Agency Information Collection Activities: Submitted for Office of Management and Budget Review; Comment Request

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Minerals Management Service

Agency Information Collection Activities: Submitted for Office of

Management and Budget Review; Comment Request

AGENCY: Minerals Management Service (MMS), Interior.

ACTION: Notice of information collection.

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SUMMARY: Under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, we are soliciting

comments on an information collection titled Production Accounting and

Auditing System Reports on Solid Minerals, OMB Control Number 1010-0063

which expires on December 31, 1999.

Form

Mine Information Form, MMS-4050; Facility and Measurement

Information Form, MMS-4051S, Solid Minerals Operations Report, MMS-

4059A&B; Solid Minerals Facility Report, MMS-4060A&B.

DATES: Written comments should be received on or before October 25,

1999.

ADDRESSES: The mailing address for written comments regarding this

information collection is David S. Guzy, Chief, Rules and Publications

Staff, Minerals Management Service, Royalty Management Program, P.O.

Box 25165, MS 3021, Denver, Colorado 80225. Courier address is Building

85, Room A-613, Denver Federal Center, Denver, Colorado 80225. E-mail

address is RMP.[email protected].

Public Comment Procedure

If you wish to comment, you may submit your comments by any one of

several methods. You may mail comments to David S. Guzy, Chief, Rules

and Publications Staff, Minerals Management Service, Royalty Management

Program, P.O. Box 25165, MS 3021, Denver, CO 80225-0165. Courier or

overnight delivery address is Building 85, Room A-613, Denver Federal

Center, Denver, Colorado 80225. You may also comment via the Internet

to RMP.[email protected]. Please submit Internet comments as an ASCII

file avoiding the use of special characters and any form of encryption.

Please also include ``Attn: Production Accounting and Auditing System

Reports on Solid Minerals, OMB Control Number 1010-0063'' and your name

and return address in your Internet message. If you do not receive a

confirmation from the system that we have received your Internet

message, contact David S. Guzy directly at (303) 231-3432.

We will post public comments after the comment period closes on the

Internet at http://www.rmp.mms.gov. You may arrange to view paper

copies of the comments by contacting David S. Guzy, Chief, Rules and

Publications Staff, telephone (303) 231-3432, FAX (303) 231-3385. Our

practice is to make comments, including names and addresses of

respondents, available for public review on the Internet and during

regular business hours at our offices in Lakewood, Colorado. Individual

respondents may request that we withhold their home address from the

rulemaking record, which we will honor to the extent allowable by law.

There also may be circumstances in which we would withhold from the

rulemaking record a respondent's identity, as allowable by law. If you

wish us to withhold your name and/or address, you must state this

prominently at the beginning of your comment. However, we will not

consider anonymous comments. We will make all submissions from

[[Page 46715]]

organizations or businesses, and from individuals identifying

themselves as representatives or officials of organizations or

businesses, available for public inspection in their entirety.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dennis C. Jones, Rules and

Publications Staff, telephone (303) 231-3046, FAX (303) 231-3385, e-

mail Dennis.C.J[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the Paperwork

Reduction Act requires each agency ``* * * to provide notice * * * and

otherwise consult with members of the public and affected agencies

concerning each proposed collection of information * * *.'' Agencies

must specifically solicit comments to: (a) evaluate whether the

proposed collection of information is necessary for the agency to

perform its duties, including whether the information is useful; (b)

evaluate the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of the

proposed collection of information; (c) enhance the quality,

usefulness, and clarity of the information to be collected; and (d)

minimize the burden on the respondents, including the use of automated

collection techniques or other forms of information technology.

The Department of the Interior is responsible for matters relevant

to mineral resource development on Federal and Indian Lands and the

Outer Continental Shelf (OCS). The Secretary of the Interior is

responsible for managing the production of minerals from Federal and

Indian Lands and the OCS; for collecting royalties from lessees who

produce minerals; and for distributing the funds collected in

accordance with applicable laws. MMS performs the royalty management

functions for the Secretary.

We developed the Production Accounting and Auditing System (PAAS),

an integrated computer database containing production processing data

submitted by Federal and Indian lease operators, including operators of

solid mineral leases. The PAAS database is designed to track minerals

produced from Federal and Indian lands from the point of production to

the point of disposition, or royalty determination, and/or point of

sale. The PAAS data is compared with data in our Auditing and Financial

System (AFS) database which tracks sales of mineral production from a

lease and associated royalty payments as reported by payors. The

comparison between production data (PAAS) and sales and royalty data

(AFS) enables MMS to verify that the proper amount of royalties are

being received for the minerals extracted from a lease.

Lessees file four forms to submit the required solid minerals data.

Two forms are used to establish an MMS reference database of relatively

static information on mines, facilities, and measurement points; this

reference database eliminates the necessity for operators to

continually report this static data. To monitor lease production,

lessees file two operations reports to provide ongoing information on

production, sales volumes, and inventories of mines and processing

facilities.

The burden imposed on lessees submitting required information is

directly proportional to mine activity and the point of sale, or the

royalty determination. The more complicated the operations, the greater

the reporting burden on the respondents. Mine/facility operators are

required to submit the required production data to allow MMS to

accurately and completely determine the correct amount of the royalty

due on the minerals removed from Federal and Indian lands.

Currently the PAAS database includes 211 mine operators and 290

mines containing 653 leases. Coal lease operators make up 45 percent of

the total respondents. Solid mineral leases also include limestone,

molybdenum, potassium, sodium, and sand and gravel operations. The

total number of facilities maintained on PAAS includes 27 coal

processing plants, 20 refiners, 13 mill and 44 remote storage

facilities. It is estimated that there will be a continuing growth of 3

percent per year for the number of new operators, mines, facilities,

and leases added to PAAS.

The annual burden for responding to this information collection

using the PAAS solid mineral forms, including 1 hour per operator per

year to maintain records necessary for completion of PAAS forms, is

estimated to be 2,920 hours.

Dated: August 20, 1999.

R. Dale Fazio,

Acting Associate Director for Royalty Management.

[FR Doc. 99-22096 Filed 8-25-99; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4310-MR-P