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.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

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

comments on an information collection titled Royalty-In-Kind Small

Refiner Sale Program, OMB Control Number 1010-0135, which expires on

April 30, 2000.

DATES: Written comments should be received on or before January 31,

2000.

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. Email

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,

Colorado 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:

Royalty-In-Kind Small Refiner Sale Program, OMB Control Number 1010-

0135, 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

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, phone (303) 231-3046, fax (303) 231-3385, email

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

[[Page 66931]]

respondents, including the use of automated collection techniques or

other forms of information technology.

Interior is the department within the Federal Government

responsible for matters relevant to mineral resource development on

Federal and Indian Lands and the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS). The

Secretary of the Interior (Secretary) 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.

When the Secretary determines that sufficient need exists among

small refining companies to justify taking royalty oil in kind and

offering this oil for sale to eligible refiners, small refiners may

apply to participate in this sale of Federal royalty oil and follow

procedures under which contracts for the purchase of royalty oil will

be awarded. Completed applications to participate in the sale bid

proposals, signed contracts, and surety instruments must be submitted

to MMS.

The application must be complete and timely filed, and applicants

for royalty oil will be required to provide a surety instrument with

their bid package. This surety instrument must be a Letter of Credit,

Form MMS-4071, or a Royalty-In-Kind Contract Surety Bond, Form MMS-

4072. We estimate the annual reporting burden for refiners submitting

either surety document is 1 hour. Both surety documents are approved

for use through April 30, 2000, and can be found on our web site at

http://www.rmp.mms.gov/custserv/pubserv/forms.htm.

Dated: November 19, 1999.

Lucy Querques Denett,

Associate Director for Royalty Management.

[FR Doc. 99-30992 Filed 11-29-99; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4310-MR-P