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 Payor Information Form,

Solid Minerals, Form MMS-4030, OMB Control Number 1010-0064, which

expires on May 31, 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: [ICR

title], OMB Control Number 1010-[ ], 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 (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.

We perform the royalty management functions for the Secretary. We

utilize the Auditing and Financial System and Common Reference Database

(AFS/CRD) to store royalty information and reference data. Reference

data is initially submitted and subsequently updated by lessees who

produce minerals from leased Federal and Indian lands. The Payor

Information Form (PIF), Solid Minerals, Form MMS-4030 (see http://

www.rmp.mms.gov/custserv/pubserv/forms.htm), is used by lessees for

this information collection.

[[Page 68701]]

The information on Form MMS-4030 is used to establish a database of

new payors/leases, lease-level (rent, advance and minimum royalty)

obligations, other royalty/lease data, and to change existing royalty/

lease data on AFS/CRD. The functions that we perform, including fund

allocation and distribution, exception processing, AFS/PAAS error

correction, audit and billing activities and database inquiries, are

dependent upon the integrity of the AFS/CRD information. We estimate

that the completion of Form MMS-4030 requires 20 minutes to complete

and 30 minutes for the associated recordkeeping.

Dated: December 2, 1999.

Lucy Querques Denett,

Associate Director for Royalty Management.

[FR Doc. 99-31728 Filed 12-7-99; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4310-MR-P