[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 43 (Friday, March 3, 2000)]
[Notices]
[Pages 11600-11601]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-5111]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Minerals Management Service


Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection; 
Comment Request

AGENCY: Minerals Management Service (MMS), Interior.

ACTION: Notice of extension of a currently approved information 
collection (OMB Control Number 1010-0137).

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SUMMARY: As part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and 
respondent burden, MMS invites the public and other Federal agencies to 
comment on a proposal to extend the currently approved collection of 
information discussed below. We intend to submit this collection of 
information to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for approval. 
The Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA) provides that an agency may 
not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a 
collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB 
control number.

DATES: Submit written comments by May 2, 2000.

ADDRESSES: Mail or hand carry comments to the Department of the 
Interior; Minerals Management Service; Attention: Rules Processing 
Team; Mail Stop 4024; 381 Elden Street; Herndon, Virginia 20170-4817. 
Our practice is to make comments, including names and home addresses of 
respondents, available for public review during regular business hours. 
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 may be circumstances in which we would withhold from the 
record a respondent's identity, as allowable by the 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: Alexis London, Rules Processing Team, 
telephone (703) 787-1600. You may also contact Alexis London to obtain 
a copy of the collection of information at no cost. For information on 
results of workshops held to discuss the Historical Well Data Cleanup 
Project, contact Warren Frederick, Gulf of Mexico Region, telephone 
(504) 736-2562

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:   
    Title: Historical Well Data Cleanup (HWDC) Project--Notice to 
Lessees.
    OMB Control Number: 1010-0137.
    Abstract: The Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Lands Act, 43 U.S.C. 
1331 et seq., gives the Secretary of the Interior (Secretary) the 
responsibility to preserve, protect, and develop oil and gas resources 
in the OCS, consistent with the need to make such resources available 
to meet the Nation's energy needs as rapidly as possible; balance 
orderly energy resource development with protection of the human, 
marine, and coastal environments; ensure the public a fair and 
equitable return on the resources of the OCS; preserve and maintain 
free enterprise competition; and ensure that the extent of oil and 
natural gas resources of the OCS is assessed at the earliest 
practicable time. The OCSLA at 43 U.S.C. 1332(6) states that 
``operations in the [O]uter Continental Shelf should be conducted in a 
safe manner by well-trained personnel using technology, precautions, 
and techniques sufficient to prevent or minimize the likelihood of 
blowouts, loss of well control, fires, spillages, physical obstruction 
to other users of the waters or subsoil and seabed, or other 
occurrences which may cause damage to the environment or to property, 
or endanger life or health.''
    On February 4, 2000, the OMB approved our request under emergency 
processing procedures to issue Addendum 2 to NTL No. 98-29. Emergency 
processing permits the collection of information for 180 days. As the 
project is expected to last for several years, this Notice announces 
our intention to request a 3-year extension for this information 
collection.
    The information we collect under NTL 98-29, Addendum 2, is missing 
data for wellbores that MMS has not assigned API numbers and other well 
data discovered as missing while completing the well database clean up 
project. We are not able to accurately manage and utilize data from 
drilling operations without the information for the missing wells. We 
will use the information to identify other well data (e.g., logs, 
surveys, tests) missing from our records, geologically map existing MMS 
data to the correct wellbore/location, and correctly exchange 
information with the operators and industry. Our geoscientists can use 
the information to evaluate resources for lease sales for fair market 
value. With respect to safety concerns, we believe that there may be 
anywhere from 3,000 to 5,000 unidentified completed and abandoned 
wellbores (bypasses and sidetracks), some of which may contain stuck 
drill pipe or other materials. In approving permits and other 
operations in an area, it is important for us to know what may be 
adjacent to or near the vicinity of the activity we are approving to 
minimize the risk of blowouts, loss of well control, and endangerment 
to life, health, and the environment. This is particularly important 
as, over the years, the number of wells drilled constantly increases, 
thereby increasing the risk to adjacent activities if they are not 
aware of what might be in the area.
    As announced in a ``Special Information'' release on February 2, 
2000, we held two half-day workshops to share HWDC contract goals with 
the Gulf of Mexico OCS oil and gas industry and their services company 
vendors and contractors. The workshops were held from 9 a.m. till noon 
in Houston and New Orleans on February 17 and 23, 2000. For further 
information on the results of these workshops, you may contact Warren 
Frederick at (504) 736-2562.
    We will protect information respondents submit that is considered 
proprietary under the Freedom of Information Act (5 U.S.C. 552) and its 
implementing regulations (43 CFR part 2) and 30 CFR 250.196, ``Data and 
information to be made available to the public.'' No items of a 
sensitive nature are collected. Responses are mandatory.
    Frequency: The frequency of reporting is on occasion.
    Estimated Number and Description of Respondents: Approximately 130

[[Page 11601]]

Federal OCS oil, gas, and sulphur lessees.
    Estimated Annual Reporting and Recordkeeping ``Hour'' Burden: 
90,000 reporting hours for approximately 40,000 wells, based on:
    (1) \1/4\ hour to locate and copy a summary of drilling operations 
(e.g. scout tickets) for each well.
    (2) 2 hours to retrieve and analyze each well file and retrieve 
other missing data. There are no recordkeeping requirements.
    Estimated Annual Reporting and Recordkeeping ``Non-Hour Cost'' 
Burden: We have identified no cost burdens for this collection.
    Comments: We will summarize written responses to this notice and 
address them in our submission for OMB approval. As a result of your 
comments and consultations with a sample of respondents, we will make 
any necessary adjustments to the burden in our submission to OMB. In 
calculating the burden, we assumed that respondents perform many of the 
requirements in the normal course of their activities. We consider 
these to be usual and customary and took that into account in 
estimating the burden.
    (1) We specifically solicit your comments on the following 
questions:
    (a) Is the proposed collection of information necessary for us to 
properly perform our functions, and will it be useful?
    (b) Are the estimates of the burden hours of the proposed 
collection reasonable?
    (c) Do you have any suggestions that would enhance the quality, 
clarity, or usefulness of the information to be collected?
    (d) Is there a way to minimize the information collection burden on 
respondents, including through the use of appropriate automated 
electronic, mechanical, or other forms of information technology?
    (2) In addition, the PRA requires agencies to estimate the total 
annual reporting ``non-hour cost'' burden to respondents or 
recordkeepers resulting from the collection of information. We need to 
know if you have costs associated with the collection of this 
information for either total capital and startup cost components or 
annual operation, maintenance, and purchase of service components. Your 
estimates should consider the costs to generate, maintain, and disclose 
or provide the information. You should describe the methods you use to 
estimate major cost factors, including system and technology 
acquisition, expected useful life of capital equipment, discount 
rate(s), and the period over which you incur costs. Capital and startup 
costs include, among other items, computers and software you purchase 
to prepare for collecting information; monitoring, sampling, drilling, 
and testing equipment; and record storage facilities. Generally, your 
estimates should not include equipment or services purchased: (i) 
Before October 1, 1995; (ii) to comply with requirements not associated 
with the information collection; (iii) for reasons other than to 
provide information or keep records for the Government; or (iv) as part 
of customary and usual business or private practices.
    MMS Information Collection Clearance Officer: Jo Ann Lauterbach, 
(202) 208-7744).

    Dated: February 23, 2000.
E. P. Danenberger,
Chief, Engineering and Operations Division.
[FR Doc. 00-5111 Filed 3-2-00; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-MR-P