efforts to streamline reliability requirements and to eliminate
unnecessary requirements from the Reliability Standards. This effort will substantially
strengthen reliability by minimizing unnecessary administrative burdens and allowing utilities to
focus their resources on those issues that have a significant impact upon reliability.
Additionally, the IRC submits that this important effort to streamline the Reliability
Standards and minimize unnecessary administrative burdens should continue. NERC, with the
assistance and input of the Regional Entities and registered entities, has engaged in streamlining
efforts (such as the development of TPL-001-2) with substantial industry support. The IRC
respectfully submits that NERC should ensure that its processes relative to Reliability Standards

1 The IRC is comprised of the Independent System Operators operating as the Alberta Electric System Operator

(“AESO”), the California Independent System Operator (“CAISO”), Electric Reliability Council of Texas

(“ERCOT”), the Independent Electricity System Operator of Ontario, Inc., (“IESO”), ISO New England, Inc.

(“ISONE”), Midcontinent Independent System Operator, Inc., (“MISO”), New York Independent System Operator, Inc. (“NYISO”), PJM Interconnection, L.L.C. (“PJM”), and Southwest Power Pool, Inc. (“SPP”). The IESO and AESO are not FERC jurisdictional. The IRC’s mission is to work collaboratively to develop effective processes, tools and standard methods for improving the competitive electricity markets across North America.

development and maintenance include regular reviews of its Reliability Standards with the

objective of such reviews being the continued streamlining of those Reliability Standards and the elimination of requirements that do not benefit reliability.

I.Background

NERC’s proposal to retire 34 Reliability Standard requirements and withdraw 41

reliability directives, are a result of the Commission’s observation - in its March 2012 order on
NERC’s Find, Fix, Track, and Report (“FFT”) proposal - that “some current requirements likely
provide little protection for Bulk-Power System reliability or may be redundant.”2 In that March
2012 Order, the Commission invited “NERC to make specific proposals to the Commission
identifying the Standards or requirements and setting forth in detail the technical basis for its
belief.”3

NERC and its stakeholders subsequently coordinated to develop a series of criteria

designed to identify Reliability Standards and requirements that can be retired without an

adverse effect on reliability. The first, overarching criterion is whether the Reliability Standard requires a registered entity to conduct an activity or task that does little to benefit or protect the reliable operation of the Bulk Electric System (“BES”). Even if a requirement fits within this criterion - that is, it does little to benefit or protect BES reliability - it still must satisfy one of seven additional criteria in order to qualify for retirement:

 The requirement mandates that a registered entity perform an administrative
function, does not support reliability, and is needlessly burdensome.

 The requirement obligates entities to produce and retain data which document
prior events or activities, and should be collected via some other method under
NERC’s rules and processes.

2 North American Electric Reliability Corp., 138 FERC ¶ 61,193 at P 81 (2012). (“March 2012 Order”)
3 Id.

 The requirement mandates that responsible entities develop a document (e.g.,
plan, policy or procedure) which is not necessary to protect BES reliability.

 The requirement obligates responsible entities to report to a Regional Entity,
NERC or another party or entity.

 The requirement obligates responsible entities to periodically update (e.g.,
annually) documentation, such as a plan, procedure or policy without an
operational benefit to reliability.

 The requirement is a commercial or business practice, or implicates commercial
rather than reliability issues.

 The requirement is redundant with: (i) another FERC-approved Reliability

Standard requirement; (ii) the NERC compliance and monitoring program; or (iii) another governmental regulation.

Based on these criteria, NERC and its stakeholders identified 36 requirements that can be
retired without any adverse impact on the reliability of the BES.4 In the NOPR, the Commission
proposes to approve the retirement of the identified standards on the ground that (1) the
requirements provide little or no protection to BES reliability, or (2) the requirements are
redundant with other Reliability Standard provisions. The Commission also proposes to
withdraw 41 outstanding directives based on three guidelines: (1) whether the reliability concern
underlying the outstanding directive has been addressed in some manner, rendering the directive
stale; (2) whether the outstanding directive provides general guidance for standards development

4 The requirements proposed to be retired are: BAL-005-0.2b, Requirement R2 - Automatic Generation Control;
CIP-003-3, -4, Requirement R1.2 - Cyber Security - Security Management Controls; CIP-003-3, -4, Requirements
R3, R3.1, R3.2, and R3.3 - Cyber Security - Security Management Controls; CIP-003-3, -4, Requirement R4.2 -
Cyber Security - Security Management Controls; CIP-005-3a, -4a, Requirement R2.6 - Cyber Security - Electronic
Security Perimeter(s); CIP-007-3, -4, Requirement R7.3 - Cyber Security - Systems Security Management; EOP-
005-2, Requirement R3.1 - System Restoration from Blackstart Services; FAC-002-1, Requirement R2 -

Coordination of Plans for New Facilities; FAC-008-3, Requirements R4 and R5 - Facility Ratings; FAC-010-2.1,
Requirement R5 - System Operating Limits Methodology for the Planning Horizon; FAC-011-2.1, Requirement R5

- System Operating Limits Methodology for the Operations Horizon; FAC-013-2, Requirement R3 - Assessment of Transfer Capability for the Near-term Transmission Planning Horizon; INT-007-1, Requirement R1.2 - Interchange Confirmation; IRO-016-1, Requirement R2 - Coordination of Real-Time Activities between Reliability
Coordinators; NUC-001-2, Requirements R9.1, R9.1.1, R9.1.2, R9.1.3, and R1.9.4 -Nuclear Plant Interface
Coordination; PRC-010-0, Requirement R2 - Assessment of the Design and Effectiveness of UVLS Programs;
PRC-022-1, Requirement R2 - Under-Voltage Load Shedding Program Performance; and VAR-001-2, Requirement R5 - Voltage and Reactive Control.

rather than a specific directive; and (3) whether the outstanding directive is redundant with another directive.

