PROFESSIONAL AUDIT REVIEW OF PERFORMANCE OF OFFICE SEC. 55. (a) The procedures and methodology of the Office shall be subject to a thorough annual performance audit review. Such review shall be conducted by a Professional Audit Review Team which shall prepare a report describing its investigation and reporting its findings to the President and to the Congress. (b) The Professional Audit Review Team shall consist of at least six professionally qualified persons who shall be officers or employees of the United States and of whom at least— one shall be designated by the Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers; one shall be designated by the Commissioner of Labor Statistics; one shall be designated by the Administrator of Social and Economic Statistics; one shall be designated by the Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission; one shall be designated by the Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission; and one, who shall be the Chairman of the Professional Audit Review Team, shall be designated by the Comptroller General. (c) The Director and the Administrator shall cooperate fully with the Professional Audit Review Team and notwithstanding any other provisions of law shall make available to the Team such data, information, documents, and services as the Team determines are necessary for successful completion of its performance audit review. (d) Except as authorized by law, any person who (1) obtains, in the course of exercising the functions of the Professional Audit Review Team, information which constitutes a trade secret or confidential commercial information, the disclosure of which could result in significant competitive injury to the person to which such information relates; and (2) willfully discloses such information; shall be fined not more than $40,000, or imprisoned not more than one year, or both. [15 U.S.C. 790d] COORDINATION OF ENERGY INFORMATION ACTIVITIES SEC. 56. (a) In carrying out the purposes of this Act the Director shall, as he deems appropriate, review the energy information gathering activities of Federal agencies with a view toward avoiding duplication of effort and minimizing the compliance burden on business enterprises and other persons. (b) In exercising his responsibilities under subsection (a) of this section, the Director shall recommend policies which, to the greatest extent practicable (1) provide adequately for the energy information needs of the various departments and agencies of the Federal Government, the Congress, and the public; (2) minimize the burden of reporting energy information on businesses, other persons, and especially small businesses; (3) reduce the cost to Government of obtaining information; and (4) utilize files of information and existing facilities of established Federal agencies. (c)(1) At the earliest practicable date after the date of enactment of this section, each Federal agency which is engaged in the gathering of energy information as a part of an established program, function, or other activity shall promptly provide the Administrator with a report on energy information which (A) identifies the statutory authority upon which the energy information collection activities of such agency is based; (B) lists and describes the energy information needs and requirements of such agency; and (C) lists and describes the categories, definitions, levels of detail, and frequency of collection of the energy information collected by such agency. Such agencies shall cooperate with the Administrator and provide such other descriptive information with respect to energy information activities as the Administrator may request. The Administrator shall prepare a report on his activities under this subsection, which report shall include recommendations with respect to the coordination of energy information activities of the Federal Government. Such report shall be available to the Congress and shall be transmitted to the President and to the Energy Resources Council for use in preparation of the plan required under subsection (c) of section 108 of the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974. [15 U.S.C. 790e] REPORTS SEC. 57. (a) The Director shall make periodic reports and may make special reports to the Congress and the public, including but not limited to (1) such reports as the Director determines are necessary to provide a comprehensive picture of the quarterly, monthly, and, as appropriate, weekly supply and consumption of the various nonmineral energy resources, mineral fuels, and electricity in the United States; the information reported may be organized by company, by States, by regions, or by such other producing and consuming sectors, or combinations thereof, and shall be accompanied by an appropriate discussion of the evolution of the energy supply and consumption situation and such national and international trends and their effects as the Director may find to be significant; and (2) an annual report which includes, but is not limited to, a description of the activities of the Office and the National Energy Information System during the preceding year; a summary of all special reports published during the preceding year; a summary of statistical information collected during the preceding year; short-, medium-, and long-term energy consumption and supply trends and forecasts under various assumptions; and, to the maximum extent practicable, a summary or schedule of the amounts of mineral fuel resources, nonmineral energy resources, and mineral fuels that can be brought to market at various prices and technologies and their relationship to forecasted demands. (b)(1) The Director, on behalf of the Administrator, shall insure that adequate documentation for all statistical and forecast reports prepared by the Director is made available to the public at the time of publication of such reports. The Director shall periodically audit and validate analytical methodologies employed in the preparation of periodic statistical and forecast reports. (2) The Director shall, on a regular basis, make available to the public information which contains validation and audits of periodic statistical and forecast reports. (c) Prior to publication, the Director may not be required to obtain the approval of any other officer or employee of the United States with respect to the substance of any statistical or forecasting technical reports which he has prepared in accordance with the law. [15 U.S.C. 790f] ENERGY INFORMATION IN POSSESSION OF OTHER FEDERAL AGENCIES SEC. 58. (a) In furtherance and not in limitation of any other authority, the Director, on behalf of the Administrator, shall have access to energy information in the possession of any Federal agency except information— (1) the disclosure of which to another Federal agency is expressly prohibited by law; or (2) the disclosure of which the agency so requested determines would significantly impair the discharge of authorities and responsibilities which have been delegated to, or vested by law, in such agency. (b) In the event that energy information in the possession of another Federal agency which is required to achieve the purposes of this Act is denied the Director or the Administrator pursuant to paragraph (1) or paragraph (2) of subsection (a) of this section, the Administrator, or the Director, on behalf of the Administrator, shall take appropriate action, pursuant to authority granted by law, to obtain said information from the original sources or a suitable alternate source. Such source shall be notified of the reason for this request for information. [15 U.S.C. 790g] CONGRESSIONAL ACCESS TO INFORMATION IN POSSESSION OF THE OFFICE SEC. 59. The Director shall promptly provide upon request any energy information in the possession of the Office to any duly established committee of the Congress. Such information shall be deemed the property of such committee and may not be disclosed except in accordance with the rules of such committee and the Rules of the House of Representatives or the Senate and as permitted by law. [15 U.S.C. 790h] |