Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection, Comment Request.

AGENCY:

Minerals Management Service (MMS), Interior.

ACTION:

Notice of an extension of an information collection (OMB Control Number 1010-0042).

SUMMARY:

To comply with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, we are soliciting comments on an information collection titled, Application for the Purchase of Royalty Oil. We will submit an information collection request (ICR) to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval after this comment period closes.

DATES:

Submit written comments on or before October 2, 2000.

ADDRESSES:

Submit written comments to David S. Guzy, Chief, Rules and Publications Staff, Minerals Management Service, Royalty Management Program, P.O. Box 25165, MS 3021, Denver, Colorado 80225. If you use an overnight courier service, our courier address is Building 85, Room A-613, Denver Federal Center, Denver, Colorado 80225.

PUBLIC COMMENT PROCEDURE:

Submit your comments to the offices listed in the ADDRESSES section, or email your comments to us at RMP.comments@mms.gov. 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. Submit electronic comments as an ASCII file avoiding the use of special characters and any form of encryption. If you do not receive a confirmation that we have received your email, contact Mr. Guzy at (303) 231-3432, FAX (303) 231-3385. We will post all comments at http://www.rmp.mms.gov for public review.

Also, contact Mr. Guzy to review paper copies of the comments. The comments, including names and addresses of respondents, are available for public review during regular business hours at our offices in Lakewood, Colorado. Individual respondents may request that we withhold their home address from the public record, which we will honor to the extent allowable by law. There also may be circumstances in which we would withhold from the public record a respondent's identity, as allowable by law. If you request that we withhold your name and/or address, state this 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.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Dennis C. Jones, Rules and Publications Staff, phone (303) 231-3046, FAX (303) 231-3385, email Dennis.C.Jones@mms.gov. A copy of the ICR will be available to you without charge upon request.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Title: Application for the Purchase of Royalty Oil.

OMB Control Number: 1010-0042

Bureau Form Number: n/a.

Abstract: The Department of the Interior (DOI) is responsible for matters relevant to mineral resource development on Federal and Indian Lands and the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS). The Secretary of the Interior (Secretary) is responsible for managing the production of minerals from Federal and Indian Lands and the OCS; for collecting royalties from lessees who produce minerals; and for distributing the funds collected in accordance with applicable laws. The Secretary also has an Indian trust responsibility to manage Indian lands and seek advice and information from Indian beneficiaries. We perform the royalty management functions and assist the Secretary in carrying out DOI's Indian trust responsibility.

“Royalty oil” is crude oil produced from leased Federal lands, both onshore and offshore, in instances in which the Government exercises the option to accept a lessee's royalty payment in oil rather than in money. Title to the oil is transferred to the Government and then sold to an eligible refiner. When the Secretary determines that small refiners do not have access to adequate supplies of oil, the Secretary may dispose of any oil taken as royalty by conducting a sale of such oil, or by allocating it to eligible refiners.

When the Secretary decides to offer royalty oil taken in kind for sale to eligible refiners, MMS will publish a Notice of Availability of Royalty Oil in the Federal Register, and other printed media, when appropriate. The Notice includes administrative details concerning the application, allocation, and contract award process for the royalty oil. The Application for the Purchase of Royalty Oil, Form MMS-4070, is submitted by refiners interested in purchasing royalty oil in accordance with instructions in the Notice, and with instructions issued by MMS for completion of the form. The information collected is used by MMS to determine if the applicant meets eligibility requirements to contract to purchase royalty oil. Information collected also provides a basis for the allocation of available royalty oil among qualified refiners.

Responses to this information are necessary for refiners to participate in royalty oil sales. Proprietary information that is submitted is protected, and there are no questions of a sensitive nature included in this information collection.

Frequency: On occasion.

Estimated Number and Description of Respondents: 25 small oil refiners.

Estimated Annual Reporting and Recordkeeping “Hour” Burden: 25 hours.

Estimated Annual Reporting and Recordkeeping “Non-hour Cost” Burden: n/a.

Comments: The Paperwork Reduction Act, 44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A), 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 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.

The PRA also requires agencies to estimate the total annual reporting “non-hour cost” burden to respondents or recordkeepers resulting from the collection of information. We have not identified non-hour cost burdens and need to know if there are other costs associated with the collection of this information for either total capital and startup cost components or annual operation, maintenance, and purchase of service components. Your estimates should consider the costs to generate, maintain, and disclose or provide the information. You should describe the methods you use to estimate major cost factors, including system and technology acquisition, expected useful life of capital equipment, discount rate(s), and the period over which you incur costs. Capital and startup costs include, among other items, computers and software you purchase to prepare for collecting information; monitoring, sampling, drilling, and testing equipment; and record storage facilities.

Your estimates should not include equipment or services purchased: (i) Before October 1, 1995; (ii) to comply with requirements not associated with the information collection; (iii) for reasons other than to provide information or keep records for the Government; or (iv) as part of customary and usual business or private practices.

The Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 provides that an agency shall 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.