[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 248 (Tuesday, December 27, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 95183-95185]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-31063]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Office of Natural Resources Revenue

[Docket No. ONRR-2011-0001; DS63644000 DR2PS0000.CH7000 167D0102R2]


Agency Information Collection Activities: Solid Minerals and 
Geothermal Collections--OMB Control Number 1012-0010; Comment Request

AGENCY: Office of Natural Resources Revenue (ONRR), Interior.

ACTION: Notice of renewal of an existing information collection.

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SUMMARY: To comply with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), ONRR 
is notifying the public that we have submitted to the Office of 
Management and Budget (OMB) an Information Collection Request (ICR) to 
renew approval of the paperwork requirements in the regulations under 
title 30, Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), parts 1202, 1206, 1210, 
1212, 1217, and 1218. This ICR pertains to royalty and production 
reporting on solid minerals and geothermal leases on Federal and Indian 
lands. There are four forms associated with this information 
collection: ONRR-4430 [Solid Minerals Production and Royalty Report], 
ONRR-4292 [Coal Washing Allowance Report], ONRR-4293 [Coal 
Transportation Allowance Report], and ONRR-4440 [Solid Minerals Sales 
Summary]. This notice also provides the public with a second 
opportunity to comment on the paperwork burden of these regulatory 
requirements.

DATES: OMB has up to 60 days to approve or disapprove the information 
collection request but may respond after 30 days; therefore, you should 
submit your public comments to OMB by January 26, 2017 for the 
assurance of consideration.

ADDRESSES: Submit comments to the Office of Information and Regulatory 
Affairs, Office of Management and Budget, Attention: Desk Officer for 
the Department of Interior (1012-0010), by telefax at (202) 395-5806 or 
via email to [email protected]. Also, please send a copy of 
your comments to Mr. Luis Aguilar, Regulatory Specialist, Office of 
Natural Resources Revenue, P.O. Box 25165, MS 64400B, Denver, Colorado 
80225. Please reference ``ICR 1012-0010'' in your comments.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For questions on technical issues 
contact Mr. Michael Anspach, Solid Minerals, ONRR, telephone at (303) 
231-3618, or email to [email protected]. For other questions, 
contact Mr. Luis Aguilar, telephone at (303) 231-3418, or email to 
[email protected]. You may also contact Mr. Aguilar to obtain 
copies (free of charge) of (1) the ICR, (2) any associated forms, and 
(3) the regulations that require the subject collection of information. 
You may also review the Information Collection Request online at http://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Abstract

    The Secretary of the United States Department of the Interior is 
responsible for mineral resource development on Federal and Indian 
lands and the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS). The Secretary's 
responsibility, according to various laws, is to (1) manage mineral 
resource production from Federal and Indian lands and the OCS; (2) 
collect the royalties and other mineral revenues due; and (3) 
distribute the funds collected under those laws. We have posted those 
laws pertaining to mineral leases on Federal and Indian lands and the 
OCS at http://www.onrr.gov/Laws_R_D/PubLaws/default.htm.
    The Secretary also has a trust responsibility to manage Indian 
lands and seek advice and information from Indian beneficiaries. ONRR 
performs the minerals revenue management functions for the Secretary 
and assists the Secretary in carrying out the Department's trust 
responsibility for Indian lands.
    You can find the information collections covered in this ICR at 30 
CFR parts:
     1202, subpart H, which pertains to geothermal resources 
royalties.
     1206, subparts F, H, and J, which pertain to product 
valuation of Federal coal, geothermal resources, and Indian coal.
     1210, subparts E and H, which pertain to production and 
royalty reports on solid minerals and geothermal resources leases.
     1212, subparts E and H, which pertain to recordkeeping of 
reports and files for solid minerals and geothermal resources leases.
     1217, subparts E, F, and G, which pertain to audits and 
inspections of coal, other solid minerals, and geothermal resources 
leases.
     1218, subparts E and F, which pertain to royalties, 
rentals, bonuses, and other monies payment for solid minerals and 
geothermal resources.
    All data reported is subject to subsequent audit and adjustment.

General Information

    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 in a value 
of production from the leased lands. The lessee or designee must report 
various kinds of information to the lessor relative to the disposition 
of the leased minerals. Such information is generally available within 
the records of the lessee or others involved in developing, 
transporting, processing, purchasing, or selling such minerals.

Information Collections

    ONRR, acting for the Secretary, uses the information that we 
collect to ensure that lessees accurately value and appropriately pay 
all royalties based on the correct product valuation. ONRR and other 
Federal Government entities,

