[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 35 (Wednesday, February 22, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 9145-9147]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 06-1655]


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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 1010-0162).

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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 the Chief Financial Officers Act 
of 1990 (CFO). This ICR is titled ``Accounts Receivable 
Confirmations.'' This notice also provides the public a second 
opportunity to comment on the paperwork burden of these regulatory 
requirements.

DATES: Submit written comments on or before March 24, 2006.

ADDRESSES: Submit written comments by either FAX (202) 395-6566 or e-
mail ([email protected]) directly to the Office of Information 
and Regulatory Affairs, OMB, Attention: Desk Officer for the Department 
of the Interior (OMB Control Number 1010-0162). Please also send a copy 
of your comments to MMS via e-mail at [email protected]. If you do 
not receive a confirmation that we have received your e-mail, contact 
Ms. Gebhardt at (303) 231-3211. You may instead submit a copy of your 
comments by mail to Sharron L. Gebhardt, Lead Regulatory Specialist, 
Minerals Management Service, Minerals Revenue Management, P.O. Box 
25165, MS 302B2, Denver, Colorado 80225. If you use an overnight 
courier service or wish to hand-carry your comments, our courier 
address is Building 85, Room A-614, Denver Federal Center, West 6th 
Ave. and Kipling Blvd., Denver, Colorado 80225. 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.

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FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Sharron L. Gebhardt, telephone (303) 
231-3211, FAX (303) 231-3781, e-mail [email protected]. You may 
also contact Sharron Gebhardt to obtain, at no cost, a copy of the ICR 
that was sent to OMB.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
    Title: Accounts Receivable Confirmations.
    OMB Control Number: 1010-0162.
    Bureau Form Number: None.
    Abstract: The Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior is 
responsible for collecting royalties from lessees who produce minerals 
from leased Federal and Indian lands. The Secretary is required by 
various laws to manage mineral resources production on Federal and 
Indian lands, collect the royalties due, and distribute the funds in 
accordance with those laws. The MMS performs the royalty management 
functions and assists the Secretary in carrying out the Department's 
trust responsibility for Indian lands.
    When a company or an individual enters into a lease to explore, 
develop, produce, and dispose of minerals from Federal or Indian lands, 
that company or individual agrees to pay the lessor a share (royalty) 
of the value received from production from the leased lands. The lease 
creates a business relationship between the lessor and the lessee. The 
lessee is required to report various kinds of information to the lessor 
relative to the disposition of the leased minerals. Such information is 
similar to data reported to private and public mineral interest owners 
and is generally available within the records of the lessee or others 
involved in developing, transporting, processing, purchasing, or 
selling of such minerals. The information collected includes data 
necessary to ensure that the royalties are accurately reported and 
appropriately paid.
    The Federal Oil and Gas Royalty Management Act of 1982 (FOGRMA), 30 
U.S.C. 1701 et seq., states in Section 101(a) that the Secretary ``* * 
* shall establish a comprehensive inspection, collection, and fiscal 
and production accounting and auditing system to provide the capability 
to accurately determine oil and gas royalties, interest, fines, 
penalties, fees, deposits, and other payments owed, and collect and 
account for such amounts in a timely manner.'' The persons or entities 
described at 30 U.S.C. 1713 are required to make reports and provide 
reasonable information as defined by the Secretary.
    Every year, under CFO, the Department's Office of Inspector 
General, or its agent (agent), audits all Department bureaus' financial 
statements. The Department's goal is for every bureau to receive an 
unqualified opinion. Accounts receivable confirmations are a common 
practice in the audit business. Due to continuously increasing scrutiny 
on financial audits, third-party confirmation on the validity of MMS 
financial records is necessary. Companies submit financial information 
on Form MMS-2014, Report of Sales and Royalty Remittance (OMB Control 
Number 1010-0140, expires October 31, 2006) and on Form MMS-4430, Solid 
Minerals Production and Royalty Report (OMB control Number 1010-0120, 
expires October 31, 2007).
    As part of CFO audits, the agent requests, by a specified date, 
third-party confirmation responses confirming that MMS accounts 
receivable records agree with royalty payor records, for the following 
items: Customer identification; royalty/invoice number; payor-assigned 
document number; date received; original amount reported; and remaining 
balance due MMS as of a specified date. In order to meet this 
requirement, MMS must mail letters on MMS letterhead, signed by the 
Deputy Associate Director for Minerals Revenue Management, to royalty 
payors selected by the agent at random, asking them to confirm back to 
the agent the accuracy and/or validity of selected royalty receivable 
items and amounts. Verifying the amounts reported and the balances due 
will require time for research and analysis by payors. The MMS will 
send confirmation request letters to all payors selected by the agent. 
They payors will be asked to submit confirmation response information 
directly to the agent.

