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 request.

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

SUMMARY: To comply with the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 3501 et

seq.), we are notifying you that an information collection request

(ICR) has been forwarded to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB)

for review and approval. We are also soliciting your comments on the

ICR describing the information collection, its expected costs and

burdens, and how the data will be collected.

DATES: Written comments should be received on or before January 3,

2000.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments directly to the Office of

Information and Regulatory Affairs, OMB, Attention: Desk Officer for

the Interior Department (OMB Control Number 1010-0104), 725 17th

Street, NW, Washington, DC 20503; telephone (202) 395-7340. You should

also send copies of these comments to us. Our 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 or overnight delivery address is Building 85, Room A-

613, Denver Federal Center, Denver, Colorado 80225. Email address is

RMP.[email protected].

PUBLIC COMMENT PROCEDURE: Your comments and copies of your comments may

be submitted to the addresses listed above. Please submit Internet

comments as an ASCII file avoiding the use of special characters and

any form of encryption. Please also include Attn: Certification for Not

Performing Accounting for Comparison (Dual Accounting), Form MMS-4410,

OMB Control Number 1010-0104, 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:

Title: Certification for Not Performing Accounting for Comparison

(Dual Accounting).

OMB Control Number: 1010-0104.

Abstract: The Secretary of the Interior is responsible for

collecting royalties from leases producing minerals from leased Federal

and Indian lands. The Secretary is required by various laws to manage

the production of mineral resources on Indian lands and Federal onshore

and offshore leases, to collect the royalties due, and to distribute

the funds in accordance with those laws; we perform these royalty

management functions for the Secretary.

On August 10, 1999, the Minerals Management Service (MMS) published

in the Federal Register (64 FR 43506) the notice of a final rulemaking

titled ``Amendments to Gas Valuation Regulations for Indian Leases,''

with an effective date of January 1, 2000. In that Notice, MMS requires

that lessees submit the Form MMS-4410, Certification For Not Performing

Accounting for Comparison, when gas is never processed prior to

entering the pipeline with an index located in an index zone or into a

mainline pipeline not in an index zone.

The certification form is part of MMS's final rulemaking amending

its regulations governing the valuation, for royalty purposes, of

natural gas produced from Indian leases. The gas regulations apply to

all gas production from Indian (tribal or allotted) oil and gas leases

(except leases on the Osage Indian Reservation). The new regulations

resulted from a negotiated rulemaking between Indian tribes and

allottees, oil and gas industry, and Government.

Most Indian lease terms require accounting for comparison (dual

accounting) when gas produced from the lease is processed. Under the

rule, to not perform dual accounting, a lessee must certify, on Form

MMS-4410, that the gas was never processed prior to entering the

pipeline with an index located in an index zone or into a mainline

pipeline not in an index zone. The lessee will be required to sign the

certification form for each lease having production that is exempt from

dual accounting. This is a one-time certification that will remain in

effect until there is a change in lease status or ownership. This

certification will allow MMS and the tribes to better monitor

compliance with the dual accounting requirement of Indian leases.

In most cases, the lessee will know the disposition of the gas. If

gas is sold at the wellhead, the lessee may have to consult with the

purchaser of the gas to determine its disposition. The MMS or tribal

auditors, Indian representatives, MMS's Royalty Valuation Division, and

the Office of Indian Royalty Assistance, may use the information

provided on the form.

The current OMB inventory of 5,412 hours is decreased to 2,880

hours. This adjusted decrease of 2,532 burden hours is the result of

our originally overestimating the number of Indian leases that would be

required to submit Form MMS-4410.

Respondents/Affected Entities: Companies that pay royalties on gas

produced from tribal and allotted Indian leases.

Frequency of Response: One-time certification in effect until a

change of lease status or ownership.

[[Page 67299]]

Estimated Number of Respondents: 720.

Estimated Total Annual Reporting and Recordkeeping Burden: 2,880

hours

Comments: Section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the Paperwork Reduction Act

requires each agency A * * * 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.

Send your comments directly to the offices listed under the

ADDRESSES section of this notice. OMB has up to 60 days to approve or

disapprove the information collection but may respond after 30 days.

Therefore, to ensure maximum consideration, OMB should receive public

comments by January 3, 2000.

MMS Information Collection Clearance Officer: Jo Ann Lauterbach,

(202) 208-7744.

Dated: November 23, 1999.

Lucy Querques Denett,

Associate Director for Royalty Management.

[FR Doc. 99-31112 Filed 11-30-99; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4310-MR-P