Agency Information Collection Activities: Submitted for Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Review; Comment Request

[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 16 (Tuesday, January 26, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 3968-3969]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-1686]


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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, DOI.

ACTION: Notice of information collection solicitation.

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SUMMARY: Under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the Minerals 
Management Service (MMS) is soliciting comments on an information 
collection, Solid Minerals Operational Model (OMB Control Number 1010-
0120), which expires on June 30, 1999.

FORM: None.

DATES: Written comments should be received on or before March 29, 1999.

ADDRESSES: Comments sent via the U.S. Postal Service should be sent to 
Minerals Management Service, Royalty Management Program, Rules and 
Publications Staff, P.O. Box 25165, MS 3021, Denver, Colorado 80225-
0165; courier address is Building 85, Room A613, Denver Federal Center, 
Denver, Colorado 80225; e:mail address is RMP.comments@mms.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dennis C. Jones, Rules and 
Publications Staff, phone (303) 231-3046, FAX (303) 231-3385, e-mail 
Dennis.C.Jones@mms.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction 
Act of 1995, Section 3506 (c)(2)(A), we are notifying you, members of 
the public and affected agencies, of this collection of information 
which expires June 30, 1999. We are requesting OMB approval for a 3 
year extension of this existing collection authority. Is this 
information collection necessary for us to properly do our job? Have we 
accurately estimated the industry burden for responding to this 
collection? Can we enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the 
information we collect? Can we lessen the burden of this information 
collection on the respondents by using automated collection techniques 
or other forms of information technology?
    The Secretary of the Interior is responsible for the collection of 
royalties from leases producing minerals from leased Federal and Indian 
lands. The Secretary is required by various laws to manage the 
production of mineral resources on Indian lands and Federal onshore and 
offshore leases, to collect the royalties due, and to distribute the 
funds in accordance with those laws.
    MMS performs these royalty management functions for the Secretary. 
When a company or an individual enters into a contract or lease to 
develop, mine, and dispose of Federal or Indian minerals, that company 
or individual (the respondent) agrees to pay the appropriate royalty 
due based upon gross proceeds received from the sale of production from 
the leased lands. Royalty rates are specified in the lease agreement.
    Specific lease language varies; however, respondents agree by the 
lease terms to furnish statements providing the details of all 
operations conducted on a lease and the quantity and quality of all 
production from the lease at such times and in such form as the 
Secretary may prescribe. Rules require respondents to provide accurate, 
complete, and timely reports for all minerals produced, in the manner 
and form prescribed by MMS in 30 CFR part 210, subpart E, and part 216, 
subpart A.
    In order to facilitate the collection of information listed above, 
MMS currently requires the submission of eight separate forms. 
Respondents are also required to resubmit each of these forms to 
correct any errors which may have occurred on previous submissions of 
required information. These eight forms are:
    •  Form MMS-2014, Report of Sales and Royalty Remittance--
payors report all royalty and lease-level transactions.
    •  Form MMS-4030, Payor Information Form (PIF)--establishes 
and maintains payor accounts required for processing Form MMS-2014.
    •  Form MMS-4050, Mine Information Form (MIF)--establishes 
and maintains mine-level production reporting.
    •  Form MMS-4051, Facility and Measurement Information Form 
(FMIF)--establishes and maintains facilities in the volume-tracking 
system including identifying key sales/transfer measurement points that 
are required to track production and identify all secondary processing 
and remote storage facilities.
    •  Form MMS-4059-A, Solid Minerals Operations Report, Part A 
(SMOR-A)--identifies the quantity and quality of all raw material 
produced from each Federal or Indian lease; specifies the disposition 
of those raw materials including sales, transfers, and adjustments; and 
tracks raw material inventories.
    •  Form MMS-4059-B, Solid Minerals Operations Report, Part B 
(SMOR-B)--allocates sales from a secondary processing or remote storage 
facility back to individual Federal or Indian leases within a mine.
    •  Form MMS-4060-A, Solid Minerals Facilities Report, Part A 
(SMFR-A)--provides detailed information on a secondary processing 
facilities' inputs/outputs.
    •  Form MMS-4060-B, Solid Minerals Facilities Report, Part B 
(SMFR-B)--shows a secondary processing or remote storage facility raw 
material receipts, production, inventory, and disposition.
    In April 1997, we decided to conduct an in-depth reengineering of 
all our core business processes, and we decided to proceed with three 
operational models (offshore, onshore, and solid minerals) that will 
test the proposed reengineered business processes. The solid minerals 
operational model will initially include reporting from 15 mines owned 
by four major coal mining companies and one major sodium mining 
company; the companies volunteered to participate in the project.
    In the solid minerals operational model, we will focus on the 
collection of production, royalty, and valuation data, while 
streamlining reporting requirements. We will test three reporting 
formats in the solid minerals operational model. The participating