Applicable Citations

    Applicable citations include:
    1. CFO (Pub. L. 101-576);
    2. FOGRMA, 30 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.;
    3. 30 U.S.C. 189 pertaining to Public Lands;
    4. 30 U.S.C 359 pertaining to Acquired Lands;
    5. 25 U.S.C. 396d pertaining to Indian Lands;
    6. 43 U.S.C. 1334 pertaining to Outer Continental Shelf Lands; and
    7. 30 U.S.C. 1713 pertaining to solid minerals and revised 
geothermal regulations at 30 CFR 210.354.
    Relevant Minerals Revenue Management (MRM) regulations are codified 
at 30 CFR subchapter A--Royalty Management:
    1. Part 201, General, et seq.;
    2. Part 206, Production valuation, subparts F and J;
    3. Part 210, Forms and reports, subparts B (Sec. Sec.  210.52 and 
210.53), E, and H; and
    4. Part 218, Collection of royalties, rentals, bonuses and other 
monies due the Federal Government, subparts B and E.
    Applicable public laws pertaining to mineral leases on Federal and 
Indian lands are located on our Web site at http://www.mrm.mms.gov/Laws_R_D/PublicLawsAMR.htm.
    This collection does not require proprietary, trade secret, or 
other confidential information not protected by agency procedures, and 
no items of a sensitive nature are collected. The requirement to 
respond is voluntary.

OMB Approval

    This collection was originally approved under an emergency 
submission to OMB. The MMS is now requesting OMB's approval to continue 
to collect this information. Not collecting this information would 
limit the Secretary's ability to discharge her duties and may also 
result in loss of royalty payments. Failure to collect this information 
could be construed as a scope limitation for CFO audits. Also, 
proprietary information submitted is protected, and there are no 
questions of a sensitive nature included in this information 
collection.
    Frequency: Annually.
    Estimated Number and Description of Respondents: 125 Federal and 
Indian oil and gas and solid mineral royalty payors.
    Estimated Annual Reporting and Recordkeeping ``Hour'' Burden: 32 
hours. We estimate that each response will take 15 minutes.
    Estimated Annual Reporting and Recordkeeping ``Non-hour Cost'' 
Burden: We have identified no ``non-hour cost'' burden associated with 
the collection of information.
    Public Disclosure Statement: 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.
    Comments: 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

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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.
    To comply with the public consultation process, we published a 
notice in the Federal Register on November 21, 2005 (70 FR 70095), 
announcing that we would submit this ICR to OMB for approval. The 
notice provided the required 60-day comment period. We receive no 
comments in response to the notice.
    If you wish to comment in response to this notice, you may send 
your comments 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 
March 24, 2006.
    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. Upon request, we will withhold an individual respondent's 
home address from the public record, as allowable by law. There also 
may be circumstances in which we would withhold a respondent's's 
identity, as allowable by law. If you request that we withhold your 
name and/or address, state your request 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.
    MMM Information Collection Clearance Officer: Arlene Bajusz, (202) 
208-7744.

    Dated: January 26, 2006.
Cathy J. Hamilton,
Acting Associate Director for Minerals Revenue Management.
[FR Doc. 06-1655 Filed 2-21-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-MR-M