[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 220 (Thursday, November 14, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Pages 69021-69023]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-28861]


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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 an extension of a currently approved information 
collection (OMB Control Number 1010-0119).

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SUMMARY: To comply with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), we 
are notifying the public that we have submitted to OMB an information 
collection request (ICR) to renew approval of the paperwork 
requirements in the regulations under 30 CFR part 208, subpart A, 
General Provisions. This notice also provides the public a second 
opportunity to comment on the paperwork burden of these regulatory 
requirements. The ICR is titled ``Royalty Oil Sales to Eligible 
Refiners (30 CFR 208.4(a) and (d)).''

DATES: Submit written comments on or before December 16, 2002.

[[Page 69022]]


ADDRESSES: Submit written comments directly to the Office of 
Information and Regulatory Affairs, OMB, Attention: Desk Officer for 
the Department of the Interior (OMB Control Number 1010-0119), 725 17th 
Street, NW., Washington, DC 20503. Mail or hand-carry a copy of your 
comments to Sharron L. Gebhardt, Regulatory Specialist, Minerals 
Management Service, Minerals Revenue Management, PO Box 25165, MS 
320B2, Denver, Colorado 80225. If you use an overnight courier service, 
our courier address is Building 85, Room A-614, Denver Federal Center, 
Denver, Colorado 80225. You may also email your comments to us at 
[email protected]. Include the title of the information collection 
and the OMB Control Number in the ``Attention'' line of your comment. 
Also include your name and return address. Submit electronic comments 
as an ASCII file avoiding the use of special characters and any form of 
encryption. If you do not receive a confirmation that we have received 
your email, contact Ms. Gebhardt at (303) 231-3211.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Sharron L. Gebhardt, telephone (303) 
231-3211, FAX (303) 231-3385, email [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
    Title: Royalty Oil Sale to Eligible Refiners (30 CFR 208.4(a) and 
(d)).
    OMB Control Number: 1010-0119.
    Bureau Form Number: None.
    Abstract: The Department of the Interior is responsible for matters 
relevant to mineral resource development on Federal and Indian lands 
and the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS). The Secretary of the Interior is 
responsible for managing the production of minerals from Federal and 
Indian lands and the OCS, collecting royalties from lessees who produce 
minerals, and distributing the funds collected in accordance with 
applicable laws. The Secretary has an Indian trust responsibility to 
manage Indian lands and seek advice and information from Indian 
beneficiaries. The MMS performs the royalty management functions and 
assists the Secretary in carrying out DOI's Indian trust 
responsibility.
    The MMS, on behalf of the Secretary, also performs Determinations 
of Need prior to issuing a notice of availability of sale in the 
Federal Register advising industry of a forthcoming RIK sale. The first 
step in this process is to issue a Federal Register notice requesting 
specific information from eligible refiners, such as: The location of 
their refinery; desirability of offshore versus onshore crude; type of 
crude desired (e.g., Wyoming Sweet); ability to obtain long-term supply 
of desired crude (with supporting documentation such as ``denial'' by 
major supplier); ability to obtain desired crude at fair market prices 
(with supporting documentation that desired oil was not available or 
equitably priced for the area or region in question); percentage of 
total refining capacity attributable to Federal oil versus other 
sources; etc. The MMS uses feedback from refiners (or other interested 
parties, like lease owners or operators) to assess current marketplace 
conditions--i.e., whether small, independent refiners have access to 
ongoing supplies of crude oil at equitable prices. If MMS determines 
that small refiners do not have adequate access to crude oil supplies, 
we will take the Government's royalty oil in kind and offer the oil for 
sale to small refiners.
    The MMS is requesting OMB's approval to continue to collect this 
information. Without feedback from interested refiners regarding their 
recent marketplace experience in obtaining adequate crude oil supplies 
and whether those supplies are fairly priced, MMS cannot perform a 
reasonable or meaningful Determination of Need. Proprietary information 
that is submitted is protected, and there are no questions of a 
sensitive nature included in this information collection. We changed 
the title of this ICR from ``Royalty-in-Kind (RIK) Determination of 
Need'' to the title listed above to clarify the regulatory language we 
are covering in this ICR under 30 CFR part 208.
    Frequency: On occasion.
    Estimated Number and Description of Respondents: 25 small refiners.
    Estimated Annual Reporting and Recordkeeping ``Hour'' Burden: 100 
hours. The table below shows the breakdown of burden hours by CFR 
section and paragraph:

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                 Burden hours    Annual number    Annual burden
           30 CFR section              Reporting requirement     per response     of responses        hours
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
208.4(a) and (d)....................  The Secretary may                     4               25              100
                                       evaluate crude oil
                                       market conditions from
                                       time to time. * * *
                                       The Secretary will
                                       review these items
                                       (submitted by small
                                       refiners) and will
                                       determine whether
                                       eligible refiners have
                                       access to adequate
                                       supplies of crude oil
                                       * * * Interim sales.
                                       The potentially
                                       eligible refiners,
                                       individually or
                                       collectively, must
                                       submit documentation
                                       demonstrating that
                                       adequate supplies of
                                       crude oil at equitable
                                       prices are not
                                       available for purchase
                                       * * *.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Estimated Annual Reporting and Recordkeeping ``Non-hour Cost'' 
Burden: We have identified no ``non-hour'' cost burdens.
    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. Before submitting an ICR to OMB, PRA section 
3506(c)(2)(A) 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 PRA also requires agencies to estimate the total annual 
reporting ``non-hour cost'' burden to respondents or record keepers 
resulting from the collection of information. We have not identified 
non-hour cost burdens for this information collection. If you have 
costs to generate, maintain, and disclose this information, you should 
comment and provide your total capital and startup cost components or 
annual operation, maintenance, and purchase of service components. You 
should

[[Page 69023]]

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, 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.
    We will summarize written responses to this notice and address them 
in our ICR submission for OMB approval, including appropriate 
adjustments to the estimated burden. We will provide a copy of the ICR 
to you without charge upon request and the ICR will also be posted on 
our Web site at http://www.mrm.mms.gov/Laws_R_D/FRNotices/FRInfColl.htm.
    Public Comment Policy. We will post all comments in response to 
this notice on our web site at http://www.mrm.mms.gov/Laws_R_D/InfoColl/InfoColCom.htm. We will also make copies of the comments 
available for public review, including names and addresses of 
respondents, during regular business hours at our offices in Lakewood, 
Colorado. Individual respondents may request that we withhold their 
home address from the public 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 request that we withhold your name and/or 
address, 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.
    MMS Information Collection Clearance Officer: Jo Ann Lauterbach, 
(202) 208-7744.

    Dated: October 15, 2002.
Lucy Querques Denett,
Associate Director for Minerals Revenue Management.
[FR Doc. 02-28861 Filed 11-13-02; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-MR-P