[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 146 (Monday, July 30, 2001)]
[Notices]
[Pages 39331-39332]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-18867]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Fish and Wildlife Service


Information Collection to be Submitted to the Office of 
Management and Budget (OMB) for Approval Under the Paperwork Reduction 
Act

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.

ACTION: Information collection; request for comments.

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SUMMARY: We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, have submitted the 
collection of information described below to OMB for approval under the 
provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. Copies of specific 
information collection requirements and explanatory materials may be 
obtained by contacting our Information Collection Officer at the 
address or phone number listed below.

DATES: You must submit comments on or before August 29, 2001.

ADDRESSES: Send your comments and suggestions on specific requirements 
to the Office of Management and Budget, Office of Regulatory Affairs, 
Attention: Department of the Interior Desk Officer, 725 17th Street NW, 
Washington, DC 20503, and to Rebecca Mullin, Information Collection 
Officer, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, MS 222-ARLSQ, 4401 N. Fairfax 
Drive, Arlington, VA 22203.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jeffrey L. Horwath, Division of Fish 
and Wildlife Management Assistance and Habitat Restoration, Arlington, 
Virginia, at 703/358-1718.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: We have submitted the following information 
collection clearance requirements to the OMB for review and approval 
under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, Public Law 104-13. The OMB 
has up to 60 days to approve or disapprove information collection, but 
they may respond after 30 days. Therefore, for your comments and 
suggestions to receive maximum consideration, the OMB should receive 
your input by August 29, 2001.
    Currently, we have approval from the OMB to collect this 
information under OMB control number 1018-0070. This approval expires 
on October 31, 2001. We may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not 
required to respond to, a collection of information unless we display a 
currently valid OMB control number.
    On February 14, 2001, we published in the Federal Register (66 FR 
10311) a 60-day notice of our intention to request information 
collection authority from the OMB; our notice solicited public 
comments. We received no comments in response to that notice.
    As with our 60-day notice, this 30-day notice invites you to 
comment on: (1) Whether this collection of information is necessary for 
us to properly perform our functions, including whether the information 
will have practical utility; (2) the accuracy of our estimate of 
burden, including the validity of the methodology and assumptions we 
used; (3) ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the 
information we propose to collect; and (4) ways for us to minimize the 
burden of the collection of information on people who are to respond, 
including through the use of appropriate automated, electronic, 
mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or other forms 
of information technology.
    Section 101(a)(5)(A) of the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 
authorizes us to allow the incidental, unintentional take of small 
numbers of marine mammals during a specified activity (other than 
commercial fishing) in a specified geographic region. Prior to allowing 
these takes, however, we must find that the total of such taking will 
have a negligible impact on the species or stocks, and will not have an 
unmitigable adverse impact on the availability of the species or stocks 
for subsistence uses by Alaska Natives.
    The information that we propose to collect will be used to evaluate 
applications for specific incidental take regulations to determine 
whether such regulations, and subsequent Letters of Authorization 
(LOA), should be issued; the information is needed to establish the 
scope of specific incidental take regulations. The information is also 
required to evaluate the impacts of the activities on the species or 
stocks of the marine mammals and on their availability for subsistence 
uses by Alaska Natives. It will ensure that all available means for 
minimizing the incidental take associated with a specific activity are 
considered by applicants.
    We estimate that the burden associated with the request will be a 
total of 3,140 hours for the full 3-year period of OMB authorization. 
Two hundred hours will be required to complete the request for specific 
procedural regulations. For each LOA expected to be requested by you, 
and issued by us subsequent to issuance of specific procedural 
regulations, we estimate that 20 hours will be invested: eight hours 
will be required to complete each request for a LOA, four hours will be 
required for on-site monitoring activities, and eight hours will be 
required to complete each final monitoring report. We estimate that 
seven companies will be requesting LOAs and submitting monitoring 
reports annually for each of seven sites in the region covered by the 
specific regulations.
    Title: Marine Mammals: Incidental Take During Specified Activities.
    Bureau form number: None.
    Frequency of collection: Biannually.
    Description of respondents: Oil and gas industry companies.
    Number of respondents: Seven for each of seven active sites per 
year (49).
    Estimated completion time: For the one time application to request 
promulgation of the procedural rule, we estimate a 200-hour burden. 
Annually for three years, 8 hours per LOA, 4 hours for on-site 
monitoring, and 8 hours per final monitoring report are estimated for 
each requesting company for seven active sites (20 hours  x  7 
companies  x  sites = 980 hours  x  three years = 2940 + 200 + 3,140 
hours burden for three years).
    Burden estimate: 3,140 hours.

    Dated: April 25, 2001.
Rebecca A. Mullin,
Information Collection Officer, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
[FR Doc. 01-18867 Fil

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