[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 38 (Friday, February 25, 2011)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 10526-10527]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-4241]
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Proposed Rules
Federal Register
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This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains notices to the public of
the proposed issuance of rules and regulations. The purpose of these
notices is to give interested persons an opportunity to participate in
the rule making prior to the adoption of the final rules.
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Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 38 / Friday, February 25, 2011 /
Proposed Rules
[[Page 10526]]
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
2 CFR Chapter XIV
25 CFR Chapters I, II, III and V, VI, VII
30 CFR Chapters II, IV, VII, and XII
36 CFR Chapter I
41 CFR Chapter 114
43 CFR Subtitle A and Chapters I and II
48 CFR Chapter 14
50 CFR Chapters I and IV
[Docket Number: DOI-2011-0001]
Reducing Regulatory Burden; Retrospective Review Under E.O. 13563
AGENCY: Office of the Secretary, Interior.
ACTION: Request for information.
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SUMMARY: The Department of the Interior (DOI) is preparing a
preliminary plan to review its existing significant regulations in
response to the President's Executive Order 13563 on improving
regulation and regulatory review. The purpose of this regulatory review
is to help DOI manage the Nation's public lands and national treasures,
honor our tribal trust obligations, protect the environment and
endangered species, distribute and monitor water resources, and help
America become energy independent in ways that are more effective and
less burdensome. DOI is asking for ideas and information from the
public in preparing the plan and identifying opportunities to improve
any of its significant regulations by modifying, streamlining,
expanding, or repealing them.
DATES: You must submit any comments on or before March 28, 2011.
ADDRESSES: All comments must include ``Comments on improving DOI's
regulations--Docket Number DOI-2011-0001''. You must submit comments by
any (but only one) of the following methods:
Federal eRulemaking portal: Go to http://www.regulations.gov, find Docket DOI-2011-0001, and follow the
instructions for submitting your comments electronically.
Mail: Regulatory Review, Office of the Executive
Secretariat and Regulatory Affairs, Department of the Interior, 1849 C
Street, NW., Mail Stop 7328, Washington, DC 20240.
Hand Delivery or Courier: Regulatory Review, Office of the
Executive Secretariat and Regulatory Affairs, Department of the
Interior, Room 7311, 1849 C Street, NW., Washington, DC 20240.
E-mail: [email protected].
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mark Lawyer, Office of the Secretary,
202-208-3181, [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: President Obama issued Executive Order
13563, ``Improving Regulation and Regulatory Review,'' on January 18,
2011. He stated that our ``regulatory system must protect public
health, welfare, safety, and our environment while promoting economic
growth, innovation, competitiveness, and job creation'' and it must
``use the best, most innovative, and least burdensome tools to achieve
regulatory ends.'' The Executive Order directed agencies to develop and
submit a preliminary plan within 120 days that will explain how they
will review existing significant regulations and identify regulations
that can be made more effective or less burdensome in achieving
regulatory objectives.
Request for Information
This request to the public for information is DOI's first step in
complying with the President's directive to develop a plan that will
make the Department's regulations more effective and less burdensome.
DOI is asking you to suggest how the Department can develop regulations
to protect the environment, honor our trust obligations, manage public
lands, protect endangered species, distribute and monitor water
resources, and promote clean energy independence in ways that will work
best for the American people. Knowledge about the full effects of
regulations on people and the economy is widely dispersed in society.
DOI recognizes that members of the public are likely to have useful
information and perspectives about how it could streamline or improve
its regulations. This request for information from the public will help
the Department obtain information that will inform its decisions as the
Department develops a plan to review its existing regulations.
Questions for the Public
DOI intends the questions below to elicit useful information as the
Department develops a preliminary plan to review its significant
regulations. These questions are not intended to be exhaustive. You may
raise other issues or make suggestions unrelated to these questions
that you believe would help the Department develop better regulations.
Comments will be most helpful if they provide examples and a detailed
explanation of how the suggestion will support DOI's mission in a way
that is more efficient and less burdensome. DOI specifically asks you
to provide comments related to the questions that follow to help the
Department prepare a preliminary plan to review its significant
regulations.
(1) How can DOI best review its existing rules in a way that will
identify rules that should be changed, streamlined, consolidated, or
removed? DOI encourages those submitting comments to include a proposed
process under which review could be regularly undertaken.
(2) How can DOI reduce burdens and maintain flexibility and choice
for the public in a way that will promote its mission?
(3) Does DOI have rules or guidance that are duplicative or that
have conflicting requirements among its bureaus or with other agencies?
If so, please specifically identify the rules or guidance and suggest
ways DOI can streamline, consolidate, or make these regulations work
better. Please suggest specific language that would make these rules or
guidance more efficient and less burdensome where possible.
(4) Are there rules or reporting requirements that could be
improved to accomplish their regulatory objectives better? If so,
please specifically identify the rule or reporting requirement and
suggest alternative language where possible.
[[Page 10527]]
(5) How can DOI best assure that its regulations are guided by
objective scientific evidence?
(6) Are there better ways to encourage public participation and an
open exchange of views when DOI engages in rulemaking?
(7) Is there a rule or guidance that is working well that DOI could
use as a model for improving other regulations or guidance? If so,
please specifically identify the rule or guidance and explain the
aspects of the rule or guidance that work well and why you think it
works well.
(8) How can DOI better scale its regulations to lessen the burdens
imposed on small entities within the existing statutory requirements?
Please identify any regulations that, under the applicable laws, could
exempt small entities or provide more flexible or less burdensome
requirements.
(9) Are DOI regulations and guidance written in language that is
clear and easy to understand? Please identify specific regulations and
guidance that are good candidates for a plain language re-write.
(10) What are some suggestions that DOI can use to assure that its
regulations promote its mission in ways that are most efficient and
least burdensome?
DOI will consider public input as we develop a plan to periodically
review the Department's significant rules. The Department has created a
Web site at http//www.doi.gov/open/regsreview to facilitate
participation by the public. This website provides links to the
Department's regulations and a link to an e-mail in-box at
[email protected] that interested parties may use to suggest, both
during the comment period and on an ongoing basis, improvements to
DOI's regulations.
The Department is issuing this request solely to seek useful
information as it develops a plan to review its existing significant
regulations. While responses to this request do not bind DOI to any
further actions related to the response, all submissions will be made
available to the public on http://www.regulations.gov.
Before including your address, or other personal identifying
information in your comment, you should be aware that your entire
comment--including your personal identifying information--may be made
publicly available at any time. While you can ask us in your comment to
withhold your personal identifying information from the public review,
we cannot guarantee that we will be able to do so.
Authority: E.O. 13653, 76 FR 3821, Jan. 21, 2011; E.O. 12866, 58
FR 51735, Oct. 4, 1993.
Dated: February 18, 2011.
David J. Hayes,
Deputy Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2011-4241 Filed 2-24-11; 8:45 am]
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