[[Page 95184]]

including the Bureau of Land Management, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, 
and State and Tribal governmental entities, use the information for 
audit purposes and for evaluating the reasonableness of product 
valuation or allowance claims that lessees submit. Please refer to the 
burden hour chart for all reporting requirements and associated burden 
hours.
A. Solid Minerals
    Producers of coal and other solid minerals from any Federal or 
Indian lease must submit current form ONRR-4430 and other associated 
data formats such as form ONRR-4440. These companies also report 
certain data on form ONRR-2014 (OMB Control Number 1012-0004). 
Producers of coal from any Indian lease must also submit forms ONRR-
4292 and ONRR-4293, if they wish to claim allowances on form ONRR-4430; 
the information that ONRR requests is the minimum necessary to carry 
out our mission and places the least possible burden on respondents.
B. Geothermal Resources
    This ICR also covers some of the information collections for 
geothermal resources, which ONRR groups by usage (electrical 
generation, direct use, and byproduct recovery), and by disposition of 
the resources (arm's-length (unaffiliated) contract sales, non-arm's-
length contract sales, and no contract sales) within each use group. 
ONRR relies primarily on data that payors report on form ONRR-2014 for 
the majority of our business processes, including geothermal 
information. In addition to using the data to account for royalties 
that payors report, ONRR uses the data for monthly distribution of 
mineral revenues and for audit and compliance reviews.
OMB Approval
    We will request OMB approval to continue to collect this 
information. Not collecting this information would limit the 
Secretary's ability to discharge fiduciary duties and may also result 
in the loss of royalty payments. We protect the proprietary information 
that ONRR receives and do not collect items of a sensitive nature. 
Reporters must submit forms ONRR-4430 and ONRR-4440. Also, ONRR 
requires that reporters submit forms ONRR-4292 and ONRR-4293 to claim 
allowances on form ONRR-4430.

II. Data

    Title: Solid Minerals and Geothermal Collections--30 CFR parts 
1202, 1206, 1210, 1212, 1217, and 1218.
    OMB Control Number: 1012-0010.
    Bureau Form Number: Forms ONRR-4430, ONRR-4292, ONRR-4293, and 
ONRR-4440.
    Frequency: Monthly, annually, and on occasion.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 100 reporters.
    Estimated Annual Reporting and Recordkeeping ``Hour'' Burden: 3,884 
hours.
    We have not included in our estimates certain requirements that 
companies perform in the normal course of business and that ONRR 
considers usual and customary. This 30-day Federal Register notice 
burden chart shows an adjustment increase of +450 burden hours from the 
previous 60-day notice; this adjustment is based on a new requirement 
to submit additional information for the sales summaries in form ONRR-
4440. We display the estimated annual burden hours by CFR section and 
paragraph in the following chart.

                                       Summary of Information Collections
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                                                                                     Number of
Information collections (and 30   Requirement to respond   Frequency of response      annual       Annual burden
       CFR references *)                                                             responses         hours
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1. Reporting Formats...........  Mandatory..............  Monthly...............           3,599           1,557
     Form ONRR-4430,
     Solid Minerals Production
     and Royalty Report.
     Associated Data
     (sales summary, facility
     data) (1206.257, 1206.259,
     1206.262, 1206.264,
     1206.265, 1206.456,
     1206.463, 1206.464;
     1210.201, 1210.203,
     1210.204; 1218.201
     [1206.457, 1206.460];
     1218.203).
     Form ONRR-4440,     Mandatory..............  Monthly...............             900             900
     Solid Minerals Sales
     Summary (1201.202).
2. Allowance Forms:
     Form ONRR-4292,     Required to obtain a     Annually..............               3               4
     Coal Washing Allowance       benefit.
     Report (1206.458).
     Form ONRR-4293,     .......................  On occasion...........               4               5
     Coal Transportation
     Allowance Report
     (1206.461).
3. Geothermal Resources          Mandatory..............  On occasion...........              48              62
 (1206.353, 1206.354, 1206.356,
 1206.359, 1206.364; 1210.352;
 1218.306).
4. Recordkeeping (1206.253,      Mandatory..............  As requested..........           4,880           1,356
 1206.254, 1206.257; 1212.200).
                                                                                 -------------------------------
    Total......................  .......................  ......................           9,434           3,884
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Note: Audit Process--The Office of Regulatory Affairs determined that the audit process is exempt from the
  Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 because ONRR staff asks non-standard questions to resolve exceptions.

    Estimated Annual Reporting and Recordkeeping ``Non-hour'' Cost 
Burden: We have identified no ``non-hour'' cost burdens associated with 
the collection of information.

III. Request for Comments

    Section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the PRA requires each agency to ``* * * 
provide 60-day notice in the Federal Register * * * 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 that ONRR collects; 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 April 14, 2016 (81 FR 22106), 
announcing that

[[Page 95185]]

we would submit this ICR to OMB for approval. The notice provided the 
required 60-day comment period. We received no unsolicited comments in 
response to the notice.
    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. 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. OMB has up to 60 
days to approve or disapprove the information collection, but they may 
respond after 30 days.
    Public Comment Policy: ONRR will post all comments, including names 
and addresses of respondents at http://www.regulations.gov. Before 
including Personally Identifiable Information (PII), such as your 
address, phone number, email address, or other personal information in 
your comment(s), you should be aware that your entire comment 
(including PII) may be made available to the public at any time. While 
you may ask us, in your comment, to withhold PII from public view, we 
cannot guarantee that we will be able to do so.

    Dated: December 13, 2016.
Gregory J. Gould,
Director, Office of Natural Resources Revenue.
[FR Doc. 2016-31063 Filed 12-23-16; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4335-30-P