Information Collection Activities Under OMB Review

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Reclamation

Information Collection Activities Under OMB Review

AGENCY: Bureau of Reclamation, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44

U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), this notice announces the following Information

Collection Request (ICR) has been forwarded to the Office of Management

and Budget (OMB) for review and comment: Individual Landholder's

Certification and Reporting Forms for Acreage Limitation, 43 CFR part

426 and Proposed Rule 43 CFR part 428, OMB Control Number: 1006-0005.

The ICR describes the nature of the information collection and its

expected cost and burden.

DATES: Your comments must be received on or before June 23, 1999.

ADDRESSES: You may send comments regarding the burden estimate, or any

other aspect of the information collection, including suggestions for

reducing the burden, to the Office of Information and Regulatory

Affairs, Office of Management and Budget, Attention: Desk Officer for

the Department of the Interior, 725 17th Street, NW., Washington DC

20503. A copy of your comments should also be directed to the Bureau of

Reclamation, Attention: D-5200, PO Box 25007, Denver, CO 80225-0007.

[[Page 28010]]

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information or a copy of

the proposed forms contact Marilyn Rehfeld, D-5200, PO Box 25007,

Denver, CO 80225-007; or by telephone: (303) 445-2899.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: .

Title: Individual Landholder's Certification and Reporting Forms

for Acreage Limitation, 43 CFR part 426 and Proposed Rule 43 CFR part

428.

Abstract: This information collection requires certain landholders

to complete forms demonstrating their compliance with the acreage

limitation provisions of Federal reclamation law. These forms establish

each landholder's status with respect to landownership limitations,

full-cost pricing thresholds, lease requirements, and other provisions

of Federal reclamation law, Title II of Public Law 97-293, and

regulations 43 CFR part 426.

All landholders whose entire westside landholdings total 40 acres

or less are exempt from the requirement to submit RRA forms. This

collection of information allows the Bureau of Reclamation (we, our, or

us) to establish landholders' compliance with Federal reclamation law.

Changes to the RRA Forms and the Instructions to Those Forms

We made some changes to the current RRA forms and rewrote the

instructions to those forms in ``plain language'' to meet the

requirements of the President's June 1, 1998, memorandum. Other changes

to the forms and the instructions to the forms are editorial in nature

and are designed to increase the respondents' understanding of the

forms, instructions to the forms, and what information is required to

be submitted with the forms to the districts. The proposed revisions to

the RRA forms will be included starting in the 2000 water year.

Draft of a New RRA Form

We published a notice of proposed rulemaking entitled: Information

Requirements for Certain Farm Operations In Excess of 960 Acres and the

Eligibility of Certain Formerly Excess Land, 43 CFR part 428, in the

Federal Register on November 18, 1998 (63 FR 64154, Nov. 18, 1998), and

requested comments on the proposed rule and the information collection

to be submitted to us by January 19, 1999. This comment period was

later extended to February 18, 1999, and then reopened to April 12,

1999. The proposed rulemaking requires farm operators who provide

services to more than 960 nonexempt acres westwide, held by a single

trust or legal entity or any combination of trusts and legal entities,

to submit RRA forms to the district(s) where such land is located. We

requested comments from the public on whether to revise an existing RRA

form or create a new form for farm operators to prepare should the

proposed rule be finalized.

Just in case, if the rule is finalized and it is determined that

farm operators will be required to submit a separate form, we have

prepared a draft of this form for review and comment (see FOR FURTHER

INFORMATION CONTACT). We have included the estimated burden for the

draft farm operator form (Form 7-21FARMOP) in this notice. Farm

operators are not required to submit an RRA form to their district

unless the proposed rulemaking is published as a final rule in the

Federal Register.

Frequency: Annually.

Respondents: Landholders (direct or indirect landowners or lessees)

and farm operators of certain lands in Bureau of Reclamation projects,

whose landholdings exceed specified RRA forms submittal thresholds.

Estimated Total Number of Respondents: 19,202.

Estimated Number of Responses per Respondent: 1.02.

Estimated Total Number of Annual Responses: 19,586.

Estimated Total Annual Burden on Respondents: 14,829 hours.

Estimate of Burden for Each Form:

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Burden

Estimated Frequency of Total annual estimate per Total burden

Form No. number of response responses form (in hours

respondents minutes)

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Form 7-2180..................... 5,358 1.02 5,465 60 5,465

Form 7-2180EZ................... 537 1.02 548 45 411

Form 7-2181..................... 1,758 1.02 1,793 (1) 2,331

Form 7-2184..................... 40 1.02 41 45 31

Form 7-2190..................... 1,910 1.02 1,948 60 1,948

Form 7-2190EZ................... 113 1.02 115 45 86

Form 7-2191..................... 891 1.02 909 (1) 1,182

Form 7-2194..................... 4 1.02 4 45 3

Form 7-21PE..................... 205 1.02 209 (2) 230

Form 7-21TRUST.................. 1,331 1.02 1,358 60 1,358

Form 7-21VERIFY................. 6,452 1.02 6,581 12 1,316

Form 7-21FC..................... 243 1.02 248 30 124

Form 7-21XS..................... 164 1.02 167 30 84

Form 7-21FARMOP................. 196 1.02 200 (2) 260

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Total....................... 19,202 1.02 19,586 .............. 14,829

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\1\ 1 hr. 18 min.

2 1 hr. 6 min.

Comments

Comments are invited on:

(a) Whether the proposed collection of information is necessary for

the proper performance of our functions, including whether the

information will have practical use;

(b) The accuracy of our burden estimate for the proposed collection

of information;

(c) Ways to enhance the quality, usefulness, and clarity of the

information to be collected; and

(d) Ways to minimize the burden of the collection of information on

respondents, including the use of automated collection techniques or

other forms of information technology.

An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required

to respond to a collection of information unless it displays a

currently valid OMB control. Reclamation will display a valid OMB

control number on the survey form. A Federal Register notice with a 60-

day comment period soliciting

[[Page 28011]]

comments on this collection of information was published in the Federal

Register on January 4, 1999 (64 FR 174, Jan. 4, 1999). A list of the

comments received and our responses to those comments is being sent to:

(1) All districts, (2) all commenters, and (3) OMB with this ICR; it is

also available from us upon request.

OMB has up to 60 days to approve or disapprove this information

collection, but may respond after 30 days; therefore, public comment

should be submitted to OMB within 30 days in order to assure maximum

consideration.

Wayne O. Deason,

Acting Director, Program Analysis Office.

[FR Doc. 99-12999 Filed 5-21-99; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4310-94-M