[[Page 3969]]

companies will submit ``parallel'' reporting formats during the 
operational model. They will continue to submit all currently required 
forms and will also submit the three new reporting formats. We 
anticipate that these three new reporting formats will replace the 
eight currently submitted forms listed above.
    We have combined six of the current forms into one monthly 
submission titled Form MMS-4430, Production and Royalty Report. We have 
combined two forms, Forms MMS-4060-A and MMS-4060-B, into a quarterly 
information collection titled Form MMS-4431, Facility Report. We have 
also developed a new quarterly Form MMS-4432, Marketing Profile Report, 
to obtain necessary contract information from respondents. The profile 
report will alert us to possible compliance problems at the beginning 
of the audit process, thereby allowing us to provide more timely 
resolution.
    We will collect the production, royalty, and valuation data using 
information technology. The information collected will be used to 
support:
    •  Distribution and Disbursement. We must match the royalty 
payment submitted on Form MMS-2014 to the Production and Royalty 
Report, maintain lease accounts of payments, and ensure the 
distribution of data and disbursement of monies to our revenue 
recipients.
    •  Compliance and Asset Management Processes. We must 
determine areas not in compliance for a lease or mine sooner than the 
current processes allow. The Production and Royalty Report format is 
designed to give us the basic volume and valuation information 
necessary to begin these compliance activities so that we may compare 
it to the Facility Report and Market Profile Report formats.
    •  Monitoring Allowances and Off-site Activity. We must 
monitor allowance deductions and off-site inventory and sales. 
Companies maintain electronic data files of this information as a 
normal course of business. We propose to download the data from these 
company-maintained files to our compliance data systems. Our intent is 
to minimize the information collection burden on industry respondents 
as well as ourselves.
    •  The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Production 
Verification, Diligent Development, and Recoverable Reserves 
Calculations. We must make facility data available on-line to all BLM, 
the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Tribes, and State Audit offices. During 
the operational model, we will refine the data provided on the Facility 
Report to ensure BLM can perform these processes, including monitoring 
plant efficiencies, maximum recovery and secondary product inventories.
    •  Compliance and Asset Management Processes. We will require 
the submission of supplemental information (Marketing Profile Report) 
be submitted to facilitate the compliance aspect of our reengineering 
efforts. The Marketing Profile Report information will be an integral 
part of the Compliance and Asset Management process being developed in 
the operational model. We will use this information to verify royalty 
value and augment monitoring and detection of compliance problems on 
those mines. This information will only be collected from those 
reporters whose royalties are based on gross proceeds or who sell 
products beyond the mine site.
    To determine a reasonable hourly reporting burden using the new 
reports of the operational model, we started with the current reporting 
burden for the eight forms and, based on the elimination of some 
reporting functions and the corresponding reduction in reporting 
burden, we calculated the reduced burden for the three new reports. 
Approximately 90 coal mines currently report Federal lease production, 
and we receive an average of 12,000 coal financial data lines annually, 
11 lines per month per reporting mine. We estimate that 2 minutes are 
spent on each line that is reported electronically, or 22 minutes for 
reporting royalty data to MMS per month per mine. We also estimate that 
a company spends 1.5 hours per month preparing and submitting their 
production data. Therefore, the reporting burden for both the financial 
and production data for the current system is approximately 2 hours per 
month per mine.
    Using the new Production and Royalty Report, a respondent's 
reporting burden will be reduced. Adjustments made to correct 
previously reported information will be ``netted'' so that only one 
line will be reported rather then the two lines--the original, 
incorrect line and the new, corrected line--that are currently 
reported. Adjustment lines constitute 76 percent of the financial data 
submitted. Since respondents will no longer need to ``back out'' a 
reported line, their reporting burden for adjustment lines is reduced 
by one-half. The reporting burden is again reduced because only 
production by lease is reported, eliminating inventory calculations and 
transfer amounts which will be calculated automatically. We estimate 
that the reporting burden for both the financial and production data 
for the solid minerals operational model will be reduced to 1 hour per 
month per mine.
    The Facility Report requires information that is readily available 
to each mining company from their files, and we estimate that the 
reporting burden is 15 minutes per month per mine.
    The Marketing Profile Report requires up to 27 lines of input each 
quarter, although much of the information will generally not change 
from one quarter to the next. The information required is readily 
available to each mining company from their own files, and we estimate 
that the reporting burden is 45 minutes to fill out this form each 
quarter or 15 minutes per month per mine.
    The total annual reporting burden associated with these three new 
reports for the solid minerals operational model (5 companies reporting 
on 15 mines) is 270 hours (1.5 hours per month  x  12 months  x  15 
mines).

    Dated: January 20, 1999.
Joan Killgore,
Acting Associate Director for Royalty Management.
[FR Doc. 99-1686 Filed 1-25-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-MR-P