[Docket No. PHMSA-2016-0092]
PHMSA issued a notice to Underground Gas Storage operators on how it plans to assess annual user fees. PHMSA will use working-gas capacity as the basis for the user-fee rate structure. PHMSA will use the working-gas capacity values from the most recent Form EIA-191 Monthly Underground Natural Gas Storage Report. PHMSA will sum the working-gas capacity for all fields operated by the holder of a PHMSA-issued operator identification number. The operator working-gas capacity values will be divided into 10 tiers. The lowest values will be in tier 1 and the highest values in tier 10. The minimum and maximum working-gas capacities for each tier will be selected to place an equal number of operators in each tier. Each tier will have a user-fee assessment to be paid by each operator in the tier. The tiers and assessment per tier to collect $8,000,000 would be:
| Tier | Assessment per Operator | Working-Gas Capacity (Mcf) Range |
| 1 | $11,799 | Less than 930,000 |
| 2 | 23,599 | More than 930,000 and less than 3,000,000 |
| 3 | 29,499 | More than 3,000,000 and less than 5,800,000 |
| 4 | 35,398 | More than 5,800,000 and less than 11,000,000 |
| 5 | 47,198 | 11,000,000 or more and less than 13,700,000 |
| 6 | 58,997 | More than 13,700,000 and less than 21,000,000 |
| 7 | 70,796 | More than 21,000,000 and less than 32,100,000 |
| 8 | 76,696 | More than 32,100,000 and less than 48,000,000 |
| 9 | 88,496 | More than 47,000,000 and less than 91,500,000 |
| 10 | 147,493 | 147,493 |
PHMSA placed a spreadsheet in the docket showing the EIA company names in each tier, as well as the methodology used to determine the assessment per tier and tier ranges.
For more information or to get a copy of this notice, contact Jessica Foley.