Administrator's information-gathering power

15 U.S.C. § 772

• Title: 15 — Commerce and Trade
• Chapter: SUBCHAPTER I—FEDERAL ENERGY ADMINISTRATION

Text

(a) Comprehensive and particular energy information; categorical groupings; monitoring activity and policy guidance
The Administrator shall collect, assemble, evaluate, and analyze energy information by categorical groupings, established by the Administrator, of sufficient comprehensiveness and particularity to permit fully informed monitoring and policy guidance with respect to the exercise of his functions under this chapter.
(b) Information and data to Administrator from owners or operators of facilities or business premises engaged in energy matters
All persons owning or operating facilities or business premises who are engaged in any phase of energy supply or major energy consumption shall make available to the Administrator such information and periodic reports, records, documents, and other data, relating to the purposes of this chapter, including full identification of all data and projections as to source, time, and methodology of development, as the Administrator may prescribe by regulation or order as necessary or appropriate for the proper exercise of functions under this chapter.
(c) General or special orders for filing reports or answers in writing to specific questions, surveys, or questionnaires; oath or otherwise; filing period
The Administrator may require, by general or special orders, any person engaged in any phase of energy supply or major energy consumption to file with the Administrator in such form as he may prescribe, reports or answers in writing to such specific questions, surveys, or questionnaires as may be necessary to enable the Administrator to carry out his functions under this chapter. Such reports and answers shall be made under oath, or otherwise, as the Administrator may prescribe, and shall be filed with the Administrator within such reasonable period as he may prescribe.
(d) Investigations, physical inspections, inventories and samples, copies, and interrogations
The Administrator, to verify the accuracy of information he has received or otherwise to obtain information necessary to perform his functions under this chapter, is authorized to conduct investigations, and in connection therewith, to conduct, at reasonable times and in a reasonable manner, physical inspections at energy facilities and business premises, to inventory and sample any stock of fuels or energy sources therein, to inspect and copy records, reports, and documents from which energy information has been or is being compiled, and to question such persons as he may deem necessary.
(e) Subpenas; attendance and testimony of witnesses; production of evidence; enforcement; judicial orders; contempt
(1) The Administrator, or any of his duly authorized agents, shall have the power to require by subpena the attendance and testimony of witnesses, and the production of all information, documents, reports, answers, records, accounts, papers, and other data and documentary evidence which the Administrator is authorized to obtain pursuant to this section.
(2) Any appropriate United States district court may, in case of contumacy or refusal to obey a subpena issued pursuant to this section, issue an order requiring the party to whom such subpena is directed to appear before the Administration and to give testimony touching on the matter in question, or to produce any matter described in paragraph (1) of this subsection, and any failure to obey such order of the court may be punished by such court as a contempt thereof.
(f) Federal information concerning energy resources on Federal lands; scope of information
The Administrator shall collect from departments, agencies and instrumentalities of the executive branch of the Government (including independent agencies), and each such department, agency, and instrumentality is authorized and directed to furnish, upon his request, information concerning energy resources on lands owned by the Government of the United States. Such information shall include, but not be limited to, quantities of reserves, current or proposed leasing agreements, environmental considerations, and economic impact analyses.
(g) Maintenance of records and accounts
With respect to any person who is subject to any rule, regulation, or order promulgated by the Administrator or to any provision of law the administration of which is vested in or transferred or delegated to the Administrator, the Administrator may require, by rule, the keeping of such accounts or records as he determines are necessary or appropriate for determining compliance with such rule, regulation, order, or any applicable provision of law.
(h) Alleviation of reporting burdens for small businesses
In exercising his authority under this chapter and any other provision of law relating to the collection of energy information, the Administrator shall take into account the size of businesses required to submit reports with the Administrator so as to avoid, to the greatest extent practicable, overly burdensome reporting requirements on small marketers and distributors of petroleum products and other small business concerns required to submit reports to the Administrator.
(i) Penalties for failure to file information
Any failure to make information available to the Administrator under subsection (b), any failure to comply with any general or special order under subsection (c), or any failure to allow the Administrator to act under subsection (d) shall be subject to the same penalties as any violation of section 796 of this title or any rule, regulation, or order issued under such section.

History

(Pub. L. 93–275, §13, May 7, 1974, 88 Stat. 107; Pub. L. 94–385, title I, §§107, 108, Aug. 14, 1976, 90 Stat. 1129.)

Editorial Notes

Editorial Notes

Amendments
1976—Subsecs. (g), (h). Pub. L. 94–385, §107, added subsecs. (g) and (h).
Subsec. (i). Pub. L. 94–385, §108, added subsec. (i).

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Transfer of Functions
Federal Energy Administration terminated and functions vested by law in Administrator thereof transferred to Secretary of Energy (unless otherwise specifically provided) by sections 7151(a) and 7293 of Title 42, The Public Health and Welfare.