[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 116 (Thursday, June 15, 2000)]
[Notices]
[Pages 37571-37573]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-15107]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Minerals Management Service


Agency Information Collection Activities: Submitted for Office of 
Management and Budget (OMB) Review; Comment Request

AGENCY: Minerals Management Service (MMS), Interior.

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

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: Under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), we are 
submitting to OMB for review and approval an information collection 
request (ICR) titled Historical Well Data Cleanup (HWDC) Project. We 
are also soliciting comments from the public on this ICR.

DATE: Submit written comments by July 17, 2000.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments directly to the Office of 
Information and Regulatory Affairs, OMB, Attention: Desk Officer for 
the Department of the Interior (1010-0137), 725 17th Street, NW., 
Washington, DC 20503. Mail or hand carry a copy of your 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

[[Page 37572]]

respondents, available for public review during regular business hours. 
Individual respondents may request that we withhold their home address 
from the 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.
    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. Section 1332(6) of the OCS Lands Act 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 to begin 
this project. Emergency processing permits the collection of 
information for 180 days. As the project is expected to last for 
several years, this Notice informs you that we have requested approval 
for a 3-year extension of this information collection.
    The information collected is missing data for wellbores that MMS 
has not assigned API numbers and other well data discovered as missing 
while completing the well database cleanup 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/or 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 and the operators/lessees 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 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 
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: The PRA (44 U.S.C. 3501, et seq.) 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. Section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the PRA 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.
    We published a Federal Register notice with the required 60-day 
comment period soliciting comments on this ICR on March 3, 2000 (65 FR 
11600). We received no comments in response to that notice. If you wish 
to comment in response to this notice, send your comments directly to 
the offices listed under the ADDRESSES section of this notice. The OMB 
has up to 60 days to approve or disapprove the information collection 
but may respond after 30 days. Therefore, to ensure maximum 
consideration, OMB should receive public comments by July 17, 2000.
    MMS Information Collection Clearance Officer: Jo Ann Lauterbach, 
(202) 208-7744.


[[Page 37573]]


    Dated: May 10, 2000.
E.P. Danenberger,
Chief, Engineering and Operations Division.
[FR Doc. 00-15107 Filed 6-14-00; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-MR-U