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 Request to Exceed

Regulatory Allowance Limitation, Form MMS-4393, OMB Control Number

1010-0095, which expires on April 30, 2000.

DATES: Written comments should be received on or before February 7,

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: Request to Exceed Regulatory

Allowance Limitation, Form MMS-4393, OMB Control Number 1010-0095, 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 Outer Continental Shelf

(OCS). The Secretary of the Interior

[[Page 68700]]

(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.

The MMS Royalty Management Program (RMP) is proposing to continue

the use of Form MMS-4393, Request to Exceed Regulatory Allowance

Limitation, to be used by royalty payors on Federal or Indian mineral

leases. The payors will use the form when requesting MMS approval to

exceed established transportation or processing allowance limits.

To request permission to exceed an allowance limit, royalty payors

must write a letter to MMS providing the reasons why a higher allowance

limit is necessary. Although the request to exceed an allowance limit

is voluntary on the part of the payors and results in a benefit to

them, many times payors have not provided all of the data needed by MMS

to approve or deny a request. The followup necessary to obtain required

information creates an additional burden for both the payor and the

Government. RMP developed Form MMS-4393 to be included with the payor's

request for approval to exceed the allowance limit. The form ensures

that MMS receives the lease data required to make a decision on the

request by including the Accounting Identification Number identifying

the lease, the product code identifying the product being transported

or processed, and the selling arrangement used to identify the

marketing outlet for the product. These are the necessary data that

have been missing from many of the requests in the past. We estimate

the annual burden to complete this information collection is 30

minutes.

Dated: December 2, 1999.

Lucy Querques Denett,

Associate Director for Royalty Management.

[FR Doc. 99-31727 Filed 12-7-99; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4310-MR-P