II.Comments

The IRC strongly supports the proposals in the NOPR to retire the identified Reliability
Standards requirements and to withdraw the identified reliability directives. As NERC itself has recognized in its efforts to develop results or performance-based Reliability Standards, the
existing standards, while well-intentioned, can be unwieldy and cumbersome and contain many requirements that are redundant with one another or that do not otherwise contribute to
reliability. Not only do such requirements fail to support BES reliability, but they actually can
have the effect of hindering it by requiring utilities to expend resources on administrative aspects required by those requirements when such resources could be better used focusing on activities
that have a direct impact upon reliability.

The retirement of the identified requirements will have the effect of promoting reliability
by allowing registered entities to focus their resources on issues that are most relevant to, and
have the most impact on, BES reliability. Additionally, it is important to note that the proposed
withdrawal of 41 Commission-issued reliability directives will also promote the reliability of the
BES as it will enable both NERC and the industry to focus and expend their resources on the
remaining Commission directives. Hence, the IRC urges the Commission not only to approve
the proposals set forth in the NOPR, but also to urge NERC to undertake additional, ongoing
reviews of the Reliability Standards and to continue to identify, through its Reliability Standards
development and review processes, other standards and/or requirements that are candidates for
retirement and/or streamlining.

More specifically, by including criteria for retirement and/or streamlining in NERC’s
ongoing Reliability Standards development and maintenance processes, NERC can leverage its
established, highly-functioning processes to ensure that its overall Reliability Standard set is
continually improved through both streamlining (such as with TPL-001-2) and retirement. Such
reviews, if included in NERC’s existing processes, can also be utilized to ensure that new and/or
revised Reliability Standards and requirements remain results- and performance-based, and that
the Reliability Standards development processes will not inadvertently introduce unnecessary
administrative burdens on the industry. In summary, the IRC respectfully submits that NERC
has both the foundational criteria and existing processes to continue the streamlining efforts it
began in response to the Commission’s March 2012 Order and that NERC should leverage these
foundational elements on an ongoing basis.

Finally, the IRC offers that the criteria used by NERC and its stakeholders are

appropriate to identify Reliability Standards that are candidates for retirement, but that additional
criteria should be added to ensure that streamlining similar to that effected through TPL-001-2 is
also an active, ongoing consideration. In particular, the IRC submits that it would be appropriate
to ask, in the context of evaluating the need for a specified requirement, whether the underlying
reliability concern is or could be addressed through another, existing Reliability Standard or
requirement or whether it could be effectively addressed through consolidation of Reliability
Standards or requirements or even a mechanism other than a Reliability Standard. Thus, the
Commission should allow NERC and its stakeholders to include, in their existing, ongoing
processes, efforts and criteria to identify Reliability Standards and/or requirements for
streamlining or retirement, including whether a mechanism other than a Reliability Standard
might be just as effective in addressing the underlying reliability concern.

/s/ Anna McKenna

Nancy Saracino
General Counsel
Roger Collanton

Deputy General Counsel Anna McKenna

Assistant General Counsel-Regulatory

California Independent System Operator Corporation

250 Outcropping Way
Folsom, California 95630

/s/ Theodore J. Paradise

Raymond W. Hepper

Vice President, General Counsel, and Secretary

Theodore J. Paradise

Assistant General Counsel, Operations and Planning

ISO New England Inc.

One Sullivan Road

Holyoke, Massachusetts 01040

/s/ Carl F. Patka

Carl F. Patka

Assistant General Counsel Raymond A. Stalter

Director of Regulatory Affairs

New York Independent System Operator, Inc.

10 Krey Blvd

Rensselaer, New York 12144

/s/ Matthew Morais

Matthew Morais

Assistant General Counsel

Electric Reliability Council of Texas, Inc.

7620 Metro Center Drive Austin, Texas 78744

/s/ Stephen G. Kozey

Stephen G. Kozey

Vice President, General Counsel, and Secretary

Midcontinent Independent System Operator, Inc.

P.O. Box 4202

Carmel, Indiana 46082-4202

/s/ Craig Glazer

Craig Glazer

Vice President - Federal Government Policy

Robert Eckenrod

Assistant General Counsel

PJM Interconnection, LLC

1200 G Street, N.W. Suite 600 Washington, D.C. 20005

/s/ Paul Suskie

Paul Suskie

Senior Vice President, Regulatory Policy and General Counsel

Southwest Power Pool, Inc.

201 Worthen Drive

Little Rock, Arkansas 72223

/s/ Jessica Savage

Jessica Savage
Supervisor, Regulatory Affairs

/s/ Diana Pommen

Diana Pommen

Director Interjurisdictional Affairs and Compliance

Alberta Electric System Operator

2500, 330 - 5 Avenue SW
Calgary, Alberta T2P 0L4

Independent Electricity System Operator of Ontario, Inc.

Station A, Box 4474

Toronto, Ontario M5W 4E5

Dated: August 27, 2013