Rulemaking Comment of Edison Electric Institute under RM02-4 and PL02-1.

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA BEFORE THE FEDERAL ENERGY REGULATORY COMMISSION ) Critical Energy Infrastructure Information ) Dockets No. RM02-4-000 Notice of Proposed Rulemaking and ) and PL02-1-000 Revised Statement of Policy ) ) COMMENTS OF THE EDISON ELECTRIC INSTITUTE, INCLUDING THE EEI ALLIANCE OF ENERGY SUPPLIERS AND EEI TRANSMISSION GROUP I. Focus of These Comments The Edison Electric Institute (EEI), including the EEI Alliance of Energy Suppliers (Alliance) and EEI Transmission Group, is filing these comments in response to a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking and Revised Statement of Policy (NOPR) that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission or FERC) has issued about Critical Energy Infrastructure Information (CEII) in the above-referenced dockets. The Commission issued the NOPR on September 5, 2002 and published it at 67 Fed. Reg. 57994 on September 13, 2002. The Commission extended the deadline for comments in response to the NOPR to November 14, 2002, in a separate notice issued on October 9, 2002 and published at 67 Fed. Reg. 64835 on October 22, 2002. II. EEI Has a Direct, Substantial Interest in This Proceeding EEI is the association of the nations shareholder-owned electric utility companies and industry affiliates and associates worldwide, including companies that generate, transmit, and distribute electricity and provide an array of energy and other services to 1 their customers. The Alliance is a division of EEI that represents independent power producers, generators, and power marketers in the United States wholesale electricity markets. The EEI Transmission Group is a division of EEI that represents utilities and wire companies that transmit electricity in wholesale transactions. Together our U.S. members serve nearly 95 percent of the customers of the shareholder-owned segment of the industry and about 70 percent of all consumers of electricity in the United States, generating and delivering almost 70 percent of the countrys electricity. Electricity is an essential public service that sustains public health and welfare, including for example the provision of power for heating and air conditioning, water supply, street and building lighting, hospital services, food storage and processing, computers, and other electric equipment relied on by residential customers, companies, industrial facilities, municipalities, and government agencies nationwide. Electric generation, transmission, and distribution facilities thus qualify as critical energy infrastructure that are vital to the nations health, security, and economy. Furthermore, these facilities are the capital intense asset base of EEI, Alliance, and Transmission Group members, who would suffer direct loss in the event of attack or other efforts to damage or prevent use of the facilities. The Commission collects volumes ...