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 Delegation of Authority to

States, OMB Control Number 1010-0088, which expires on June 30, 2000.

DATES: Written comments should be received on or before February 1,

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,

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

[[Page 67931]]

submit Internet comments as an ASCII file avoiding the use of special

characters and any form of encryption. Please also include Attn:

Delegation of Authority to States, OMB Control Number 1010-0088, 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 respondents, including the use of automated

collection techniques or other forms of information technology.

The Department of the Interior (DOI) is the department within the

Federal Government responsible for matters relevant to mineral resource

development on Federal and Indian Lands and the Other 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.

We amended our regulations to authorize the delegation of certain

Federal royalty management functions to states. On August 13, 1996,

Congress enacted the Federal Oil and Gas Royalty Simplification and

Fairness Act of 1996, Pub. L. 104-185, as corrected by Pub. L. 104-200

(RSFA). RSFA amends portions of the Federal Oil and Gas Royalty

Management Act of 1982 (FOGRMA), 30 U.S.C. 1701 et seq. Prior to

enactment, section 205 of FOGRMA, 30 U.S.C. 1735, provided for the

delegation of only audits, inspections, and investigations to the

States. RSFA amendments to section 205 now provide that MMS may

delegate other Federal royalty management functions to requesting

States:

(1) Conducting audits, and investigations;

(2) Receiving and processing production and royalty reports;

(3) Correcting erroneous report data;

(4) Performing automated vertification; and

(5) Issuing demands, subpoenas (except for solid mineral and

geothermal leases), orders to perform restructured accounting, and

related tolling agreements and notices to lessees or their designees.

We estimate that the annual burden to states participating in these

delegated functions is 10,400 hours. We estimate that the annual burden

for industry will be 200,000 hours for payors and reporters providing

royalty and production reports to MMS.

Dated: November 24, 1999.

Lucy Querques Denett,

Associate Director for Royalty Management.

[FR Doc. 99-31336 Filed 12-2-99; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4310-MR-M