[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 28 (Tuesday, February 11, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Pages 6941-6942]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-3327]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[WO-230-1020-PB-24 1A]


Extension of Approved Information Collection, OMB Control Number 
1004-0058

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.

ACTION: Notice and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the 
Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is requesting the Office of Management 
and Budget (OMB) to extend an existing approval to collect certain 
information from Federal timber purchasers to allow BLM to determine 
compliance with timber export restrictions. BLM uses Form 5460-17, 
Substitution Determination, to collect this information. This 
information allows BLM to administer export restrictions on BLM timber 
sales and to determine whether there was a substitution of Federal 
timber for exported private timber in violation of 43 CFR 5400.0-3(c).

DATES: You must submit your comments to BLM at the address below on or 
before April 14, 2003.

ADDRESSES: You may mail comments to: Bureau of Land Management, (WO-
630), Eastern States Office, 7450 Boston Blvd., Springfield, Virginia 
22153.
    You may send comments via Internet to: [email protected]. Please 
include ``ATTN: 1004-0058'' and your name and return address in your 
Internet message.
    You may deliver comments to the Bureau of Land Management, 
Administrative Record, Room 401, 1620 L Street, NW., Washington, DC.
    All comments will be available for public review at the L Street 
address during regular business hours (7:45 a.m. to 4:15 p.m.) Monday 
through Friday.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: You may contact Michael J. Haske, WO-
230, on (202) 452-7758 (Commercial or FTS). Persons who use a 
telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD) may call the Federal 
Information Relay Service (FIRS) on 1-800-877-8330, 24 hours a day, 
seven days a week, to contact Mr. Haske.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 5 CFR 1320.12(a) requires that we provide a 
60-day notice in the Federal Register concerning a collection of 
information to solicit comments on:
    (a) Whether the collection of information is necessary for the 
proper

[[Page 6942]]

functioning of the agency, including whether the information will have 
practical utility;
    (b) The accuracy of our estimates of the information collection 
burden, including the validity of the methodology and assumptions we 
use;
    (c) Ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the 
information collected; and
    (d) Ways to minimize the information collection burden on those who 
are to respond, including the use of appropriate automated, electronic, 
mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or other forms 
of information technology.
    BLM manages and sells timber located on the revested Oregon and 
California Railroad and the reconveyed Coos Bay Wagon Grants Lands 
under the authority of the Act of August 28, 1937 (50 Stat. 875, 43 
U.S.C. 1181e). Under the Act of July 31, 1947, as amended (61 Stat. 
681, 30 U.S.C. 601 et seq.), BLM also manages and sells timber located 
on other lands under our jurisdiction. The Department of the Interior 
and Related Agencies Appropriation Acts of 1975 and 1976 contained a 
requirement for the inclusion of provisions in timber sale contracts 
that will ensure that unprocessed timber sold from public lands under 
the jurisdiction of the BLM will not be exported or used by the 
purchasers as a substitute for timber they export or sell for export. 
The regulations at 43 CFR 5400, Sales of Forest Products, General, 
cover these provisions.
    Timber purchasers or their affiliates must submit the information 
listed at 43 CFR 5424.1(a) using Form 5460-17, Substitution 
Determination. We collect the purchaser's name, timber contract number, 
processing facility location, total volume of Federal timber purchases 
on an annual basis, total volume of private timber exported on an 
annual basis, and method of measuring the volume. The regulation 43 CFR 
5424.1(b) requires that the purchasers or affiliates retain a record of 
Federal timber acquisitions and private timber exports for three years 
from the date they activity occurred. BLM uses this information to 
determine if there was a substitution of Federal timber for exported 
private timber in violation of 43 CFR 5400.0-3(c). We could not protect 
against export and substitution if we did not collect this information.
    Based on BLM's experience administering timber contracts, we 
estimate the public reporting burden to collect the information is one 
hour per response. The respondents are Federal timber purchasers who 
exported private timber within one year preceding the purchase date of 
Federal timber and/or affiliates of a timber purchaser who exported 
private timber within one year before the acquisition of Federal timber 
from the purchaser. The frequency of response is annually. We estimate 
25 responses per year and a total annual burden of 25 hours.
    BLM will summarize all responses to this notice and include them in 
the request for OMB approval. All comments will become a matter of 
public record.

    Dated: February 5, 2003.
Michael H. Schwartz,
Bureau of Land Management, Information Collection Clearance Officer.
[FR Doc. 03-3327 Filed 2-10-03; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-84-M