[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 179 (Friday, September 13, 1996)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 48454-48455]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-23332]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

43 CFR Part 2780

[WO-RIN 1004-AC53]


Special Areas: State Irrigation Districts

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.

ACTION: Proposed rule.

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SUMMARY: The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) proposes to remove 
regulations concerning the establishment and operation of state 
irrigation districts, from the Code of Federal Regulations. BLM 
believes these regulations are obsolete because there is only one 
record in BLM of their use in the last 40 years.

DATES: Any comments must be received by BLM at the address below on or 
before November 12, 1996. Comments received after the above date will 
not necessarily be considered in the decisionmaking process on the 
final rule.

ADDRESSES: If you wish to comment, you may hand-deliver comments to the 
Bureau of Land Management, Administrative Record, Room 401, 1620 L St., 
NW., Washington, DC; or mail comments to the Bureau of Land Management, 
Administrative Record, Room 401LS, 1849 C Street, NW, Washington, DC 
20240. You also may transmit comments electronically via the Internet 
to [email protected]. Please include ``attn: RIN 1004-
AC53'' in your message. If you do not receive a confirmation from the 
system that we have received your internet message, contact us 
directly. You will be able to review comments at BLM's Regulatory 
Management Team office, Room 401, 1620 L St., N.W., Washington, D.C., 
during regular business hours (7:45 a.m. to 4:15 p.m.) Monday through 
Friday.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jeff Holdren, Bureau of Land 
Management, Realty Use Group at (202) 452-7779.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Public Comment Procedures
II. Background and Discussion of Proposed rule
III. Procedural Matters

I. Public Comment Procedures

Written Comments

    Written comments on the proposed rule should be specific, should be 
confined to issues pertinent to the rule, and should explain the reason 
for any recommended change. Where possible, comments should reference 
the specific section or paragraph of the proposal which the comment 
addresses. BLM may not necessarily consider or include in the 
Administrative Record for the rule comments which BLM receives after 
the close of the comment period (see DATES) or comments delivered to an 
address other than those listed above (see ADDRESSES).

II. Background and Discussion of Proposed Rule

    This proposed rule will remove 43 CFR part 2780, Special Areas: 
State Irrigation Districts, from the Code of Federal Regulations. The 
regulations in part 2780 implement the Act of August 11, 1916 entitled 
``An Act to Promote the Reclamation of Arid Lands,'' 43 U.S.C. 621 et 
seq. Part 2780 was originally issued as Circular Number 592 on March 6, 
1918, and has existed in similar form since modified in 1922 to 
accommodate amendments to the Act. These regulations describe the 
procedures a state irrigation district uses to apply for secretarial 
approval of an irrigation plan. If an application is approved, all 
unentered public lands within the state irrigation district, and 
entered lands for which no certificate has been issued, are subject to 
the same provisions of State law relating to the reclamation of arid 
lands for agricultural purposes as those which apply to private lands 
within the district. Such lands are subject to a lien for all taxes and 
assessments lawfully levied by the district on unpatented land. The 
district also has the right to sell land that was

[[Page 48455]]

entered at the time of a tax levy for nonpayment of tax.
    We have only one record at BLM of any activity in this program 
during the last 40 years, occurring in 1971. We accessed our online 
case recordation system and found no other record of any recent case 
activity. We also searched a legal data base and found that the last 
time the statute or implementing regulation was cited in a reported 
civil case was in 1948. The program's inactivity and absence of civil 
case citations indicate that this regulation may be obsolete. 
Furthermore, we believe that the regulations are impractical to 
administer due to the scarcity of water in public land states for 
agricultural purposes. For these reasons, we believe that continued 
publication of 43 CFR part 2780 is unnecessary and contrary to the 
public interest.

III. Procedural Matters

National Environmental Policy Act

    The BLM has prepared an environmental assessment (EA), and has 
found that the proposed rule would not constitute a major federal 
action significantly affecting the quality of the human environment 
under section 102(2)(C) of the National Environmental Policy Act of 
1969 (NEPA), 42 U.S.C. 4332(2)(C). The BLM has placed the EA and the 
Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) on file in the BLM 
Administrative Record at the address specified previously. The BLM 
invites the public to review these documents by contacting us at the 
addresses listed above (see ADDRESSES), and suggests that anyone 
wishing to submit comments in response to the EA and FONSI do so in 
accordance with the ``Written Comments'' section above, or contact us 
directly.

Paperwork Reduction Act

    The rule does not contain information collection requirements which 
the Office of Management and Budget must approve under the Paperwork 
Reduction Act, 44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.

Regulatory Flexibility Act

    Congress enacted the Regulatory Flexibility Act of 1980 (RFA), 5 
U.S.C. 601 et seq., to ensure that government regulations do not 
unnecessarily or disproportionately burden small entities. The RFA 
requires a regulatory flexibility analysis if a rule would have a 
significant economic impact, either detrimental or beneficial, on a 
substantial number of small entities. The BLM has determined under the 
RFA that this proposed rule would not have a significant economic 
impact on a substantial number of small entities.

Executive Order 12866

    According to the criteria listed in section 3(f) of Executive Order 
12866, BLM has determined that the proposed rule is not a significant 
regulatory action. As such, the proposed rule is not subject to Office 
of Management and Budget review under section 6(a)(3) of the order.

Unfunded Mandates Reform Act

    Removal of 43 CFR part 2780 will not result in any unfunded mandate 
to state, local or tribal governments in the aggregate, or to the 
private sector, of $100,000,000 or more in any one year.

Executive Order 12612

    The proposed rule would not have sufficient federalism implications 
to warrant BLM preparation of a Federalism Assessment (FA).

Executive Order 12630

    The proposed rule does not represent a government action capable of 
interfering with constitutionally protected property rights. Section 
2(a)(1) of Executive Order 12630 specifically exempts actions 
abolishing regulations or modifying regulations in a way that lessens 
interference with private property use from the definition of 
``policies that have takings implications.'' Since the primary function 
of the proposed rule is to abolish unnecessary regulations, there will 
be no private property rights impaired as a result. Therefore, BLM has 
determined that the rule would not cause a taking of private property, 
or require further discussion of takings implications under this 
Executive Order.

Executive Order 12988

    The Department of the Interior has determined that this rule meets 
the applicable standards provided in sections 3(a) and 3(b)(2) of 
Executive Order 12988.

Author

    The principal author of this proposed rule is Jeff Holdren, Realty 
Use Group, assisted by Ian Senio, Regulatory Management Team, Bureau of 
Land Management, 1849 C Street, NW, Washington, DC 20240; Telephone 
202/452-7779.

List of Subjects for 43 CFR Part 2780

    Irrigation, Public lands--sale, Reclamation.

    For the reasons stated in the preamble, and under the authority of 
43 U.S.C. 1740, part 2780 of group 2700, subchapter B, chapter II of 
title 43 of the Code of Federal Regulations is removed.

    Dated: September 4, 1996.
Sylvia V. Baca,
Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Interior.
[FR Doc. 96-23332 Filed 9-12-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-84-P