[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]


 ========================================================================
 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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